Simple Chainsaw Bar and Chain Maintenance for the Woodturner

While the chainsaw is a valuable tool for the woodturner it is usually used intermittently. Maintenance is necessary as it is for all tools and can be easily accomplished.

It should be noted that chainsaws are extremely dangerous as tools go and should be treated with respect. Instruction in the use of the saw is necessary before using it and safety is the concern of the user. Protective clothing should be worn along with proper face, ear and eye protection. A well maintained saw is a safer saw.

First of all, examine the bar and chain of the saw. The chain should be sharp with all teeth the same size. Sharpening the chain involves two procedures, filing the teeth and filing the depth gauges. The teeth are easiest to file using the recommended size file and a guide that both holds the file and ensures that it cuts to the right depth. Each tooth should be the same length when finished so if one is duller than the rest and requires more filing, file the other teeth to the same length. One tooth longer than the others tends to pull the bar in its own direction and can cause binding. It is a good idea to touch up the teeth at every filling of gasoline or, if the saw is electric, every couple of hours of use. If the saw hits the ground or something other than wood, consider it dull and sharpen the chain. Some sawyers like to have their chains professionally ground at regular intervals and file in between.

The depth gauges are projections in front of the teeth and prevent the teeth from taking too great a cut and possibly catching and kicking the bar back at the user. If they are too high, on the other hand, the teeth are not able to cut to depth and quickly dull from rubbing the wood. Again, a simple jig from your chainsaw supplier allows for easy measuring and ensuring that each depth gauge is filed to the proper height. Depth gauges should be checked every few chain sharpenings.

The bar should be straight, clean and tight to the saw. There are adjustments for proper tension on the chain and it should be set according to your manufacturer's instructions. Too much tension can lead to over heating and ruining both bar and chain while too little tension can cause the chain to catch and kick the saw at the user or to fling the chain off and cause injury. Generally, all that is involved is tensioning a set screw until the chain moves easily on the bar. The bar is held in place with a couple of nuts that need to be checked every filling or at frequent intervals as the vibration of the saw may cause them to loosen.

One of the most obvious things to check and one that is too often not done is to make sure there is plenty of bar oil in the reservoir. This is different from the oil that is mixed with the gasoline and appropriate oils should be used in either case. Bar oil gets flung off by the movement of the chain but helps greatly in keeping the bar cool and in smooth cutting. Most saws are designed to need the reservoir filled with every filling of gasoline. Woodturners tend not to run a saw long enough to run it dry and may forget to fill the bar oil reservoir.

Routine maintenance should become just that, routine. Once the habit is formed, it ceases to be a chore and instead becomes an enjoyable part of the woodturning practice.

Chainsaw Use For The Woodturner

   Very quickly, woodturners learn that one of the difficulties of woodturning is the acquiring of wood large enough for faceplate turning. It is both difficult and expensive. However, there is often a good supply of local wood in log form if the means to deal with it are available. A chainsaw makes the handling of logs and their processing into turning blanks readily accessible.

   One of the first things to know about a chainsaw is its danger. A chainsaw is one of if not the most dangerous power tools in the woodworker's arsenal. The working part of the saw is a bar covered with a moving cutting chain that is designed to crosscut through hardwood. As such it will not even pause for flesh. In addition it is a simple matter to catch the tip of the bar in such a manner so as to make the saw kick back or jump at the user with amazing speed and power. With this said, there are many people who use a chainsaw day in and day out without problem. While the risk of using any power tool rests with the user, it is a good idea in this case to get instruction from an experienced user before handling the saw on your own.

   Chainsaws come in a variety of types and sizes but for most woodturners there are some simple considerations to think of when buying. Saws are sized by power and bar length. As a general rule subject to all the dangers of generalities, a sixteen inch bar will be long enough for most turners and twelve will be a little short at some point in the woodturning career. Another general rule is to buy the most powerful motor you can afford. It is easier on the user and the saw assuming the weight is also good for the user.

