what makes it dull?
I'm with Ryan on this one you can see & feel a difference in chains when you do a lot of cutting. You can dull a chain in a few miniutes by pushing it through the wood to make a cuts in 6-7 seconds when you should back off and let the saw do it in 15-20 seconds. How you operate the saw makes a difference whether you get to lunch before you touch up or you're touching up the chain in 1/2 hour. You should be able to feel when you hit a dead spot or a knot in the wood and know enough to ease up a bit. To push through the hardened spot will take the edge off a sharp chain in a heart beat. I've cut through nails, eyebolts, horseshoes, wire, chain and pipe in trees with the saws. Quick as your saw/chain touches anything different you feel it and you have to decide do I back off or cut through and crapout the chain.
Casual user/observer is the guy that can't tell when he hit something and doesn't back off before he craps the chain. He's still out there trying to cut when he's throwing powder not chips and curleys. You'll see the new guys out there with a white knuckle grip on the saw, trying to push their saws through the wood to keep up when they should be letting the saw do the work. Just by the sound of their saw you know they are putting a hurting on the chain and the saw. Makes me chringe to hear them run a saw. Do they need to know what chain does the best or should they learn how to feel what their saw is doing first? They need to relax and let the saw do the work. They need to get to know their saw and how to use it before they worry about which chain works best. You can give them the best saw and best chain and they'll say,"Wow does your saw cut", but you can still out cut them with their saw. The best wouldn't make them much faster till they know their saw and how to get it to do the work. I like Sthil RS on my trim saws but use Carlton and Oregon on my bigger saws. Which ones the best? It depends on what you're doing with the saw and is your saw powerported to handle it. Stuff the casual user/obsever hasn't got a clue about and he doesn't burn a few gallons of fuel in a week/month let alone a day. Then there are the guys that race saws and can crap a chain in a few cuts.
