Forcing a dull chain into the cut will cause it to rock in the bar. Do the corners of the cutters have a shiny area that tapers back to a point? That indicates wear and a dull chain. Are the cutters all close to the same length? Have a look at the bar groove, it should be the same width over the whole length. If the area where you do the most cutting is worn, turn the bar over.

Sparks? Yes, normal. You have netal dragging on metal, the bar oil is not enough to stop all sparking nor is is needed.

To add to Canguys comment, we see this complaint fairly often with occasional users who aren't fully aware of the things that effect the cut. While looking at your cutter teeth as Canguy said, look for any nicks on the teeth. Its probable that at some point the teeth facing one direction got into a nail, the dirt or something harder then just plain wood that nicked or dulled the teeth on one side. This compromised side will not cut as well as the sharper side and cause the bar to pull to the dull side.

Canguy and Walrus -

Thank you very much. The teeth/chain has not been sharpened since last year (at least 100+ cuts). It is also very likely that I hit a nail/dirt. It's time to sharpen and your kick in the butt will make me do it today.

I am in your debt.

One of the worst things you can do to a chainsaw is run it with a dull chain. Doing so decreases the life of many parts: Since you have to push harder on the chainsaw to get it through the cut, it also puts extra pressure on the chain, which puts pressure on the bar, wearing them both abnormally fast. It also causes the bar & chain to overheat, leading to premature failure.
And extra force is being applied to the handles, wearing out the anti-vibe mounts.
So keeping your chain sharp will increase the life of your saw in many different areas.
Safe cutting!

Most people that own chain saws don't sharpen the chains. Easiest way IMO is to clean up the saw and sharpen after every use. this way you always have a saw that's ready to cut and you don't have to saw with the saw. Listen the next time you hear someone using a chain saw. You can tell it the chain is dull by the up/down and high RPM of the saw. If you never sharpen a chain before it takes a few tries to get the right angle. If its not leaving big chips on the ground or you have to bare down on the saw it's not cutting right. IMO the other important thing is keeping the chain tension right. If not you will wear out the bar, sprocket, and sometimes the clutch cover.

A dull chain was exactly the answer. After sharpening, the Echo is cutting straight and true. Another question - upon further inspection, I noticed that the bar groove was a little wider on the bottom (cutting side). It was uniform across the bar, but you could definitely see that it was wider than the top. Is this a problem?

I'm concerned that if I flip the bar over, the "Echo" name that is on the bar will be upside down - and some of my friends will be confused on which side to hold :-).

Thanks again.

You want your bar to wear evenly. Every time you sharpen your chain, you should flip it around.
As for your friends, err, well my gut feeling says that they shouldn't be handling a chainsaw!:D

You may want to clean out the bar groove and oil feeder holes in the bar especially if you hit dirt. If not the chain won't get proper amount of oil which IMO causes the bar to wear in the pattern you described. Again, it best to clean the saw up after every use and hit the teeth about 3 or 4 strokes with the file and it should stay sharpe and cut like a beaver!!

How do I know this??? been using chain saws for 45 years and I got 8 year old polan that cuts like a buzzz saw, but it an't the saw, it's the regliously preventive maintenance. Saw never put away dirty or dull.

Hello, Not sure about all of the talk on the running off angle on the chainsaw chain into a cut after about two inches. My observation is not always a chain is needed to be sharpened and i will explain why. I bought a brand new saw with a 20 inch bar. I dropped eight trees about 15 inch in diameter. The saw started cutting off angle. I had it sharpened professionally and it still cut off. After examining the bar i found that it had a severely worn guide. No reason for this as it oiled very well so i could not determine why it was so worn up to 70 thousandths width in the guide. I got another new bar thinking it would help but when i measured the bar i found it to be the same in spots from .060 to .071 and it should have been a .058. I then realized it was made in China, unlike the old highly tempered stainless steel bar on my Homelite Super XL 12 that has lasted for over 30 years and cut down at least 300 trees or more and still good. It is all about the bar my friends. Check the width, if you do not want to buy a bar replacement then buy a tool like this one for you benefit to keep your guide the right size and this will keep your chain from leaning out into the cut and causing it to circle. Simple after shapening. But, if the chain is dulling on one side also the cut will pull due to not being able to hold straight into the guide and this will also wear out the one side of the bar guide. Keep it oiling good and check the side play of the chain in the bar. The link below might be of some good help since no one ever would mention this problem due to bad bars sold as brand names. Buy only stainless of the highest tensile strength for wear and bend.

Here is a link that might be useful: Woodland Pro