Chain saw tips... this is meant to help guys/ gals who dont use saws much... this is not meant to patronize anyone.
Chain "tightness"... pull your chain up out of the bar, you should be able to put a dime between chain guides and the bar. To tight will cause heat and will stretch the chain faster. To loose will allow chain to be thrown off. If you throw your chain reset it, run for 10sec, then check gap again. Do not over tighten or pull saw hard when it is stuck in wood, you will bend the worm/ tightening gear. Take bar off saw first.
Bar maintainace... first, i will say that your bar is not bent or pinched! It can happen, but i have literally run them over with a skidder, or had them pinched in a log so bad i had to have a skidder break the log. It is most likely your lack of proper bar maintainace. First remove bar from saw, use a scraper to clean out the chains channel. With oil, saw dust and metal dust combined with heat it will make a hard paste in the channel. This will cause the chain to ride on top of the "cement" and make chains come off more often.
When you run the putty knife in the channel, you will push materials into the two oiler holes located on the bar. Use that little screw diver or the pointy end of your file to clean it out.
Bar "mushrooming"... as the chain travels over the bar. Heat/ friction cause the bar to mushroom over. Use a flat file to take the sharp edge off. If the bar is wider than the chain it will not go through the log or tree no mater how hard you push!
Sharpening saw... the weight of the saw "should" be enough to go threw the material being cut. If its not, it most likely needs to be sharpened. If you are hand sharpening, dont just "touch up" the tooth. Make sure you have the right size file.
Chips vs dust... if the saw is making "dust", this is mostly the raker part of the tooth. Use your flat file and take 1, i say again 1 stroke of the raker. To much will cuz the chain to take to big of a bite. Saws with a low CC with have a real hard time!
Chain selection... their are "basically" 3 types. Anti skip (bump chain) , chisel chain, and skip chain. Anti skip chain will have a 3rd kind of tooth combined with the tooth and raker. This is for peeps who are low use chain sawers. It take very small bites ( like a hacksaw). Full chisel are the most common. Skip chain has every other tooth missing, so is way faster to hand sharpen and can take a big bite. This chain is dangerous to beginners and requires a large CC saw to run them.
Bars... you can put a 1000ft bar on any saw, but due to tooth surface area it cant turn them. Chose bar by the amount of CCs your saw has. The smaller the bar, the more "power" you will have. Most peeps when asked "how big is your saw" they answer with bar size. It like saying that your jeep size or power is determined by wheel size. If you have a 4cyl and put on 35s it cant turn them well.
CCs/ power head... home owner saw is in the 40- 50cc range, moderate is 50- 60cc , pro saws 60cc -120cc
I hope this helps someone... i know their is more stuff involved, and as this conversation grows i will add more. And DONT buy a saw in a box, and dont buy crap brands!
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