Leylandii - Chainsaw Blunting & Clogging With Swarf

[Rough Hewn]

Sharpening a chain properely is not rocket science, but it is also quite 'knacky', i've met some folk who've had saws for years and still can't sharpen them. Farmers are a great example of that, often don't know wot the rakers are
I also take it chain is at correct tension?? Another typical farmers saw, chains usually hanging off
 
Generally ur better to keep it sharp and sharpen little and often rather than wait till its blunt.
I've heard of folk giving chain a rub everytime they fill it, so every 30mins-1hr, which i think it really exxessive (althou that was boys doing 1st thinings on piece work so they must of thought it paid there time to sharpen as often??).
If things going well on softwoods and no stupidity from me catching soil/rocks etc, 2/3 rubs a day keeps it pretty sharp all day. Bit more of trees are dirty along roads/railways etc
 
I remeber 1 summe rit was a bit of a heatwave (really unusual up here) and the norway spruce did get quite numb to cut more so than the SS and if it rained overnight u could almost feel the difference in the norway. To be honest i wouldn't have believed the difference the rain made

As above,
Get yourself a depth gauge device.
Take your machine to a decent dealer get them to make sure you've the right size. Sharpening a chainsaw is easy, sharpening a chainsaw well is an art form. Also make sure you use the correct size file.
[emoji106]

[Stubby]

9 hours ago, Zirynx said:

That's a trap I would wish to avoid: the presumption that simply being 2-stroke would 'automatically' make it 'better' than corded. That particular trap lies everywhere - for example, the best compact / bridge / crossover cameras are more often than not 'better' than the cheapest SLR cameras. Research is key! Thanks for sharing your experiences.

The " trap " will be finding a suitable electric socket in the woods . I'm not going to argue with you RE the cameras . Wrong forum . I did say get the best 2 stroke you can afford . ..........

Edited May 29, 2018 by Stubby

[MattyF]

It can be as sharp as humanly possible if it’s not oiling it won’t do its job...if your pushing a saw that won’t cut .. well you should not be pushing a saw it should be doing the work for you ,accidents are likely to happen.
Titan stuff .. even screw fix told me what did you expect it’s cheap for reason when I complained about some carpentry tools .. can you hire a decent saw From easy hire or some thing to finish the job.
Failing that you have a cup of veg oil and dip the bar in it every 10 seconds !

[Zirynx]

1 hour ago, Stubby said:

The " trap " will be finding a suitable electric socket in the woods . I'm not going to argue with you RE the cameras . Wrong forum . I did say get the best 2 stroke you can afford . ..........

I should have mentioned, this is all domestic stuff, so power availability not an issue. And yes, you did say get the best two stroke I could afford - apologies if that comment came across inappropriately and towards you, that wasn't at all how it was meant, just a generic comment about being aware of what is being bought. I was fully aware when I bought this cheapie saw that I shouldn't expect miracles and as mentioned, it already doesn't owe me anything. I was just keen to understand and learn about why this particular tree or circumstance had presented such a different cutting experience than previous ones.

 

Thanks.

[Zirynx]

1 hour ago, MattyF said:

It can be as sharp as humanly possible if it’s not oiling it won’t do its job...if your pushing a saw that won’t cut .. well you should not be pushing a saw it should be doing the work for you ,accidents are likely to happen.
Titan stuff .. even screw fix told me what did you expect it’s cheap for reason when I complained about some carpentry tools .. can you hire a decent saw From easy hire or some thing to finish the job.
Failing that you have a cup of veg oil and dip the bar in it every 10 seconds !

Replies are increasingly pointing towards the oiler mechanism being woefully insufficient and this being at least a contributory factor. I'll have a conversation with Screwfix but won't expect anything.

 

One thing I do know about cutting tools generally is that sharp means safe, so no excessive force from me - as soon as I feel that the cutting face is no longer doing its job, I back off. But thanks for mentioning it.

 

As it happens, I had thought about having an oil bath available and brushing it on periodically, just to get through this tree - good that someone else has mentioned it as now it doesn't seem like such a daft idea!

[Zirynx]

9 hours ago, petercb said:

Have you checked vent hole in oil cap is not clogged? If that's OK and oil passages are definitely clear then there is a fault so return it to Screwfix. Had an air leak develop on one of the Titan petrol hedge cutters replaced no problem  or hassle. Don't forget it's a 24 month warranty. 

Thanks for the suggestion @petercb - although it had occurred to me and I've previously given it a cursory look over (nothing obvious blocking it) I wouldn't know whether it was an invisible manufacturing / formation defect and I'm not sure how I'd check it definitively. I guess I could run the saw in free air without the reservoir cap on to see if the oil flows any better.

 

Thanks.

[Stubby]

1 hour ago, Zirynx said:

I should have mentioned, this is all domestic stuff, so power availability not an issue. And yes, you did say get the best two stroke I could afford - apologies if that comment came across inappropriately and towards you, that wasn't at all how it was meant, just a generic comment about being aware of what is being bought. I was fully aware when I bought this cheapie saw that I shouldn't expect miracles and as mentioned, it already doesn't owe me anything. I was just keen to understand and learn about why this particular tree or circumstance had presented such a different cutting experience than previous ones.

 

Thanks.

Fair play ?