Take a look at the cutter!
What's the most common MISTAKE newbies make while sharpening a chainsaw chain?
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user 189850
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Using a Pferd CS-X 5/32" (17300), since 2017. Supposedly sets it at 0.025" depth (per the Amazon page). It's a 3/8 pitch, 0.043" chain. I'll check with a normal depth gauge to see what it looks like. If it's way low, I think I would see the raker below the gauge?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047A0RUC
Place a straight edge across a few teeth and measure with feeler gauges.
Philbert
Philbert
Not_Husky
ArboristSite Lurker
I never pull any type of file backwards. But I watched a mythbuster type video where a file was pushed then pushed and pulled for a thousand strokes over a flat metal surface. Pushing & pulling removed more material. And surprisingly pulling backwards didnt harm the file one bit. In fact doing so sharpened it slightly. Then again, it wasn't tested on hardened, oily, dirty chain teeth.
as per usual I've skipped 99% of the commentsWe were all beginners once, and making mistakes is part of the learning process!
Comment down at-least one MISTAKE (even the SILLY ones!) you've made while sharpening a chainsaw chain (or, you see others making!)
Let me START -
I've done this a few times, and one mistake I made was not setting the rekers to the RIGHT depth after filing the cutters. (I was so focused on filing the teeth, LOL!)
View attachment 1063796
#1 maintianing a consistent angle, square to the chain and approx 30 degrees of cutter angle, folks tend to rock the file, and not stick to the witness line.
#2 Pulling on the file to to "clean" it files only cut in one direction, all yer doing is rounding off the teeth of said file, (granted its a total PITA with a saw file, but at least let up on the pressure as you bring it back towards you)
#3, File depth, that lovely C shape and "getting the gullet" for round filed chains (chisel/square is different and the term does not apply, I will die on this mountain lol)
#4 failing to ever consider the rakers/depth gauges or if they do they go crazy on them and take too much off.
#5 consistency overall, trying to keep the teeth fairly close in size and shape from one side to the other, yes you can compensate for this with raker filing, but its a lot easier if the teeth are all pretty close to even. Don't count your file strokes, actually measure the damned tooth
#6 failing to use a file handle, even a piece of wood with a hole drilled in it is better then pinching that narrow ass tang and having it slip and giving you a back yard carpal tunnel surgery, plus it gives you a few more inches of file to use...
Yer right, the file is much harder then the chain, its also a helluva lot more brittle, the teeth are not supported for the back stroke and will break off rather then "wear" down. (even if microscopic the breaking of the cutting edge has a huge impact on the lifespan of a file)
Way back when I was still a machinist, I used the same set of files for nearly 20 years, never let anyone borrow them, never back drug them, most of them are still sharp.
what happens with round file chains is that the shape of the tooth slowly becomes more of a ramp then a hook, usually from not enough down pressure, you can have too much of a hook but its less of an issue.
Grinding into the straps, unless extreme isn't much of an issue though you probably shouldn't be getting into the head of the rivets
If the depth gauges are way low, your saw will stall in the cut with the slightest pressure. If your saw cuts fast with little stalling and no chattering while cutting, ignore all the gauges and measurements.
If something works just the way you want, don't change it!
Take a look at the cutter!
I'm not mad at the cutter. The picture wasn't about how sharp the chainsaw is.
For all we know, that is the next thing to be filed. It does look like it needs it though.
Yes. I have hand filed chains, moving smoothly down the bar until I hit a hard tooth. The file skates off it, barely making a scratch. It also trashes one side of the file, so now the whole sharpening effort is much more difficult.
This is the reason that some pro's don't allow anyone to "grind" their chains. I really get PO'd when I have that happen. The best way to prevent hardening of the chain is to keep your grind wheel clean by dressing it often. Even better: buy a metal Borazon wheel that does not require shaping and cuts much cooler. Clean those with some brake cleaner, and NEVER try shaping or cleaning with the Oregon brick. When the borazon wheel gets dull, they too start heating up the chain. Unfortunately, those wheels do not "dress".
Not mad either, just mystified at how the raker gets attention before the cutter. There is little to no hook on it as well as a gullet that needs a lot of work, kinda hard to set the raker before the cutter.
StihlPotlicker
ArboristSite Operative
no, I never let anyone use my files. Most "machinists"(i.e. operators) are mouth breathing imbeciles that believe they know everything and are the gods gift to aluminium... Can't even be trusted with a whirly burr, let alone 90's vintage nicolson files... (back when made in USA meant something) Bad enough one shop I was the only person to have a full set of decent Allen wrenches... so of course everyone "barrowed" them then proceeded to grind the ends off because they were too stupid to replace the stripped out bolts... That was 20? years ago, the replacement set was never leant out, and i've worn the coatings off of em, but they are all still factory length... (the metric set I've had since 1995, its missing one but all original otherwise)so you are saying you let someone else deburr your parts?
user 189850
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Yes, that picture was taken before sharpening.
The entire point of that picture was to depict that the Pferd CS-X (as well as manual sharpening) will not add the ramp, and that the chain had stopped cutting because of the square leading edge. The remedy was to file a ramp.
I read another thread by @Philbert talking about how using a CS-X (or Stihl equivalent), and how there are two different size files (4.0 and 4.5mm), so I may have the wrong one. That is probably one of the oldest chains I have currently running, and is due for replacement soon. I had just used it to cut some really hard wood (haole koa), probably 24 work hours over a couple of weeks. The typical haole koa trunk is 2-4 inches, most times I'm trying to keep them close to the ground, so lots of inadvertent cutting into the ground which adds to the chain wear.
My mistake was to Pay some guy to sharpen my chain. Now i have a grinder and a 2 in 1. 2 in 1 i juse in the field. The grinder for when i´m home
Now I'm not going to say you are wrong, but I'll bet that dull cutter had a lot more to do with the poor cut than a long, unramped depth gauge. I've never taken the time to put a ramp on them, and we grind the cutters down to tiny nubs.
Our chains continue to cut just fine, although I'll experiment and try some ramps to se if there is an improvement.
StihlPotlicker
ArboristSite Operative
Ya then they think you are a jerk too. must be nice to work with aluminum. machine anything from aluminum (1%) to Ti, Inconel, N-60, Stelite, and Alloy steel with Colbalt. files don't like that LOL. then you have imbeciles that strip out the Torq screw on insert cutters
, because they won't change them out after they notice the heads getting bad.
The back drag thought had been shot down numerous times and yet here we are debating it again and again
Don't get to machine much aluminum on heavy duty diesels. Files were a tool that wore out, when it was junk it was junk. None of the machinists would back drag files but none of them had files that lasted for years either.
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