Cutting downed apple trees last weekend, I couldn't resist taking a big bite out of one of the 18-20" trunks that most others had left alone (this is 80 acres of apple trees, all pulled out by an excavator due to disease... maybe 1/10th has already been harvested for firewood). I figured they must not have brought as big a saw as me...
After one trunk i figured out why they'd been left alone. Someone had put a nail in the middle of the trunk, hidden 3" into the trunk, and impossible to see prior to cutting. It was larger than a 16 penny, possibly as much as 3/16" in diameter. I didn't even notice it until I went to cut the next limb and struggled to cut a 3" piece... Then I looked back at the round I'd just cut and knew why that bastard had been such trouble.
My question is, should I even try sharpening the chain? Looking at the teeth, some of them have 1/16" chips missing... should I hold off and take it to my local Stihl dealer and have it checked? Is there a point at which such a chain becomes dangerous, or is the worst thing that happens is there is nothing left of the teeth to sharpen?
After one trunk i figured out why they'd been left alone. Someone had put a nail in the middle of the trunk, hidden 3" into the trunk, and impossible to see prior to cutting. It was larger than a 16 penny, possibly as much as 3/16" in diameter. I didn't even notice it until I went to cut the next limb and struggled to cut a 3" piece... Then I looked back at the round I'd just cut and knew why that bastard had been such trouble.
My question is, should I even try sharpening the chain? Looking at the teeth, some of them have 1/16" chips missing... should I hold off and take it to my local Stihl dealer and have it checked? Is there a point at which such a chain becomes dangerous, or is the worst thing that happens is there is nothing left of the teeth to sharpen?