Does everybody have a granberg file o joint
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weedkilla
Ain't no guru of nuthin'
Had one, got annoyed that I couldn't stop it moving on the bar.
The potential is there for a patient person to really improve their sharpening, but I'm not that patient. I bought a stihl fg2, and couldn't be happier - but the price difference is ridiculous.
Either way I am certain they can rapidly reduce the learning curve towards hand sharpening, and allow you to accurately play with small variations in angles. For the sake of a small outlay for a second hand one off fleabay I think anyone who wants to see better results should at least try one.
The potential is there for a patient person to really improve their sharpening, but I'm not that patient. I bought a stihl fg2, and couldn't be happier - but the price difference is ridiculous.
Either way I am certain they can rapidly reduce the learning curve towards hand sharpening, and allow you to accurately play with small variations in angles. For the sake of a small outlay for a second hand one off fleabay I think anyone who wants to see better results should at least try one.
Chris-PA
Where the Wild Things Are
The only hand filing aid I have is a chain vice I made with the angles marked off. I don't use anything for touch up on the bar. A guide just seems like it would be slow and another thing to carry around.
eriklane
ArboristSite Operative
I have one. Love it. Takes about 3 chains to get the hang of it. The clips that hold the chain, in my opin, should be just above the rivets, or the chain will move around. The beauty of them is they guarantee 100% accuracy. How high or low you run your file is still up to you, but, make sure to watch your top plate, and get it like a 7 , not like ). That hard angle and corner is what really cuts. If you rock a chain or get one damaged, make sure you pay careful attn. to that point. The rest is making sure you have the same angle as the chain (most have a guide mark-so that's easy to match) and check if your chain demands a 0degree or 10degree tilt. Most are 0.
I've never cut better than with this, and I sold my grinder last year. No amount of hand filing can rip that top plate like the G tool can with that height adjustment tip. That was the piece I was missing with a round file. Get too deep in the gullet when free filing and you'll never get your top plate sharp, in my opin...
Anyway, works for me. Beats $129 Timberline and $30 for blades. This should last a lifetime at 30 bux.
I've never cut better than with this, and I sold my grinder last year. No amount of hand filing can rip that top plate like the G tool can with that height adjustment tip. That was the piece I was missing with a round file. Get too deep in the gullet when free filing and you'll never get your top plate sharp, in my opin...
Anyway, works for me. Beats $129 Timberline and $30 for blades. This should last a lifetime at 30 bux.
gunnusmc03
Addicted to ArboristSite
I have one, it was great until I learned to free hand. Much much quicker.
nomad_archer
Addicted to ArboristSite
I have the stihl ff1 and file guide cost less than $20 and i went from dull to hand sharpening razors in like 20 minutes.
I just picked one up. I like it a lot, but I don't trust the depth gauge back stop part of it. I can set it to where the file is just touching the cutter, then I will flip it around (like you do when you do the cutters on the opposite side) and the file doesn't always seem to be in the identical position in relation to the cutter. For this reason I do the stroke counting method instead of relying on the depth back stop. Maybe I'm not doing something correctly?
I have one and like it too. It did take a few times to get used to, but now it only takes a few minutes for me to sharpen a chain. As mentioned already, it doesn't hold it's depth setting accurately when you flip it around to do the other side. I just eye it up and reset it. It only takes 30 seconds or so.
I've one I've used since the late seventies. Still works great. With a little conscious thought the first few times you use it, it gets to be almost a no-brainer. Set the clamp on the cutter at the right ht, with the bar clamp at a good ht, then tighten the main clamp TIGHT.
Mark the first tooth with a marker pen as necessary. Stroke per tooth one side, then the other. Done. Forget setting the adjustable stop- that's only useful for doing depth gauges. Even-length teeth are over-rated.
Lots assume they can precisely free-hand-file. Yeah, and I can wali on water. Long as it's shallow.
