In an effort to eke a bit more life out of my chains on my cheapo lidl
chainsaw I bought myself a Stihl 2in1 sharpener.

I think either Ive cocked up the sharpening or theres another problem.
If Im cutting with €œheel€� of the chain closest to the motor or with the
tip of the blade if produces good size shavings. Cutting with the centre
of the bar starts off okay but when Im sawing logs the blade seems to stop
cutting and just produces fine sawdust. Moving the chainsaw in and out to
use the €œheel€� and the €œnose€� enables me to carry on cutting but obviously
its not right.

As an aside, Ive never been convinced that the blade oiler is doing a good
enough job. Theres never been any oil splatter when revved and held
vertically over a piece of paper. The pump is pumping out oil though. I
can see it if I run the engine without the chain but the chain and bar get
very hot in use.

Could the bar be worn or in some way affecting the way the chain is
cutting?

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

On 19/05/2020 22:27, Tim+ wrote:

In an effort to eke a bit more life out of my chains on my cheapo lidl
chainsaw I bought myself a Stihl 2in1 sharpener.

I think either Ive cocked up the sharpening or theres another problem.
If Im cutting with €œheel€� of the chain closest to the motor or with the
tip of the blade if produces good size shavings. Cutting with the centre
of the bar starts off okay but when Im sawing logs the blade seems to stop
cutting and just produces fine sawdust. Moving the chainsaw in and out to
use the €œheel€� and the €œnose€� enables me to carry on cutting but obviously
its not right.

As an aside, Ive never been convinced that the blade oiler is doing a good
enough job. Theres never been any oil splatter when revved and held
vertically over a piece of paper. The pump is pumping out oil though. I
can see it if I run the engine without the chain but the chain and bar get
very hot in use.

Could the bar be worn or in some way affecting the way the chain is
cutting?

Lack of lubrication can cause some odd behaviours - including a hot bar,
and lots of steam from the cut. It quite often swells the wood near the
cut making progress much harder.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 19/05/2020 22:27, Tim+ wrote:

I think either Ive cocked up the sharpening or theres another problem.
If Im cutting with €œheel€� of the chain closest to the motor or with the
tip of the blade if produces good size shavings. Cutting with the centre
of the bar starts off okay but when Im sawing logs the blade seems to stop
cutting and just produces fine sawdust. Moving the chainsaw in and out to
use the €œheel€� and the €œnose€� enables me to carry on cutting but obviously
its not right.

File down the spur between the blades on the chain a tiny bit. Put a
straightedge across the blades at the midpoint of the bar and the spurs
should be about 0.3mm lower.

Bill

Tim+ wrote:
In an effort to eke a bit more life out of my chains on my cheapo lidl
chainsaw I bought myself a Stihl 2in1 sharpener.

I think either Ive cocked up the sharpening or theres another problem.
If Im cutting with €œheel€� of the chain closest to the motor or with the
tip of the blade if produces good size shavings. Cutting with the centre
of the bar starts off okay but when Im sawing logs the blade seems to stop
cutting and just produces fine sawdust. Moving the chainsaw in and out to
use the €œheel€� and the €œnose€� enables me to carry on cutting but obviously
its not right.

As an aside, Ive never been convinced that the blade oiler is doing a good
enough job. Theres never been any oil splatter when revved and held
vertically over a piece of paper. The pump is pumping out oil though. I
can see it if I run the engine without the chain but the chain and bar get
very hot in use.

Could the bar be worn or in some way affecting the way the chain is
cutting?

Tim

There are at least two weights of chain oil.
Summer and Winter.

And, you adjust the tension as you cut. When
the device is cold, that's one setting, then lock
it. As it warms, the chain gets longer, and a
tension adjustment followed by locking it, may help.

With the small saws, keep the chain out of the dirt.
No flush cuts to soil level. That's really hard on the
chain. The chain "likes" soft wood.

Check out a video and make sure your chain is facing the
same way as the one in the picture. On the cutting link,
one part of the link is the depth gauge and prevents
the cutting link from taking too large a bite. The larger
part behind it, makes the bite. If the difference in height
between the two isn't correct, it will remove too much wood,
or (sawdust) too little wood. The replacement chain has
an instruction guide in the box, that includes the "depth",
which is 0.025 for my chain (on toy chainsaw). On the cutting
link, the nose is 0.025 below the cutting part that travels
behind it, according to the instructions in the replacement chain
box.

"How To Remove or Replace Electric Chainsaw Chain Quick and Easy" === Ha!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNW2cjAGxEQ

Paul

On 19/05/2020 22:27, Tim+ wrote:

In an effort to eke a bit more life out of my chains on my cheapo lidl
chainsaw I bought myself a Stihl 2in1 sharpener.

