How To Sharpen A Chainsaw Properly - 98% Make This Mistake

How To Sharpen A Chainsaw Properly - 98% Make This Mistake That saw of yours used to throw fat chips across the woodpile. Now it smokes and crawls and spits out a fine dust like flour. And here is the bitter part. You sharpen that chain faithfully, every tank of fuel, and the more you file, the worse it cuts. So you buy a new chain for thirty or forty dollars, and a few weeks later you are back to making dust. Chain after chain after chain. Today I am going to show you the old way to make a chain bite again, and far more important, to keep it cutting, and it costs next to nothing. I keep up this place in these hills with my own hands, the way my people always have, and a dull chain is no new trouble. The old men up these hollows bucked cords of oak and hickory every fall, and they kept one chain cutting for years with a five dollar round file and a bit of knowing. My grandfather filed his chain on the tailgate of his old truck by the last of the light, and he taught me the one thing that tells you whether your filing is right or wrong. It needs no gauge and nothing to buy. But first, the honest safety word, for a chainsaw is no toy and I will not have anyone hurt. Mind the safety every time you lay a file on a saw. Shut it off, set the brake, clamp the bar tight, and wear good gloves and eye protection. A chain that has struck a rock, cracked a tooth, or stretched loose on the bar belongs with a saw shop, plain and simple. There is no shame in that. Tell me in the comments below, is your saw throwing chips or making dust? What saw do you run? And tell me your county and what wood you cut, oak or hickory or pine, because the wood differs greatly across the country, and the filing with it. I like to map it by where you all write from, and I read every one. Next time, I want to show you the old way to set the rakers step by step, how to check them with a plain gauge, and when to leave them alone, so your chain bites deep and cuts safe. The old men cut their winter wood with one chain and a round file, and the chips piled up around their boots to prove it. It was plain cheap things and the knowing of how to use them. The people who built this country with their hands knew that, and we are only just starting to remember it.