PowerSharp!!!!

[Fish]

Unfortunately, I am not able yet to follow up on the thread I started.

I am pretty much broke, and have taken up a night job to get through winter,
so I do not have the time or resources to devote to this thread.

The Oregon rep at the Expo, repeatedly sharpened and cut wood, then cut a
long stretch on the cinder block, sharpened, repeated, etc....

I have used the chain, cut like a new one until I hit dirt, re-sharpened, then resumed cutting like new.

So I have only cut a "rick or so" and my chain looks like a new one, and sharpening it took less than a minute.

Hopefully, in the next day or two, I will cut more and add to this thread.

Thanks.

 

[Jimbeamwhite]

Looking forward to it! Cheers Fish and Philbert, appreciate you are busy - but surely AS should take priority?:beer::laughn:
I mean it's not like you NEED to eat or put gas in the car, after all?:eyeroll::handshake:

 

[PowerSharp Eng]

Powersharp Eng, maybe you could answer my question. How many sharpenings would you typically allow something like a MS200T with a 14" bar, before a new stone and chain are needed? Fish seemed to like it but no reply from him here.

Several times I've personally seen 10 demonstrations done with one chain. Each demonstration consisted of dulling the chain until the cutting time was 2x to 3x of original and then sharpening until the cutting time was at or close to original. But those demonstrations dulled the chain against a hard surface.

Straight wood cutting would likely get you up to 15 sharpenings.

 

[jra1100]

I just found this thread and find it to be very interesting. I tried to rep Fish, but I gotta spread it first. I cut firewood for nearly 30 years before I found AS, and must admit that I knew little about saws or chains till I joined. If my saw didn't work I took it to O'brien's saw shop and he fixed it. When the chain got dull I took it to O'brien's to be sharpened, well I actually took 2 or 3 or more. I burned wood to save money and for exercise, and Johnny Obrien was a friend and a good place to hang out, and he didn't charge much. Johnny knew that I wanted to keep the price down on saws, so when I needed "new" saws he'd sell me a used one cheap. Once when I came in the shop with some chains he said "hey I just got in this old Montgomery Ward boat anchor, and it needs a big dumb bas***d to be able to run it, I've fixed it up and it runs great, I put $50 on your account, take it". When the big C got him I had to drive 20 miles one way to a saw shop, things were changed. I found AS while looking for some info on a bigger saw, and things really changed then. Back in the day I didn't care about sharpening chains, but the powersharp would have been a help for those times when I couldn't get to Johnny. It is probably like so many other devices like this, if you don't have a chain grinder like I and many other AS members do, or aren't worth a damn at hand sharpening (like me) then it is a good alternative, not the best alternative probably, but a good one. If I only cut a couple of times a year I'd probably have one.

Thanks for all the input and information guys. JR

 

[zogger]

shagbark

i am interested in it i have two limbing saws it would work great on... i wished they would make a 20" for my other saw.... heres the way i see it... i work 50 hrs a week and when i am off cutting i have little time to spend sharpening chains.. i even have my own grinder but still i am interested... i carry 15 chains with me to the woods when i go... i usually run through half in a day. i change them out when filling up.. still consumes time that i dont have much of anyway...keep in mind that all the wood i drop and cut has to go that day.you cant leave it or it wont be there when you get back.i dont cut wood in places like most so there is wire and who knows what in some of the trees.i see this system as a real time saver to keep production up while cutting and less down time,especially on the 14" and 16" saws that seem to dull out every fifteen to twenty minutes. my question is how does this system fare in hedge and mulberry shag bark hickory?i cut a lot of it and regular chains dont hold an edge long anyway...i dont understand still why they dont make a twenty"...

On shagbark, once you get to the main trunk that is large..I am thinking it almost might be easier to get a concrete saw, run it down the top, then peel the dang things first before cutting to size. With a...don't know..what is a good peeler method? I've never bought or used any of those various spuds they advertise. I've knocked off what I can with just a general ax, but there's still more on the ones I am working on and it's still dirty there, like 18 layers of dirt mixed with dinosaur scales bark.

Or something like that. For real, only a few cuts max from sharp to too dull to even think about it. Then the fun of splitting starts.... Good wood for heating, most excellent, I have a stout chunk ticking over in the stove right now, not real dry but all I wanted today was a long burning something and that was kicking around, but I think I'd in the future I'd rather just go cut twice as much oak or maple and be done with it. When it dries up I'll be back down in the swamp pastures finishing my two big shagbark blowdowns, but guaranteed I am NOT going out of my way to go cut live shagbark down...nope... the branches weren't *too* bad but those main trunks, sheesh.

 

[Jimbeamwhite]

Much appreciated folks for all your input - I think I'll bite the bullet and give the system a go! I need a new bar anyway, and my "working" chain is getting a bit soft, so it seems like the perfect time to try something new.

 

[Philbert]

- I think I'll bite the bullet and give the system a go! I need a new bar anyway,

Keep us in the 'loop'! Let us know your comments, impressions, etc. If your expectations were met or where you found it lacking.

Philbert

 

[Yoopermike]

OK im still stuck on the fact that ppl PAY 10 bucks for sharpening??? send em to me I will sharpen them for that price .. I usually only charge 4 off the saw and 5 on the saw for sharpening!

 

[Jimbeamwhite]

The guy I buy my chains off charges $14 for 18" chains OFF the bar - done fantastically, but I think in the US you can probably buy a new one for that price!

 

[Jimbeamwhite]

Bought and on the way. Handy, as I can switch the whole setup between my MS200T and my 020T, they (not surprisingly) take the same kit. Will report back once it's been through some wood!

