I can't be bothered trying to get a rocked chain working good again, that's for sure! More time involved than its worth and they still wont cut great.
Does an old chain cut faster than a new chain?
- Thread starter Chainsaw Pete
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And that's exactly it... my boss would rather I whipped up a new chain than for his tree crew to spend an hour filing a damaged chain instead of making the company money. It was more economical to just replace the chains that got majorly trashed. We went through a LOT of chain haha.
It's a sure bet those that can't get a used chain to cut good also can't get a tooth to look like the one in your photo.
Up front............if they are not square filing...... they ought not to even be in the conversation.
Tell us you don't know how to square file without telling us you don't know how to square file.
Just an example of what Pioneer guy was saying about them , if you see never said anything about square filing.
The cutting edge about centered with the tiestrap rivet below it and the heel of the cutter/tooth clipped off. Underside of the top plate thinned out plus a few other tricks one won`t see on a regular work chain.
I can't really tell a difference if both chains are properly sharpened.
Like my rakers down .025
That said, I'm always excited when a new chain goes on.
Like my rakers down .025
That said, I'm always excited when a new chain goes on.
I only run brand new chains. When a new chain gets dull I throw it in the bin and put a new chain on. Time is money nobody has time to be sharpening chain that's ridiculous who does that.. 
I only run brand new chains. When a new chain gets dull I throw it in the bin and put a new chain on. Time is money nobody has time to be sharpening chain that's ridiculous who does that..
Yeah that's the ticket!
When the distance between the leading edge of the cutter increases as the cutter is filed back then the .025 rule becomes obsolete, the depth gauge may need twice that depth to allow the cutting edge to dig in sufficiently to cut fast. That is where the geometry comes into play, proper attack angle for the cutting edge to enter the uncut wood. Most users stick with the .025-.030 depth gauge figure but that changes a lot as the cutter is filed or ground back. The cutter becomes lower and narrower the further it moves back, the depth gauge should also be lowered further in correlation to the cutter.I can't really tell a difference if both chains are properly sharpened.
Like my rakers down .025
That said, I'm always excited when a new chain goes on.
I've tried sharpening with an angle grinder before and it never seems to cuts as good as a new chain does
Only Walt Galer could do that.I've tried sharpening with an angle grinder before and it never seems to cuts as good as a new chain does
I've had great luck with chains almost worn out. AS long as the depth gauges are set right they really rip.
This is a well worn semi chisel chain in hardwood on an 036.
This is a well worn semi chisel chain in hardwood on an 036.
I agree, but I've never figured out quite why.
The cutter ramps get shorter with wear, but that can be compensated for by lowering the depth guages. The best I have have figured out is that because the distance between the depth guage and the tooth's cutting edge increases as the chain is filed, it increases the leverage the tooth has on lifting the depth guage into the wood and reduces the ability of the chain tension to resist the cutter from "leaning back" away from the onslaught of uncut wood. Basically, you get smaller chips and less efficient chip removal.
Now this is just my thoughts on why old chains barely cut compared to a new chain; I've never seen a high speed video of what happens during the cut on an old or new chain, and my comments are purely speculative.
I do know that old, worn-down chains need the depth guages taken down more than "young" chains, and even then, they don't cut as well. A good deal of that inefficiency might be tied up in the drag links wobbling more in the bar due to wear and the looser rivets that always come with greater run-time.
Ahhh... No they don't. They get measureably shorter, but not appreciably narrower.
The right cutter still cuts the right side, full width, and the left side cutters still clear the left side. If they didn't the rivets would begin binding up in the kerf, and the motor would bog down from the increased friction.
Keep in mind that when the slight reduction in width due to the ramp on the "cheek" of the cutter wears back, the tips of the drag links are also wearing off on the sides and the rivets are getting looser, thereby allowing the teeth to cut just as wide as before. Perhaps even wider. A stronger argument might be that the drag from the shorter tooth allows for less friction and a more open throat for the chips to escape.
If you think I'm wrong, do an experiment on an old chain: set it on a saw, properly tensioned. Then put your fingers on two adjacent cutters and tug outwards on both, as would happen then the cheek-plates and the tooth would when they bind into the wood cutting as they travel down the bar. Then repeat that exercise with a new chain. You will find that the cutters on the old chain swing wider than the new one.
I agree with you, but there seem to be widely divergent thoughts on that. My experience says you need to take down the depth guages a lot more than usual just to keep up with a new chain, and even then the chain is more prone to chattering and binding in the cut.
Regardless of how the saw-racers think about worn chains, I've never run into a professional tree service that approves of keeping worn-out chains on the saws. Many toss 'em out after just a couple sharpenings.
All that forged metal getting shipped all over, just to be tossed into a trash can or metal-bin
It's called a waste.
Oh they didn't get thrown out... they rode around in the tool boxes of the trucks until someone sharpened them or they "rode" home with the guys to get sharpened and used for their weekend jobs.
I never saw a chain in the scrap bin unless it was too far gone.
You need a progressive style depth gauge tool.
It automatically takes the depth gauges down the right amount as the chain wears, keeping the same angle from the cutter to the depth gauge for the whole life of the chain.
You can measure the difference in kerf width as the cutter wears too but you dont want to hear about that lol. Oregons narrow kerf speed cut chain gets too narrow when close to wore out and binds up in the cut, you cant use the whole cutter up.
