So I've just put al the pieces together and realised that you're Spoon Carving with Tom - I'm familiar with your wood work - you do great stuff! I lurk on instagram and a few of the facebook groups and dabble myself. Thanks heaps for starting this thread and for your videos, and to everyone else for their comments/thoughts.Hey Adam! I’m from Perth WA I just take off as much steel as necessary to bring the edge back to sharp, sometimes it’s a few strokes, but if the tooth isn’t shaped correctly, damaged, If i re profile it, or need to remove the gullet, that will take more strokes, sometimes 30-40! it’s also worth mentioning that someone that has done hand filing longer than I have will likely achieve the same result in a quicker manner too with less passes as they will be more accurate and achieve the desire results more efficiently. Though I can’t be certain, I’m just guessing
I caught your post about your strimmer and noticed @trains has replied a few times there, all I can say is, without his (and a few others on here too of course) guidance I wouldn’t have the knowledge or experience on engines / saws / rebuilds / tuning I do. 12 or so full chainsaw rebuilds in the last year, everyone successful You’re In very good hands with his advice and guidance!
Re your chains, if it’s new or undamaged and you don’t need to do any of the above, a few strokes is normally all that’s needed, but don’t hesitate to do as many as you need to raise a burr and get the tooth sharp rather than have a set number of strokes in mind and repeating it for every tooth.
Warmest regards Tom.
and yes, @trains has been a massive help (and prevented me from throwing the machine away!)
As mentioned above, i generally run the file over the chain after every 2 tanks, so the chain probably isn't that blunt, but i can feel the difference.
I run an MS391 with a 20" bar and 3/8 063 stihl chain and an MS170 with a 14" bar and 3/8P 043 chain from chainsawspares.com - both chains are full chisel.
I sharpen them both with stihl 2 in 1 files (5.2mm and 4.0mm)
I find that if i can keep the angles about the same and stopp wobbling my hands then i get pretty good results, although it doesn't auto feed well in super hard/dry stuff.
I recently learnt about taking out the gullets, so I have given that a go.
Here's the 3/8 063 after 18 months of hand filing
and the same chain after an attempt at removing the gullet
I'm aware (after reading this thread) that it may have been a waste of time when cutting hard australian woods.
Oh, and i should mention that i sharpen with the file at 90/0deg and I always assumed the 10deg down was the tip down not the handle down, so i'm glad i never tried it!
I'm not 100% sure i understand what you guys mean by hook, and keen to hear how going up a file size helps. Any feedback on my filing is more than welcome.
edited to add that i don't worry about keeping the teeth even, but i spent a lot of time making sure i can file both sides about the same..
Thanks,
Adam