Chain sharpening

Some chains can do fairly well without touching the rakers but most will benefit by keeping them filed down. The benefit is that the saw will cut much faster and you won't have to put pressure on it. It will walk itself through the wood.

But don't take the rakers down too far. I was teaching a fellow to sharpen and explained about doing the rakers if they needed it. I explained that taking them down to just below the cutting edge of the tooth would allow the chain to pull itself through the wood. Talked to him a couple weeks later and he told me his saw was just bucking around and almost bouncing out of the wood. I looked at the chain and he had completely removed the rakers, right down to the guide links. I asked him; "Why would you do that?" His response; "I figured if taking them down a little would make the saw cut faster, taking them off would make it scream through the log."

I told him to remove the chain and pitch it. It was ruined.

I finally took down the rakers on a couple of chains I had been using for a while....have a gauge and it looked like they were flush with it but I took them down a bit and they're cutting so much better...

doug crann said:

Sharpen my own chains. Use one of those contraptions that clamp to the bar, set the angles and have at it. Not to thrilled with the tool being basically plastic but it works. Question is the use of a depth gauge tool. How noticeable will it be if one is never used on a chain? Just eyeballing any one of my used chains the rakers are a bit lower than the cutters....(hope that is the right terminology?) Was having a neighbor use his grinder to sharpen them just was never that happy with the results.

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I never gauge my rakers. Every couple sharpenings I hit them with a flat file a couple times.

I need to practice a bit more. I've been taking mine over to my local hardware/Stihl dealer. I've got three chains that I rotate. at 6 dollars a chain its not too bad. occasionally i'll give it a few strokes between cuttings before I take it back. suppose I could do more.

Depth gauges ( rakers as some call them ) .025" to .030" lower that the top of tooth

blades said:

Depth gauges ( rakers as some call them ) .025" to .030" lower that the top of tooth

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As a rule of thumb, .025" for hardwood, .030" for softwoods.