On the other chains saw thread, somebody mentioned this. On the nose of bigger saws is a grease hole and you need to lube it.
I have been using chain saws quite a bit for 35 years and never heard of this.

So I went over to youtube and yes, here it is in a one minute video.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYlmHgK8Qbc

I have a Stihl with a 20 inch bar and a Husqvarna with an 18 inch bar and I just went to check them and to my surprise, both have grease holes in the bar for the front socket. Never have lubed either one.
Now, it is off to the chain saw shop to get a little grease gun.

My larger Echo with 20" has it, I've lubed it once in 2 years.
My old Stihls don't have it[but both are running 16" bars].

They make special grease guns to lube them. I don't do much chainsawing any more but I used to have a plastic syringe looking thing for doing it. Usually they're full of bar oil anyway so I don't know if it helps any.

I have small tip that fits on my regular grease gun that I use. Seems like all the owners manual I have for my four chain saws mentions greasing the nose

I have built 8 log cabins by myself and the main tool for log building is the chain saw. To cut a dovetail notch, you are making a cut 9 inches long and three inches deep in white pine. Then you make 3 more cuts and you have a dovetail notch.
So, you are using the chain saw all day but not doing much heavy duty cutting.

Now, just last week I cut up 3 pickup truck loads of fresh cut white oak, this stuff was 24 inch diameter. This gave my Stihl, and me, a real workout. My chain got all kinds of dull.
I am sure it would have helped the performance of the saw if I had been lubing that front sprocket.

simonkenton7:
Top of the morning to you sir, I hope that the day has been a tad warmer in your part of the world than the start of our day is here and that this finds you well.

As you've said, most saw shops will have an Oregon grease gun for somewhere either side of $10 I would think.



You can also get an attachment for a regular grease gun that would do the same thing.

I've used CV joint grease for years and haven't seen an issue, but it's not a bad plan to have a little grease gun in one's "wood's kit" either - along with the spare chain, spare plug, plug wrench, spare.....

Hopefully that was useful for you or someone else out there on the inner web today sir. Stay well.;

Dwayne

Some have the port to inject the grease, some don't. The Stihl "Rollomatic" Bars don't, and IMO they seem to bind more than others. I prefer the bars you can grease.

The grease guns look like an vaccine type injection, but they are not. They are a grease-filled spring-loaded grease injector with a metal tip that you place into (more like onto) the port near the end of the bar, and then mash down on. The grease itself looks sorta like Yamaha lube - a lighter version of wheel bearing grease.

After dressing my bars, I inject the grease and then often also add a little bar oil.

Here is the oak I was cutting last week. This hard wood just beat hell out of my chain, I am sure it would have gone a lot better if I had been lubing the nose gear.
The things you can learn here on the campfire forum.




My brother went over with me for the second load and we both loaded up. His little Husqvarna was not up for the job I had to do all the cutting with my Stihl with the 20 inch bar. This wood is rather hard to split, but, it is beautiful firewood.

Simon what size Stihl is that? Do you have a picture you could post on the log dovetails you cut for cabin corners? and the door and window cuts? thanks MB

Beautiful wood simonkenton7 ! I use a chainsaw just about every day for a variety of jobs I do. I also used to fall timber professionally. Back in the day all bars had grease holes in the tip and needed to be greased once a day during heavy use. The new bars have sealed bearings and cant be greased, at least Stihl bars are that way. Those grease guns BC30cal posted are also used to grease the main bearing on the sprocket on your saw. That bearing should be greased regularly as well.

Grease the main bearing on the sprocket? What do you mean?







Here I am laying out and cutting a dovetail notch for my log cabin, four years ago.



Here I am cutting the groove in the window opening. A piece of angle iron is installed on both sides. As the logs shrink, they will settle around the doors and windows.
Very important to allow for this shrinkage and settling.

That saw in the firewood photo is a Stihl 039.

Grade AAA mill wood right there!

Yes, please-I've a 30 YO Stihl 028 that I've never greased there??

My two Husqvarna's have the grease port so I assume they put them there for a reason. I bought the grease "gun" noted above and use it as advised by the manufacturer.

Look T the end of your crank shaft where the clutch/ sprocket sits. There should be a hole. That is a grease port for the roller/needle bearing for the clutch drum. On some saws. Like with Savage 99 's never say always or never😁

I went up to the chain saw shop and bought the nose gear lube. Eight bucks.
Both the Stihl and the Husqvarna have replacement bars. The Stihl has 2 grease holes and the Husqvarna has just one.
I lubed them up. Squirted the grease in until it squirted out along the chain. Pretty simple.

Thanks campfire members for the tip.

I hit mine with about 100psi of air, spin it, make it sing, do this when I flip the bar, after about 2-3 sharpenings.

Then dab some 3-in-1 oil in there.


BUT....after seeing this, I am compelled to follow suit, and get the right grease and application technique.