Mark the first tooth with a marker pen as necessary. Stroke per tooth one side, then the other. Done. Forget setting the adjustable stop- that's only useful for doing depth gauges. Even-length teeth are over-rated.
Lots assume they can precisely free-hand-file. Yeah, and I can wali on water. Long as it's shallow.
I've used one since the late 70's...still have it. It was the model they discontinued for chisel file(G-107). I've been cobbling it together all this time. Recently, I found that the G106-B is exactly the same base unit...that gave me new life. The hand file jig itself is what was different for chisel chain. I took that down to a machinist and from some member pics, asked him to duplicate a new file holder. He wouldn't even do it for $200...screw it, it's back to being cobbled but with a new base.
As far as tightening the base really TIGHT on your bar....what you're going to do eventually there is spread and ruin the base...ask me how I know. You can position a little C clamp in there(to help) that's not too intrusive, but that just adds another step. There's a lot going on with the chisel sharpening...you need to pay attention. I get fantastic results though. In the beginning I had the wrong angles and the saws wouldn't cut straight...the directions were cumbersome and sucked. Eventually I figured it out by trial & error and when the Net became available, it confirmed I had the right angles/settings. Best way to work that, is mark the inside of the cutter with a Sharpie and take a couple of stokes. If you got it right, the Sharpie mark should be entirely gone...and check against new chain for what the cutter should look like-especially the corner(only talkin' about chisel chain here).
It's a cheap tool and so you should buy another for a spare or parts. Don't trust the angles either from side to side...they rarely match perfectly in the filing process....I doubt their degree hash marks are 'on' from side to side. I could just imagine what the steel prototype must have been like....fantastic enough to spawn 40 yrs worth of cheap, pot metal copies. BTW, it's File 'n Joint, not File o Joint.
Kevin
As far as tightening the base really TIGHT on your bar....what you're going to do eventually there is spread and ruin the base...ask me how I know. You can position a little C clamp in there(to help) that's not too intrusive, but that just adds another step. There's a lot going on with the chisel sharpening...you need to pay attention. I get fantastic results though. In the beginning I had the wrong angles and the saws wouldn't cut straight...the directions were cumbersome and sucked. Eventually I figured it out by trial & error and when the Net became available, it confirmed I had the right angles/settings. Best way to work that, is mark the inside of the cutter with a Sharpie and take a couple of stokes. If you got it right, the Sharpie mark should be entirely gone...and check against new chain for what the cutter should look like-especially the corner(only talkin' about chisel chain here).
It's a cheap tool and so you should buy another for a spare or parts. Don't trust the angles either from side to side...they rarely match perfectly in the filing process....I doubt their degree hash marks are 'on' from side to side. I could just imagine what the steel prototype must have been like....fantastic enough to spawn 40 yrs worth of cheap, pot metal copies. BTW, it's File 'n Joint, not File o Joint.
Kevin
Big_Wood
westcoast dweller
i have a file'n'joint but i never use it really. been mostly grinding my chains lately and free hand file mill saw chains cause hell will freeze over before you see me remove the saw from the mill everytime i need to file.
Chris-PA
Where the Wild Things Are
I can certainly free hand file well enough to touch up a chain on the bar in the woods. If it gets damaged or needs angles reset after a while then it comes off, to be filed on the vive or fixed on the grinder. I can free hand file very accurately on the chain vice with the angle references marked - more accurately than my cheap grinder by far.I've one I've used since the late seventies. Still works great. With a little conscious thought the first few times you use it, it gets to be almost a no-brainer. Set the clamp on the cutter at the right ht, with the bar clamp at a good ht, then tighten the main clamp TIGHT.
Mark the first tooth with a marker pen as necessary. Stroke per tooth one side, then the other. Done. Forget setting the adjustable stop- that's only useful for doing depth gauges. Even-length teeth are over-rated.
Lots assume they can precisely free-hand-file. Yeah, and I can wali on water. Long as it's shallow.
