Chainsaw Tips

Proper sharpening is not only important for cutting efficiency but using a dull saw can increase the wear on your bar and saw and can increase the likelihood of kickbacks. A dull, roughly running chain increases wear and tear on you too - you've probably noticed more vibration and fatigue in your hands and arms.

Dirt and grime on the wood you cut can drastically dull your chain, sometimes making sharpening necessary every couple of hours. If you have decided to sharpen your own saw and will be using it for several hours at a time you can either take more than one chain to use or sharpen your saw in the field.

So, how do you know when the chain needs sharpened? The following guidelines can help: 

• You have to apply pressure on the bar to cut rather than having the weight of the saw and bar be sufficient
• Your saw kicks out more sawdust than wood chips
• You can see light reflecting off the leading edges of the cutters. (this is a tough one to see for the first time. If the cutter is sharp, there is no flat edge to reflect light, it it's dull, there will be a hair this line of reflected light).

Remember though that even if your saw is sharp, it will not cut properly if the depth gauges are set incorrectly. Depth gauges control how thick a chip of wood the cutters can remove at one time. If the depth gauge is higher than the top leading edge of the cutters, than the cutter won't be able to do it's job regardless of how sharp it is. Conversely, if the depth gauge is too low, the cutters are trying to take too large a chip and will cut roughly and unsafely as the saw will vibrate more and the cutters have a greater possibility of breaking.