LD1
Epic Contributor
I agree that mosst of his advice is good. #1 tho is totally wrong. Touching dirt (unless it is rocky) does NOT "instantly dull the chain". It will shorten the time before you have to resharp but with care you can hit dirt and still keep cutting for a long time.
I guess there are a few things that can determine HOW you interpret this:
First, I am used to ALWAYS running full chisel. Semi-chisel (semi-round) and chipper (round) chain can tolerate a little dirt.
Second, is how you interpret what "sharp" and "dull" means.
To me, a sharp chain will pull its own self through the wood with NO added pressure from the operator or dawging in and pulling up on the rear handle. And to ME, a dull chain will NO longer pull itself along.
BUT, what I just described as a "dull" chain WILL still cut wood of you put pressure on or dawg in. But that is bad practice as both the chain and bar will NOT last as long. The chain/bar get hotter than normal, which has less than desired results on life expectance.
On the other hand, some people believe that a chain is only dull when it absolutly will no longer cut no matter how much you try to force it. I am NOT one of those people and that is bad practice.
But I can tell you from experience, that once a chisel chain touches dirt, even for a fraction of a second, it will no longer pull itself through the wood.
You did have great advise about slowing down though before you exit the cut. A very slow chain speed when/if hitting dirt wont hurt it, but at WOT, you're done.
And again, this is with chisel. I dont use anything but, so I can only comment as to what I have heard/read. I dont know what the OP is using either, but given the two saws, MS250 and MS290, I am betting it probabally isnt chisel. But it is still good practice to treat dirt like it were steel. And chainsaws DONT cut through steel