Chain Grind angles for frozen wood

Stubs 0072

I was wondering if any you guys have any good ideas for angles to grind chains for frozen wood. this past weekend I was out cutting and i was very disapointed in my chain profrmance. I tried a few different chains but i had no luck. i used a chipper and also a full chisel chain Sthil chains. they both cut about the same very small chips and fine dust. I grind all of my own chians with a diamond wheel back to factroy spec's. In warmer weather i get them to cut better than when they were new. any thoughts would be great.

Thanks Stubs

Bruce Hopf

Hi and welcome to Tree World. I've always had my cutters sharpened at 30 degrees, for all my wood cutting, Spring Summer, Fall and Winter.
Question, have you taken your rakers down at all? If not, that would cause your chains not to cut properly.
I take my rakers down to 0.025" every now and again. I place the grinding wheel on the top of the raker (important, do one side of the chain at a time, and reset the grinder, to do the other side of the chain), place a 0.025" feeler gauge (not feel her gauge) and place it on the rest for the depth adjusting screw of the grinder, turn the depth adjusting screw till it touches the feeler gauge, turn a little back and forth, to raise and lower the grinding wheel, till it rests nicely on the top of the raker.
Once it is set, do only the side of the chain, that the grinding wheel is setting on the raker.
Once you have finished grinding down all the rakers, of that side of the chain, reset the grinder to do the other side.
This is where I made my mistake. Not realizing that the grinder would cut one side of the chain rakers, lower than the other side, by doing all the rakers at once, One side was at 0.025", where I had it set, and the other side of the chain, closest to the grinder, was over 0.030", close to 0.035", and that chain saw was very hard to control.
It would feel like the chain saw was pulling itself out of your hands, and once the felling spikes would touch the wood, it would stall out the clutch. That is why I said that it is very important to do one side of the chain once set, reset the grinder height, and do the opposite side, that you have just completed.

__________________
McCulloch chain saws
1- Pro Mac 60, 1- Pro Mac 700, 2- Mac 10-10 Automatic's, 2- Mini Mac 30's, 2- Mac 110's,
2- Mini Mac 35's, 1- Mac 140 with Automatic Chain Sharpener,
1- Pro Mac 10-10, 1- Mac Cat, 2- Eager Beaver
2.0's, 1- Mac 1-10
Stihl chain saws
2- 044's, 2- 034's, 2- 024's, 1- 064, 1- 084,
Strunk chain saws
1- Busy Beaver, 1- SpeeDemon Special
Stand Back, I Have A Very Extreme Case of CAD (Chain Saw Addiction Disorder).

Stubs 0072

I use the depth gauge that you can get for sthil for setting the rackers. but to be honest with you i could not tell you where the rackers were set at with the chains that i used. i will put them on the bench and take a look. Thank you for replying. have a merry Christmas.

Gypo Logger

I never found that frozen wood had any effect on cutters any more than a cleaver on a frozen steak, however, snow is an enemy to chain because it dilutes the bar lube and eventually can cause bar chipping and chain breakage due to extreme temp fluctuation. But this is only happens after prolonged use in such situations.
John

MCW

Certainly pays to check mate but my Speed Sharp Auto is consistent from side to side. My MAXX wasn't, hence I sold it.
I set the table at 0°, head angle at about 80° and that pretty well replicates a File-O-Plate which is what I use to set all mine, and my customer's rakers.

Willard Holmen

Hey Stubs, we are both next door neighbors and we both have frozen wood. I share your pain. I have chainsaw logged for a living in -40 temps [-40C, -40F are the same]. I had no choice then to work in these conditions because here in northern Manitoba it can go -40 everday for a whole month and it was always around Christmas time, money had to be made.
With a good chisel chain [Stihl, Oregon] file your top cutter plates to 20 degrees angle, keep your depth gauges at around .020 and progressively lower them to .030 when the cutters are filed down to the witness marks, hold your file handle 10 degrees down while filing. This is the correct settings for frozen wood, soft and hardwood.
I remember back around 1985 when a Stihl German factory engineer named Yurgen Wolfe came to visit our logging site at Thompson Manitoba. It was around -40 that morning, he first questioned why we were using 70cc saws in small diameter timber. He figured all we needed was a 50cc saw.
He then saw why when we showed him our frozen logs in our wood pile at the landing with a cutting demonstration cutting off a few butts.
He then said he never saw trees frozen that much and now understood why we used the bigger saws.
Willard.

Snowman

Thanks for that Holmen Tree. Ive been experimenting with different angles to deal with frozen beetle kill Lodgepole in the deep winter. Cutting performance was really dizmal and when time is money, its a problem. Gonna try theses angles this winter.

Willard Holmen

File handle tilted down 10 degrees is the key in frozen wood. Plus blunter top plate angles.

Willard.

Snowman

No hand filing for me, everything done on a Speed Star.

Willard Holmen

Sorry then I can't help you snowman, in my close to 40 yrs filing sawchain I never used a grinder, besides a handheld 4 1/2" disc angle grinder to bring a severly rocked out chain back to range for filing
Willard.