Simon thank you for the pics, damn nice work you do. MB

Post Oak like that, fairly large IE a big tree, but only about 38 inches diameter or so, took me a day to cut up into splitting size plus all the limbs. Tree was dead a year so fairly rough. Rounds cut every 18 inches so lots of chunks. Went through 5 chains that day. As soon as they quit cutting nice chips and start making a bit of sawdust it comes off and sharp one goes on. Go to the barn after that and touch em all up on a cheap freight sharpener. Works great. I could NOT get through a 24 inch oak like that with one chain here MAYBE if it was green. MAYBE.

rost tell me about your cheap freight sharpener. I sharpen by hand and I am pretty good at it. However, after I have sharpened 6 or 7 times the chain is no longer symmetrical. It is sharp but not symmetrical.
I can make small cuts fine. But on this big 24 inch oak my cut would curve to the right about 1 1/2 inches. That is bad news. That is one reason I bought the new chain for the second day. That new chain cut straight through it was a beautiful thing. I cut the two truck loads of firewood and that chain got pretty dull.

Are you dressing down the rakers as well as sharpening the teeth?

Get the carbide tipped duro chain from Stihl. Little more money but stays sharp for a long time.

Europeans use that ball zerk on a lot of their machinery, there is a adapter for grease guns, sort of looks like a ball inflator. My Husky came with one of the push greasers. I use that style with oil on my machine tools.

I don't know how you keep a bar long enough for the front sprocket to wear out. Mine has a .043 gauge bar but it wore so much after about a year that I had to start using .050 gauge chains to keep then from coming off the bar.

Oregon makes a .050 gauge bar that matches up with the one that came on it. I'm putting one on it soon.

Harbor Freight sells these little grinders for pocket change. Functionally, they operate like a lot of heavier duty models that sell for a quite a bit more. It takes a little bit of finesse to use one. But it's mostly just a matter of getting the stops set properly.

You can't beat on them with a hammer, but they do a pretty good job. Once you get it set up, you can sharpen a chain in about 10 minutes.

get the commercial grade chain .not the home owner grade

I have one of those HF chain sharpener and I confirm others comments. It is convenient to be able to sharpen your chain when needed and bring everything back into alignment after filing it a few times. These sharpeners are not very rugged so you have to treat them with finesse. A slight learning curve but they do work. Need to grind the rakers occasionally.
I mostly use chain saws to clear limbs across the road and along fence lines. I get in the dirt and hit wire more than I should. Pretty hard on chains.

Seriously, 5 chains?
I mostly cut dead standing Locust which is on par with granite as far as hardness goes, can usually get a cord or two out of a chain before needing to sharpen[as long as I keep it out of the dirt].

Putting a new bar and chain on makes it feel like a new saw.

Do you not peel the logs and let them air dry for a year prior to construction?

Interesting hammer face on the maul. Make?

Yeah, I'm rough on chains also. I've been clearing big honeysuckles and bradford pear trees off of my property for 2 years.

I'm mowing where the cleared brush was so I cut the stumps flush with the ground. Getting the chain in the dirt is just a part of the process. That's why I bought the grinder from Harbor Freight.

I like to keep a chain going as long as possible. Not just because of the expense of new chains. But I hate breaking in a new chain. The new chains stretch so much when you first put them on that you can't get noting done for constantly adjusting the tension on them.

Stihl brand chains are 'pre-stretched' I believe.

Oregon bars have the grease hole too. I have never seen a bar that didn't though.

That is a Fiskars maul. Pretty good maul. Yes I am pretty good about filing the rakers, if anything, I file them down too much.
I use white pine logs that have set out for about 3 months, the sawmill grinds off the bark. Even if you let them cure for a year, they will still shrink and settle, especially in that first winter after the cabin is finished.

That is why you must allow for shrinkage and settling at all door and window openings. If not, your windows will be crushed by the weight of the roof. Tricky building a log cabin.

I’ve helped a couple friends build log cabins. Logs were at least a year after peeling. Some shrinkage accounted for but not what appears to be shown.

Your saying 3 months from live tree to building log?

Thanks sk7. Learn sumptin' new every day.

Yes I have no problem using a log that was cut down 3 months ago. It is important to get a winter cut when the sap is down.


I install angle iron at all window and door openings. A cut is made into the header log and goes about 7 inches deep. The angle iron runs about 4 inches up into the header log. This allows for 3 inches of settling at the door opening. The logs just slide down the angle iron.
I was supposed to install a door here in my house, this is a 4 foot door opening from the living room into the hallway.
In this case I just left the door off I would never have the occasion to close it and I kind of like the way it looks.
In four years, I got only about 3/4 of an inch of settling here at the door opening and only got about 3/8 inch of settling at the windows. Most all of that settling happens in the first winter especially if you are burning a wood stove all the time.

