After years of hand filing, went and bought myself an Oregon chain grinder

MarshSt · Apr 8, 2023

Does anyone know how small of a loop will fit on one of the Tecomec/Oregon grinders? I build a root grinder that uses a gang of the 4" Wood Carving Chain Discs and I'd rather sharpen a few times than just replace the cutters. The chain loops are only 5-1/2" end to end when stretched straight. The sharpener chain guide/holding bar and adjusters underneath look like they might not allow such a short chain.

5030 · Apr 8, 2023

Not sure but I just sharpened a couple lo pro loops for an electric pole saw

Bob_Young · Jul 24, 2023

You durn kids! Always looking for instant gratification. For what? Getting back on tractorbynet and posting about it?

When do you find time to contemplate your sinful nature...or at least acknowledge the sins committed against your poor chainsaw? The Zen of handfiling is there for a reason.
Bob

2manyrocks · Jul 24, 2023

Don't see much Zen when it comes to chainsaws.

Skeans1 · Aug 7, 2023

This is the next step after a round grinder.

5030 · Aug 7, 2023

Square ground is ok but not my cup of tea. Square ground dulls quicker and takes more power to run.

Have a second grinder now. Seems as though loops are coming in by the dozens so I bought another grinder just for depth gages and both now are running Diamond Abrasives, CBN, aluminum rimmed wheels. No dressing ever and one wheel will grind about 200 20" loops.

Skeans1 · Aug 7, 2023

5030 said:
Square ground is ok but not my cup of tea. Square ground dulls quicker and takes more power to run.

Have a second grinder now. Seems as though loops are coming in by the dozens so I bought another grinder just for depth gages and both now are running Diamond Abrasives, CBN, aluminum rimmed wheels. No dressing ever and one wheel will grind about 200 20" loops.

Takes more power? Round takes more power to pull through the same cut it’s a much more efficient cutter it’s smoother and faster. As far as depth gauges go look into DGG it’s worth the money if you’re doing any sort of amount of chains. You don’t have to tell me about having a separate grinder for doing different chains we have 3 Silvey’s, one Oregon, one Super Jolly, and then the DGG raker grinder they all serve a purpose for different chains we run on the daily.

5030 · Aug 8, 2023

Whatever. I sharpen chains for my arborist customers and NONE of them are square ground, as in NADA. Far as my loops are concerned, they are all chipper as well so I would never have a square ground loop. I will say (from observation only) that your depth gages are pretty low. You must run those loops on a high powered saw. The lower the depth gages are, the more power it takes to pull a loop through a cut and that apples to any tooth configuration.

5030 · Aug 8, 2023

Additionally, it's obvious (from your picture and the amount of pitch buildup on the bar, that you mostly cut softwood). Here it's mostly mixed hardwood. Only buildup we get here is on the heel of the tooth when the tooth is getting dull and needs ground. Never seen a bar with that much buildup of pitch on it actually. Here, even green wood don't build up deposits like that but then where you are and where we are, are 2 different types of wood entirely.

I'd like to have a Silvey but I cannot justify one as sharpening loops for customers is just a value added thing for me. Same with chipper knives actually.

RandyT · Aug 8, 2023

5030 said:
Whatever. I sharpen chains for my arborist customers and NONE of them are square ground, as in NADA. Far as my loops are concerned, they are all chipper as well so I would never have a square ground loop. I will say (from observation only) that your depth gages are pretty low. You must run those loops on a high powered saw. The lower the depth gages are, the more power it takes to pull a loop through a cut and that apples to any tooth configuration.

I think there are several reason why square ground is not real common. Most people can't file a chain without a guide and for the most part there are no file guides for the square ground files, and the one that I know of is over $200. And an electric sharpener will set you back close to if not over $2K. Second most places don't carry the files for square ground including dealers in most parts of the country. Even though the pictures are of Oregon chain, Oregon doesn't even supply the square ground files for their own chain.

5030 · Aug 8, 2023

I don't know of anyone who sells square cut loops or bulk actually.

