How did this chain get in this condition?

[Woodie]

2. He needs to keep his rakers at about 0.025" below the top plate using a gauge (the rakers are in fact, high) so the chain moves through the wood properly.

Careful with this one. The farther a chain gets toward the end of its useful life, the larger the gap needs to be.

As a cutter wears through repeated sharpenings, it has to rock farther back on its rivet in order to get any wood. (Leave that, boys...)

If the raker is too high, it can't rock back far enough, so it barely gets off the bar. You'll get lots of dust and heat, and you'll wonder why it cuts so badly after having just sharpened it.

 

[PA Plumber]

Careful with this one. The farther a chain gets toward the end of its useful life, the larger the gap needs to be.

As a cutter wears through repeated sharpenings, it has to rock farther back on its rivet in order to get any wood. (Leave that, boys...)

If the raker is too high, it can't rock back far enough, so it barely gets off the bar. You'll get lots of dust and heat, and you'll wonder why it cuts so badly after having just sharpened it.

Woodie,
I have a chain that has just been sharpened for the last time. There is no more tooth that can be sharpened without reducing the width of the tooth. What would you recommend the raker takedown to be? I did notice, the last couple of sharpenings, it has not cut as well, but I'm holding the rakers around 25 thousandths under. Should I go more?

 

[redprospector]

I've got a chain that looks like that, but worse. It came on a saw I got off of ebay.
It would appear that these chains were sharpened with a ball pien hammer, and a rock. Not an effective method of sharpening in my opinion.

Really though, I think your friend would be money ahead to take the time to pick the rocks out of the bark on those "skidded" logs. I cut logs that have been skid all the time, and you've got to watch those rocks.

Andy

 

[Woodie]

Woodie,
I have a chain that has just been sharpened for the last time. There is no more tooth that can be sharpened without reducing the width of the tooth. What would you recommend the raker takedown to be? I did notice, the last couple of sharpenings, it has not cut as well, but I'm holding the rakers around 25 thousandths under. Should I go more?

By the end of the useful life, around 40 thousandths. (Have one of the pros confirm this, BTW.)

I always use a File-O-Plate, and it takes care of the height ratio automatically.

 

[PA Plumber]

That makes sense. The previous two sharpenings I hand filed after I grinder sharpened and it helped a little. I'm going to give it a try. Hemlock is forgiving on rakers that are a little low.

 

[joesawer]

Woodie,
I have a chain that has just been sharpened for the last time. There is no more tooth that can be sharpened without reducing the width of the tooth. What would you recommend the raker takedown to be? I did notice, the last couple of sharpenings, it has not cut as well, but I'm holding the rakers around 25 thousandths under. Should I go more?

If it helps anyone to understand- The DG is like the wheelie bar on a dragster. The farther it is from the back axle the less it lets the car rotate before it hits the pavement, if the hight is the same. The more distance from the point of the DG to the point of the cutting edge the less the tooth can react if the same hight is maintained.

 

[joesawer]

Round? Do you mean round-filed semi-chisel?

No I meant full round cutters. Semi chisel is a compromise between round and chisel.
Come to think of it, I do not know if it is still commonly available in 3/8 pitch. I know that it is still used for harvester chain. It takes a lot of power to pull it through the wood but it is forgiving in abrasive environments.

 

[Bermie]

Did anybody notice the scoring of the chrome on the back end of the cutter?
That combined with the wear on the heel, the absolute mashed bluntness of the cutting edge says this saw was used and used and pushed and forced WAY beyond the time it should have had a sharpening!!!

I have a box of chains that look like this, I get them from my Stihl dealer to use as examples of what NOT to do to your chain and the different ways damage can appear when you abuse your chain. The sad thing is most of them could be salvaged, resharpened and good to go, by the remaining length of the cutters they were new and I guess the dealer would rather sell a new chain than resharpen them!!!
It goes to show that a ton of people who use a chainsaw have no idea about chain maintenance or symptoms of poor cutting performance and the reasons, they just buy a saw, cut till it 'don't cut no more' then get a new chain and repeat the process!!

 

[belgian]

Did anybody notice the scoring of the chrome on the back end of the cutter?
That combined with the wear on the heel, the absolute mashed bluntness of the cutting edge says this saw was used and used and pushed and forced WAY beyond the time it should have had a sharpening!!!

+1. My opinion too

 

[bump_r]

Look again at pics 2 and 3. What caught my eye was that the rear of the tie strap is significanlty more distressed than the front. This suggests that the chain was run too loose, allowing the cutter to tilt rearward (away from the cut), moving the cutter away from the wood and the depth gauge into it. Regardless of ACTUAL depth gauge setting, this tilting alters the EFFECIVE, or dynamic depth setting.

This condition would also lead to the heat, dust, and other tell-tales - and the need to foce it into the cut - noted by previous posters.

Look at his sprocket and drive tangs for more signs of "running too loose".

 

[cuttinscott]

Before he bought the 036, he used a 30 year old or so Homelite (XL Super?) that he bought new. He said that the Homelite saw/chains could take MUCH more abuse that the Stihl chains are taking now. I'm guessing he has a semi-chisel in his old Homelite, but I'm not sure.

The Difference between the OLD Homie SXL and the 036 is loads of RPM the higher speed the saw turns the sharper the cutters need to be. For instance on a higher speed saw when it starts to dull let off on the trigger a bit and you will be surprised on how much better it cuts. Id bet the SXL was about half the RPM of the 036 so Yea it will punish a dull chain longer.

Scott

 

[romeo]

Was he cutting salt ceder with that. That chain was killed by sandy hard wood from what I can tell. Run a chipper and file often.

 

[hokiebob1]

It also looks to me like the rivets have been rubbing possibly between the case and bar clamping piece (whatever the name is...). I've seen this when running RS chain on a Husky 353--its real sensitive to how much and in what order you tighten the two nuts.

 

[Bermie]

Bumping this one again!

I had a chain strike a nail way deep in a big tree last week, I heard a little 'chching' and felt something different. I was down to the last three or so cuts of this monster pionciana I had taken down over a couple of days.

I tried to play the 'I think I heard something but I will try and pretend I didn't even though I know I did but it will be ok 'cause I just have three more cuts to make and this job is FINISHED!!"

But, to no avail, dust was all that was coming out and the saw was going absolutely NOWHERE fast. Took it out, set the stump vice and sure enough all the cutters were dinged, took six strokes to put an edge back. ZIP zip, cut, cut, cut - done!

How on earth that chain in the original picture cut ANYTHING other than butter, I have no idea!!