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Old 12-16-18, 08:39 PM   #5
CrankyDoug
Apprentice EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Georgia
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Steve;
At one time nearly all the chain sold in the US was made by Oregon, sold under at least a dozen brands. Files were either Oregon or about three european brands. Oregon had developed a process around 1970 for making round files that were so much better than the competition that everyone else just bought Oregon files. I remember hearing stories of the secrecy surrounding their process. No doubt the secret has long been out.

I worked for two saw shops and was a Husqvarna dealer for awhile. I also worked in the woods for five years, starting out as a choker setter. When I realized how much the fallers were making I decided "that's for me!" I did it for two years and realised I wasn't built for it. Then I ran a skidder for a few years.

The collapse of the timber industry in Oregon was the best thing that ever happened to me. No job, busted up body, might as well pack up and go to college. My first job out of school tripled my best year's income as a logger. But those loggers on TV are right, it gets in your blood. Nowadays I do about 20 trees a year instead of 100 a day. The neighbors think I'm nuts but they appreciate having trees removed for free.

Phib;
There are two schools of thought on keeping the cutters all the same length. I try to keep the cutters close to the same on homeowner saws because the bars are short. The longer the bar the less important it becomes. Most fallers will say it makes no sense to file all cutters back just because one hit a rock. Just file the bad one back until it is good. You will probably hit another tooth on another rock tomorrow. With a 32 inch bar you don't even notice a missing cutter.

I alway kept the rakers about .030 below the chisel so a short tooth had more removed from the raker than the rest. I rarely go below .020 for other peoples saws. .030 will pull the saw out of the hands of an inexperienced person. I knew a few fallers with big saws that ground the rakers clear off a new chain. These were big men and they bought a lot of chain. They also made a lot of money.

In the shop I used a chisel profile grinder for professional fallers that didn't want to spend an hour a day sharpening. Some customers brought me 10-12 chains every week. Hand filing a chisel profile is a PITA. I did it for awhile on my own saws but went back to a round file to save time. A chisel profile grinder was a month's wages back then.

We always ground each tooth to the same position on customer chains. The boss said he would never do it on his own saw but it was a great way to sell more chain.

Well I don't think any of this is relavent to the OP (apologies to Synthia). Sure felt good endlessly blathering about it though.
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