Reminds me of a story that a friend told me about the guy who filed
the depth guages off. The saw would cut fine for a few seconds, then
bog down. He couldn't understand why. If they are starting to get
shiny, then it is time to take them down. Also, if you have just
sharpened the saw and the teeth are sharp, and the saw isn't cutting
well. I don't know if it would contribute to kickback, that happens
mostly when the tip of the saw comes into contact with something. You
always want the flat part of the bar to be in contact. Plunge cuts can
be made, but that is a "Professional driver on closed course, do not
attempt" thing.
robo hippy

On Oct 18, 7:15 am, "George" wrote:
"Darrell Feltmate" wrote in message

news:CMJRi.20382$G25.11575@edtnps89... Tom
Exactly. the teeth actually slant towards the bar so as they are sharpened
the cutting edge is closer to the bar and the depth guages can become
higher than the cutting edge resulting in polish rather than cut. On the
other hand a depth guage too low can be 'grabby' and lead to increased
kickback.

Which is another good reason to keep your teeth close to even length.
Avoids hit and miss and the strain that causes.

They make two dollar gages for filing the rakers, just give a couple of
front-end rounding passes after filing for depth, which is gaged from the
tooth to come.