Square Chisel Chain Grinders...

Good evening everyone,

I am new to this forum. I am looking to purchase a square chisel chain grinder soon. I no longer have the time, or the patience to hand file square chisel chain anymore. The last time I filed, it took me 4 hours, and all the critical angles were still not perfect. I am also having great difficulty deciding which square chisel chain grinder would perform the best for my needs. I am hoping by posting a "poll", It will help me through the decicion making process.

Any extra information or advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Respectfully,

Nicholas

Hi Nicholas, alot depends on your budget. If money were no object I`m sure that a Pro Sharp would leave you smiling but in reality any of the grinders you mentioned will work just fine. What is your intended use, woods chains or totally machine prepared race chains? The Pro Sharp can be set up to grind all the little tweaks that you would have to hand file using any of the others for a race chain.

I have both a Razur Sharp II and I and prefer the II. It just seems a little more user friendly to me. The I is a very good grinder though, and from what I understand it is nearly identical to the Simington so they could effectively be considered equals in my mind. I`ve got a chain Ken Dunn ground on a Simington and it looks perfect.

Another high quality grinder that I have that will grind square is a Foley 394. I don`t think too many people realize this and you can sometimes pick them up much cheaper than a Silvey or Simington.

BTW, I think you are over barred on your saw, LOL.

Russ

Russ,

Thank you for the reply. I intend to grind mostly woods chains for the most part. On occasion, I may grind a machine prepared race chain to show my neighbor up...LOL . As far a my budget is concerned, I am prepared to shell out lots a $$$$ for a Silvey Pro-Sharp if it all comes down to it.

I am a little leary about purchasing the Razur Sharp I, or Razur Sharp II. Mainly, due to the chain being supported by an arc-like chain holding device, which may cause small changes in the critical angles as the cutter tooth shortens.

I am also a little leary about the SDM-4. According to Sam at Madsen's, this machine is an old design, and has an indexing flaw. Sam told me, "The SDM-4 index's off the depth gauge of the cutter tooth." Sam went on to say, "With today's modern, rounded, bullet-shaped depth gauges, the SDM-4 has difficulty indexing accuratly on the rounded surfaces.

I like the Silvey Pro-Sharp, but, $1900 is a lot of money .

I will check into the Foley 394.

One question here...Where can I find more info on Simington Grinders???

Thanks again for the reply.

Respectfully,

Nicholas

Hello Nicholas,

First off I would like to welcome you to the site,I have spent the past few months trying too decide the very same thing you are and I believe that the Razur Sharp II is the way to go for the money.There are quite a fewpeople here that own / use these very same grinders with excellent results...I'm pretty sure thats what Gypo (John) an Z4Lunch (Steve) both use and they are getting very good results along with Russ .What I think you should do is contact one of these members and send them a chain too grind for you and then see how you like it when you put it too the wood...Just my opinion.
I'm hoping too pick up my Razur Sharp II by the end of the month if everything goes right..Then we'll see just how dificult they are too set up..

Rob.

RSII/Simington 495

Nicholas,
Steve here...
Yes indeed I have a couple of square grinders. I have a RS2 and an old Simington that is very similar to the Razur Sharp II. Both these grinders work great, and are very accurate. Accuracy comes from lots of practice grinding teeth.
Steve

Yell if you'd like to see them, bring along a loop, I'm 30 minutes south of Fondulac

One more pic

Steve,

I'd like to see both the Razur Sharp II and the Simington 495 in action if you don't mind. Please feel free to E-mail, or P.M. me to discuss a time, and date I could visit.

By the way, is there any place in Wisconsin that sells Silvey Chisel Chain Grinders?

Thanks for the reply.

Nicholas

Nicolas If you have an 18" bar on an 066 you ought to try a 9pin sprocket!

Stumper,

In the future I may run a 3/8"-8 or 3/8"-9 on my MS660. But for now, I enjoy the brute power I can get out of the 3/8"-7...I could just about sit on top of the powerhead, and the saw will not slow down ! IMO, the MS660 is one impressive saw...lightwieght, fast, extremely powerful, well balanced.

