beppington
Elite Member
I have a Stihl HT101 polesaw. I installed a brand new chain last weekend & made only about 3-4 cuts, cutting the tops of recently installed 4x4 fence posts. Seemed to cut those fine.
We've been using this saw to cut 4x4 fence post tops because I can use a level & get a nice flat-top cut :thumbsup: My dad operates the powerhead while I guide the saw end making the horizontal cut. This has worked really great on about 300 previous posts :thumbsup:
So ... Next time we used the saw with the new chain (last night) to cut off a bunch more posts, the saw was really grabby & when I went ahead & let it start cutting into the wood it immediately curved upwards very strongly; I couldn't stop it from curving. We tried several more posts & every one was the same. My previous experience with curving chainsaws is simply, dull chain. But this chain is basically brand new :confused3:
It also seemed like the chain & bar was really hot :confused3: We tried adjusting the chain to make sure tension was proper, which it already was; Made sure everything was oily, & it was. I went ahead & cleaned the bar & bar holder area & tried it again: Same result. Super-curving cuts & bar got really hot very quickly.
I still had my previous chain, so I put it on instead & the saw cut fine; We were able to finish cutting all the posts with it. I was only using that new chain for insurance, to make sure if the previous chain had any dullness I would be avoiding having any curving cuts & therefore crooked fence post tops.
Anyway, when I got home I inspected each tooth on the curving chain. Every single one seems really sharp, no nicks or dullness I can see. It's all shiny as you would expect a new chain to be.
I also lined it up against an older, worn chain that worked great for a good while, & they look just like you'd expect; They match each other to a tee except the curving one looks new & the older one is a little dirty & its teeth need sharpening.
I will say, I'm still using the original bar & sprocket after about 3 years. The bar looks fine from what I can tell, but the sprocket does have some grooves in it. My dad thought the curving chain sounded "clicky" when I rotated it by hand, whereas he thought the old one I put back on didn't have the clicky sound.
While I have used a chainsaw many, many times, I wouldn't say I'm any kind of expert on chainsaw sharpening or determining for sure if one is sharp or not. I've always just used a chain until it's spitting out fine dust/ powder (usual) or starts curving (far less common).
Sorry for the long post ... But, from all this, what do you think is causing that chain to curve off so strongly that I can't even fight it??
We've been using this saw to cut 4x4 fence post tops because I can use a level & get a nice flat-top cut :thumbsup: My dad operates the powerhead while I guide the saw end making the horizontal cut. This has worked really great on about 300 previous posts :thumbsup:
So ... Next time we used the saw with the new chain (last night) to cut off a bunch more posts, the saw was really grabby & when I went ahead & let it start cutting into the wood it immediately curved upwards very strongly; I couldn't stop it from curving. We tried several more posts & every one was the same. My previous experience with curving chainsaws is simply, dull chain. But this chain is basically brand new :confused3:
It also seemed like the chain & bar was really hot :confused3: We tried adjusting the chain to make sure tension was proper, which it already was; Made sure everything was oily, & it was. I went ahead & cleaned the bar & bar holder area & tried it again: Same result. Super-curving cuts & bar got really hot very quickly.
I still had my previous chain, so I put it on instead & the saw cut fine; We were able to finish cutting all the posts with it. I was only using that new chain for insurance, to make sure if the previous chain had any dullness I would be avoiding having any curving cuts & therefore crooked fence post tops.
Anyway, when I got home I inspected each tooth on the curving chain. Every single one seems really sharp, no nicks or dullness I can see. It's all shiny as you would expect a new chain to be.
I also lined it up against an older, worn chain that worked great for a good while, & they look just like you'd expect; They match each other to a tee except the curving one looks new & the older one is a little dirty & its teeth need sharpening.
I will say, I'm still using the original bar & sprocket after about 3 years. The bar looks fine from what I can tell, but the sprocket does have some grooves in it. My dad thought the curving chain sounded "clicky" when I rotated it by hand, whereas he thought the old one I put back on didn't have the clicky sound.
While I have used a chainsaw many, many times, I wouldn't say I'm any kind of expert on chainsaw sharpening or determining for sure if one is sharp or not. I've always just used a chain until it's spitting out fine dust/ powder (usual) or starts curving (far less common).
Sorry for the long post ... But, from all this, what do you think is causing that chain to curve off so strongly that I can't even fight it??
