First time sharpening chain...now it smokes

[1750]

You mentioned you were throwing sparks. I also wonder if you hit something (buried nail or a rock) that took the edge off of your chain.

I hit a nail cutting yesterday and the symptoms were just like you described: cutting great, sparks, bogging down and cutting crappy. Though after I sharpened we were back to cutting great again.

Good luck.

 

[TreePointer]

It may not be the only issue with your old chain, but some of the rakers and guard links are out of profile. It's often difficult to discern from a picture, but some look too high and some look to be the wrong shape.

 

[byQ]

Rock/stone or metal can dull a chain quickly (even dirt). For example, I put on a new chain and started cutting through some lodgepole pine on a hill. I made a couple of cuts. I didn't see a rock on the other side on my 3rd cut. Next thing you know I have a dull chain. It can happen that fast.

Half the battle is "organizing the wood" before you cut it. Is it off of the ground? Can you move it so that it is off of the ground? If you can't then don't try to cut all the way through it. Cut through part ways and then move it when possible - like when there is a safe place to cut all the way through the log.

Also, try to cut the wood that is highest and least obstructed first. And work your way down to the lowest sitting/most obstructed wood. Maybe stop your saw and rearrange the "badly sitting" wood (like place the uncut on some of the cut). In your mind, you should always be trying to protect the edge/sharpness of your chain (while being safe).

 

[HybridFyre]

Thanks guys. I'm gonna re sharpen this week and try again.

 

[Rickb]

Chain looks a little to tight as well. Should see a little bit a sag on the bottom with out having to pull on it.

 

[TreePointer]

It may not be the only issue with your old chain, but some of the rakers and guard links are out of profile. It's often difficult to discern from a picture, but some look too high and some look to be the wrong shape.

Here's a little more of what I mean about the rakers and guard links. It could simply be the angle of the photo, but those guard links with the red arrows on them look to be at least as high as the rakers on your cutter links. They are also pretty squared--meaning they don't have the desired sloped ramp. I'd lay a solid metal straight edge across the top of the cutter links and then measure the raker distance with a feeler gauge. If not at least .025", file them some more and round out the front edge.

 

[bobdog2o02]

I think tree pointer is right here..... If those rakers are too high the cutters wontntouch the cut and will get hot as he11.

 

[Jon1270]

I see what TP means about the poor shape of the rakers, but neither the height nor the shape of the rakers explains why it would've cut well for a minute and then quit. If the rakers were the culprit, it would have performed poorly from the get-go.

 

[bobdog2o02]

I see what TP means about the poor shape of the rakers, but neither the height nor the shape of the rakers explains why it would've cut well for a minute and then quit. If the rakers were the culprit, it would have performed poorly from the get-go.

Unless the cutters were filed just a bit off angle and the tips burned off.............

 

[Jon1270]

Unless the cutters were filed just a bit off angle and the tips burned off.............

If you say so. I can't see it happening.

 

[TreePointer]

I'm not saying the rakers and guard links are necessarily causing the original issue, but It's something that I see that needs to be addressed.

 

[HybridFyre]

I appreciate the insights. I'm hoping to try correcting based on some of these tips and try again. I'll take pics of the chain after I file it so I can verify it looks better next time

 

[Jags]

Thanks guys. I'm gonna re sharpen this week and try again.

I would try this. Maybe it is just the pic, but those cutters don't look right to me.

 

[HybridFyre]

I would try this. Maybe it is just the pic, but those cutters don't look right to me.

What's not looking right in your opinion? Angle or sharpened too thin at the edge?

 

[Jags]

Compare the pics of the old chain to the new. The old cutters look blunt and dull from the pic. Again - it could be that the pic is just not showing it well, but it doesn't look right to me.

 

[HybridFyre]

Thanks Jag. The old chain is a green band safety chain, the new chain is the yellow band full chisel chain. Could that also explain it? I don't know enough about differences in the two kinds to know how different they should look. It may be best if I just hold off on posting further until I resharpen and try again in a few days.

 

[Jags]

The proper file should yield a profile similar to the new chain even though they are a different type.

 

[Jon1270]

I zoomed in on one of your pics, and the two teeth where we can see the point of the cutting edge are hideously dull. I'm more confident now that you hit something hard and/or highly abrasive like a rock or nail. It will take quite a bit of filing to get past the damage visible here.

 

[TreePointer]

Yeah, that chain just ain't right. There is no roundness to the gullet underneath the top plate of the tooth.

 

[Jon1270]

Yeah, that chain just ain't right. There is no roundness to the gullet underneath the top plate of the tooth.

Partly that's because so much of the point is missing, but it also suggests the file was positioned too high and/or was too large in diameter.

 

[HybridFyre]

The file sits pretty well into the groove beneath the tooth. It has a line guide to make sure you hit the 30 degree angle. Where should I put pressure when I push the file forward. Upwards so it cuts under the tooth with the most pressure or downwards or neither and just straight forward? Directions weren't very specific except to go nice even strokes.

 

[Butcher]

I would re check the file size cuz that chain looks like a garden hoe and your angle is way off. And from my experience at taking out stumps and rocks and cable wires with a saw I can garuntee that chain has seen more than just wood unless you been wackin up RRties. I spent 5 hours brushin this mess today and the fresh chain I put in don't look any where near as filthy as yours.


Just sayin. Practice makes perfect. Keep at it.

 

[Jon1270]

Yeah, that part is tricky. You want to maintain the original profile of the tooth, so that the top of the tooth and the filed surface intersect at the correct angle to form an efficient and durable cutting edge. Too much downward pressure and the teeth become hooked, i.e. the angle at the cutting edge becomes too small, making it both too aggressive and too fragile. Too much upward pressure and you get what you appear to have, i.e. a blunt cutting edge that scrapes rather than cuts. This is all made even more challenging when you're filing the chain while it's on the bar, because the pressure from the file can cause the tooth to tilt backwards, increasing the tendency to file too much off the top of the tooth. You said you got the kit with the filing guide, which should've helped a lot. I haven't tried the Stihl filing guide so I'm not sure of its strengths or weaknesses. Maybe you were just pushing too hard and tilting the teeth back so that the file tended to cut too high? The sort of maintenance sharpening people to do to keep their chains in top shape is fairly light-handed, not meant to remove a lot of material. Remedial sharpening where you have to take off a lot of metal because a chain has gotten into bad shape takes careful attention.

The bottom line is that there's no one simple instruction anyone can give you that will reliably give good results -- no 'push up / down / straight back,' etc. You really have to know what tooth shape you want to achieve, and push in whatever direction is necessary to achieve that. Of course nobody knows what to look for at first. Everyone learns by screwing up a few times.

 

[TreePointer]

If you are using the file guide correctly, one side should rest on the cuter and the other side should rest on the depth gauge (raker). No matter how hard you push down, you shouldn't be able to go lower than the guide permits.

 

[BrotherBart]

That chain is toast.