Rocked Chain

[whitesnake]

So, hit some junk in a log with one of my chains. Was pretty much a new chain. A tooth or 3 got a little beat up. I could file them back and get them good again...but then the rest of the chain has to match however much I took off the bad cutters correct? Any easy way to do this without a power grinder?

 

[mitchm1]

They don’t have to match
They just won’t cut as deep as the others


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[huskihl]

You can sharpen the whole chain without keeping tooth length the same. Just make sure to set each individual raker to its own cutter and it’ll cut straight

 

[farminkarman]

You can sharpen the whole chain without keeping tooth length the same. Just make sure to set each individual raker to its own cutter and it’ll cut straight

+1

 

[Homemade]

You can sharpen the whole chain without keeping tooth length the same. Just make sure to set each individual raker to its own cutter and it’ll cut straight

+2


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[Nutball]

You can sharpen the whole chain without keeping tooth length the same. Just make sure to set each individual raker to its own cutter and it’ll cut straight

In theory, but there's no side depth gauge, and longer teeth also stick out to the side further. I'd play it safe and match each pair of teeth. I used to get all the teeth the same length hand filing, but it is a lot of effort if only a few get wrecked by rocks, so I match them by the pair now. It won't perform perfectly smooth that way, but it will surely cut straight. It should balance out over time too as the longer teeth take the brunt of the rocks.

 

[whitesnake]

Fair enough, makes sense. Doesn't matter much to me as long as it doesn't affect the cut. I just didn't know if it would chatter or cut a little crooked, etc. But now that I think about it a little more what you guys say makes sense. I think I have a few more I stashed away after I clipped something. I'll dig them out and make it a project for a cold night. Thanks!

 

[pbillyi69]

if you hit something they all need to be sharpened but you dont have to make all of the cutters the same length. like huskil said just adjust the depth guage to the ones that you have to make shorter

 

[Wilhelm]

When I hit something with my chain not being wood I do eirher of this:
A) if many teeth in a row are damaged, I file them all back to same length and reset the rakers. If nothing else I regain a near perfect chain.
B) if only a few cutters here and there are damaged I file them back to near sharp but do not touch the rakers. As I continue using the chain and sharpening it the teeth will eventually regain identical length, till that happens the shorter teeth serve as scoring teeth.

Generally, on a short bar I will do option A, on my long bar I will do either A or B.
But I do prefer my chains to be at their best.

 

[Wolverine]

As long as you use a progressive style depth gauge, every cutter can be differently lengths and the chain will still cut straight.
The Carlton File-o-plate style, Husky makes one and I believe Stihl does now too.


They are attached to their roller file guides too:

I’ve hit metal millin, multiple times and it buggered one side of the cutters, multiple times. This style of filing the rakers/depth gauges will keep you cutting straight.

 

[Wolverine]

It’s all about the angle of the dangle.

 

[Hinerman]

You can sharpen the whole chain without keeping tooth length the same. Just make sure to set each individual raker to its own cutter and it’ll cut straight

I am too OCD for that nonsense, lol. All teeth need to be close to the same in my head...

 

[davidwyby]

West coast saw has a progressive raker gauge that looks really good

 

[huskihl]

I am too OCD for that nonsense, lol. All teeth need to be close to the same in my head...

I grind the longer ones and pull it over a little to nip the shorter ones myself. It’ll all be sharp again the next couple rounds. I would do it different I suppose if the chain was cutting crooked

 

[Duce]

Good grief, just grab a new chain and keep cutting. Bench grinder with take care of it later, only cut firewood.

 

[whitesnake]

Generally what I do I got a couple hundred feet of xcut. But still no point in throwing away a new chain with a few damaged cutters. I'm not going to stop work to fix it but I'll fix it in my down time.

 

[Wilhelm]

If it's a longer loop with just a few damaged cutters simply sharpen it as if nothing happened and ignore the dull cutters for the time being.
Over time as You keep sharpening the chain You will eventually get to the damaged area of the rocked cutters.

 

[whitesnake]

True it will just skip over them for a few sharpenings.

 

[Mastermind]

I just rock the rest of the teeth. Then my world is complete.

 

[whitesnake]

If def destroyed plenty. Such is life. No fixing those. More simple.