   The power source will be either electric or gasoline. Gasoline is more convenient outside the shop but there is a danger form carbon monoxide when running an internal combustion engine indoors not to mention the huge noise from the motor. Electric saws require heavy extension cords and in general cut slower than gas saws, but are quieter and get the job done.

   The turner should learn to sharpen and maintain the saw. Chains dull quickly if they hit rocks or nails in the wood and sometimes they touch the ground when cutting logs to length. A chain that hits the ground is dull and needs sharpening. This is not difficult to learn and files for sharpening are cheap. If the saw is kept with the bar oiled and the fuel for a gas saw mixed properly, a routine maintenance check by a good repairman or dealer is all that will be needed for long saw life.

   Chainsaws need not be fearful for the woodturner to use and will make the gaining of bowl blanks and the like much easier. Good instruction can make all the difference in the pleasure added to getting ones own wood for woodturning.

Roughing a Bowl, Video 4: Knocking off the corners

Once the blanks are marked I like to cut off the corners before mounting on the lathe. First of all it tends to give a better balance without all the extra wood. There is also a chance to cut off any extra bits and pieces that might otherwise give balance problems. Second it allows for a bigger bowl to be placed on the lathe. The diagonal of the blank is about 1 1/2 times as long as the diameter of the blank. Actually about 1.4 times for all you fussy mathematician types. Getting as much of the extra wood off the corners as possible allows me to turn a 16" bowl on my 16" lathe instead of only a 10" to 11". Finally, the chainsaw is a bit faster than the lathe at the wood removal.

Roughing a Bowl, Video 3: Marking out the circles

I like to cut away as much as possible of the blank before roughing the bowl. Some turners with larger and more powerful lathes like to throw on the half log and turn but I find the chain saw faster to work with. Also, the better balanced the blank the easier and safer to turn.

Actually, for larger bowls, say 10 inches and over, I usually cut an angle at the ends to match the slope of the sides, but this is a more dangerous cut for the inexperienced so I left it out of the video. Hope you enjoy.

Roughing a Bowl, Video 2 : ripping in two

In this part I rip the log sections in two to create 2 blanks per section. This is one of the safest cuts for a chainsaw but also a hard one on the saw. Maintain an angle of about 60° through the log and allow the shavings to clear. Chainsaws are intended for crosscuts and the long shavings of a rip cut can cause the saw to bind. They can also interfere with the oiler so make sure that there is sufficient oil for the chain. I just use a regular sharpening of the chain. The saw buck with a channel here is superior to the "X" shape buck which would cause the wood to bind when the cut is completed and the two sections slid down the sides of the "X" to the center, trapping the bar between them.

Wood Turning Friends

One of the great aspects of wood turning is the friends you make along the way. One of the fellows at church was talking about things with another friend as they stood by the wood pile. As the friend commented on how dry the wood was he picked at a piece of bark to real bird's eye underneath. The log was about 12 feet long and around 9 inches at the butt. My friend said I could have it if I wanted. Now the log was 2 years old and had surface cracks but I still said, "sure."

I took out the saw and cut it into manageable pieces and brought it home. Even though the log was 2 years old I Anchorsealed the ends.

One of my intentions is to document the using of this log to give folks an understanding of how you might work with something like this. Everyone does it a little different but it should be fun to compare notes as I go.

Spindle Turning

I took a bit of time in the shop today to answer a question from one of my web page readers about getting a block of wood for spindle turning. A lot of us have fire wood handy and a lot cheaper than buying a 3" square of turning wood. He was wondering what to do to get a turning square. Since I start with a chain saw, it was easier to make a movie than to take photos. So I put a movie up on YouTube. The easiest way to find it is to do a search on my name at Youtube. I am working on how to post it to a blog. It is supposed to be easy but I am sometimes techno challenged. This is one of those simple things that will take a while to get used to doing.
It was great to be back in the shop and good to be spindle turning. I have not done enough lately.