I just sharpen the chain and cut wood.

For the ones that missed it. The gummed up chain thing only happens with my milling chains when I cut hardwoods like White and red oak and to some extent hickory. My normal ground chains for cross cutting ( felling , bucking etc ) are not affected like that ...or at least to to the extent that i bother much about it. The geometry of the grind on the milling chains it completely different to the normal chains. And yes I have tried milling with a normal chain and it is a pain in the stern end. They get blunt quick and progress in those hard woods is very very very slow.
I can buck firewood ( oak and hickory ) , as long as its clean all day with a semi chisel chain. Then sharpen in in the evening when I am done. Its milling that is hard on the gear.

Same here. The chain gets sharpened down to nothing long before any kind of cleaning becomes an issue.

My usage may be a bit different from the norm. I cut firewood from blockwood delivered by tree services. In other words those trees along side homes, after their size becomes a nuisance rather than a benefit. What are the odds they may contain a:

• nail?
• spike?
• eyebolt?
• wire cable?
• hook?
• rocks &stones in the crotches?

Yip, chains are filed down to nothing long before cleaning becomes an issue.

When cutting urban trees service leftovers, it helps to have a metal detector to spot those little bits that can dull a chain quick but are impossible to spot with the naked eye