A chainsaw is the most used cutting tool in woodworking. When you use it, have you ever seen is there smoke rise from the chainsaw chain? As for me, I have experienced it two-three times. So It is better to know all about chainsaw chain smoking and how to fix it successfully.
A chainsaw chain can smoke due to these 06 reasons such as blunt chain, no lubricants on the bar, bent chainsaw bar, too much tight chain, bent chain, and cutting a compression wood piece.
Smoke rise due to the friction between, the chainsaw bar, chain, and wood piece. So it is important to identify the correct reason and fix it successfully. So let’s keep reading on until you get the right solution.
01. Chain Saw Chain is Blunt
The most identified reason for chainsaw smoke is a blunt chain. There are few signs to identify a blunt chain when you are working with chainsaws
- Apply high pressure or thrust to cut the workpiece
- Spend more time cutting the wood piece
- Cutting chips consist mostly of dust or small particles
- Chain saw bar; chain tend to heat up.
- Higher fuel consumption
- Higher noise level
When a chainsaw chain is blunt, its sharp-cutting teeth become dull. As a result of this, it will scratch the wood piece instead of cutting it. Due to the friction between the wood pieces and chain teeth, both will heat up. When this happens continuously, we can see wood burning and smoke from the chain.
In order to avoid this, you must sharpen the chainsaw properly.
Is your chainsaw dull? These 08 signs will show it.
02. No Lubricants in Bar
When you use a chainsaw, it is very important to lubricate your chainsaw bar for a smooth cutting experience. If there is no lubricant in the bar, it will be one of the reasons for producing smoke from your chainsaw chain.
Oil can lubricate the chainsaw bar and chain-moving path. And also, it is a real heat dissipated liquid that can transfer heat throughout the cutting process. So heat generation can be controlled easily.
When there is a problem check whether your oil system has filled with a suitable oil mix ratio. Oil is the only way to lubricate your chain and chainsaw.
Sometimes you fill your oil system, but the bar does not get lubricant properly so check your oil system carefully. You can check your oil hole in the side of the guide bar that what your oil coming out for your chainsaw bar and chain. If it is blocked with dust, clean the hole. And it is important to clean your bar also to lubricate change properly within the bar and chain.
03. The Chainsaw Bar Has Bent
The chainsaw bar is the path for the chain. So it should be a straight one. If there is any bend, the chain can be touched with the point. So both can be heated up due to friction. If you use lubricants, it is useless. Due to the friction, heat, and oil, the bar can be smoked easily. So you should identify this properly.
You can check whether your chainsaw bar has bent by eyesight. For that, remove the bar from the machine and keep its flat surface. If your bar is not fit with a straight surface, it has a bent.
You can fix this on your own by giving some beat on the bend by using a rubber hammer. But my advice is that it is good for repairing the bar from a repair shop or if it is worse to buy a new bar.
04. Chain is Too Much Tight
When using a chainsaw, chain tension is very important, and if your chain is too much tight, it makes your chainsaw smokes. When your chain is too tight, the chain will shrink, and it will put huge pressure on the bar and your sprocket. This causes the machine to heat up and smoke from the chain.
You can fix this easily by applying proper tension. I will give you some tips on how to decide the proper tension of your chain. Your bar and bottom of the chain are snugged up just enough to not be too much tight.
When you have good tension on your chain, it will be easy to rotate the chain on the bar and it always rotates forwards and not backward.
05. Chain Has a Bend
If your chainsaw chain has a bend, it will cause to smoke your chainsaw chain. When you use a chainsaw, you can see jammed chain links or your chain that won’t move properly it is a sign of chain bending.
When your chain has a bend, it creates a weak link between bending it back and straight because of this chain will get stuck, and it makes the engine and blade heat up and smokes coming from the blade. And also, it will cause to breaking chain, and it might drop or pull on your feet or face with harming.
If it is just a small bend of chain, you can fix it with your own hand with the following safety guides or you can put some beat with a rubber hammer on them. And also, you can those bending links replace with new links. Those are the cheap way to fix the bending chains. If it is really bad, please junk the chain and buy a new one it is good for your chainsaw.
06. Cutting a Compression Wood Piece
There are two main stress in branches. Most upper layers are tension, and the lower layers are compression on the branches in the tree. Tension and compression can be varied with the wood piece supports.
Compression happens when the wood fibers are being pushed towards each other. When you cut wood under compression, chainsaws can be clogged in the cutting path due to compression. Due to compression, friction can be increased. As a result of this, we can observe heat is increased. We can see smoke from the chainsaw chain when this happens too much.
To withstand this stress and smoke, you can use wedges. Wedges avoid the cut closing up on the bar and jamming it, and it helps to reduce the stress of compression.
There is various kind of wedges like plastic, aluminum, and steel. Aluminum and steel wedges will damage the chain when accidentally coming into contact with the wedge, and you can avoid this by using plastic or wood wedges.
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