WinterDeere
Elite Member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2011
- Messages
- 3,671
- Location
- Philadelphia
- Tractor
- John Deere 3033R, 855 MFWD, 757 ZTrak; IH Cub Cadet 123
Agreed. When I talk about making a judgement call on swapping a chain at noon, when I have three saws in rotation, I'm sometimes swapping a chain that's still cutting well enough, but with a look ahead knowing it won't make it all the way to the end of the day. I hate it when I choose to leave a chain on a saw, and then find myself having to interrupt work an hour or two later to swap it.Normally hand cutting noon is about a gallon of gas in one saw, if I’m cutting, bucking, and limbing in the brush it’s not hard to go to noon or later on a chain depending on terrain and what’s around the timber or in it.
As far indication of a sharp chain there’s an easier test let go of the handle bar does the chain self feed with ease? Chips are fine but even then I have chips but that chain isn’t self feeding.
View attachment 823524View attachment 823525These are brand new chains after having been ground and had the rakers dropped, from the factory they’re too high.
If I change it during the lunch break, I don't mind taking the extra minutes to clean out the chain guard, adjuster, bar groove, and re-grease the sprocket nose (I prefer bars with grease holes). But if I miss that chance, and find myself having to do it in the middle of work, then I feel pressured to just slap a new chain in there and let the gunk and chips work themselves out. Much better to do it while your cutting partner(s) are also eating and sharpening, than to hold anyone up in the middle of the afternoon, when everyone is just trying to get done.