Chain saw dressing

Thank you for all the responses on chain saw cleaning. As you may have guessed I'm relatively new to serious chain sawing. Instead of trimming and pruning I am now having to remove some huge dead ash (36 inch diameter) as they are threatening a shed.
Anyways, I'm at a stage of having to dress a bar and wondering if I can really mess up by trying it myself by hand, or should I take it to a pro? Do you need special tools other than a good file? Also, I've just learned from a friend that I should be flipping my bar over. How often should this be done?
TIA

I guess that depends on how bad it is. Ive touched them up
before and its not difficult. Once a bar is wore out or overly
abused no dressing it up will take care of it. Time for a new
bar. I flip the bar when swapping out chains, or every 3 or 4
sharpenings. Thats hard to answer also because depending
on what your cutting you might be sharpening the chain a lot
more frequently. Just what I do. Im sure youll get all kinds of
answers and opinions.

If your asking these kind of questions I think it would be best if you let somebody more experienced drop them then you could cut them up from there. If you doubt my point go look at some of the youtube videos of felling going wrong. Some of them are really expensive afterwards. Some even border on deadly. Cutting trees with lack of experience and equipment can be very bad results. There is much more to it than just cutting and it falls where you want it or very close to it. I've been cutting trees for 50 years with my grand pa and dad and now I do it since grand pa died 50 years ago. I know the time sounds off but I was only 10 or 11 when he died. There are things that can't be over come cutting Like you can't in a practical way cut a tree that leans east and make it fall west. Yes you can cut some limbs off to help or pull with a chain or push with a loader but still a big tree will go where it wants pretty much if not planed out a wee bit. By how you saw you can swing them some at the stump not reverse them though and it would take to much time to explain it all here.

You shouldn't need to do anything to the bar. If it has very much wear to it you would be better off putting a new bar on to cut the 36 trunk. Then put the old bar back on to cut the smaller logs. Over time the groove between the guide rails on the bar wallow out and
get wider. This can allow the chain to wonder away from where you want to cut. It may not show up so much on smaller logs but would on a large trunk.

If you're already in the middle of a job, I would not recommend you starting this yourself. Also, would be better to 'learn' on a bar in poor shape while still having a good bar for use.

From your last post about cleaning the gunk, I have to assume that you should probably buy a new chain this time, but do the research and keep up on maintenance. Keep the oiler clear to do its job. Keep the chain sharpened and adjusted.

I know you asked about the bar, but I started using a cheap electric chain sharpener off of Amazon that had LOTS of great reviews. Well, I found out why. I will NEVER go back to sharpening my chains any other way. This sharpener even got better reviews than ALL of the different Stihl brands -- and it's all plastic! Made a world of difference. Best price I see offhand is here:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Buffalo-Tools-ECSS-Electric-Chainsaw-Sharpener-806014/317080703

But sharpening the teeth isn't enough. You also need to file a bit off the height gauges now and then. Lots of videos on Youtube to show how this is done.

From your last post, it sounds like you have used your saw quite a bit without the saw having proper lubrication. So it is very likely that your bar is worn unevenly. Can it be fixed? Probably. No way to tell without measuring the wear. There's also the matter of uneven wear in the slot of the guide rail. If there is side-to-side movement when everything is assembled and tensioned, then there is too much slop in the slot. There should be VERY LITTLE side-to-side movement. No way to make that right either, other than getting a new bar -- which is what I recommend.

You're starting to learn now. That's good. Best to start with new bar and, as you go along, practice on the old bar first. And most of all, pay attention! You'll likely be amazed how easily it all comes together once you know what to keep an eye on.

If you're fairly new to serious chain sawing what makes you think you need to dress the bar at this early stage? Unless you bought a used worn out bar for your saw, you should not be anywhere near needing to dress the bar.

It really sounds like you're watching youtube videos or reading forum posts and getting ideas in your head without the complete story.

The bar is designed to be flipped over to double its longevity, so you want to run it with the bar flipped for exactly 50% of the bar's life. There are 100 ways to go about it. You can be super-obsessive and flip the bar each time you sharpen the chain. You can be casual about it and flip the bar each time you install a new chain. You can be neglectful about it and only flip the bar when one side is slap wore out. Or anywhere in between. It's your saw and whatever way you choose is the right way.

If your bar has a burr on the edges from chain wear, you should gently file that burr off flush with the side of the bar. The burr tends to hang up in the cut. It also says your bar is worn, and you should be looking to change it out. All the rest of the other advise is well stated, especially the part about felling large stuff without experience. Good way to get really wise, really quickly, if it doesn't kill you. 50 plus years of falling trees up to 5' in diameter and 200+ feet tall will make you very, very humble and cautious. steve

(quoted from post at 13:55:40 11/30/21) If your bar has a burr on the edges from chain wear, you should gently file that burr off flush with the side of the bar. The burr tends to hang up in the cut. It also says your bar is worn, and you should be looking to change it out. All the rest of the other advise is well stated, especially the part about felling large stuff without experience. Good way to get really wise, really quickly, if it doesn't kill you. 50 plus years of falling trees up to 5' in diameter and 200+ feet tall will make you very, very humble and cautious. steve

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Good advice given from all the posters. I've already arranged for a more experienced neighbor to do the felling and I'll do the limbing. The sawing I've done is mostly clearing brush and saplings up to about 6 inch diameter so my saw has seen a fair bit of use.

What brand and model of saw are you using?

(quoted from post at 18:31:55 11/30/21) What brand and model of saw are you using?

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Echo CS400 with 18 inch bar.

When I read the subject I thought this post might be about a
new Thanksgiving recipe. LOL

If you have a good carpenter square and file you can dress your bar. You just mainly make both rails the same height. I actually have a
square on my workbench in the mower shop just to check bars with.

Of course, when there, to dress a bar I take the guards off the blade grinder and use the edge of the wheel to square up the bars.

Oregon made a tool for that too. it was basically a file with a 90 degree flange on it, you lay the flange on the side of the bar and slide
it back and forth until the file is cutting both rails.

(quoted from post at 19:45:06 11/30/21)

(quoted from post at 18:31:55 11/30/21) What brand and model of saw are you using?

Click to expand...

Echo CS400 with 18 inch bar.

Click to expand...

You should clean the bar on occasion and flip it over then. If there is a burr on the edge of the bar, you can dress it down with a flat file. Most of the bar damage I've seen has come from someone filing a chain wrong so that one side cuts more than the other. This wears the bar unevenly. That and running the bar dry. I do a LOT of chainsawing and I have bars that are 20 years old and still in good shape. Outside of abuse, you should get years out of a decent bar.

When I'm cutting a lot of wood, I touch up my chain with a die grinder every hour or so. Never caused a problem and routinely run
my chains down to this point.