Cleaning Chains

I know its probably been covered but its always helpful to compare notes from time to time. My milling chains get grimy, especially in this black walnut I've been working on. And it's not "rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher" sort of thing, its oven baked on requiring a pre soak before you scrub them by hand, level.

Here's what I do, and here's why I ask, because I'd really like to know if there's a better way. I start by spraying them down with degreaser and letting them soak for a bit. I've used several different ones and they all seem about the same: Purple Power, Goo Gone, and Goof Off (all in formulas sold as degreaser). Then I scrub them with a sink brush and most times spray them down with degreaser again. Finally rinse and scrub with hot water in the sink, dry with a rag, and a give them light coating of WD40.

I don't normally go through all this trouble with my crosscutting chains, as they tend to stay much cleaner unless I put them in the dirt or something. But when my milling chains get loaded up like that, I like to clean them before sharpening because I'd rather not load up my stone. I know a lot of guys don't clean them at all, and I know some of the harder woods I've cut like locust or hard maple can actually clean your chain as you cut. But walnut is not one of those kinds.

Anyway, I'm just looking to compare notes. If you clean them, what do you use?

 

If any really need cleaned I use my parts washer.

 

All chains that come into my shop go through the blast cabinet either crushed corncob or walnut shells for a medium, if still rusted up into a real mean parts cleaning solution that eats most anything short of plain steel. That mostly solves 98% bindup problems. Then off to the grinders.

 

When I have a really gummed up and dirty chain I put in a 5 gallon bucket with it laying as flat as I can in bottom of bucket. Then I put just enough Kerosene in it to completely submerge the chain. I let it sit over night. The next day I stretch out on the flat side of 2x4 and scrub both sides with a stiff bristle brush. I put back in kerosene bucket and let set over night again. I pull out of kerosene the next evening and hang it up, spray both side with WD and leave it hanging till I need it. I've done them that way for years.

 

I started throwing mine in a jar of coleman fuel . Gets most of the crud off and doesn't leave a residue . If they are really nasty ( pine tar,etc ...) I'll hit them with a product by Stoners called Tarminator .

 

Easy Off Oven Cleaner !

 

At $2 gallon, I use gasoline, (sometimes have some old gas around to use up)
Then same as
hdtoolmkr765
soak overnight, stiff brush,

 

I find kroil works pretty good for filthy chain.

 

Lye drain cleaner powder & water. A few tablespoons in heavy plastic bowl with chain. Wash off with water and blow dry and spray with WD-40,15 minutes and like new!!!! BE CAREFULL!!!!

 

I should probably explain why I go to the trouble of trying to get my chains as clean as possible before sharpening . When I was just filing ,or using a round grinder with cbn wheels , I just basically gave it a quick cleaning with whatever I had . Once going to square grinding a lot , I found that a clean chain keeps the wheels cleaner ,and helps reduce the amount of wheel dressing and torching up cutters .
In short : my name is John ,and I suffer from OCD .

 

With a CBN wheel on the grinder it does not matter how dirty the chain is the wheel will not load up.

I use 2 cycle mix in a coffee can when I need to clean a chain. Spray it off with some compressed air.

 

Only once in my like have I ever cleaned a chain and I did it with a wire wheel on a bench grinder. I have 100's of chains and never saw a reason to obsess over any of them.

 

When I did my last race chain for the competition over at Chainsaw repair there was so much grinding dust that I thought it would be a good idea to clean it before using it.

 

Racing? I consider it a victory if I can find a saw that will start.

 

I use Purple Power except I soak 'em overnight, then use a fingernail brush and it all comes right off. Then they get a thorough rinse with hot water, hung to dry, then WD.

 

Just something for fun. When your retired you can do that kind of stuff. April 16th is the cutoff date to have chains in.

 

I see what you did there.

 

So part of the best practices should involve not getting them as dirty in the first place.

For a cross cutting chain, if its sharp and you're getting enough oil, it stays pretty clean. But a milling chain is typically starving for oil. The links are oiled on the top side of the bar, most of which gets rubbed off as its being dragged through a wide cut to the bottom of the bar, where the cutters actually engage.

I rediscovered a trick today that I first read about in "Chainsaw Lumbermaking" by Will Malloff. I was a little low on bar oil but I wanted to make a couple cuts on the walnut today during a little window of nice weather we had this morning. So I just grabbed a couple partial bottles of engine oil and about 1/3 qt of transmission oil that i had and dumped it all in my bar oil container.

The gear oil seems to help it "soak in" to the DL better, and keeps them oil-ier for the round trip. It can be a little messier though if you thin out the bar oil too much. I ran about 1/3 gear oil today and that seems just about right.

I only ended up making one cut but I'm very happy with how clean the chain stayed. This is a 172DL chain, and the cut that I made was 4' wide and 7-1/2' long in walnut. The links still feel oily and I won't bother cleaning it this time.

Chain on the left is one that I cleaned and didn't use yet. That what the one on the right looked like that before I made the cut.