I think either Ive cocked up the sharpening or theres another problem.
If Im cutting with €œheel€� of the chain closest to the motor or with the
tip of the blade if produces good size shavings. Cutting with the centre
of the bar starts off okay but when Im sawing logs the blade seems to stop
cutting and just produces fine sawdust. Moving the chainsaw in and out to
use the €œheel€� and the €œnose€� enables me to carry on cutting but obviously
its not right.

that does not make sense
As long as I am producing big fat chips I know my blade is sharp, and
if the oil is being used its oiling the blade. Check for blueing on the
teeth for overheating.

HOWEVER deep cuts on fat logs with small chainsaws often seem
problematic. I too occasionally have to give it less lentght to cut by
rocking the saw a bit.


As an aside, Ive never been convinced that the blade oiler is doing a good
enough job. Theres never been any oil splatter when revved and held
vertically over a piece of paper. The pump is pumping out oil though. I
can see it if I run the engine without the chain but the chain and bar get
very hot in use.

Could the bar be worn or in some way affecting the way the chain is
cutting?

Tim



--
How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think.

Adolf Hitler

Tim+ wrote on 19/05/2020 :
In an effort to eke a bit more life out of my chains on my cheapo lidl
chainsaw I bought myself a Stihl 2in1 sharpener.

I bought one as a distress purchase last year, when a tree blew down.
My saw came complete with a sharpening kit, it wasn't difficult to use.

On 20/05/2020 08:36, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Tim+ wrote on 19/05/2020 :
In an effort to eke a bit more life out of my chains on my cheapo lidl
chainsaw I bought myself a Stihl 2in1 sharpener.

I bought one as a distress purchase last year, when a tree blew down. My
saw came complete with a sharpening kit, it wasn't difficult to use.

It's amazing that three hours of work and a chainsaw costs less than a
tree surgeon...


--
€œThe fundamental cause of the trouble in the modern world today is that
the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt."

- Bertrand Russell

In article , The Natural Philosopher
wrote:
On 20/05/2020 08:36, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Tim+ wrote on 19/05/2020 :
In an effort to eke a bit more life out of my chains on my cheapo lidl
chainsaw I bought myself a Stihl 2in1 sharpener.

I bought one as a distress purchase last year, when a tree blew down.
My saw came complete with a sharpening kit, it wasn't difficult to use.

It's amazing that three hours of work and a chainsaw costs less than a
tree surgeon...

true, but real tree surgeons have proper climbing kit and don't mind going
up high. That's no longer my idea of fun.

Mind you, I've acquired a lot of decent tools to do jobs myself.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

Tim+ wrote:
In an effort to eke a bit more life out of my chains on my cheapo lidl
chainsaw I bought myself a Stihl 2in1 sharpener.
I think either Ive cocked up the sharpening or theres another
problem. If Im cutting with €œheel€� of the chain closest to the motor
or with the
tip of the blade if produces good size shavings.Â* Cutting with the centre
of the bar starts off okay but when Im sawing logs the blade seems to
stop
cutting and just produces fine sawdust.Â* Moving the chainsaw in and
out to
use the €œheel€� and the €œnose€� enables me to carry on cutting but
obviously
its not right.


Oddly I only see Paul's response in this thread but it sounds like the
bar is a bit worn and your sharpening slightly uneven, the cut becomes
biaised to one side which cants the cutter over and the bar catches on
the edge of the kerf.

In message , AJH
writes

Tim+ wrote:
In an effort to eke a bit more life out of my chains on my cheapo lidl
chainsaw I bought myself a Stihl 2in1 sharpener.
I think either Ive cocked up the sharpening or theres another
problem. If Im cutting with €œheel€� of the chain closest to the
motor or with the
tip of the blade if produces good size shavings.Â* Cutting with the centre
of the bar starts off okay but when Im sawing logs the blade
seems to stop
cutting and just produces fine sawdust.Â* Moving the chainsaw in and
out to
use the €œheel€� and the €œnose€� enables me to carry on cutting
but obviously
its not right.


Oddly I only see Paul's response in this thread but it sounds like the
bar is a bit worn and your sharpening slightly uneven, the cut becomes
biaised to one side which cants the cutter over and the bar catches on
the edge of the kerf.

Easy enough to turn the bar over for a less worn slot. Concur on the
*too little lubrication* effect on domestic saws.

