Originally Posted by
prathmann
After only a few moments of moving the blank against the tool, the grit is pushed out to the edges and only clear water remains in the interface. So one must constantly keep moving the grit back into the middle. I'd expect the same process to occur inside a chain which is adequately oiled. I.e. any grit quickly migrates to the outside leaving clear lubricant at the actual interface where wear occurs.
Brilliant observation. Had never considered the situation this way.
I'll add that industrial chain manuals always refer to the importance of proper lubrication, but never about the importance of grit removal. So your argument makes sense. (this being said, there are countless sources arguing for the thorough cleaning of bicycle chains....)
Hmmm... So, starting now, I'll clean one chain and not clean the other. It'll probably take a decade or so before I reach a conclusion, but in the meantime I'll take comfort in the idea that some kind of sloppy replication is under way
