Getting chains sharpened or buy new.

[old CB]

Yeah, and if you can do a good job with one of the filing aids (two-in-one, etc.), eventually you'll have a good eye for what a properly filed chain looks like and how the file gets it done. Then, when you're in the woods and hit a rock or a nail or whatever and need to sharpen in the field, then you'll know how to do it freehand.

There's a lot to getting it done right, but it's no mystery. It's all learnable. And it's quite satisfying to accomplish it yourself.

Ever since getting a badly done chain back, even at minimal cost, I've never been tempted to hire sharpening since.

 

[Hand Splitter]

Like others said!! Reminds me time for me to sharpen a couple chains

 

[aokpops]

Just make sure to shim it right . And use the right size stones just like that your chain will be sharp .

 

[holeycow]

 

[Huskybill]

I hate cutting with new chains. Sometimes I sharpen new chains first. I take a file and go below the cutting edge of the tooth and file the gullet larger and deeper. Then I use the file n guide to sharped the upper cutting edge.

3/8” chain, file the gullet with a 7/32” file if there’s room for the file to fit the correct angle. If the 7/32” file is tight go one size smaller. File the gullet for chip clearance. With filing the gullet hold the file a tad up hill. With the file n guide it’s marked with lines to guide you on the center line of the bar, then hold the file n guide to the angle of the top of the tooth. It’s not hard.
Next I take the file n guide and only sharpen the upper edge of the tooth.

Chains last longer when we file them. Learn how to sharpen with a file by hand it’s not hard.

 

[David Gruber]

IME a chain will lqst about 2 tanks of fuel before it needs sharpened. At $12 for the cheapest chain I can find it'll add up quick. If you do pay to have them sharpened I would have at least 4 chains... 2 at the shop and 2 on hand. My local Ace sends them to an off site facility so it takes about 3 or 4 days and they charge $8 for an 18 in. Chain.
I found a mom and pop shop where he does them all himself for $5. It still takes 2 days

 

[computeruser]

Hello I'm new to saws. My local ACE has a guy that sharpens chains for $5. Would a sharpened chain be as good as new or am I better off getting new

if chains were intended to be single use, why would the cutter tooth be so long?

Seriously, go get a 2-in-1 sharpener and touch up your own chains. It takes a skilled operator to get a better result with a grinder. A $5 sharpener guy at ACE likely won’t be able to beat your sharpening and will likely screw up your chains anyway.

 

[Canyon Angler]

if you can sharpen a knife or a chisel or a plane iron adequately you can sharpen a chain...adequately. It's not rocket science.

I sharpen plane irons and chisels and knives and lots of stuff, and to me, sharpening a chain is a lot EASIER. If you have a steady hand, you don't even need a file guide, other than maybe a beveled file handle (like the ones Stihl sells).

I also agree with those who say you'll get a better sharpening job by doing it yourself than by taking it to someone. I took a chain to a chainsaw dealer for sharpening exactly ONCE.

 

[OM617YOTA]

IME a chain will lqst about 2 tanks of fuel before it needs sharpened.

What are you cutting!?

I can get a couple truck loads out of a sharpening, and even then it usually just needs a tickle with a file.

If the wood's been skidded through dirt first that'll change things of course, and if it's been in sand or gravel it's worse. I try to cut so chips and dirt are flung away, and not drug through the kerf with the chain.

 

[Northerner]

Iam always surprised by the amount of chainsaw users that don’t know how to sharpen a chain. Almost every single saw I get into the shop hasn’t seen a chain sharpening and the chain is usually buggered.
Other day one guy was convinced his saw was wrecked or bent out of shape because he couldn’t cut straight anymore, one look at the bar and chain....you know the story.

 

[nolids]

I used to sharpen my chains by hand, and they always cut better afterwards; but then I bought a Harbor Freight electric chain sharpener and once I got it set up, it was 10x faster and the chains I did came out as sharp as a new chain.

 

[sb47]

I agree with the majority that you should get a few extra chains and some sharpening tools and watch some videos on how to do it and learn to do it yourself. It will take some time to learn what works best for you but it's worth learning. I only tried having a few chains sharped and it was a disaster. They distroied my chains so I learned how to do it myself.

 

[kevin j]

MontanaResidentA Stihl Fanatic
For those that pay to get them sharpened, they wait til the chain is nearly FUBAR. Which means that much of that chain has been at work when at levels way beyond NEEDING sharpening. The overall integrity of the chain gets compromised and the saw is being over worked.

THIS !
Think of it this way: the guy who buys a new chain starts at 100, but cuts intil it is 20 and throws dust. Then gets a new one on and starts at 100 again. So the average time he is cutting a not sharp but not dull chain.
If you file and get it back up to 90, then file every tank or two with a couple strokes, you go from 90 to 70 and back up to 90. So you average cutting with a good sharp chain. You will notice the difference.

Now, rocked chain, or if it got to 20 and is blue or bent, then it needs to be ground LIGHTLY. The problem is the high school kid at the store hogs it all off in one pass of the stone and overheats the edge.

 

[sb47]

MontanaResidentA Stihl Fanatic
For those that pay to get them sharpened, they wait til the chain is nearly FUBAR. Which means that much of that chain has been at work when at levels way beyond NEEDING sharpening. The overall integrity of the chain gets compromised and the saw is being over worked.

THIS !
Think of it this way: the guy who buys a new chain starts at 100, but cuts intil it is 20 and throws dust. Then gets a new one on and starts at 100 again. So the average time he is cutting a not sharp but not dull chain.
If you file and get it back up to 90, then file every tank or two with a couple strokes, you go from 90 to 70 and back up to 90. So you average cutting with a good sharp chain. You will notice the difference.