--
Tim Lamb

Tim Lamb wrote:
In message , AJH
writes

Tim+ wrote:
In an effort to eke a bit more life out of my chains on my cheapo lidl
chainsaw I bought myself a Stihl 2in1 sharpener.
I think either Ive cocked up the sharpening or theres another
problem. If Im cutting with €œheel€� of the chain closest to the
motor or with the
tip of the blade if produces good size shavings.Â* Cutting with the centre
of the bar starts off okay but when Im sawing logs the blade
seems to stop
cutting and just produces fine sawdust.Â* Moving the chainsaw in and
out to
use the €œheel€� and the €œnose€� enables me to carry on cutting
but obviously
its not right.


Oddly I only see Paul's response in this thread but it sounds like the
bar is a bit worn and your sharpening slightly uneven, the cut becomes
biaised to one side which cants the cutter over and the bar catches on
the edge of the kerf.

Easy enough to turn the bar over for a less worn slot. Concur on the
*too little lubrication* effect on domestic saws.


After I posted last night I suddenly thought €œWhen did I actually top up
the oil tank?€�. Some time ago actually but Ive just checked it and its
half full despite quite a lot of recent chainsaw action.

I think I need to investigate the oiling issue as according to the manual,
some €œsplatter€� should be evident in use and Ive never seen this.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

"Tim+" wrote in message
...
After I posted last night I suddenly thought €œWhen did I actually top up
the oil tank?€�. Some time ago actually but Ive just checked it and its
half full despite quite a lot of recent chainsaw action.

I think I need to investigate the oiling issue as according to the manual,
some €œsplatter€� should be evident in use and Ive never seen this.

My chainsaw (one with a rechargeable battery) has a little "window" in the
plastic oil reservoir, but it is very difficult to tell where the line of
the oil is if the tank is completely full or completely empty. Only if the
tank is partly full can you see a line to work out the level.

The filler of mine is a real *******, because there is a very small cup
above a plastic mesh filter, and you need to "pour boldly" to make sure the
oil goes downwards rather than running down the bottle, so there is a
tendency to fill the cup to overflowing, then have to wait for it to drain
slowly through the mesh so more can be poured - repeat until the cup doesn't
drain. Or else get someone else to look at the level in the visibility
window and say when the oil line is getting near to "full", because this is
not possible to do while you are looking from above at the filler cap.


I bought a reciprocating saw for pruning trees, thinking that this would be
better for thinner branches which a chainsaw may tend to snatch and get
caught in. But the coarsest blade is still relatively fine and it takes a
long time to get through a branch. My handsaw with a similar coarseness of
teeth seems to cut far more quickly - as long as its blade doesn't bind in
the wood. Similarly I was cutting a notch out of a length of 4x2 to make a
clothes prop (notch to take the washing line) and it took a lot longer with
the electric reciprocating saw than with the hand saw. I get the impression
that the blades that the saw is provided with are very soft and go blunt
quickly. I wanted to saw off the end of a screw, and the fine metal-cutting
blade has much shorter teeth in the middle where it touched the screw - and
that was after about 30 seconds use from being unused. Not what I'd expect
from a household-name maker of appliances...

In contrast, the chainsaw goes through branches very quickly - and can even
attack small branches without getting caught up, though it does tend to rip
them off! Doesn't matter if it's a tree I'm cutting down, and I'm just
trimming off the side branches before felling the trunk, but if it's a live
tree, I'd probably use the hand saw or the electric recip saw to finish off
any side branches that I pruned.

John Rumm wrote:
On 19/05/2020 22:27, Tim+ wrote:

In an effort to eke a bit more life out of my chains on my cheapo lidl
chainsaw I bought myself a Stihl 2in1 sharpener.

I think either Ive cocked up the sharpening or theres another problem.
If Im cutting with €œheel€� of the chain closest to the motor or with the
tip of the blade if produces good size shavings. Cutting with the centre
of the bar starts off okay but when Im sawing logs the blade seems to stop
cutting and just produces fine sawdust. Moving the chainsaw in and out to
use the €œheel€� and the €œnose€� enables me to carry on cutting but obviously
its not right.

As an aside, Ive never been convinced that the blade oiler is doing a good
enough job. Theres never been any oil splatter when revved and held
vertically over a piece of paper. The pump is pumping out oil though. I
can see it if I run the engine without the chain but the chain and bar get
very hot in use.

Could the bar be worn or in some way affecting the way the chain is
cutting?

Lack of lubrication can cause some odd behaviours - including a hot bar,
and lots of steam from the cut. It quite often swells the wood near the
cut making progress much harder.



Well I think the problem is a case of not RTFM! ;-)

The oil reservoir looked about half to a third full but when I ran the
engine without the chainbar not a drop of oil appeared through the
appropriate orifice.

I brimmed the oil tank and oil promptly started pumping out with the engine
running. In my defence I did read the manual but didnt accept the
importance of following the instructions to top up the oil tank up every
time I refuelled, thinking that the oiling would continue until the oil
tank ran out.

