chain sharpening ONLY PLEASE! "Chain Sharpening"

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Bump for the peanut gallery. First, a comment that I haven't seen mentioned. I think I have better results with a really snug new bar. As they wear and open up, there is more room for chatter. I'm liking the solid, smooth feeling I'm getting by filing a new chain on a new bar. Zero chatter. Snugged up with the brake on its taking a nice edge.

And a question: any tips for smoothing the fresh burr? As you file any edge you effectively raise a small burr. In sharpening a knife you work the burr in both directions, then gently remove the excess. I don't recall mention of folks de-buring their cutters.
 
I sat my son down and step by step showed him how to sharpen a chain properly. Only because he sharpened his chain on his new saw to death. I taught him about the gullet, and using a file n guide. And both angles when filing. Doing the rakers. It’s the difference between nice square chips or saw dust. He tried the saw he sharpened while i explained it to him and he said wow.

Once we take the time to sharpen the chain correctly all I do is make one pass with the file n guide when I gas up the saw. This way it’s always razor sharp.
 
I sat my son down and step by step showed him how to sharpen a chain properly. Only because he sharpened his chain on his new saw to death. I taught him about the gullet, and using a file n guide. And both angles when filing. Doing the rakers. It’s the difference between nice square chips or saw dust. He tried the saw he sharpened while i explained it to him and he said wow.

Once we take the time to sharpen the chain correctly all I do is make one pass with the file n guide when I gas up the saw. This way it’s always razor sharp.
If I'm on the job and need to touch up my chain quickly, " similar to a soldier fixing his rifle on the front line", I can look at each tooth and sharpen only the few that really need sharpening. I was surprised with the before and after results.

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For years I battled sharpening chains by hand in the field, I can do a "ok" job using a round file and flat file on semi chisel chains but by the 3-4th time the saw tends to cut heavy on one side due to my dominant right hand. This past year I went full potato and gave in to a sharpener made by stihl that worked out quite well. It has the inside of the handles are cast at a 20? angle so you just hook the file into the tooth and rest the inside of the handle against the bar and your at your angle. You flip the device over and your set to hit the chisels on the opposite side AND it has a center file to knock the depth teeth down as the mail cutting chisels are used. The files are replaceable but you can not change the file sizes used forcing you to purchase a different one for each type/size of chain. The files that come in it are german and seem to work very well and stay sharp with repeated use if you keep them clean. The one I purchased is made by the company hired by stihl and are blue in color for a few bucks less, I like wrapping it in the oregon file set organiser to keep it clean and just toss it in the case with the saw.
 
best tool that is cheap and great video and explanation too!



this beats my shops $10 a chain sharpening by 100% i save a lot of money i can buy new chains and bars now and not feel bad.
 
p.s. that bar vice works great - i use a 1 x 12 4 feet long and pound the vice into it and put it all on my picnic table - ggreat height too.
 
Here’s what I do, get the file n guide as shown in the video.on 3/8” full chisel chain I use the 7/32” file in the file n guide first. Match the angle of the top of the tooth. File up hill away from you. Get the top edge razor sharp. Then I take a 3/16” file and hog out the gullet below the top edge, this will take a few passes. This is chip clearance so the chip exhausts faster. Next I do the rakers most of the time it’s two passes on each raker with a flat file. ( smaller cc saw) on the 70 cc and up I go three passes on the raker. Becareful it cuts so much faster.
 
I too got one of the stihl guides. Does rakers and all.
My only gripe with it is the rakes are a little conservative for my primary use on brich and ash but appreciated chewing though oak.
I had issues with my blade getting lopsided doing any hand filing before.
 
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