How often do you file (sharpen) a chain

[Chainsaw Pete]

Yeah, I know, "When it gets dull". But how long does that take? We had a 75' pin oak*, it was about 5'- 6' in diameter at ground level, with two trunks forking about 5 - 6' above the ground. Each trunk was 14 - 16" in diameter at the fork. A microburst knocked one of the trunks down, and a pro crew cut it up and took down the remaining trunk. I never saw any of the guys touch up their saws. I've also watched other tree services saw down trees, buck them into shorter pieces and again, never file their saws.

If you are using your saw all day long, how often do you file the teeth? Figure clean wood, oak, maple, hickory for hardness. How many times a day do you file the teeth?


*The crew's 85' boom lift was extended vertically all the way up, and just cleared the top of the standing trunk.

 

[hotshot]

Every tank refill of fuel/bar oil it gets checked, sometimes it gets the file, sometimes it doesn’t need it.

The pro crews you saw were cutting live green wood, expect they sharpened only a couple of times all day.

IF it’s dead dirty oak coated in Texas dust, you can bet it gets sharpened often…maybe a 8-10 times for an all day tree that 75’ size.

 

[cookies]

About once a hour or up to a hour and a half if I never touch the ground or never hit trash/water/dirt filled wood, every 4 times the bar gets flipped and sprocket inspected

 

[Jusgunn3]

I bought a property that was pretty over grown and I have lots of old trees on the ground that fell over and a bunch with old fencing in them. I seem to have to sharpen all the time, every fill up I touch up the teeth with a few strokes. I use both semi chisel and chisel chains depending on the saw.

 

[muddy42]

It really depends. I get better results when sharpening in my workshop so that's the main focus. Whilst working I sharpen every two tanks or every tank if Im cutting dirty wood.

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

I use semi-chisel or chipper chains for cutting dirty wood, with less on the angles than standard, and although it cuts 35% slower (50% slower for chipper chains), where a normal semi-chisel will dull in 7 cuts a chain with less angle is good for around 30, chipper is well over 50 to the point of it's so many I don't even know.

I'd think if I select sharpening angles for job speed (vs 1-cut speed) the pros do the same even though they're cutting green wood which doesn't dull the chain nearly as fast.

 

[sean donato]

Kinda loaded question. When it's dull, but dull to me may mean sharp to others. Gone all day and touched up a chain once or twice and had days where it was every tank. Doesn't take long to rip a file across a chain if you don't wait till it's throwing dust, even on a full comp 36". More often is better, but if it's cutting fine and throwing good chips there's no reason to waste cutter material. After a while you should be able to tell pretty quickly while you're running the saw. Even just lightly hitting dirt you'll notice. Only time I really deviate from that is if it's something sketchy. I'll touch up before hand and pray I don't hit something in the stick.

 

[fields_mj]

Crews like that are NOT a good example of how to maintain your saw, or even how to do the work they do. Don't get me wrong, I've seen some that were good, but the overwhelming majority of the one's I've seen are made up of people I wouldn't hire to mow my yard let alone cut down a tree.

As far as how often I sharpen, it depends on exactly what I'm doing. Generally its every 1 or 2 tanks of fuel. If I'm doing a lot of limbing work where the saw is idling a lot, and then running WOT while cutting a bunch of stuff that's under 4", I MIGHT go as many as 3 tanks just because I'm burning a lot of fuel and not actually cutting a lot of wood. If I'm bucking firewood, I start to notice a difference about half way through the 2nd tank.

 

[lone wolf]

As soon as I see and feel it cuts a bit slower .

 

[holeycow]

Pretty much every tank. I like the way a sharp chain cuts.

 

[buzz sawyer]

Pin Oak is the hardest Oak I've ever worked with. I usually touch up every tank full or when I put the saw away after a job. You don't realize it's getting dull until you get it real sharp again.

 

[NSEric]

It totally depends on what im cutting, I dont like slow saws or dull chains so I touch the chain up or swap it once it's dull.
When bucking up the log pile for fire wood I sharpen every tank or 2.
Cutting stud wood I go 4-5 tanks and it's still sharp. That type of cutting is mostly limbing in nice clean wood.

 

[flxblx]

Mostly every time I fuel up.

 

[David Ellis]

For me, I agree with the sentiment Hotshot expressed above:

The pro crews you saw were cutting live green wood, expect they sharpened only a couple of times all day.

IF it’s dead dirty oak coated in Texas dust, you can bet it gets sharpened often…maybe a 8-10 times for an all day tree that 75’ size.

The difference in chain dulling between green and dead trees (especially oak) is quite amazing. I feel the NEED to sharpen my chain after about 2 tanks of fuel on my Husqvarna 372 on fallen oak (white and red). However, the chain on our Stihl pole saw rarely gets dull because it's always cutting live green wood. On my limbing saws for live tree branches, the chain will remain sharp for maybe 4-6 tanks of fuel.

I really do enjoy a sharp chain.