Greasing a nose sprocket

Tony said:
The general rule from my discussions with all kinds of sawyers from all over the place is much along the lines Matias. Once you put grease in a tip you limit the amount of bar oil that can get in. So if you grease you are going to have to keep on greasing.

Having said that I find that a properly maintained saw with proper bar oil rarely needs greased. The exceptions, long bar lenghts as in 42” and more. Cutting in wet or snowy conditions, however if this is consistent a hard nose bar would be the answer. Cutting very gritty/ dirt impregnated wood. (I once had to help clear the spillways on a dam. Drift wood is very much the same)

All in all, I rarely grease bar tips and train others to pay attention to maintenance, keep their shit sharp ( the single most important maintenance factor) and do what the saw and conditions demand.

Tony
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Plus one for keeping the teeth sharp. It always blows my non arb friends' minds when show them that their saw isn't as shitty as they think it is; usually just running dull chain.
 
Tony said:
keep their shit sharp ( the single most important maintenance factor)
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I religiously grease my bar sprocket every time I add chain oil but I’m not convinced I’m any closer to chainsaw heaven for doing so.

I’ll definitely second @Tony about chain sharpening as being the number one contributor to bar longevity, and would add proper chain tensioning (that’s to say pretty tight) as number two, followed by periodic bar groove cleaning combined with bar flipping as the third way to let your bar live long and prosper.
 
pete3d said:
I religiously grease my bar sprocket every time I add chain oil but I’m not convinced I’m any closer to chainsaw heaven for doing so.

I’ll definitely second @Tony about chain sharpening as being the number one contributor to bar longevity, and would add proper chain tensioning (that’s to say pretty tight) as number two, followed by periodic bar groove cleaning combined with bar flipping as the third way to let your bar live long and prosper.
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That's my only beef with the old guys around here: they seem to all run their chains loose as all get up. They tell me that mine are too tight, but I think I get more life outta my bars. Hard to make any accurate comparison, but I think of it as a safety issue first and foremost
 
Matias said:
That's my only beef with the old guys around here: they seem to all run their chains loose as all get up. They tell me that mine are too tight, but I think I get more life outta my bars. Hard to make any accurate comparison, but I think of it as a safety issue first and foremost
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I might be in the old school camp on this one. I like my chains loose, being able to slip a penny under a raker on 32” and greater bars on the bottom of the bar with the saw off. Taught this and reinforced over the years from some serious fallers.
If you can slip a penny under the third raker while pulling slack on the top of the chain it’s too loose.
Anything tighter than giving the chain a flick with the tip of a file one handed is too tight on shorter bars.
 
evo said:
I might be in the old school camp on this one. I like my chains loose, being able to slip a penny under a raker on 32” and greater bars on the bottom of the bar with the saw off. Taught this and reinforced over the years from some serious fallers.
If you can slip a penny under the third raker while pulling slack on the top of the chain it’s too loose.
Anything tighter than giving the chain a flick with the tip of a file one handed is too tight on shorter bars.
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There's a fine line for sure. I concur that the chain should move fairly freely, but I set it at the upper limit of appropriate tightness to begin with, as I know it will loosen in a cut or two and stay closer to that for a good while. I let it go for a while getting looser before I retighten. I think we are all likely guilty of not tightening as often as we should.
 
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It wears the bar less than an overly tight chain perhaps, but chain slap from loose chains makes lots of wear. Checkout the highspeed photo Madsens has, posted above, of tail wear from loose chain.
 
Serf Life said:
It wears the bar less than an overly tight chain perhaps, but chain slap from loose chains makes lots of wear. Checkout the highspeed photo Madsens has, posted above, of tail wear from loose chain.
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I think there's a missing link, no pun intended. I'm keen to see those images.
 
Mick Dempsey said:
A chain is too tight when it makes that ‘zuuup’ noise when you throttle off.
A chain is too loose when it is visibly drooping off the bottom of the bar.
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Ok, but what is visible drooping? Half a drive link exposed? A full drive link?

I get what you're saying. I think I keep my chains at a proper tension, but for others who may stumble across this thread some concrete info might help them.

I wonder how hard it would be for manufacturers to have a built in tensioner scale on saws and say appropriate tension is between x and y?
 
Serf Life said:
It wears the bar less than an overly tight chain perhaps, but chain slap from loose chains makes lots of wear. Checkout the highspeed photo Madsens has, posted above, of tail wear from loose chain.
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I hear ya, I haven’t experienced any excessive wear. I’m still running the second bar I bought for my first saw. Bought the saw about 15 years ago. Far from my daily.

Also still running the bar that came with my 020, which I’ve owned for about 10 years.

While these saws don’t see heavy production use, both have been through at least a spool of chain per saw

On a scale of 1-10. One being so tight it takes pushing a file with both hands to get the chain to move, and 10 being so loose the saw WILL throw a chain. I stick to about a 6-7.
 
Here is what I learned - this is still subjective, but a little less, maybe:

Tighten the chain until it sits flush with the bar on the bottom and then checking at the top of the bar, I can pull up on the chain in the middle of the bar without much effort and see the bottoms of the rakers. Obviously the amount of pull it takes is going to be less on a 32" bar than on a 14" bar. Much more loose than that and it will be too loose when it gets running and heats up. Tighter means more unnecessary friction.

It's not like we are tuning a guitar here, in my opinion, there is some variability in what is "correct". Just don't crank it down or leave it really sagging.
 
Boomslang said:
Ok, but what is visible drooping? Half a drive link exposed? A full drive link?

I get what you're saying. I think I keep my chains at a proper tension, but for others who may stumble across this thread some concrete info might help them.

I wonder how hard it would be for manufacturers to have a built in tensioner scale on saws and say appropriate tension is between x and y?
Click to expand...
I think the measured tension on a short bar and long bar would be different enough that it would be more complicated...probably need multiple scales (color codes?) for each chain length.

My guess is that pro saw users wouldn't be willing to pay for such a feature - everyone thinking they already know...and homeowner saws cannot afford to add that because even if it is a great feature, it will price the saw out of the bottom-end pricing market.

Not saying it is a bad idea - just that I'm not sure it is one that would find wide market appeal.
 
ATH said:
I think the measured tension on a short bar and long bar would be different enough that it would be more complicated...probably need multiple scales (color codes?) for each chain length.

My guess is that pro saw users wouldn't be willing to pay for such a feature - everyone thinking they already know...and homeowner saws cannot afford to add that because even if it is a great feature, it will price the saw out of the bottom-end pricing market.

Not saying it is a bad idea - just that I'm not sure it is one that would find wide market appeal.
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I forgot the /s lol. It was meant as a bit of a joke since no one can seem to agree what "proper" tension is.

As mentioned above were not dealing with precision engineering here and there's little risk of injury so in the end it just comes down to your money.
 
No Sag, No Drag.

Every manual says this sentiment.

Better a bit loose than a little tight.

Tensioning is to be done on a cold bar and chain, with the bar tip up.


If the chain is hot, and thermally expanded, then tightened, it will cool, shrink, and put pressure on the crankshaft.

Idk if the concern is about crank seals, in part or exclusively.
 
I prefer my chains loose. I detest a correctly suggested tightened chain. Every time I collect a saw that was getting repairs from the saw shop dealer I cringe at the chain. I run them tighter for my crew guys because they will throw a chain like I run easily. Their cutting skills are not the best on a good day.
 
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