Now, rocked chain, or if it got to 20 and is blue or bent, then it needs to be ground LIGHTLY. The problem is the high school kid at the store hogs it all off in one pass of the stone and overheats the edge.

A chain that is run dull creates excessive heat witch can 1 take the temper out of the steel or it can crystallize and make the tooth hard as glass. Plus it stretches the chain. Different wood green or dry can effect how long they stay sharp. There are may things that effects how long a chain will stay sharp. The duller they are the more metal you have to remove to get them sharp again. They will last longer if you keep them sharp.

 

[Hogheadjeremy]

We now have 4 of these machines that do a GREAT job, just as with hand filing ya have to be skilled to Professionally grind, time and patients.

 

[EchoRomeoCharlie]

File them.

Grab the correct files and get to learning. I just didn't even bother hand sharpening for the longest time because I thought I just wasn't going to be able to do it. Dumbest thing I've ever done. Been using guides and all in one sharpeners for along time.

Lately I have been hand filing with nothing but a round file and a progressive style depth gauge file guide. My 462 cuts like absolute mad with these hand filed chains and blows BIG ol' chips out. The satisfaction of running your own filed chains is a lot of fun too. Plus, you can file your chain for exactly the wood you're going to be in. This takes some practice and knowing what you're doing...but it will come and it comes quick when you just go ahead and do it.

 

[rd35]

I'm getting old enough now that my hands are not as steady as they used to be. So, several years ago, I bought myself a Northern Tool (Oregon 520 knock-off) grinder. I'll admit it took me a while to get the hang of how to dress the wheel and keep the cutters cool when grinding. But I finally got it ironed out. All I can say is this. I cut anywhere from 30-50 ricks (face cords) of firewood per year to feed two outdoor wood furnaces. Dull chains used to be the one thing that made chainsaw work tedious and frustrating. After I got that grinder and learned how to use it, the task of firewood cutting became a pleasure....I even looked forward to getting out in the woods and throwing chips...BIG chips!!! Well that morphed into me now sharpening chains for family, friends.....and customer(for a fee). Saved up enough money to buy a CBN wheel for the grinder and WOW...even better results...and I don't have to mess with dressing the wheel anymore!!!

 

[Huskybill]

I notice some shops grind too much off the teeth. When I was using the grinder I picked the worst tooth and started there. I try to grind the least material off the teeth but need them all the same and sharp. For the ones who grind your chains you will need a new chain after four sharpening if that.

Once I hand file the gullet deeper then using the file n guide on the upper edge, but pay attention we have two angles to sharpen to on the upper cutting edge. The tooth is going up hill, and swept back towards the down hill. File the gullet to the top of the links. Exhausting the chip clearance is very important.

If my 404” 2100 saw chain didn’t hit anything it was one season + the life of one chain which this saw was used 50% of the time. My 3/8” 266se saw chain would consume two chains per firewood cutting season the other 50%. My 240sg was backup after I got the 266.

 

[rd35]

I will admit that using a grinder can result in a shorter chain life. But I will argue that it can also result in a much longer chain life. I have chains that have been re-sharpened on my grinder at least 10 times. Now to get this kind of result requires two very important things. #1) You must stop using the chain as soon as it gets dull enough to not self feed anymore. #2) You must MUST not touch the ground while cutting and never cut INTO dirt on a log. What I mean by this is that if you find yourself needing to cut on a log that has been skidded and has dirt or mud on the bark then you need to cut it so that your chain is cutting through the bark only as it exits the cut only. This often required you to cut from both sides of the log. Some folks will say this is too much trouble or takes too long to do....but my experience has taught me that, in the long run, it's faster because the chain stays sharp and you don't have to stop and swap chains or file the cutters as often.
I will be the first to say that hand filing is an art form that can give amazingly good results. But for the folks like me who are not that steady-handed, a chain grinder, if used correctly, can make all the difference in saw performance , time savings, and chain life.

 

[rarefish383]

I just skimmed the post and rd35 was the first post that addressed why the chain was getting dull in the first place. If any one else said it, sorry I missed it. My brother in law told me our local saw dealer had a bad batch of chains, they were all dull out of the box. I told him the chains were fine, it was driver error,he was hitting the dirt. He said he wasn’t. I came over and he had a log cut up on the lawn,and every cut went through and cut a strip of grass. I pointed at them and said that’s why your chain is dull. He said, oh,that little bit doesn’t hurt. YES IT DOES. If you just nick the ground, it’s exactly like taking your sharpest butcher knife and bumping the edge on a bench grinder. If you have dirt packed in the bark take a hatchet, grubbing hoe, and clean it out. You don’t have to clean the whole log, just the cuts. My BIL asked how he could cut all the way through without hitting the dirt? He has a Kubota with a loader on it. I said cut most of the way and roll the log over. Or, put several small logs/limbs next to it and roll the log on them. Don’t have a loader? Get a can’t hook. Take a shovel and dig a hole under the end and use a floor jack and jack it up and slide stuff under it. I’m starting a job today, a tornado went through and knocked down about 30 24-32” Oaks, I have to haul all of the wood out. I’ll be cutting in 8’ logs, and the small stuff into firewood length. I plan on getting 10 trees a day. My saws will still be sharp when I’m done, unless I hit steel in a tree.

I’ve been doing this over 50 years and hand file all of my chains, no guides or gadgets, just by eye. I recommend you start with a guide and practice.

Also, if you are clearing an area, or cutting down several trees, leave a 2’ high stump, then cut off all the stumps last. If you are flush cutting stumps the down side of the chain will get into dirt and dull faster than the up side, and the next thing you know your cuts will look like bananas.