Railroad ties = death to a chain!

[CHeath]

Ha! I knew it would kill my saw but I had 5 huge ties soaked with creosote. I have been wanting to do steps around to the basement (don't have them inside) for 10 years now. Well, yesterday I got a we hair and finished it. However the chain is finished. I made 3 cuts per tie so 15 cuts. I resharpened 6 times but the last 2 times didn't help. Looks like new chain time. Steps are done tho!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Wow!

 

[ArsenalDon]

A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do

 

[bogydave]

You did the best you could for RR ties.
Lucky you only use one chain.
Good job!
Check mark on the to do list

 

[red oak]

Yeah they'll kill a chain for sure! But - your steps are done!

 

[MasterMech]

Ha! I knew it would kill my saw but I had 5 huge ties soaked with creosote. I have been wanting to do steps around to the basement (don't have them inside) for 10 years now. Well, yesterday I got a we hair and finished it. However the chain is finished. I made 3 cuts per tie so 15 cuts. I resharpened 6 times but the last 2 times didn't help. Looks like new chain time. Steps are done tho!

Carbide Chain! (Stihl Picco Duro or similar) The pricing has gotten much more reasonable than carbide stuff used to be. Bad news is you probably won't be able to resharpen it yourself.

With your existing chain, have you filed down the rakers? If the've never been lowered than after 6+ sharpenings it is probably high time.

 

[blades]

One man 3 or 4 ft tuttle tooth saw still works the best for those

 

[Redlegs]

A $7 pro sharpening (with grinding down the depth gauge) is cheaper than $24 new chain - might be worth a try.

 

[ozzy73]

Pics of the steps ?

 

[lukem]

Used ties are usually full of dirt and that would be extra hard on a chain. Most ties have a "S" shaped chunk of metal pressed into the ends to keep the ends from splitting.

If a tie is clean and you don't try to cut through that metal it shouldn't be any harder on a chain than anything else.

I've cut a lot of them for retaining walls, etc. and never noticed them being especially hard on a chain if you are careful where you cut

 

[CHeath]

My steps are not worthy lol. They are just steps. Nuttin fancy.