Chain sharpening

[Cliff R]

Been hand filing since the mid-1970's. Started out with a file guide, then tossed it aside and perfected hand filing without it.

I "touch-up" every chain between outings as a maintenance item. This way every saw I take to the field is ready to go and will get thru a tank of fuel without having to "push" it hard.

If I hit something and it starts cutting poorly, I grab another saw and keep cutting. These days I seldom fuel up or sharpen in the field, I just take 4-5 saws along instead.

Keeping the chain sharp is easier on the saw, the bar, and operator, not to mention you get more work done.

Most folks I know remove their chains and carry them to a shop to be ground. They also buy a LOT more chains than I do to cut a LOT less wood!.......Cliff

 

[MNfarmer]

I hand file everything. I'm too cheap to pay someone to sharpen them with a grinder and too cheap to buy a grinder! Plus being able to sharpen the chain while still on the saw is pretty handy. If you're just starting out filing by hand it takes awhile to get the hang of it, but once you get it figured out it's a piece of cake. Good luck!

 

[nmurph]

Grinder...and I can hand file just fine.

I use a fresh chain in the morning and swap it out at lunch (or sooner). They get hung on a nail by the grinder and several are sharpened at once. Maintaining them with a light kiss from the wheel will keep them sharp and makes them last as long as a file-sharpened, and the grinder means the angles are correct.

 

[mdavlee]

I grind everything besides semi chisel. I square grind all the chisel chain i have.

 

[greendohn]

i use a grinder 100% of the time. i cut dead falls down in the river bottoms, a lot of it in the flood plains. the water jumping the banks piles bunches of crap upon the trees and plays hell with chains. i won't cut with a dull chain so i change 'em out quite a bit, bring 'em home and touch 'm up with the bench grinder. the wood along corn/bean fields are usually pretty easy on my chains, but i'm not. if there is a rock within 20 feet of the tree i'm cuttin',,,i seem to hit it with the chain!! and old fence,,,man, it's amazing how there would be no indication of a fence having ever been around the edge of a farm field until ya' get the chainsaw out and start making fire wood,,,yep,,i use a chain grinder on all of my chains...

 

[Chris-PA]

I enjoy hand filing, and plan on getting some square ground chain at some point. I was given a really cheap crappy grinder, and it is useful for restoring really trashed chain - but I never like the side plate results and end up hand filing anything that comes off of it anyway. But it is a really crappy grinder.

 

[Somesawguy]

Both.

I touch them up in the field with a file and every so often put them on the bench grinder.

It's great the way a grinder gets all the teeth the same angle and length. Ditto for depth guages.

A chain may see the grinder only 3 or 4 times in it's life and the rest is hand filed.

I take great pride in using a chain until it's teeth are used up down to a teeny, tiny nubbin'. :smile:

I don't have a grinder, but it does make sense to even things up a bit once in awhile. I still maintain, that regular use of the grinder by most people severly shortens the life of the chain. Especially if taken to a shop. They grind away 1/3rd of the chain.

Hand filing is at least as fast as swapping out a chain, and it usually gives me a break for a few minutes as well.

 

[rob066]

I hand file. I dont see a grinder being very useful in the woods. And with no electric. Especially since you dont know how long your chain will be sharp in the woods. Minutes or hours who knows.

 

[Currently]

Touch up with a file.

Timberline sharpener on maintenance (rainy) days or lunch breaks.

Grinder on rocked chains or chains that cut crooked and need to be evened up.

 

[wadeclinton]

At home my brother and I have access to one of these. Silvey SDM-4 Square Chisel Chain Grinder | Silvey Chaingrinder - Medford Oregon We have a lot of chain and change them out when they start getting slow. But at work I'm stuck using the round file and Grandberg jig. I prefer the ground chain over the round filed chain.

 

[lambs]

I still maintain, that regular use of the grinder by most people severly shortens the life of the chain. Especially if taken to a shop. They grind away 1/3rd of the chain.

AMEN to that. And most shops around here will not touch a depth gauge either.......

Hand filing is at least as fast as swapping out a chain, and it usually gives me a break for a few minutes as well.

I just take several chains to the field and swap them out every time I gas up...

