bar wandering

jsm

I've been doing some clean up around the property recently and took down a standing dead poplar. I notice when I was cutting the tree into logs that the bar was wandering off of the vertical cut the farther it sawed through the tree. I tried multiple times to correct this without success. I checked the chain's tension and it seemed good, Is it me, the saw, or maybe both.

Jeff Darby

It sounds to like your cutting corners, this happens when the rail of the bar has un even wear form lack of rotating the bar after sharpening.

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jsm

I am obviously very uneducated in proper maintenance of chain saws... your saying that your supposed to flip the bar over after sharpening the chain?

superfire

Let us start from the basics. What saw are we dealing with. What brand bar and chain? If know these then the rest can be solved eeasier.

Jeff Darby

It's easy to check. Just pull the chain and bar off and have a look at the rails on the bar, I suspect you will see one lower than the other...un even wear makes the saw cut corners. for starters, if not it could be technique ?. It could be one thing or a number of things combined

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superfire

Jayd is right sometimes bars can wear un evenly if not treat right. Along with what Jayd said how is the chain been maintained?

jsm

The saw is a stihl 026, oregon bar and .325 chain. I bought this saw used and it still has the 20" bar it came with, have not used the saw recently, but I do realize it needs a shorter bar. I have read of 7, 8, 9 pin bars on this forum, I am not sure what these #'s represent. The chain is sharpened regularly. If the bar is worn unevenly, it sounds like it's time for a new bar. What is the best way to prevent this in the future?

superfire

I woul personaly change the saw over to 3/8 pitch. At the end of each cutting session I would recomend doing a thuro cleaning of the saw. Part of the cleaning the saw is removing the bar cleaning the bar groove and oil hole and flipping the bar over .

danschweitzer

Ye, the abouve is correct. You want to put the bar in a vice, then with the flat file in the sharpening kit file the rails level 90 degrees to face of bar then remove the bur. check the chain. make sure the teeth are the same length on both sides . Put the least worn side to the bottom. that should get it cutting strait. Sounds like a bit of a big bar for an 026. I run mine with a 15" 3/8" chain and bar,but my saw has a moded muffler. Check the 026 mods and porting thread for some brill priceless info on that saw!!

Eric Frei

Spot on advice.

The practice (regarding the bar) is known as "dressing the bar".

If all things are equal and symmetrical then it will cut straight not curved bananas.

Often when stumps are cut down low people lie the saw on it's side with the bar close to the ground and cut the stump. Beside the stump being the dirtiest near the ground (dulling the chain) you also get minute soil dust (often from the exhaust of the saw) flying up onto the chain, invariably the face of the bar closest to the ground (and likely the chain too) will get more wear. Often after low stump cuts when you inspect the teeth you'll notice more wear (dulling) on the teeth that were on the side closest to the ground.

Many pros will leave all the low stump cuts until last knowing it trashes chains.

Many novices end up with shorter teeth on one side than the other, and bar rails that are not square or parallel.

They do have special files for dressing bars but I do not like them or use them.

This link has PDF's on it, read filing instructions and bar troubleshooting.

Chain filing - sharpening chainsaw| sharpen chain video

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gooddog

jsm...to put it simply...first see if your chain is sharp. If the teeth are more dull on one side than the other, it will pull to one side. Next, as the others have stated, check to see if your bar is worn. Does the chain wiggle side to side more on the bottom than the top? If it does, flip the bar. There is a tool that is made of plastic and has a short piece of file in it for dressing the bar edge. It's made to keep the file perpendicular to the sides. The pro's will do this with no tool because they are good at it. Many years ago, I worked in a shop that had a machine that would regroove and dress the edge of bars.

danschweitzer

You did'nt read about 7,8,9 pin bars they were rim sprockets. If you switch to 3/8" GAUGE on that saw you will only be able to use a 7 tooth rim sprocket . I think it's a spur sprocket you want though. the ones that are changeable without moving the clutch cover. If its .325 (standard for this saw) you can get 7 and 8 tooth rim and spur sprockets for this saw. I ran mine with both. open up egsauhst a little then re-tune . I would'nt open it up too much though see the 026 mods and porting thread. This will give a bit more power. If you run a 15" .325 bar and chain on this saw with an 8 tooth rim or spur sprocket you need an extra drive link in the chain. It will probably manege the 3/8" though. Regards and happy new year! to all the info on this site I know read and you will learn

Eric Frei

If he switched to 3/8, 0.050" guage the saw would be a screamer and cut like a hot knife through butter.

0.325 chain sucks, I have always switched it out.

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danschweitzer

Is that the pico 3\8" or the chunky 3/8" chain you're on about Erik. Happy new year!

Eric Frei

Pico, same chain as on the ms200T, goes like the clappers, narrow kerf, fast cut ideal for pruning .... maybe not so good for aged hardwood/firewood. But I'm a tree guy not firewood guy.

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newguy18

All of the above is great advice,but i also watched a brand new saw cut corners do to operator error,in that case they guy wasn't using dogs and torquing on the saw.Dogs are essential to making square cuts and let the saw do the work,do push or pull or"lean on the saw".

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