FC, this is the first I hear that you also were into maple syrup making. That's pretty cool. How much wood do you go thru?
I put a big dent in the neighbor's logs. We still have the big 3 foot wide one but he'll have to help on that one. I'm pretty good on cutting stuff up but not so good at sharpening my chains. lol I'm learning though, the hard way.
I've always been taking my chains to the shop and having them sharpen them. Then last year I saw HF had a machine that had good reviews so I bought one, read the directions and off I went. I had some old ones and newer ones and ran them all through the machine as they got dull. Used them and they worked like butter. Nice shavings and all was good.
When I started working on the 30" tree I noticed that I was getting saw dust instead of shavings so I changed chains. Started out fine but soon it was a battle. Worked through the chains I had and found one I hadn't used in a while had some rusted links and one that was at the end of life so I really only had three to work with.
Sharpened them up and this time all I had was sawdust. Now I know about shaving the depth gauge. I probably should have read up a little more before I became an "expert".
AND, speaking of expert, I finally was forced to figure out why my Husky sits in the shed while I always use my Echo Chainsaw. I bought the Husky when my older one stopped running in the middle of a project. It had the new "combo switch" as opposed to the two piece switch that I was used to. You know, pull the choke out, crank a couple times, choke half way and your live. I read the instruction but I couldn't get the hang of it. It was a hit or miss on getting it started. I saw videos but no luck.
Well, the old one came back and I immediately gave up on the new one. I was a happy camper but feared not having a dependable backup. A tree had gone down a couple years ago and in the middle of working on it, my nearly 20 year old saw stopped running. I loaded it up in the truck as well as the "new" two year old Husky and went to the shop.
I gave them the old one to look at and told them of my frustration with the new one. Now it's a fancy 545 that has the electronics tracking info on usage. The quickly found out a used it almost never. lol The guy showed me how to start it. I returned confident and returned to my ineptitude.
I found out that the old Husky wasn't worth fixing soon thereafter and sheepishly admitted my failure with the new one. I still needed a second saw so he sold me my Echo and told me he'd take my Husky in on a trade. I said I'd think about it.
I started using the Echo, never needed the "backup", better saw and I was a happy camper until this chain issue. The only sharp chain I had was the one on the Husky that still sat in the box after my earlier visit.
After considering on taking the chain off I said NO, I'm going to start that machine. Looked up a video again, went out and same deal, no start, frustration. Got back on my computer and found a new one done by Tractor Supply. Sitting the two types side by side and comparing the process. Bingo! My brain finally understood it. Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks.