Going around in circles

[Brian Brown]

Well' maybe just arcs. Yesterday when I was cutting some box elder burl, my chainsaw was working flawlessly (operator excluded), then it suddenly started cutting in an arc pattern. What happened? Somebody suggested I hit something hard, and dulled one side of the blade. Does this sound reasonable, or could it be something else? :confused:

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Brian....dulling one side of the chain does sound reasonable. When you have the saw out of the wood. If you look down the plane of the bar, there is no twist to it....no bend or wow? If so, I think the chain being dulled on one side is reasonable.

[Jim Evans]

Probably it.
If you don't sharpen a chainsaw properly - only sharpen one side of the teeth - it will cut a curve.

[scott schmidt grasshopper]

yeah sounds like thats the issue, second cause possible ( which takes longer to get to) is you wear one side of the rails more than the other, this is a longer process and something the sawshop will fix since the chain runs on the two side edges ( rails of the bar) if one is lower it will twist ( one should always carry two chains at least and learn to sharpen them often) . good luck with that box elder ( which I was 300 miles closer ) scott

[Steve Schlumpf]

Brian - while I will agree with everyone else about the chain being dull on one side it could be something as simple as the chain being too loose. Let us know what you find out!

[David Hullum]

I have flipped the bar over also and it has helped the saw to cut more straight.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Hi Brian
If your saw was cutting straight at the beginning of the day, then I agree with the dulling on one side, and all you have to do is run into a sand pocket, almost certain with that burl you are processing, a good reason to get a power washer and clean the burls, and while you're at it, see if you can get the bark to lift from the wood by blasting the water into the wood/bark seam, it is the best way I know of to get the bark off while keeping the "spikes", as it is a hell of a lot of work picking it out with sharp instruments.
Also make sure you wear a face-shield while pressure washing, as the spray will flyback at times, depending the curves and pockets it hits, play safe.
I have bunch of Acer Negundo BE or MM (Box Elder or Manitoba Maple) from a tree that came down in a storm last week, I can peel the bark off with my hands at times and the rest just needs some leverage with a screwdriver, it just depends when the tree was cut down as to how easy the bark comes off.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Get ya a new chain Brian and make sure it is tensioned properly. I had the same problem with my C-man. Found out I had hit some wire that had grown into the tree. My brother hit a rock that had grown into a tree.

[Curt Fuller]

The box elder burl that I get around here usually has anything from dirt to pebbles to rocks in it that the wood has grown around. I've just come to expect to mess up a sharp chain when I cut burl. If it just started cutting in an arc all of a sudden like, that's what I would think caused it.