How Often Do You Sharpen Chain

[Witterings]

How often do you sharpen your chain and does it vary in whether you're cutting softwood or say Oak?

 

Asking as I noticed quite a difference after 1/2 a tank cutting all Oak but to do it it that regularly you'de hardly get anything done.

[doobin]

Hardly ever because I only cut wood, with my saw, not dirt and rocks. 
 

if you need to sharpen every half hour you’re doing something very wrong, let alone every half tank!

Edited May 7, 2023 by doobin

[Stubby]

When working in the woods 3 strokes with a file every other fill up if needs be . You must have " dirty " wood .

[pleasant]

A chainsaw chain is a 'blade' the answer is 'how long is a piece of string'

 

You sharpen it when it gets dull or blunt......there are no specific times to it happening, just re-sharpen when needed.

 

When a chain is working well, the saw will cut easily, requiring very little force from yourself. The saw must always produce large chips of wood (never saw dust). The time to file the chain is when you need to push the chain to make it cut. If you at this point examine the cutting edge of the chain, it may appear sharp (this is not good enough). IT MUST BE RAZOR SHARP.

If you can see a line of light on the cutting edge THIS IS BLUNT!!!

All saw chain teeth are chrome plated. (A very thin hard chrome plating is bonded to the surface of the cutter). It's this thin hard chrome edge that does all the work (when you lose this edge, the cutting performance rapidly drops off). To keep the chain at its peak, you must keep filing (more than you think).

People always ask how long a chain will last between sharpenings. Somewhere between 30 seconds and 3 months!!!
If you are cutting very near the ground, or rolled muddy logs, (or foolishly roots of a tree) - 30 seconds. Joiners cutting clean planed soft wood - about 3 months.

Edited May 7, 2023 by pleasant

[Dan Maynard]

1 hour ago, Stubby said:

When working in the woods 3 strokes with a file every other fill up if needs be . You must have " dirty " wood .

I was thinking this, maybe been laying on the ground. Rule of thumb, if the chain could be sharper then it needs a quick sharpen.

 

If wood's been on the ground it makes a lot of difference to either knock bottom bark off or at least get the chain exiting the dirty side rather than hit dirt and drag it through.

 

Other idea would be use semi chisel chain on this dirty wood.

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, Stubby said:

When working in the woods 3 strokes with a file every other fill up if needs be . You must have " dirty " wood .

That's right; when felling in production forestry there is inevitably grit blown up in the bark on sandy soils, whereas in peaty soils you can run all day without sharpening.

[Stere]

When it gets blunt so depends as that can vary alot. Sometimes not for several days or it could hit a rock and be blunt after 10 mins.

 

Im guessing it might be seasoned oak you are cutting. Any seasoned dry wood blunts chains faster than green wood. clean green wood  hardly blunts chains at all.

 

One reson why its better to process all wood green as much as possible.

 

Its the same with  silky saws etc cutting dead wood blunts them  loads faster

Edited May 7, 2023 by Stere

[Witterings]

Cheers for everyone's input, it's freshly cut Oak and isn't dirty ... The bits I was cutting were much larger than normal and extremely knotty I'm wondering if I'm just not used to cutting bits like that.

That said it didn't seem to want to start the cut and there was a smell I've not experienced before ... unless there was something embedded in the trunk I didn't see.

 

I went back to doing some much thinner branches and it was a lot better but also paid attention to if it was chips or dust and it was a half way house.

 

GIven it a quick sharpen and it was back to how it was, I'll just see how it goes but maybe I've never cut anything that hard  knotted before.

 

Thank again!

[Stubby]

57 minutes ago, Witterings said:

Cheers for everyone's input, it's freshly cut Oak and isn't dirty ... The bits I was cutting were much larger than normal and extremely knotty I'm wondering if I'm just not used to cutting bits like that.

That said it didn't seem to want to start the cut and there was a smell I've not experienced before ... unless there was something embedded in the trunk I didn't see.

 

I went back to doing some much thinner branches and it was a lot better but also paid attention to if it was chips or dust and it was a half way house.

 

GIven it a quick sharpen and it was back to how it was, I'll just see how it goes but maybe I've never cut anything that hard  knotted before.

 

Thank again!

I assume you are taking the rakers down every 3rd or 4th sharpen ? 

[lurch_917]

on the question of how many times do i sharpen a chain well i touch it up as required you can tell by the chips (good) /sawdust (bad) , but as for actualy sharpening only when i have fooked it on a nail or the ground .

and for wood types just think pine is custard and oak is brick which one would hurt your hand the most trying to chop it ?