 

[customcare]

Machine Sharpen Occassionally- But wonder if im paying a fair price?! $4 Per chain up to 24"

 

[Jim Timber]

Put in an order for a 511AX today. Will pick it up thursday.

I've always used a die grinder for dull chains and a file in the field, but looking at my chains next to new ones put me into the "do it right" camp and made me get the machine. I can't get them as sharp as a properly dressed wheel will. After a few sharpenings, they tend to pull one way or the other in the cut, and I'm sure my hands are to blame.

Batch processing will also be faster than using daylight to service a chain.

 

[foxtrapper]

Just a guy with a saw.

I started out not understanding sharpening, and running my chains until they produced nothing but fine powdery dust. Complaining about how lousy chainsaws worked all the time.

Bought a table top grinder. Took to grinding the heck out of those chains. Considering the shape they were in when I would finally grind them, the improvement was appreciable.

Came to understand (finally) the importance of touching up the chain with a file. Got into the habit now of doing it every time I refill the tank. Remarkable how much better my saws now cut, all day long.

I have had or tried the various clamp on jigs for the files, as well the mini grinder attachments for dremels and the like. Never found them to work very well.

Oh, and the depth gauge. Sharp teeth that never actually touch the wood don't cut worth a darn I've learned. I missed this one for years. And that includes the time I was working in a mower shop, sharpening customers chains. Embarassing.

 

[T0RN4D0]

Yea, i touch them up often too. Its easy to touch them up while they are still in decent shape, two light passes and you're good to go. And i always touch them up when i get home, even if they still cut OK.

 

[nstueve]

Been using the same Granberg filing guide for 35+ years. Keep looking, but never found a better way.
Best for cost, edge, chain longevity. End of story.
Only better way I can imagine is to have somebody else do my sharpening.

Not to say there is a better way than the clamp on grandberg but...

I used to use the cheap-o file with a clamp on oregon guide that only told you the angle in compairison to the bar. The switched to the grandberg clamp on style... didn't like all the moving bits and angle adjustments. Wanted something simple, very effective, and small enough to pocket for a day of cutting in the woods. Found the Husky guides and they work wonders! Actually saw a couple guys using them at the last GTG and ended up nabbing one as a door prize to try it out. I have to say they are the best chain guide i've found. Trying to get Greg at Bailey's to sell them in a 3pack (b/c they are specific to chain size). They just snap onto the chain and with a couple strokes of the file you move the little jig up to the next tooth. I've never gotten a chain back from being ground and been sharper than when i use the husky guides.

movie and link to the guides...
Husqvarna Chainsaws, Outdoor Power Equipment and Tree Care Supplies from Bailey's guide&catID=10383

 

[056kid]

I hand file. I dont see a grinder being very useful in the woods. And with no electric. Especially since you dont know how long your chain will be sharp in the woods. Minutes or hours who knows.

You will see the use in a big hurry when a man with a few half used square chisel chains that have had the gullets pulled cuts circles around you. He is cutting easier, smoother, and faster, not to mention he can cut out a dutchman the thickness of a piece of construction paper. Try that with your round chain. Even hand chisel can't compete. Oh and he can open a binding kerf with much ease. Those are just the facts. . And when one stops pulling wood like a guy wants, take a fresh one out of that sock in your pocket and do work. A good chisel bit grind will cut for days if the bark is clean. If the bark is dirty, thats what your axe is for.

 

[moody]

Who prefers to sharpen with a chain grinder and who prefers a file and why?

You'll never get a chain sharper than with a good hand filing. It takes practice and its not easy but when we used a grinder we were lucky to go a day with a chain, hand filing 6-9 cords of wood. Grinder will shorten the life of a chain it'll work but you take a lot from a chain by grinder when filing is more precision.

 

[mdavlee]

Square filing I get as good of life or better than hand filing it. I've never used a round grinder but I do file some of it occasionally. I never seen a factory new chain as sharp as hand filing round. Square is a toss up for me. I think they feel sharper with a file but don't really cut any faster or longer.

 

[Trx250r180]

square ground with the silvey ,just bring extra chains ,sharpen them when done with the job ,square will stay sharp a while as long as the woods not full of dirt