Have been using an old Dualco Mini Grease gun to lube the bar nose roller and clutch roller bearing on my father's old Jonsereds 52 for more than 40 years. After cursing at the thing when trying to refill with grease when it sputtered, finally got smart and drilled/tapped the top cap where the metal is thickest to install a zerk fitting. Now I just fill it with a few pumps from my full-sized grease gun. No fuss. No Muss.....

You're welcome. *grin*

Gotcha.

How to you spike the logs together.

Bristo beat me to my reply. You still have to be a bit careful about sharpening IE cut the teeth same length. As you cut teeth you have to nip the rakers down some too as you cut more and more. But I've not had much issue with the rakers, I don't have to keep at them as much as the teeth.

I'd think it takes me 5 minutes to sharpen an 18 inch chain.

This one you can't change a lot of the angles like you can on my more expensive one I keep in Alaska at the house. But so far this lil cheap has done well enough. Plus when the chain is dull, its right there at the house to hit it with.

I'm not usually lazy, but things like this I am. And sharpening knives anymore... Havels Piranta takes apart a whole moose or brown bear... nuff said there. Plus paper wheels on a grinder...

Seriously. I'm not sure how many cords, who measures that [bleep] anyway, its cut, on a low boy and to the barn or split and to the barn and tossed in. I try to cut only clean stuff, stay out of the dirt etc... I can cut the top of the tree limbs almost all with one chain. But its cutting the big rounds that wears on a chain in a bit. Mind you I don't let the chains get dull, as soon as they quit cutting nice, I swap. I don't want to have to grind the heck out of the teeth, just touch em up.

No clue on Locust. We have Bois D Arc but its not fire wood and I have cut it dry for gun stocks and thought after a year of aging it was not that difficult to cut.

I sharpen all my chains with a Granberg File-N-Joint at the shop.



For a touch up out in the timber, my new best file is a Pferd that files down the rakers at the same time.

As Simon mentioned, Fiskars, 8lb I think.

I have one, it's a good tool for the non-traditionalist or anyone who isn't looking for a fancy $289 legacy maul....lol




Oak, the Pferd looks like a better version of what I use.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0044U4TC2/ref=nav_timeline_asin?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I like the hammer face on it. Might have to get after it w the angle grinder.

Oak, the Pferd looks like a better version of what I use.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0044U4TC2/ref=nav_timeline_asin?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
[/quote]

Sam the Pferd has two angle visual aids, sure helps.

Looks like it would much 'handier'.

I used to do quite a bit of chain saw milling and used an Oregon file guide for that. Its a goofy double angle to get ripping down just right and its about impossible to nail it by eye. For every day saw use though I don't use a guide. There's guide marks on the chain for the angle and there's no up/down angle. I just go by what old Harry who started logging before saws were even invented taught me years ago. Don't over think it, follow the guide marks, just make sure every one of the teeth look just the same when your done. If you need to file the worse tooth 10 strokes do the same to them all. Sharpen early don't wait for it to get dull. Watch your chips if they're big and square its sharp.

I use a Stihl (metric) 3/8 file in the Oregon file guide. The Stihl metric file is a little smaller diameter than the Oregon 3/8 (SAE) file. I use this method on Oregon 3/8 semi chisel chain. A pro logger gave me this advise.

I’ve got to get one of those. I hate sharpening chains to the point that often I just buy a new chain instead of doing it

I don't spike the logs together. Along with getting a winter cut, the other critical thing for dovetail notch construction is to make only one building log out of one log.
"Box in the heart." If you have a 16 inch log, cut off 5 inches from each side, so that the center of the round log remains the center of the construction log, a 6 inch thick log that is 16 inches high. Cut in this manner, there will be very little twisting or warping, virtually none. Of course the logs are held securely in place at the corners with the dovetail notches, and the angle iron holds them well at the windows and doors. Then, 8 foot high you build a loft coming out about half way, that locks the whole thing together 8 feet up. Then the rafters lock it all in place on the top log.

I actually build giant trusses, the ones on my house are made of 4x10 white pine timbers, 22 feet long, with 3x6 inch collar ties. These are spiked into the top log with 12 inch steel spikes. That holds the top round of logs securely in place.



My house.

Sometimes I grease my bar tip, sometimes I don't. When I was logging a couple guys did a test, one guy greased his tip, the other didn't, and the guy who didn't grease his tip had it last longer.

I use a saw everyday and will wear out a bar before I wear out a tip.
I put about a teaspoon of chain oil over my tip every fill up, also clean your bar groove out every couple days and flip your bar so it wears even. I have worked with guys who would dip their bar tip in a small tin of chain oil kept handy while bucking on a landing, works for some guys.

What is really hard on a tip is getting your bar pinched, especially near the tip, a sure way to destroy a tip.
As mentioned also grease the clutch bearing every time you flip your bar. I have never worn out a clutch bearing in 40 years of sawing greasing it in this way.

Good quality chain oil is a must for long life, I use the cheap chain oil and add some STP to thicken it up in the summer time, its still cheaper...and I turn my oiler up too so it gets lots of oil.