Chain staying sharp - Felling -vs- bucking

[Billy_Bob]

I loaned my chainsaw to a logger friend and he used it all day. He said he did not need to sharpen the chain. Over the weekend, I went to sharpen the saw and the cutters looked like the chain had not been used. And they felt sharp. But the air filter was caked with sawdust, so I know he used the saw all day.

I assumed my friend was "pulling my leg" and had used his own chain.

So I called him and asked if he used my chain, because it was quite sharp and looked like it had not been used.

He said he used my chain all day. Then he explained that he was cutting higher up on standing trees (girdling), and that this is clean wood. So it does not dull the chain like bucking does. And that when bucking, you are cutting logs which have contacted the ground (or been dragged around) and they have dirt in them.

Anyway I went ahead and sharpened the chain "just because", 3 strokes for each cutter, and the cutters after sharpening did feel a little sharper. And this is what I would typically need to do when bucking on the second tank of gas. (I never fell trees, so am always cutting logs on the ground.)

So when felling trees (or girdling) 100% of the time, does your chain say sharp longer?

 

[rbtree]

Naturally! A properly filed chain will cut for a long time before it needs sharpening if all that is being cut is clean green wood.

 

[P_woozel]

Not sure what a "long time" is but if I make it thru a day of cutting on the same chain, its still considered dull and gets sharpened, dont take much to resharpen. Even if your bucking and things lay well, you can make it most of the day on one chain. I carry 3 chains each day, the way I see it is if I go thru 3 chains the day is over regardless of what the clock says.

 

[John Ellison]

I'm with you guys on that. You usually can cut all or most of the day with no loss in sharpness in clean softwood.
But hardwood is a lot different,at least for me. I fell 60 ac. of mountaintop oak and hickory this summer and had to take five chains with me, most of the time would use them all and be filing before the day was over. In the early morning sparks would come off the hickory. Some of it was so bad that I think I would have been better off with semi chisel. Any of you hardwood loggers ever run into timber that seems especially hard on chain?
Thats my idea of paradise, all softwood timber and all pumpkins.
Happy Pumpkin Day

John

 

[Al Smith]

What actual "logging" I have done was a small patch of shagbark hickories some twenty plus years ago.Green shagbark cuts reactively easy but the bark is rather hard on chains.
In those days,chisel chain was not readily available in these parts,we used chipper,which did just fine.As a rule the chain got the file treatment about every other tank full of fuel,not a big deal.
That patch we logged was a combo of large hickories and white ash,one extreme to the other as far as hardness.Hmm,ax handles and baseball bats from the same woods.
The hardest wood I've ever seen is a toss up between dry osage orange and dry beech.Both cut like they are petrified .Some will say rock maple is hard but I can't comment on that.I really don't know what a rock maple is.We have sugar maple,silver and red maple,here abouts,none of which is hard,as compared to red oak,for example.

 

[redprospector]

I loaned my chainsaw to a logger friend and he used it all day. He said he did not need to sharpen the chain. Over the weekend, I went to sharpen the saw and the cutters looked like the chain had not been used. And they felt sharp. But the air filter was caked with sawdust, so I know he used the saw all day.

If your friend really gave a sh!t, you would have never known because the chain would have been freshly sharpened, and the filter would have been clean (that is the very least a man can do for borrowing a saw). This friend would'nt borrow my saw again. If he won't even clean your filter, he probably won't fix it if it breaks.

Andy

 

[Billy_Bob]

If your friend really gave a sh!t, you would have never known because the chain would have been freshly sharpened, and the filter would have been clean (that is the very least a man can do for borrowing a saw). This friend would'nt borrow my saw again. If he won't even clean your filter, he probably won't fix it if it breaks.

I told him I would sharpen it because it is square ground (gave him spare chains). Also he was paying saw rent, so no big deal.

 

[buck futter]

I've seen a lot of white birch that seems to have a coat of fine sandy grit on the outside, and will take the edge off the teeth. Also I don't know what it is about the white cedar but if you are cutting it day in and day out it takes constant attention to keep the chain pointed up.

Lucky

 

[JimL]

There were days when i worked in the woods, i could drop and top 10,000 bdft in a day on the same sharpening.
working in the landing was hard on chains tho..