You guys clean your chains? How?

[indiansprings]

Never have "cleaned" a chain, the wood does it for me. I have however left chains laying in the back of the trailer for a couple of months only to find them rusted up. Then they go in a bucket of diesel to soak for a week then I pull them out wipe them off and kroil them. Then wood finishes cleaning them up!

 

[arbor pro]

Please tell me you guys are joking. Does anyone REALLY clean their chains? I have never cleaned mine, after decades of saw ownership! I cut lots of pine (among other types of wood) but I have never felt any need to clean the chain. I sharpen after every tank of fuel, clean the bar grooves very infrequently, but never, ever bother with the chain. That little sucker is moving so fast and engaging so much wood I just can't imagine anything that would not be removed through friction with the wood.

Seriously, what would the point be for cleaning a chain?

Like I said in my earlier post - I only sharpen chains once a year. If i use one in may, it sits in the shop until January or december waiting to get sharpened. Sometimes, the combination of water, sap and oil on the chain gets it all stiff and greasy and it works better for me to clean them before I use my stihl grinder to sharpen them. When you're doing 60-80 chains at a time, it's nice to have clean ones to work with before you put them back on the hook or into baggies for the next use.

It takes little to no effort to clean them and it beats trying to fight a stiff chain. If you were resharpening chains on a regular basis and reusing them on a regular basis, I would agree that cleaning is probably not necessary; however, if storing them for any period of time, the do tend to get gummed up and stiff and cleaning gets all that crap off of them.

 

[Terry L]

Cleaning chains?

I have cleaned one chain in thousands of sharpenings for myself and others. On that chain I cut some gooey wood/pitch combination that should have been made into glue. I used solvent. The main thing is to not store chains in snow or rain where they will rust up over time. The cleaning is a waste of time. Scraping the pitch off of bars is useful and makes them slide through the wood easier.

 

[beastmaster]

I like to use a mild scented anti-bacterial soap, I follow this with a thin coating of high gloss organic bee waxs. Then using a dremel with a sheep hair buffing wheel I lightly go over the whole chain tell I have a dull shine(if its to shiny it can blind you in the tree, check the manual)
But thats just me and I do live in Calif. I'm joking. Or am I? I did know a guy who would cut a piece of wood and at the same time run the hose over the chain and it would come out really clean. Tell the next cut anyway. If you cut palms it not a bad idea to run the hose on the inside of saw to remove any fiber, as the acid in it will eat the aluminum. But I doubt it,ll eat the chain. But
thats why you need to properly wax it each day. Beast.

 

[treemandan]

You actually read the manual? Wow!

 

[2FatGuys]

You actually read the manual? Wow!

A manual? You mean that bar oil soaked folded over booklet thing? Wow! It's got something worth readin in it?

 

[beastmaster]

(if its to shiny it can blind you in the tree, check the manual)

Boy,I know you guys didn't read the manual.

 

[briggstwiggs]

run your saw through a piece of a palm tree to clean it. I dont do that unless its the end of the day and i notice that it is gumming up on the top of the chain due to heat from cutting big wood. I usually only do it on the big saws if the chain is new and could use a sharpening before the next job otherwise a waste of time cause it will clean its self once it builds up enough. the palm really works though. for all you guys that do clean your chains I will send you a piece of palm tree for $30.00 plus shipping however big you want.

 

[ozzy42]

for all you guys that do clean your chains I will send you a piece of palm tree for $30.00 plus shipping however big you want.

:hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Dave]

OK, three thoughts-
1- I appreciate the date the thread was started.
2- Wood cleans dirty chains. Wood cleans rusty chains. Excepting the aforementioned disinfecting, if you have time to clean your chains, you have too much leisure time. Get a real job.
3- The scene from The Wizard of Oz comes to mind where the Tin Man is getting scrubbed with a giant wire wheel.

 

[millbilly]

After reading your cleaning method, I broke out laughing so hard my wife had to see what was the matter. I dont laugh much ,but your method was just cracked me up.

I used to use the Chinese laundry mat, but found that to be expensive, now i clean my chains by putting the entire chain saw in the back of my stake body truck and go to the automatic car wash, cheaper and I get the truck washed at the same time. Dont forget to get the HOT wax!

 

[komatsuvarna]

I mix my bar oil 32:1 with dawn dishwashing liguid. You get that self cleaning action.