Sharpening Square Chisel With 3-Corner File

[komatsuvarna]

I am also learning how to square file. i have both, the double bevel and the six sided file. I'm not sure which i like best yet. I'm not ready to post pics yet though.:msp_unsure: It does cut much better than before. I can honestly see my self using my round files for gullet cleaning only from now on. Thanks for the video mdavlee. Has any one tried filing the other direction? With the handle down, filing up?

I tried it a few times that way. It worked, but was extremely hard to get the angles right. You can see the corner of the tooth better and I found it easier to keep the file where it needs to be going ''into'' the tooth.

Im still learning alot, but here's a tooth I filed last week with a double bevel. Kinda looks like the angle is a little high in the picture...I don't remember it being, but it maybe.

 

[J.W Younger]

I tried it a few times that way. It worked, but was extremely hard to get the angles right. You can see the corner of the tooth better and I found it easier to keep the file where it needs to be going ''into'' the tooth.

Im still learning alot, but here's a tooth I filed last week with a double bevel. Kinda looks like the angle is a little high in the picture...I don't remember it being, but it maybe.

I'm not seeing any beak so it may just be the lighting.
Looks pretty good.

 

[rwoods]

Kind of a weird one to answer. Short form: yes, very well. Long form: if I didn't already know how to do it by hand, I'd never have got the thing to work. The angles are really hard to set up and hold, each cutter is slightly different, and -- get this -- you have to flip either the saw or the jig to get the right-hand cutters because there's an adjustment knob in the way. Once you get over all of those obstacles, though, it works pretty good... until you want to do another chain. Probably better to just learn to do it by hand, in the long run.

I know this is an old thread and you may have quit using the File-n-Joint, but what were the principal angles you used? I am driving myself nuts tinkering. If I had some good central points life might be easier. Thanks, Ron

 

[madhatte]

I know this is an old thread and you may have quit using the File-n-Joint, but what were the principal angles you used?

I never measured them. I just fitted the corners of the file into a new chain to match the angles, then moved the jig over to the chain to be sharpened. I wish I had, now, because I have a RSII and I have yet to find a set of angles I really like. I've got one setup that works pretty well -- 8 degrees top plate and 11 degrees side plate -- but I have no idea how that would translate to a file in a jig.

 

[rwoods]

Thanks. I can’t match Stihl on a .404. Too much down/tilt - almost 45. My file eats up the tie at 40 and hits at 35 with the file “flat”. Across the top at 30 seems to fit. Got some numbers from outdoor site. One was using 30 & 30. The other was using 25 tilt, 35 across and 8 “roll” of file. The best I can figure with Stihl is as much tilt as you can get with 30 cross and 10 roll. I am going to try 30, 30 and 10. Got to run the chain through my round grinder to straighten up the mess I made first. Don’t know if I can get that much tilt on 3/8s, but I hope so.

Ron

 

[Skeans]

Thanks. I can’t match Stihl on a .404. Too much down/tilt - almost 45. My file eats up the tie at 40 and hits at 35 with the file “flat”. Across the top at 30 seems to fit. Got some numbers from outdoor site. One was using 30 & 30. The other was using 25 tilt, 35 across and 8 “roll” of file. The best I can figure with Stihl is as much tilt as you can get with 30 cross and 10 roll. I am going to try 30, 30 and 10. Got to run the chain through my round grinder to straighten up the mess I made first. Don’t know if I can get that much tilt on 3/8s, but I hope so.

Ron

Or ship it out to one of us with grinders Ron, I’d have to look to see if I have my spacers to do 404.


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[madhatte]

I pretty much always hit the tie sooner or later, whether filing by hand or by using a grinder. Don't stress that too much. The factory angles are set before the tie is spun into place. They have given us an unattainable goal.

 

[Skeans]

I pretty much always hit the tie sooner or later, whether filing by hand or by using a grinder. Don't stress that too much. The factory angles are set before the tie is spun into place. They have given us an unattainable goal.

Is that on 404 only? I know on 3/8 I can enlarge the wheel on the pro sharp with a more aggressive angle then factory and still not clip the tie strap.


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[madhatte]

I've gotten lucky a few times, but eventually I nick it so I guess maybe it's a matter of where you are in both wheel life and cutter life. I'm not sure where the sweet spot is.

 

[rwoods]

Or ship it out to one of us with grinders Ron, I’d have to look to see if I have my spacers to do 404.


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Thanks, you PNW guys are too kind to me.

I think I will get this jig sharpening down. No one around here has a grinder. Asked the local Stihl dealer if he had any files. "One", he said, "and you can have it for free as it has been in inventory for years." I didn't bother asking if he had any chain.

The file is one of the triangular rod types. I have about worn out one side just fooling with it.

Ron

 

[rwoods]

Between all of the angles I have gathered from others and an McCulloch owner's manual, I am going to give the 30, 30 and 10 a run as soon as I have time. I converted the chain I was experimenting to round as it would have taken a lot of filing to straighten out the mess I made of it. Probably shortened its life by at least 4 sharpenings.

I spent all day making a base to hold my jigs. It is heavy enough I can just sit it on a table and go to filing. Here are some pictures, square on one side and round on the other. Of course to use it on a table top you can't have a chain on the back jig. The wood is from a cherry I cut in the back yard when I was building my house 15 years ago. It is just sitting on the aluminum I-beam for the pictures. I believe the stool was made from some cherry my dad cut in Florida when I was a kid.

Square jig: Round jig:



Other views:



I believe @Philbert would be proud of what he helped inspire. Ron

 

[WolfMann]

I thought you had to modify a Granberg filing jig to work square chisel, is that not the case? Or have you guys done something special to yours?

 

[rwoods]

Mine is an old 108. To use the three corner file, I made holders from two 3/8" by 1/4" by 1" bronze bushings and threaded a shorten set screw in each to hold the file. Material is real thin so I don't know yet whether it will hold up to use. I am told that the flat 6 sided double beveled files will fit these older jigs. On the newer jigs, folks are making slotted holders from round aluminum stock to hold a flat 6 sided double beveled file. One end of each holder is turned down to fit in the jig. I have seen some that buy aluminum spacers of a particular size and glue them to the 3 corner files. I believe the old 107 model of the File-n-Joint was made for square filing. I have never been able to find one for sale.

Ron

 

[WolfMann]

I've heard about the old 107 being for chisel too, never seen one myself. I'm surprised they would discontinue something like that, figure not enough people into square filing?

That's neat with the modified 108, I've seen a few on ebay. Didn't know you could fit a 6 sided flat file in one.

Good tips on modification.