We all have different skills, but accurately free-hand filing is not really that big a deal for some. I can see and hold relative angles very well if I have good light. So maybe it's 32 vs. 30 degrees, but that doesn't matter at all as long as they are consistent. Given a cutter with a witness mark it is even easier.
Ever looked at one of those grinders that clamp onto toe bar for your mill?
Philbert
@Philbert:Looking around I found that Oregon makes a 12 volt companion model to the 115 volt model you pictured. Oregon says that these machines will do .404 chain with a optional wheel. They don't say they will do chisel chain, but I assume so. Might be worth a call....don't know anything about the quality on these 'lesser' Oregon machines.
Kevin
Kevin
sunfish
Fish Head
I don't have one, or want one. No grinder either!
Please note I said "precisely". That's the hard part, what with so many variables to manage simultaneously.
I could assert that I can free-hand file just fine, but objectively I know that it's not so, no matter how I've tried. Emergencies, maybe, but that's why I bring a spare chain and avoid rocks like the plague.
Yeah, I used to think of these as smaller versions of the full-size grinders. Someone else mentioned their use on milling saws, which makes sense if it is hard to remove the chain.
Philbert
Big_Wood
westcoast dweller
when it comes to free hand i feel i have pretty well mastered it. my grandpa has a file'n'joint he uses most cause he is getting lazy with his grinder. my free hand chains look just as accurate as his file'n'joint chains and actually seem to cut a bit better. he'll never admit that though a trick to free hand filing is to always file from behind the saw. you'd be surprised how badly even an experienced guy can **** up a chain doing it from the side. i got 100's of square ground chain from an old logger years ago and took 10 years breaking them down and filing the cutters round (free hand) so i could use a regular 7/32 rat tail to file them to use them up. very time consuming but they cut just as well.
a trick to free hand filing is to always file from behind the saw. you'd be surprised how badly even an experienced guy can **** up a chain doing it from the side. i got 100's of square ground chain from an old logger years ago and took 10 years breaking them down and filing the cutters round (free hand) so i could use a regular 7/32 rat tail to file them to use them up. very time consuming but they cut just as well.
Well...not to keep beating a dead horse, but when I had round file chain back in the beginning, I had no trouble filing it free-hand and filing it well. But with all the variables in square chisel chain filing, I've yet to see a guy sharpen it by free-hand as well as on a jig or a grinder. Close and just OK for the field, but no cigar. There's a guy on youtube showing how to square file free-hand. If you watch closely, you can see he's slightly changing his angles from cutter to cutter...there's no way around it and when you're tired, there's even less of a chance to get it correct.
Yeah, I've heard all the stories of the 'old timers' doing it free-hand as well as a machine grinder/jig, but never found any of those 'old timers' doing it that way, accurately.....and now I'm an 'old timer'....lol I think the confusion there might have been fallers that were just touching up their chain they brought from home. "Home" meaning having a 115 grinder, like Silvey or Oregon. Most guys I knew just brought extra chain to the show, rather than give up the time to sharpening on a stump. But with loggin' there was no 'universal' chainsaw anything and methods & saws changed from show to show. You did what worked or copied from others who did what worked. No Net, no information pool...everything was word of mouth and if you kept tight to a show, your outside sources were few.
Kevin
Yeah, I've heard all the stories of the 'old timers' doing it free-hand as well as a machine grinder/jig, but never found any of those 'old timers' doing it that way, accurately.....and now I'm an 'old timer'....lol I think the confusion there might have been fallers that were just touching up their chain they brought from home. "Home" meaning having a 115 grinder, like Silvey or Oregon. Most guys I knew just brought extra chain to the show, rather than give up the time to sharpening on a stump. But with loggin' there was no 'universal' chainsaw anything and methods & saws changed from show to show. You did what worked or copied from others who did what worked. No Net, no information pool...everything was word of mouth and if you kept tight to a show, your outside sources were few.
Kevin
