How many sharpenings before I need to cut depth gauges

[Diesel JD]

This is one thing that I've always been curious about. I usually sharpen or swap chains as soon as I begin to see a slight degradation in performance. How many times do you all file before grinding the depth gauges? I'm referring specifically to round ground chisel chains. Take care,
J.D.

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Alot of guys do it, or at least touch them up each sharpening. I usually don't do it in the field as I'm touching up the teeth themselves, but I get it home and put it in the vice, and measure them with a gauge as I'm sharpening the teeth. Some go .025" some go .030"

Jeff

 

[SawTroll]

Much the same as Jeff, and usually every second or third touch-up.
Always after the daily after work filing, at the bench.

It is not worth the effort to do it after every in-the-field 2-stroke touch-up.

Always use a gauge to measure when filing rakers, to know what you are actually doing.

 

[Lobo]

JD, I normally begin bringing down the rakers a little the first time I sharpen a chain. I will probably bring it down approx. 2 to 3/1000 and then unless there is damage or something wrong, i do it every other filing or so depending on how it cuts and feels. Do not overdue this step as the saw will get overly agressive to darn right unhandalable and dangerous. I strongly suggest you go slowly at it initially, with time you will know when it feels just right to you and what is to your liking.

Personnaly I like my chains to pull and self feed in the cut a bit more than normal or new out of the box, but thats for me, it is not necessarily correct for you or anyone else.

Let me repeat this, an overly agressive chain is dangerous, therefore work at it slowly till you find your own sweet spot.

 

[2Coilinveins]

Alot of guys do it, or at least touch them up each sharpening. I usually don't do it in the field as I'm touching up the teeth themselves, but I get it home and put it in the vice, and measure them with a gauge as I'm sharpening the teeth. Some go .025" some go .030"

Jeff

What FHCW said.

 

[Diesel JD]

What's the best tool to measure the rakers with? And is a flat file the best tool to use on them or what? I once had a chain that wouldn't cut right after being sharpend, it was a chipper chain made by sabre, and I got crazy on the depth gauges and it wouldn't cut staright, it would bog down and cut unevenly, yet it threw bigger chips than my chisel stuff. I knew something wasn't right with that job. I've been chicken about rakers ever since then.

 

[Lawn Masters]

There are specific tools called a depth gauge tool or something like that for measuring the depth of the raker, this tool comes in settings from .015, all the way up to .035 which I have here somewhere.

 

[Lobo]

Q: What's the best tool to measure the rakers with?
A: Depth gauges made for saw chain, various models available from many manufacturers, but all do the same work.

Q:And is a flat file the best tool to use on them or what?
A: Yep one made specifically for saw chain, all box stores, hardwares and chainsaw dealers sell them.

Q: I once had a chain that wouldn't cut right after being sharpend, it was a chipper chain made by sabre, and I got crazy on the depth gauges and it wouldn't cut staright, it would bog down and cut unevenly, yet it threw bigger chips than my chisel stuff.

A: If you file the left side different from the right, meaning more strokes or less strokes or rakers at uneven heights, you will experience crooked cutting or pulling to one side.

Learning to file properly comes with practice, practice and more practice. Its like sex, the more practice, the more experience, the better you get or she what ever the case may be.

 

[kf_tree]

i just picked up the silvey depth gauge and gullet grinder. WOW what a pleasure to use. you can bang out a perfect chain in a minute. i know there pricey but i wish i would have picked one up years ago.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Does it do both operations in one stroke?

 

[kf_tree]

Does it do both operations in one stroke?

no it has to be set up differently for depth gauges or gullets, but it is a very simple machine to use. i put in a chain that i hand filed the rakers on, i learned i push harder on the left side than the right side.

if your interested i could post some pics for ya.

 

[Diesel JD]

I'm actually pretty good.....at filing chisel chain, but the depth gauges...I'm a walking disaster. Guess I need the flat file and a meausuring tool. I had/have one but I got frustrated with it...seemed clumsy to use. Just eventually took a few strokes off the top every once in awhile.
Thanks for the thoughts,
J.D.

 

[SawTroll]

The combination roller guides/raker guides sold by Husky/E-lux (EM) and probably Oregon are great for filing rakers, and for keeping the file at correct hight when sharpening cutters.

 

[TrogL]

Could somebody explain again how to file them?

A got a friend to show me how to sharpen my chain. His explanation of how to use the round file made sense and he ranted at me to make sure I was doing it straight (ie. on the correct angle) and the same number of strokes on each link.

I'm less confident in his explanation on what to do with the flat file. He sneered at my depth gauge and said he always just "filed the top all the way down". I wouldn't let him and wanted a second opinion. He wanted to file away at the tooth at the front ahead of the sharp part (sorry, don't know what it's called).

AFAIK that tooth is used to prevent kick-back and you shouldn't be messing around with it.

The guide that came with the chain was ambiguous. Do you file the horizontal cutting tooth flat or at 10%?

 

[Diesel JD]

The depth gauge serves a dual function on todays chain, it controls the size of the chip your chain chisels out, and ramped depth gauges as on the Oregon 33-34-35 and 72-75 LG chains. Kickback reduction can also be had by ramping the drive link as in the "LP" series. Don't know what/if Stihl uses to reduce kickback on pro chains. I wouldn't file the top all the way down...that sounds like a BAD idea.

 

[TimberPig]

The depth gauge serves a dual function on todays chain, it controls the size of the chip your chain chisels out, and ramped depth gauges as on the Oregon 33-34-35 and 72-75 LG chains. Kickback reduction can also be had by ramping the drive link as in the "LP" series. Don't know what/if Stihl uses to reduce kickback on pro chains. I wouldn't file the top all the way down...that sounds like a BAD idea.

Yes, removing the depth gauges entirely will tend to make your chain grabby, chattery, and actually cut slower than one with properly set depth gauges. The ones who advocate doing it usually don't know how to file and are trying to compensate for blunt cutting edges and rounded working corners.

 

[TonyM]

I have some customers who only touch up the rakers once. They just grind them off clear down to the tie strap right off the bat

Then I have other customers whose chains I can only sharpen once before I have to touch the rakers, because in one sharpening I have to remove half the tooth to get it sharp again

But other than that, what everyone else said.

 

[4pwr]

For approx $25 a chain.why would the average guy do this?

 

[TimberPig]

For approx $25 a chain.why would the average guy do this?

Are you asking why would someone take theirr rakers down, or why they would take them off completely?

They are taken down to maintain the proper geometry of the raker to the cutter for proper chip thickness. People take them off entirely to make the chain "cut faster", which often means the chain is dull and they take the raker off to get a dull tooth to bite into the wood.

 

[SawTroll]

....... Don't know what/if Stihl uses to reduce kickback on pro chains. .......

The latest thing that they have done is to copy the drive-link design of the Oregon LP chains. The result is called RSC3.