Okay. I have yet to see a video of someone trying to cut with a dull chain, stop their saw, sharpen it and go back to cutting, so that we can see how sharp one of these 5 minute sharpenings are.
Many people can talk about how they can sharpen a chain within 5-10 minutes, but no one can manage to do a video illustrating a dull chain that can't cut, and then a hand sharpened chain that can cut like new. It is possible that the people who remain on this earth with this skill do not know how to run a video camera and can't upload the video. This would be a very reasonable explanation. There is nothing wrong with not being up to date on technology.
I can understand why you swap chains out to new ones. It is not because of some economic reasoning but the fact that you don't know how to sharpen a chain and are trying to justify why you swap out to new ones. In the real world people who know what they are doing don't let their chains get blunt to the point where they don't cut.
If swapping out chains was a financially viable option then every single logger on earth would be doing it as it would make sense from an economic point of view. I am certainly not having a dig at you but with some of your replies I actually think that deep down you doubt it can be done. I'd get a video if I could but don't actually have a single chain in stock out of hundreds that is actually blunt...
However I've yet to see a sharpened chain outcut a new one out the box. I've heard it for years but never seen it. I know many are real good sharpening by hand but sadly there are more than aren't. I get chains in here that you would have to see to believe, the very worst ones coming from arborists..
Here you go Tommy. Hand filed semi chisel vs. out of the box chipper, semi, and full chisel
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pZneA2f6how" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
There is more to it than just this video though. Chains from manufacturers come set to cover the average cutting siutations. As Jasha mentioned it is quite easy to make a chain faster out of the box for a single user's specific situation or to suit a specific saw or timber species. If you tried a bore cut in our hardwoods with the overly aggressive semi chisel chain in the video that has had it's rakers dropped significantly you'd probably wear it in the face! In softwoods it would probably be fine. If you were just lopping up logs for firewood the last chain on a gutsy saw would probably be the pick. Too many people think that a fast chain can be made just by dropping the rakers. Now try a whole heap of technical felling cuts with that same chain and get back to me
If you can't see it has a nice purple color to it. Put your new chains and grinder away and learn something!
Actually the person on that grinder needs to learn something.
You don't know how to sharpen a chain well...so ask for help. Ask your dealer, ask a logger from town.
Ask the logger, not the dealer. Most dealers don't actually spend enough time on a chainsaw to know how to even file a chain properly. I know there are exceptions to the rule but the vast majority wouldn't have a clue how to file properly. A lot can't even grind properly.