Just as the title says, was cutting and all of a sudden there wasn't any chain left on the bar. It just snapped. Never had that happen before and I cut a lot of wood. Decided to call it a day and ended on right then and there.
Wow I cannot say that I have ever had one snap like that before. I have broken a few teeth though. Keeping a chain nice and sharp will help to prevent that.
I've had that happen twice in my life and the reason both times is that I had adjusted it too tight on the bar.
If I had to analyze the chain it looks to me from the pics that the drive teeth have some pretty good wear and also the bottoms of the drive links are worn and could be mushroomed out some from leaning on it when cutting. Also was that chain ever put on backwards by accident.
I see the issue .. first off glad you didn't get hert. With close inspection . Rakers are to high for how much sharpening went on .. in turn means you were pushing hard to get to cut at high rate of speed putting to much pressure on chain and bar and not enough bite on rakers. This will heat up chain burn off oil and snap a link . I think most of us learn all this stuff just like you are your not alone. And buy looking below rivets there's not much wear on chain . I wear them down to rivets and they don't snap I will dig some of my old chains out and snap some pictures of real lower rivet where. Keep safe grind your rakers Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
The chain wasn't on too tight but it was getting dull and I was leaning on it some. I don't sharpen chains myself but take them to my small engine/chainsaw shop. It's quicker and easier for me to always have 4-5 sharp chains so I can just switch out.
I have never had a chain break in all my years of logging. My chain gets worn down to the rivets a lot though because I do not buy bar and chain oil, but I have never had one break. Very interesting. But beyond what others have said, that is ONE DULL CHAIN! The teeth are rounded right over! Yikes.
There is a dull chain To me his chain looks like it has a hook on the cutter which would make it grabby
Chain wasn't the sharpest but it sure wasn't rounded over dull. It was cutting through some poplar with ease the few logs beforehand. It broke in a 3-4 year old Norway Maple which seems to harden as it gets older.
I lube my bar and chain, just not with expensive bar and chain oil. I use whatever oil I have kicking around. It causes excessive wear on my chains, but a chain is cheap. By the time they are down to the rivets, the teeth have been filed off as well. Bars are cheap as well. I average about 100-150 cords on my bars before they are junk; a cord of wood pays $70...so in just half a cord, my bar has been paid for. Now hold all that in contrast to expensive bar and chain oil. I consume about a 1/4 gallon per day. IF such a product kept my chains and bars from wearing out, it might be worth it, but it doesn't. If I used bar and chain oil I might be able to get 200 cord on a bar instead of 150...but how many bars am I going to burn through in the life of the saw...5 or 6? So I save $70 bucks over the life of the saw...how much MORE money would I spend if I bought bar and chain oil though? A LOT MORE! Not everyone is a minimalist like I am I know, and there is nothing wrong with using bar and chain oil, but when you do the math, not using bar and chain oil is a lot less expensive.
In my honest opinion, the sawchain was. If you look at the teeth they are actually rounded over pretty good and do not come to a nice sharp, point. I am in no way passing judgement, I have hit dirt, waited to get through a twitch with a dull saw myself, but there is no question, (I went back and looked), that chain was pretty dull. I isolated a single tooth to highlight how rounded over the point was. Add in high raker height and it can be seen why the chain was stressed.
