Looking for a good Chain Saw sharpener

Dozernut · Oct 27, 2005

( Those wheel grinders take off way to much of the tooth )
You can adjust a wheel grinder to take off as much or as little as you want. An unscrupulous dealer will grind away half of a new chain so he can sell you another, been there done that! I can hand sharpen chain, knife, chisel and other wood working tools, but you cannot beat a wheel grinder for making your chain even and cut straight. I touch up in the field by hand, I sharpen in the shop with a wheel grinder.

kenmac · Oct 27, 2005

I have this sharpener. It works great ! I Will never hand sharpen a chain saw chain with a file again.

PhilNH5 · Oct 28, 2005

( An unscrupulous dealer will grind away half of a new chain so he can sell you another )

I don't doubt that thist is possible. But the people running the grinder are trained to file all teeth down to the same size as the smallest tooth. The belief is that all the teeth have to be the same lenght to get straight cuts. Since you can't add metal they grind all of the rest of the teeth down.

I have decided in my use that it is not an issue. I hand sharpen with a round file and each tooth gets 3 or 4 strokes. Teeth that have been knicked are shorter than those that have not. As long as the short teeth are randomly spaced on either side the saw still cuts straight and true.

As a novice hand sharpener I use to inadvertantly sharpen all of the teeth on one side shorter than the other. I think this came naturally as we have a dominant hand. Anyway the saw would really pull to one side in those days. Now I take great care not to let that happen.

Phil

kensfarm · Oct 28, 2005

I bought the attachment for the dremel tool to sharpen chainsaw chains. I took the attachment part off(seem to be more in the way) and I just do it free hand w/ the correct size stone while the chain is still on the saw. I still would like one of the bench grinders types.

Jagmandave · Oct 28, 2005

I've used both the hand file with the gauge and the little electric one you clip on your truck's battery, they both do fine, but I don't cut firewood for heat, I just use mine to fell trees and cut brush, so it's not critical. But, a sharp chain does make a huge difference!

erich · Oct 28, 2005

jeffinsgf

Thanks for that site.

I used a portable vise like they show a few times and it seemed to help when filing in the woods.

My recomendation is to get the plastic handle for your files. they work much better that the wooden ones.

I am going to check out their bar conditioner. That really looks like a useful tool. You need to keep the bar square to avoid the chain pulling to one side which will mke you and the saw work harder. Along the same lines, you should turn your bar over at regular intervals to keep the wear even.

To all,

Their filing instructions give a good picture of the angles you need to keep. It really is a lot easier than most folks think to do it freehand. Having the guides and jigs would be a help to keep things in line. My recomendation would be to use them at the end of the day when you clean the saw up for storage. Dressing the teeth in the woods by eye only takes a few minutes and really does make work easier.

Please don't think that I am bragging because I sharpen by eye. After paying for the shop to sharpen my chains a few times I just decided to just give it a try. I tried a Stihl filing guide and I couldn't quite get the hang of the darned thing. I was very pleased with the results I got by eye and it turned out that I kept the saw cutting better because i could just whip out the file when the chain needed it.

I used to have the shop sharpen the blades on my Husky brush cutter too. When I first bought it the blades were so inexpensive i just bought a new one when the old one got dull. when the price trippled I figured that since the cutter blade on the brush cutter had similar teeth I could sharpen that blade also. Man, keeping that sharp really makes a big difference. When that thing gets dull you might as well quit cause it really works you hard.

Oh yeah, stevenf, keep your neigbor away from your chainsaw and stay away from him when he uses his! When I was a kid I was helping the fellow who rented our fields clear some fence rows with my dad's little homelite. He was kind of like your neighbor. Seeing as I was the kid he used the saw I stacked the brush. He used the saw in a big sweeping motion to cut some brush with out cheking on me. When he whipped around he ran that saw right aross my day old Wolverine boots. The day before I had been wearing PF Flyers. It makes me shudder everytime I think of it. He got his when he dropped a locust tree on himself. It didn't kill him but those big thorns ripped him up pretty good. He set the saw down and never picked it up again, which suited me just fine.

Sorry for the long post.

Eric