pweedas said..If you are cutting jarrah then it's a fact of life that it is hard on chains, specially if the jarrah is old and dry and even more so if the jarrah is old and dry with white ants and thus sand in it. If this is the case you have to accept that the chain is a consumable item.
However the chain life can be made reasonable if you get a number of things right. I cut a whole years firewood on one chain and I use a lot of it. Literally tons of it.
I mostly cut old fallen jarrah for firewood because it burns all night, it makes lots of heat and it makes almost no ash.
But because it is all fallen timber on the ground it usually has some degree of ants and sand in it. I don't like to waste it so I just count the cost of a chain each year as a consumable item.
Stihl are reasonably good chain saws, even the cheaper ones, so the chain saw is probably not the problem, so,.. a bit of advice that might help;
If you are cutting hardwood, sharpen the chain regularly. I've seen people cutting jarrah and it appears they think it works like an angle grinder and you just smoke your way through a log with lots of high revs and bar pressure.
I've seen a chain literally smoking its way through a log.
If the chain is smoking then it is hot enough to wreck the tempering on the teeth. The teeth will then not hold a sharpen. If it starts smoking STOP cutting. Check for sharpness and chain oil. I carry an oil squirter and sometimes give the chain and end roller a small squirt if think it looks to be getting a bit too warm. Old knotty jarrah can be as hard as stone but it burns a right treat so I use it.
Keep the chain SHARP, and I do mean sharp. Give it a regular quick lick with the right size file for the chain. Every 15 minutes of cutting it gets a quick lick. Two or three licks on each tooth are enough if you do it regularly and it only takes about 10 minutes total, even when you do it slowly like I do it.
File the angle correct and consistent on all teeth and also on each side, left cutting teeth and then right cutting teeth. A consistent angle is probably more important than the exact correct angle.
To help with this, do all the left cutting teeth and then do another lap of the chain and do all the right cutting teeth, or the other way around if you prefer. That way the angle will be easier to keep constant. Use leather gloves to pull the chain through.
Sharpened teeth will cut a nice groove in your hand if it slips when pulling the chain through so BE CAREFUL. The chain is oily so very easy to slip in your hand.
If you do each side differently the cut will tend to drift one way or the other so use a file guard which has angle markings and then USE THE SAME ANGLE on every tooth, both left and right. Even if the angle is wrong it is more important to make them wrong all the same.
Make sure you are clear on the point on the chain where you start. Don't do one and a half laps of the chain,.. one is enough. One tooth too many is not required.
I always start at the part of the chain which has two teeth the same way, that is two left teeth or two right teeth. Most chains have this to stop resonant chain vibrations while cutting so look for it and start there.
You can use a marker if you prefer but then you don't always have a marker, but the 'two teeth together' point is always there.
After sharpening, you should be able to feel a razor like edge on the teeth as you slide your finger lightly over them. I said,. LIGHTLY!
Even a dull chain will still feel a little bit sharp because your fingers are a lot softer than jarrah, but it wont cut hardwood. You need it razor sharp so that you can feel it bight at your finger when you test it.
You can tell if the chain is sharp by the size of the sawdust it throws out the back. The sawdust out the back of the chain saw with properly sharp teeth will be sizeable shreds of wood, not just a fine sand sized dust.
Keep an eye on what's coming out the back of the saw. It will indicate the condition of the chain. If you want a takeaway sample you can usually find it in your socks.
If it's a fine dust then either the teeth are blunt, or if it is an old chain then possibly the depth links between the teeth are too high. If so then file them down. MAKE THEM ALL THE SAME.
For hardwood like jarrah, I file them down a bit too far, about 1mm. The wood is too hard to allow the chain to bight in excessively so shorter depth links make it easier to saw with a light bar pressure.
If you are sawing softwood like pine or banksia then stick to the recommended depth, otherwise, the chain tends to bight in too deep and load up the chainsaw excessively.
Make sure the oil feed is working properly, and by that I mean that the oil should need filling after about half an hour of cutting. That's 'cutting', not just standing there thinking about it. If the oil is flowing too slow then you can use a lighter oil. Ordinary 30 grade engine oil is fine.
Most of the cheaper electric chainsaws have a foam filter which restrict the oil flow too much so use the thinner oil. Thinner oil s better than no oil. A more permanent solution is to remove the foam plug in the oil feed line at the bottom of the oil tank, but be aware that if you get sawdust in the oil tank (but then why would you) then the oil feed can be blocked off.
MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THE CHAIN TIGHT, not slopping and slapping around in the chain bar grove. I prefer it a bit overtight than loose. A sloppy chain seems to wear out much faster than a tight chain and it flogs out the bar much faster.
And a loose chain is harder to do a straight cut. Not that it matters much with firewood but get in the habit of cutting straight so you can do it when you need to.
Make sure the chain bar lock is done up really tight otherwise when the chain chatters it will flog out the chain tension mechanism.
The tension mechanism is for ADJUSTING the chain tension. It's not meant to be the primary means of keeping the chain tight.
Set the chain tension and then do up the bar lock tight!
And now for OHS,
Wear leather gloves while cutting and for sharpening the chain.
Wear some sort of eye protection. The sawdust can get thrown in your face. A woodchip in the eye is no fun. They are quite gritty.
Don't hold your face over the chain bar in line with the chain. Always have it to one side. A serious kickback can happen much faster than you can move your face.
Yes I know, modern saws have a kickback lockout but it can still happen.
Don't hold your leg under the cutting line where the chain is going to drop out of the cut when it's finished.
If it's an electric chainsaw, don't have the power cord trailing under the work area. Run it in from behind you and to one side
If the saw consumes its own power cord you can get electroluxed, specially on wet grass
There is no 'Esc' or 'Replay' key. Whatever happens is it !
All obvious stuff but easy to get wrong if you're not thinking.
In summary, DON'T USE A CHAIN SAW IF YOU ARE NATURALLY ACCIDENT PRONE. (Yes, you know who you are.
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This all sounds like an awful lot but it's like most other things in life, if you get in the habit of doing it right then it eventually it happens without thinking about it and the job goes predictably well.
If you keep doing it wrong then it usually ends up being a mammoth task each time and really annoying dealing with the consequences.
Interesting reading.
one more question.
I have standard Stihl file and found that recently I need to push , press more and more.
Maybe file is too worn out or chain too long in use between sharpening? Is it worth to invest in electric sharpener? I am afraid that electric could cut too much and too quickly trough chains.How long chain last and when do you know that need new one? I went through a dozen chains already
Mollie
> 9 months ago, 3 May 2020
). Always did the rakers last, but ya right if they are too high and uneven it's gonna affect the jig. 
I wonder if some people have already such perfect skills to untangle , like a Rubik cube.
