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Understand Chainsaw Chain Anatomy and Raker Function

2:00
15:39
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At 2:00 in

How the Pro's sharpen a chainsaw

What happens here

Familiarize yourself with the key components of a chainsaw chain. The 'raker' acts as a depth gauge, controlling how much wood the 'tooth' cuts. The 'gullet' is the space behind the tooth. As you repeatedly sharpen the cutting 'tooth', it will become shorter and lower. If the raker is too high relative to the tooth, the chain won't cut effectively. Conversely, if the raker is filed down too far, the saw will 'bite' aggressively and stop, leading to kickback and potential injury, as illustrated by the 'One Finger Frankie' anecdote. Therefore, maintaining the correct depth of the raker is crucial for safe and efficient operation.

Goal: Identify chainsaw chain parts and understand the raker's role as a depth gauge

Tools and materials

  • Chainsaw Stihl — To demonstrate the chain components
  • Flat File — To point to the raker, gullet, and tooth

What they say

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right here the gullet yep this is the tooth it's the tooth yep so this is an edge you're gonna want to be checking that's the edge you check yeah exactly that's what's gonna be doing the cutting the more you sharpen the this tooth actually goes down in the back so it gets lower towards the back in which you keep sharpening this you're gonna have to adjust your depth gauge by with a flat file so you could see your sharpen this four times you can check it right here and you can just run a flat file on here so if your raker gets above your tooth it's not gonna be cutting those good or what happens if you take your raker down too far mm-hmm all your side's gonna do is just bite and stop so there's a really fine line what's the point to the raker then if it's not cutting the raker if you didn't have the raker they're all do is bite it's a depth gauge basically as what the raker is so basically the wood would come right here and just get a little shaving taken off if you didn't have any of those a piece of wood will just come and go right into you won't be able to cut that's why if someone were to take a flat file and shave your raker down too far all your saw is gonna do is bite and catch but you can catch yeah so it would just stop and kickback more and be more aggressive that's how one finger Frankie got his nickname storytime with Stan this is no lie one finger Frankie this is the story he took the rakers down Tatar he took that because he likes a real aggressive saw yeah if you know how to run one but well he not the safe way to do that so and then on top of it he's running that my echo which he loves my echo sauce job you love by Abdullah Tanner's and echo fan and cooktop handle you bubble right so he got real aggressive with his rakers took those down and he was holding a log with one hand getting cocky because he's done it for 40 points 57 so he's been doing it for probably 45 50 years cutting after he just took the rakers down and wasn't expecting the bite and it grabbed that log all about hold it back while he's holding it come one finger Frank that happened nothing could be worse don't take your rakers down and far so you need those you'll be about the same as yo and that's where a depth gauge with timing thank you so with the depth gauge that's your raker you know you would put it right here well I'll do it on this one right there you put it right now actually do Tanner just keep moving it around because it's not hard for me to focus or nothing all…

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