Clearly theres something a bit funny about the oil pick-up from the
reservoir but the solution seems to be simple, just follow the
instructions. ;-)

Ive run out of wood to test it on at the moment though but Im confident
that itll function better with the blade getting some oil. (The €œsplatter
test€� does produce very fine droplets now that I may have not noticed
before. They are finer than I would have expected even with the oiler
turned to max but then this is my first chainsaw so Im not sure really
just how much to expect).

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

On 20/05/2020 13:49, Tim+ wrote:
After I posted last night I suddenly thought €œWhen did I actually top up
the oil tank?€�. Some time ago actually but Ive just checked it and its
half full despite quite a lot of recent chainsaw action.


Normal test is to stand with the saw tip a couple of inches off a clean
piece of wood and rev it for ten seconds, a black line of oily debris
should appear on the wood.

If not remove the bar and do the same while looking at the oiler hole in
the crankcase, oil should bubble out. If not then common problems are
sawdust in the pump intake or stripped plastic worm gear on the pump. If
pump works the oil gallery on bar needs cleaning.

NB running saw without bar and chain on on some saws, particularly
husqvarna, can result in the inertia of the clutch shoes spinning itself
off on overrun.


You normally notice a lack of oiling by the chain stopping too quickly
on overrun and dull cutter top plates.

As yours is a common problem from worn bar (which of course lack of oil
can cause) jamming in the cut check that there is no lip on the bar
which needs dressing with a file.

If the bar has a concavity just after the nose this normally points to
the drive sprocket being worn.

"NY" Wrote in message:
"Tim+" wrote in message
...
After I posted last night I suddenly thought ?When did I actually top up
the oil tank??. Some time ago actually but I?ve just checked it and it?s
half full despite quite a lot of recent chainsaw action.

I think I need to investigate the oiling issue as according to the manual,
some ?splatter? should be evident in use and I?ve never seen this.

My chainsaw (one with a rechargeable battery) has a little "window" in the
plastic oil reservoir, but it is very difficult to tell where the line of
the oil is if the tank is completely full or completely empty. Only if the
tank is partly full can you see a line to work out the level.

The filler of mine is a real *******, because there is a very small cup
above a plastic mesh filter, and you need to "pour boldly" to make sure the
oil goes downwards rather than running down the bottle, so there is a
tendency to fill the cup to overflowing, then have to wait for it to drain
slowly through the mesh so more can be poured - repeat until the cup doesn't
drain. Or else get someone else to look at the level in the visibility
window and say when the oil line is getting near to "full", because this is
not possible to do while you are looking from above at the filler cap.


I bought a reciprocating saw for pruning trees, thinking that this would be
better for thinner branches which a chainsaw may tend to snatch and get
caught in. But the coarsest blade is still relatively fine and it takes a
long time to get through a branch. My handsaw with a similar coarseness of
teeth seems to cut far more quickly - as long as its blade doesn't bind in
the wood. Similarly I was cutting a notch out of a length of 4x2 to make a
clothes prop (notch to take the washing line)

A 4 X 2 clothes prop? Wtf are you washing?, wedding marquees?

--
Jimk


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

On Wednesday, 20 May 2020 13:49:15 UTC+1, Tim+ wrote:
Tim Lamb wrote:
In message , AJH
writes

Tim+ wrote:
In an effort to eke a bit more life out of my chains on my cheapo lidl
chainsaw I bought myself a Stihl 2in1 sharpener.
I think either Ive cocked up the sharpening or theres another
problem. If Im cutting with €œheel€� of the chain closest to the
motor or with the
tip of the blade if produces good size shavings.Â* Cutting with the centre
of the bar starts off okay but when Im sawing logs the blade
seems to stop
cutting and just produces fine sawdust.Â* Moving the chainsaw in and
out to
use the €œheel€� and the €œnose€� enables me to carry on cutting
but obviously
its not right.


Oddly I only see Paul's response in this thread but it sounds like the
bar is a bit worn and your sharpening slightly uneven, the cut becomes
biaised to one side which cants the cutter over and the bar catches on
the edge of the kerf.

Easy enough to turn the bar over for a less worn slot. Concur on the
*too little lubrication* effect on domestic saws.


After I posted last night I suddenly thought €œWhen did I actually top up
the oil tank?€�. Some time ago actually but Ive just checked it and its
half full despite quite a lot of recent chainsaw action.

I think I need to investigate the oiling issue as according to the manual,
some €œsplatter€� should be evident in use and Ive never seen this.


You'll probably find the oilway is blocked with wood chips that got into the oil tank.