 

[brokenbudget]

OK im still stuck on the fact that ppl PAY 10 bucks for sharpening??? send em to me I will sharpen them for that price .. I usually only charge 4 off the saw and 5 on the saw for sharpening!

up this way i get chains that make me wonder why i'm only charging 10 bucks to put right.
plus when i get a 24" or larger, i charge 15 bucks. if it isn't rocked out. if it is, then i tell 'em to buy another. depending on who it is, the price changes. close friends and family are free, regardless how bad the chain is. some people however, need to be charged more. depends on how much i like the person.

 

[Jimbeamwhite]

Well the 16" kit for my MS200t/020t arrived today. Very impressed in the three cuts I made, in the dark, while it was raining, haha. It cuts faster I think than the standard Stihl green chain, and certainly throws out the chips. No need to try the sharpening bit yet, of course. 16" logs were a breeze, no effort at all. And yes, it will do a bore cut just like a standard bar/chain - I tried to take a pic but it was too dark. I will keep this updated - but I'm not going deliberately blunting it on concrete or anything, will wait till I either hit something unpleasant in the wood (a tiger? Elephant?) or it just naturally blunts and needs a touch-up - hopefully at the weekend depending on storms etc.
So far, very pleased indeed. That might change, who knows, but it "feels" great while cutting. Very smooth.

 

[galde]

nothing new... powersharp was tried 20 years or so ago.... didn't take.
got a few new old stock powersharp chains laying in my parts box.

I have been experimenting with old "barracuda" chains and the new power-sharp chain. I have my own way of sharpening that equals the factory grind. I would like to find some more of the old barracuda chains -- all pitches and lengths to play with.

 

[galde]

Bought and on the way. Handy, as I can switch the whole setup between my MS200T and my 020T, they (not surprisingly) take the same kit. Will report back once it's been through some wood!

Did you get it with the small Stihl bar (A074)? The only powersharp bar I have found is the small Poulan (A041).

 

[Jimbeamwhite]

Yep, it's an A074. Works really well - I did another bore cut tonight in the wild wind and dark and hit a stone that was hiding under the log. Blunted the chain pretty badly. About 3 seconds of sharpening, and the chain cuts like brand new, if not better. I hope they release this for the 041 and other bigger saws, it's so handy I really want to have it on all my saws. Expensive yes, but I only fell trees and cut wood to heat 2, sometimes 3 houses, and it's not THAT cold!

 

[galde]

I saw the powersharp package with the A074 (Stihl) bar at Home Depot and bought one to try on my 009L. Wal-Mart has only the Poulan mount. Lowes has both the Poulan mount and Stihl mount. Home Depot has both mounts and sells the full package for about $20 less than Lowes and Wal-Mart.

 

[Philbert]

Wal-Mart has only the Poulan mount. Lowes has both the Poulan mount and Stihl mount. Home Depot has both mounts and sells the full package for about $20 less than Lowes and Wal-Mart.

Saw them this week at Northern Tool & Equipment. Also see them in their on line catalog. Not sure how their pricing compares to the other stores.

Philbert

 

[Philbert]

Learned A Couple of New Things

A couple of Oregon Reps came out to Minnesota and to a GTG in Wisconsin yesterday. Learned a few 'finesse' points about the system:

1). Always mount the bar-end-sharpener/sharpening cassette the same way. Not obvious, but they said that this develops a consistent wear pattern in the stone. Flipping the stone each time is counter-productive according to the Reps.

2). Use the same stone with an individual chain. This is consistent with the instructions - i.e., you get and use a new stone with a new chain. But at the demo we had several saws with the PowerSharp system mounted and we had to keep track of which bar-end-sharpener went with which saw. If you had several saws with the system, you would want to mark each sharpening cassette for a specific saw (unlike files or a grinding wheel that you use on any chain of the same size!).

3) Push it till it smokes! The demo videos are not clear on this - they say to push the bar into the sharpener until you see sparks, then hold it for 3 - 5 seconds. The Oregon Reps suggested that I was not being aggressive enough (again, maybe this is because I learned to use a light touch on my 511A grinder!).

4). Don't flex the bar. When you push the bar hard against the sharpening cassette, the guide bar tends to flex, which means that one side of the tip may press harder against the stone. The Reps showed me how to press forward with the saw's rear handle, and to use the side handle to keep the bar straight by pulling slightly to the left or right.

5). If you intentionally dull it on concrete, it takes more effort to bring it back. It's tempting to try this, and we did with an earlier test unit because 'they told us to'. But when you are just touching up an edge that gets dull from cutting, the cutters are restored much faster. This is how I will be evaluating my current PS chain on an electric saw - no concrete on purpose. Kind of obvious - I would not intentionally run a conventional chain into concrete to see how fast I can restore it with a grinder, but this system, it just begs . . .

6). You CAN bore cut with it. I don't think that it is the best chain for this purpose, but we were able to bore cut through a 14 inch section of oak, just to see if we could.

Philbert

 

[Bob Wright]

I will be using it soon at Oregon HQ in Portland...Bob

 

[Philbert]

PS on Electric Saw

My first electric chainsaw, a Craftsman/Poulan bought 20+ years ago, came equipped with the first generation PowerSharp system. I cut a lot of wood with it, but when it stopped cutting so well, my dealer told me to "put a real chain on that saw", and that is how I have run it since.

So I was anxious to try the new PS system on an electric saw - my Makita UC4000 (13 amps). Please see the attached photos - frozen apple wood, up to about 8" diameter. Cut well; lots of chips!

And yes, I did use a GFCI in the snow.

Philbert

(EDIT - replaced lost photos - should be similar to originals)