Thank you for the reply.

Nicholas

I have a friend who runs a 9 pin, takes the depth gauges down to the point where he almost has to hold the saw back-just kind of floats it through the cut. Scary fast! He actually tried a 10 pin but couldn't keep the chains on the bars. Personally I run 8 pins on 4 CID class saws and 20-24 inch bars-- pretty quick (especially the Dolmar 120si) but not as fast as his 66 and 9 pin.

bump..

TreeCo said:

I use a Stihl USG with factory square grind attachments.

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Treeco, any chance we cold see a pic or two of that setup?

For as much as you are gonna use your ground chains I see no sense in spending out the dough for a Pro-Sharp.

I have one - but I make my living with it. I work with guys who use RZ SHRP. IIs and their chains cut just fine.

Any grinder will make a really sharp chain if you have it set up right and have an idea how to grind.

If I were you I would spend the money on a entry level Silvey, along with their depth gauge grinder which is around another $500. You would still be saving around $650-$700 is you were to buy a Pro Sharp.

Don't know how many of you fellas know this, but your rakers are a major player in your chain speed, smoothness and of course sharpness. I see a lot of pictures of chains on here with rakers way too high and they wonder about knew sharpening methods.

But then again, if money is no issue, buy a Pro Sharp and a Depth gauge grinder.

b_turner, I too like having the best tools.

but good grief! a brand new MS880 only cost $1,600 VS $2,000 for a Silvey Prosharp. look at the complexity of two items....

a chainsaw is just another tool.

big fan of Snap-on tools here. I like owning/using the very best tools available. but I'm having a hard time justifying paying 2k for a prosharp.

046 said:

b_turner, I too like having the best tools.

but good grief! a brand new MS880 only cost $1,600 VS $2,000 for a Silvey Prosharp. look at the complexity of two items....

a chainsaw is just another tool.

big fan of Snap-on tools here. I like owning/using the very best tools available. but I'm having a hard time justifying paying 2k for a prosharp.

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I agree and have said it often I think the prosharp is a ripoff at 2thousand.

But as a tool fanatic, after spending an entire afternoon comparing all Silvey models side by side (literally, ask my poor buddy who was waiting for me the whole time) once I experienced the differences I knew I would not be happy with the others.

But even so, I feel it is a huge ripoff.

Tree Sling'r said:

Don't know how many of you fellas know this, but your rakers are a major player in your chain speed, smoothness and of course sharpness. I see a lot of pictures of chains on here with rakers way too high and they wonder about knew sharpening methods.

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Tree Sling'r, are you saying you run your rakes at lower than the 25 thous or so most saw come with, or are you saying that you see pictures where the rackers have not been lowered that much.

No agenda, just want to know what you as a full time cutter run for rakers.

If you are patient and look hard a Silvey Razur Sharp II can be had for around $400 or so.

I bought one from Gypo a few years ago...........got a real good grinder at a good price!!!

B_Turner said:

Tree Sling'r, are you saying you run your rakes at lower than the 25 thous or so most saw come with, or are you saying that you see pictures where the rackers have not been lowered that much.

No agenda, just want to know what you as a full time cutter run for rakers.

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I have never met a cutter that who takes his rakers down to a prescribed number. We all eyeball our stuff. Your wood changes from day to day - so Myself - I take mine down accordingly.
I read too many numbers around here - I honestly don't know how low I take mine down. All depends - like I said the wood.
Besides - thats why my saws Kick A$$ - so that I can run my rakers lower.

As far as the pics I see around here most all the rakers are all high - if they are even touched at all. It is all user preference and what you have to pull your chain with.

Like stated in my previous post - your rakers play a major role in the ability of your chain.

bump, we need more votes for the statistical analysis to be valid.

also wonder how the OP made out with his new grinder?

WadePatton said:

...........wonder how the OP made out with his new grinder?

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Well since this is 5 year old thread I hope you get a response from him/her.:msp_ohmy: She/he has not posted since 11-11-2009 and not logged in since 4-27-2011

Bill