RandyT · Aug 8, 2023

5030 said:
I don't know of anyone who sells square cut loops or bulk actually.

Most likely found in big timber area California, Oregon, Washington I have been running a loop of it for about a year. Not that bad to hand file with the use of a bar vise. I am using the Stihl brand square ground files. Went to one shop in my area and was told they couldn't get them even though I had the Stihl part number. The next shop looked at me like I had 3 eyes but would see if they could get them. Ended up having them order me a couple files so I could play with my loop of chain.

buckeyefarmer · Aug 8, 2023

I just buy a new saw when it gets dull.

Ps, that’s a joke.
My dad was very good at hand sharpening.

xyz123 · Aug 8, 2023

Oregon and Stihl sell square in rolls and loops.

I used to do it for locals too. But no money doing square here.

Another younger guy I know got himself a square grinder and offers it now. Mainly for his self.

xyz123 · Aug 8, 2023

Local stihl shop (1 of about 8 now) used to carry stihl square files, but that stopped many years ago.

5030 · Aug 8, 2023

Only difference between a square cut sawfile and a normal file is, the square cut file has no cutting teeth on the narrow side. Like I said, not something I'd be interested in at all.

Skeans1 · Aug 8, 2023

5030 said:
Only difference between a square cut sawfile and a normal file is, the square cut file has no cutting teeth on the narrow side. Like I said, not something I'd be interested in at all.

No a square file has a cutting edge even on the narrow side.

RandyT said:
Most likely found in big timber area California, Oregon, Washington I have been running a loop of it for about a year. Not that bad to hand file with the use of a bar vise. I am using the Stihl brand square ground files. Went to one shop in my area and was told they couldn't get them even though I had the Stihl part number. The next shop looked at me like I had 3 eyes but would see if they could get them. Ended up having them order me a couple files so I could play with my loop of chain.

It’s typically found around production fallers for a few reasons speed, smoothness, and efficiency. I can take a smaller saw and run a longer bar just by adjusting the angle of the cutter vs round it’s a very grabby experience in comparison.

5030 said:
Additionally, it's obvious (from your picture and the amount of pitch buildup on the bar, that you mostly cut softwood). Here it's mostly mixed hardwood. Only buildup we get here is on the heel of the tooth when the tooth is getting dull and needs ground. Never seen a bar with that much buildup of pitch on it actually. Here, even green wood don't build up deposits like that but then where you are and where we are, are 2 different types of wood entirely.

I'd like to have a Silvey but I cannot justify one as sharpening loops for customers is just a value added thing for me. Same with chipper knives actually.

We cut both “hardwoods” and “softwoods” that pitch build up was actually from hardwoods at the time. When we cut big second or growth style growth doug fir it’s hard it’s not like pine that’s butter it’s close to oak to be honest.

John_Mc · Aug 9, 2023

5030 said:
Square ground is ok but not my cup of tea. Square ground dulls quicker and takes more power to run.

Square ground is simply a more efficient cutter profile: it cuts faster and takes less power to run. It also holds an edge longer than round ground full chisel chain. This is because geometry of a round ground chain makes for a somewhat more fragile point, so it wears more quickly.

Semi-chisel probably dulls less quickly than either round or square ground chisel, but the trade off is that when all three styles are sharp, the semi-chisel is the slowest cutting of them all. If I were cutting a lot of dirty wood, I'd probably use more semi-chisel chain. I don't do a lot of that kind of cutting, so the only semi-chisel chain I have is on my battery powered saw (because I haven't found a full chisel that fits it... not that I've looked all that hard. It's not the saw I grab when I have serious cutting to do anyway.)

Other than when I'm doing storm damage clean-up almost all of my cutting is in slow-grown hardwoods. I use round-ground full chisel chain. I'd use square ground except that I enjoy hand-filing, and have never developed the knack for hand filing square-ground chain properly. At this point, it's not likely to happen: my eyesight is just not good enough anymore to see the corners and angles to get the square ground point correct, which is critical to its cutting performance.