i started sharpening chain saws at 6 years old back in 1969.. my father had three gangs working in commercial woodland all over the north of england. the saws arrived in individual wooden crates from sthil, 24 and 36 inch been the workhorses,
a wedge was taken out of the tree with a felling axe and the saw used to cut from the back of the tree to the notch.. they cut low those boys.. they were paid by the foot of felled timber. reluctant fallers were persuaded with a wedge or two hammered into the cut and those stubbon enough to resist were normally brought down by felling other trees on to them. once felleda second lad jumped on them and stripped the branches from the trunk, all this was burnt on site by a third lad who built huge fires.
the saws were sharpened at bait time by the youngest lad whilst the rest ate jam buttys and drank cold sugary tea from pop bottles. we had a couple of rats tails files for the job, kept the chains knick and notch free by repeating at lunch and afternoon teatime. saws were lubricated with used engine oil from a local garage and ran like sewing machines they loved to be used hard. at night they were left in the woods with the blade wrapped in an old oily towel and a tarp covering them.