How to Care for and Maintain a Chainsaw

To extend the life of your chainsaw and make sure the saw is in top working condition, follow the maintenance schedule recommended by the manufacturer.

Here are some general care and maintenance tips you can follow:

• Check the bar and chain oil level often. It is best to do this before each use.
• Keep the chainsaw chain sharp. This will not only make cutting more efficient, it will also prevent kick backs and increase safety for the person using the chainsaw.
• Clean debris from the saw after each use.

How to sharpen the chainsaw chain

To keep your chainsaws chain sharp, use a file to sharpen the blades frequently. Filing the chain is not hard to do and is an important part of maintaining your saw. Filing the chainsaw blades often also makes the job easier.

Sharpening the cutting teeth

• Put the chainsaw in a vise or secured so that the saw does not move as you are working.
• Engage the chain brake.
• Start sharpening the cutting teeth first. Position the file depth gauge on the chain so that the arrows point towards the chainsaw bar nose.
• File at a right angle to the chainsaw rollers.
• File every other cutting tooth using a smooth and even pushing stroke.
• Turn the saw around so that the saw is facing the opposite direction.
• Finish filing the other cutting teeth using the same motion as before.

Filing the depth gauges
Depth gauges should be filed about every third time you file the cutting teeth. Depth gauges are located between the cutting teeth. Here's how to file depth gauges:

• Put the file gauge over the depth gauge.
• Choose "hard" or "soft" depending on the type of wood you normally saw.
• File the depth gauge until the file comes into contact with the file gauge.