If the teeth are bending on any kind of chain saw, then they're defective.

Chain saw teeth are hardened steel. I've hit small rocks embedded in trees and the sparks flew and teeth got dull and needed to be sharpened but never bent.

And if you're throwing the chain, it's too loose. Either that or the chain is stretching during use, which would indicate the steel is soft or you didn't tighten the beaver tail enough. Might be just some cheap after market chains that's the trouble.

To check correct tension on a chain, lift the center of the chain, the drive part that rides inside the grove on the beaver tail, should come out of the groove a little less than half the width.

If it's doesn't come up that far, it's too tight, more than that, too loose.

ETA: here's an instruction video:

https://www.google.com/chain+saw+chain+too+loose

The first chain was the kobalt chain tht came with the saw. I got most of the way through the tree; all that's left is much of the main trunk. The new chain is by trilink, https://www.walmart.com/ip/Trilink-S62-18-2-Pack-Replacement-Saw-Chain-62-Drive-Links/47194531

I've certainly been throwing the chain far less often than when I started :) .experience seems to matter on that.

I was cutting crosswise through near the base, at a spot that would have been a couple of inches avove the ground before it fell. The trunk is three or four inches wider than the blade at that point, and is fully elevated off the ground (so no touching the dirt).

I had cut enough that i had to sharpen the blade a few sessions ago.

And then, while cutting, it popped the chain, and all the teeth except one happily slide in the groove. This one tooth seems to hit the edge of the groove going in. If i push it in alone, it doesn't want to slide.

I was using the replacement chain for twenty or thirty minutes when it threw, and i have the identical behavior from a single link on it. I was cutting a cross section a foot or so further "up", and it suddenly threw again, apparently bending a single tooth the same way.

now that i think of it, "tooth" is the wrong way to put it: the bent parts are the bit that slides in the track.

Holding the saw and letting the teeth 'cut and clear' as you slowly lower the bar into the wood helps prevent problems. ;-)

Same for side cutting. If you force things too much, it can cause problems.

That said, back in the day when time was of the essence, we'd dig the dogs in on those big saws and pry pretty heavily to speed things up.

Chains will loosen up under normal conditions, just from wearing in, so you have to check that every once in a while.

I can remember throwing chains where the drive tooth gouged the grove in the bar and have run the chain dry so the rivets seized and made the chain way too tight (that can damage the bar too).

A damage or bent bar can give you grief and the relationship between the groove and the drive tooth is a precision machine fit so not recommended to be bending/twisting things back to 'Almost good' shape.

You'd be better off bringing the saw and chain in to where they repair saws professionally, and they can replace the tooth. They can also tell you what's going on with the type of chain it is (if they're knowledgeable about what they're talking about).

there is a reason tree peeps cut wood when its fresh ...

and that is because a lot of wood gets VERY hard...

you are cutting dry wood that has been down for 3 years .. or several years per your words ...

that might be part of your problem ...

you usually cant even split this age of dry wood by hand either.. again.. because its too hard ...

i also think your battery pack chainsaw is probably severely underpowered for this project .... as you note the trunk is 4 inches bigger than the saw blade ...

please be safe ..

ken

They day chain saws can't cut any kind of wood will be a real wonder, no matter how hard/dry.

They're made for that.

Even frozen solid will cut but will take a little more time.

You can even break a chain under certain conditions but as mentioned by the OP, learning how to use a saw can make the difference on how many times you stop to fix things or working smoothly for a long period of time.

Your bent tooth can have the rivet punched and replaced in 5 minutes.

Any small engine repair that fixes chain saws will do this.

Happens all the time in the septentrional area I live in.

I'm not quite sold on battery powered yard equipment either although I imagine if used only occasionally for medium to light work it would be handier to have around.

How you sharpen your chain makes a difference on well it cuts.

For the $5-6 most charge to run your chain through a machine sharpener, you know it's done right and saves appreciable time.

I cut wood for 50 years and always carried a couple of extra chains with me and a file JIC but generally just dropped chains off at the place they sharpened them and picked them up the next day.

Also make sure the chain oiler is adjusted correctly, too much wastes oil, too little can ruin a bar and chain.

bill

Thanks John!

I thought about that but forgot to mention.

ack; it ate my comment.

I appreciate these.

I didn't recognize any of the brands (not the kinds of tools that i have oh-so-many of), and so took the 2 for $20.

I have maybe eight feet of this trunk left, the lower part of the main crown, and a couple of offshooting roots. And another eight or nine foot long-dead trunk in the back.

After that, unless the surviving mulberry in the back annoys me enough with pollen, i'm not sure that i'll ever have a use for one again.

I have a link tool somewhere from decades ago, but they're fairly cheap, and easy to use. So i figure i can sacrifice a chian to fix others (unless someone tells me that that would be a dumb idea!).

thanks again; this helps. And with the tree gone, i can fix the damage to the irrigation system (mostly from the trucks bringing supplies to replace the roof from the same storm) and replant the lawn.

It seems to me that when i checked a few years ago, the local places wanted about $20 to sharpen lawn mower blades and chainsaw chains--and wanted you to leave it there for two weeks, too!

I know this isn't a heavy duty saw, but it does cut at about the same rate as the 50cc that got stolen. And the battery life is much longer than my back holds out for doing this, so . . .

[that said, i wouldn't bother with 40v instead of 80v. I'm kind of surprisedthat lowes has pullled them from the store and made them special order only.]

Just make sure the link you use from the other chains matches the drive sprocket. There are different chains that are matched to the drive sprocket on the particular saw.

I always used Oregon or Stihl chains and they were the 'chipper type' but if the wood has been laying is the dirt, that will take the fine edge off any chain and require sharpening more often.

Chain saws are dangerous. And the bigger the saw, the more chance for it to pull you off balance or cause you to lose control. Safety equipment is highly recommended.

Don't rush things or work tired. Take breaks and spread out the work over a period of time.

;-)

the current trunk has actually never been on the ground: i propped it up while it was still supported by branches. although i probably wouldn't have thought of htat had i not heard about jut how bad dirt was for chainsaw blades.

I stop after half an hour or hour; i certainly have enough less strenuous porjects!

Barely hitting the frozen ground when sawing through the wood was almost always time to stop and touch up the chains with a file or change out the chain. Don't ask me how I know. ;-)

Back in the day, I burned wood and had a guy that sawed wood into lumber. I did most of the cutting during winter when some snow was on the ground. That helped keep the fallen wood off the ground when cutting.

I cut much of the firewood green and stored it for at least 2 seasons to dry before burning.

Here's a few pictures from 'yesteryear'.

View of the back yard at my old place. ;-)

Storing firewood Inside one of the sheds:

Most of my buildings were built (all by me) with/of rough sawn native pines.

Hauling pine logs to the mill.

Drying rough sawn lumber inside under the roof:

Adding a lean-to on existing shed.

In my younger days, I'd also cut pine for pulp wood during winter. I couldn't wait to get out there in the great outdoors and watch the squirrels and birds feeding. Deer were always not far from where I was cutting. They liked to come in after I was gone for the day and nibble the branch tips in the brush piles.

;-)

I hope you finish up with your tree. :-)