Bad chain sharpening?!?!?!?!!

[Jonathan70]

Through the course of a few months I've nicked a rock here & there & decided to get 4 chains professionally sharpened....., guy said the machine does it all , I asked about the rakers too, yup takes care of that too.....so. . I decided to go to a family owned Stihl dealer, Where I purchased my MS 290 from last year and other misc stihl parts & have had a good feeling about their knowledge & quality. ,.,, well take a look at the bundle of 4 chains I picked up yesterday ..... I'm pretty ticked!!!!

 

[Jonathan70]

You can see some of the metal curling off the cutter..... And it's blued also .....

 

[KenJax Tree]

It got way too hot and won't hold an edge now.

 

[Thornton]

That's sad

 

[turnkey4099]

It got way too hot and won't hold an edge now.

And probably be unable to file it - like laying a file to glass. I made the same mistake years ago. 4 loops ruined at the Ace Hardware store.

Harry K

 

[CTYank]

Unfortunately quite common since waaaaay back, even at big-name (Stihl) saw dealers nearby. (They make money selling chains, not sharpening them.) That's why I started learning to sharpen my own back in the '70s. Still do, either with Granberg "File-N-Joint" guide, or, off the bar with Northern Tool grinder. I could never hand somebody a job like that, never mind charge for it. There are a few dealers you can trust- just haven't found any around here.

Quite often dealer quickiie sharpenings involve removing a good part of the cutters, which you don't mention. Either way, totally unsat.

Where are you along CT shoreline? Those chains could very likely be salvaged with some very gentle grinding, if you want to spend a few minutes learning how. Then budget maybe 15-20 minutes for guided filing. (If you really want a job done right, do it yourself.) PM me, once the brew cooler is filled. I'm between I-95 & Merritt.

 

[Trx250r180]

looks like they need to dress their wheel ,also looks like got so warm had some molten metal going on ,i have seen some local shops work also that the grinder was not set up right on square and the corners were about 1/4 of the way into the top plate

 

[RiverLogger]

I'd say they owe you four new chains. Three at the very least since your chains weren't 100% when you took them in. My local shop did me a favor when I had a saw in under warranty and sharpened my chain. One side at 30* the other side at 20*. Needless to say I left with a new chain.

You need to go back and have a chat!

 

[Whitespider]

That's a pretty common blunder... especially when the owner gives a teenage, part-time, employee the job.
I haven't taken a chain in for someone else to sharpen for decades now.
The guys that know what they're doing, and care about what they're doing, are far-and-few between... and not just in the saw shops.
*

 

[treeslayer2003]

learn to file..............waste of time and money paying a moron to "sharpen" yer chains

 

[Poindexter]

Yup, you got screwed.

I encourage you to get the right sized round file with a handle, a raker guage for your saw, a flat file, a cooler full of beer and PM th fella up the road who already offered to help.

Learn on your busted up ones. Then with maybe an hour's practice tops, open a couple factory new chains, sharpen them and see if you can't make yur own chain sharper than factory new already. I bet you can.

 

[Ductape]

Like so many others have said...... time to start sharpening yourself. I have a couple decent shops within a reasonable distance from me that ONLY do sharpening. Not just saw chains, but other types of sharpening too. They have decent reputations. Back before I learned to sharpen, my local Stihl dealer charged $13 to sharpen (off the saw), and a new chain was $14. You will be much happier sharpening yourself.

 

[zogger]

I'd ask that shop for a rebate percentage on how much they made loaning them out to cut dirty railroad ties.

Or something. A Stihl authorized gold/emerald/rubies shop? Mail those chains upstream to the local stihl regional manager with a note that includes "WTF"?. Flat rate box is *cheap* you should get four new chains back.

 

[Philbert]

You need to go back and have a chat!

+1

Call to set up an appointment with the owner or manager. Give them a chance to make it right, and to prevent problems with other customers.

If that does not work, push it up to the regional STIHL distributor.

Philbert

 

[cantoo]

I have an electric sharpener and have been very happy with it for the 2 years I had it, then I started to notice that my chains were burning easily and had that same blue burr on them. They wouldn't cut crap and it was really making me mad, I was taking my time and taking as little off as I could. The grinding wheel was getting black and I decided that it must be screwed so I bought a new one. Couple of months later the same crap started happening. So no more electric for me until I did some research. Turns out it's a good idea to clean your chains before you sharpen them. I bought a dresser, soak the chains for a day or 4 in my parts washer and the chains are like razors again. I would take those chains back and tell them some dumbazz sharpened them, after they agree with you tell them that they were the ones that did it, record the look on their face. Then ask for the new chains, hopefully in front of a few customers. I still hand file when I just need a quick touchup though. I have 20 chains soaking right now and 15 news chains sitting on the shelf. Also bought 3 dozen files on sale at Lazer.

 

[SWI Don]

Hey at least they appear to be the same length. I have had to fix chains that looked like they only liked to sharpen one side. Almost gone teeth on one side and almost new on the other.

 

[Jonathan70]

Thanks for posting everyone....... I called the dealer after posting this thread.... He claims that the metal residue should come off once you start cutting.... I told him that I thought was a possibility , but not likely.... That's why I called before I would try one... Well I ran one for about 45 mins in some oak .... It took over half an hour to remotely start to wear off the metal burrs,,,, their still there though an fit was not cutting very well at all..... I was not seeing the big chips flying that I'm used to with a new chain out of the box....

I did buy and have used a Timberline manual carbide sharpener.... Figured some of the cutters were pretty gnarly from the rocks I hit, ( I was cutting some down cherry in the brush) .
I will be making a visit to this guys shop on Monday morning in Orange... If he doesn't make good.... It's not going to be good for him as the Power of the Internet will prove to be overwhelming as there are many outlets to voice ones poor customer service.....

I'll keep updated as it goes forward...

 

[Philbert]

He claims that the metal residue should come off once you start cutting....

When you sharpen with a non-reverable grinder, it is normal to get a slight burr on the side plate of the left hand cutters - this will quickly wear off with use. Your photos show the chrome layer on the top plate severely damaged and peeled back. This is something totally different. Maybe he needs to see them.

It is likely that your chains can be saved by grinding back past the damage, with loss of than amount of chain life. In no way was that a 'professional sharpening' job that STIHL says that their dealers can perform. Your chains should perform as good as new (sometimes better) after being correctly sharpened.

Philbert

 

[Diesel nut]

That's one of the reasons I bought my own chain sharpener. Not very many guys in town know how to run a sharpener. To do a good job you gotta be patient and take your time to do it right.

 

[CR888]

Its the small percentage of incompetant dealers that do this destructive work and charge you, that give the guys who are experienced grinders a bad rep. Sadly this happens and l agree totally with Philberts post, something needs to be said to someone to prevent others getting the same treatment. lt is possible that the owner is 'unaware' of the cowboy and would hate to see his customers recieve that service. Give the right person an opportunity to make this right without naming and shaming the business, if they don't want to know forward those pics to head office with perhaps some better clearer close us of the edge and molden metal.