Old foreman swore by a dull chainsaw, I finally get why

My first boss back in 2019 in Eugene told me to never sharpen mid-job, said a slightly dull chain cuts cleaner on fir and throws less sawdust in your face. I thought he was just lazy, but after I sharpened every tank for a week straight on a big pine removal, I kept getting hung up on the sap and had to muscle every cut. Has anyone else found that a fresh edge is worse on resin-heavy wood, or was that guy just making excuses?

2 comments

2 Comments

waderamirez20d ago

Wait, he straight up told you to use a dull blade on purpose? That's wild, dude.

luna26118d ago

And that's exactly what he did, plain as day. I had a guy at a shop try to talk me into a similar trick once, said it would "keep the edge longer." Yeah, right, it just made the cut messy and took twice as long.