Why does dirt dull a chain?

[basswidow]

Sometimes you don't have to be young to be stupid. When I moved into my house 6ish years ago we had a burning party. There were some overgrown shrubs, plenty of crap in the woods, plenty of saplings, and some small trees that needed to be taken down.

Well my father in law wanted to help so he borrowed his friends brand new chain saw. After I cut down the trees (with my own chain saw) and moved the rounds out of the way....he wanted to show me an easy way to get rid of stumps.

He dug a little bit around each tree and fired up his buddies chain saw. Plunged it into the earth near the roots and begun cutting through the roots. Then he started cutting up saplings. It got to the point that he couldn't even cut a twig before he stopped and wondered what was wrong. Meanwhile my dad and I are shaking our heads.

He goes to his truck and brings out a cordless drill with a circular file in it and starts running it through what was left of the chain. Yup. And not the file you or I would use, but just a generic rat tail file. But wait...It gets worse.

He brought his own gas too. Filled her up and went back at it. 30 seconds later the saw quits. You guessed it. Gasoline straight from the pump.

Did I mention he never put any bar oil in the brand new chainsaw???

So in about 30 minutes he destroyed a chain, burnt up a bar, and seized the engine of his buddies brand new chain saw. I don't remember what model saw it was, but it was a Stihl. He and his friend don't talk anymore.

You don't need to be young to be stupid.

Wow - that's brutal - almost sickening. Yeah, I'm not lending my saws out. I will just go can cut up what needs cutting.

A storm blew a tree down on my neighbors fence. He was in the drive trying to fire up a small Stihl Saw. I had just used my chain saw, so I went over to help out. He finally got it going and started cutting. He was barely throw dust and trying to muscle the bar thru the cut - completely dull. I went behind him and cut rounds like butter throwing chips. He said, " man - your saw really cuts good - this one used to". I ask when was the last time he sharpened the chain and he replied " I didn't know I needed to". I showed him the difference in the chip / dust discharge. He let me take a file to his and we got him to the point of throwing chips again and cutting like butter. Happy camper. It's so easy to do and so easy to tell when needed. I usually point up on each top off of the tank and bar oil. I guess if you only use the saw once every 5 years? You might not know what the saw needs.

What a nightmare story of lending tools. Yikes.