Grind and renew your chainsaw bar at home-Free.

[trappermike]

The guide bar is one of the most important and neglected parts on a chain saw.
The groove and the "Rails" of the bar will wear with time,to the point where the chainsaw will not cut straight anymore,or will cut sharply to one side and the bind,and just not cut anymore. Often these cutting problems are blamed on the chain,but once the bar is worn enough no amount of clever chain sharpening will make the saw cut properly again.
The bar should be "Ground" routinely,the saw will cut much better and you can get much more life out of the bar.
You can grind your bars yourself,it's quite easy,all you need is a tablesaw(You or one of your buddies must have one) and a metal grinding disc. The disc you can purchase from a hardware store for under $10 and it will last for years. Get a "Metal Cutting Disc",mine is 7"dia. x 1/8" thick,with a 5/8" hole. Be sure to pick the same hole size as the blades your tablesaw uses.
Mount the disc securely on your tablesaw,then check with a square that the blade is exactly at 90 degrees on the table,use the angle adjuster on the tablesaw to make it so.
Wear goggles or a facesheild,and leather gloves,turn the saw on and pass your bar along the disc,try to do the grinding on the middle of the disc,not the outside or inside edge.DO NOT push hard while passing the bar along the disc,you could burst the wheel and possibly injure yourself.Start your grinding near whhere the tip meets the bar and push the bar steadily along going right to the other end of the bar. Grind until you see a nice new square edges on the rails down the length of the bar.You will see immediately the most worn areas of the bar and work those until they are square like new again. At the end of the bar near the tip,just gently blend the bar to the tip,try not to grind much metal away from the tip itself. ONLY remove as much metal as neccesary to true the bar again.
Warning- There could be a wicked long metal sliver along the sides of the bar at the end,be sure to carefully remove these with a few gentle swipes of a file.
Clean the bar groove out completely with a tool and some compressed air.Grease the tip well now.
Now the bar will cut like new again and you'll save a lot of money.

 

[nmurph]

Yep....that trick has been mentioned several times bf.

 

[046]

after you grind the bar, which also can be done by draw filing bar.
next up is check if groove needs to be tighten up.

take a brand new chain that matches size embossed on bar. what ever that size may be
.058, .063, .050 etc

then check for bar to chain tolerance, which should be tight with little slop.
if your bar is worn enough to need refinishing, odds are groove is worn too.

Chain Saw Bar Rail Closer are available from all the major chainsaw parts suppliers.

 

[dingeryote]

OUTFRIGGINSTANDING!!!!!
Excellent treatise on doing things yourself!!!
Good warning on the wire edge too!!

Stay safe!
Dingeyote

 

[bobt]

OUTFRIGGINSTANDING!!!!!
Excellent treatise on doing things yourself!!!
Good warning on the wire edge too!!

Stay safe!
Dingeyote

Agreed!!!!

 

[tbone75]

Thanks for sharing!Very good info!I have always used the draw file method on mine.I like your idea better!

 

[Mad Professor]

I do about the same thing but with a vertical belt sander. Besides the tip, the other high wear spot is near the power head, blend wear into square in this area too.

There will be marks on the bar after grinding, finish these out by careful draw filing w/bar clamped in a vise. Lightly bevel inner/outer bar edges after draw filing

And yes, draw filing the bar will keep it getting way out of true in the first place.

P.S. Do the newbies/ non-metal workers know what draw filing is???

 

[Terry Syd]

Nope, how about explaining it and what kind of file to use.

 

[Oldsawnut]

Yea professor I use a table/disc sander... Much safer. I know they make the bar tool with the file in it to really stupid proof it too

Bailey's - Pferd Universal Edge Sharpener

 

[67 Mustang]

Great tip! This type of info bears repeating occasionally for the new guys as well as a reminder to all. :msp_thumbup:

 

[promac850]

Please explain draw filing, I am interested... What file to use?

 

[jakedesnake048]

Nope, how about explaining it and what kind of file to use.

here is a knife i'm making - draw filing. also fyi, i was told that the tang of the file should be on the left, not the right in this scenario to avoid excess scratches. don't know how true, but something to note

draw filing is essentially pulling or drawing the file parallel to what you are filing. as opposed to pushing it across perpendicular. it is an easier way to avoid angling unintentionally.

as far as type of file, i would suggest a normal bastard milling file that you can pick up at any hardware store. you probably have a few already laying around!

 

[Cantdog]

Very good tip for DIYers and good of you mention the "wire edge" that's left. I realize not everyone has acess to this type of machine...but I use a fairly large machine called an edge sander that is an important part of my cabinet shop. This is a large belt sander and takes a 6" X 105" sanding belt. It has a flat cast iron table that is 40" long and runs at 90 degrees to the running, occillating belt, so you are actually "ripping" along the length of the bar as you follow the arc in the edges, as opposed to "crosscutting" as with a disc or vertical belt. I dissconnect my dust collection and have a "special" (worn) belt for this work. It does an excellent job and very quickly, usually less than 5 min on a really worn bar. Grinds it perfectly square and easy to follow the contour or change it. Then as the OP said, file away the sharp wire edge and if necessary I too, use a rail closer as 046 mentioned.

While we are on bar repair, site member Roncoinc, told me how he straightens a bent bar....so I gave it a try on the really bent bar off a Jonsereds I got from him LOL!! Anyway this worked really good but does require a fine touch and patience. So I'm going to pass along how I did it but the credit goes to Ron..remember that if you hurt your self!!!LOL!! First you need a hydraulic wood splitter, mine is tractor mounted, vertically and the wedge is on the ram so that made the job a bit easier. I cut three pieces of 2X2 pressured treated about 6-8" long and supporting the bar between two of the blocks and using the third crossways to the splitting edge of the wedge slowly pressed the bend out of the bar. It took about 20 mins of trying and checking with a straight edge to get it perfect but it came out excellent, threw it on the edge sander afterwards and it's just like new. This too, can save you quite a few bucks and most folks who have saws either own or have acess to a wood splitter.

DO NOT TRY THIS WITH A "SUPER SPLIT"!!!!!!!!!!! Hydraulic only!!!!

 

[Rudedog]

Yea professor I use a table/disc sander... Much safer. I know they make the bar tool with the file in it to really stupid proof it too

Bailey's - Pferd Universal Edge Sharpener

I bought that on a recommendation from BlueRidgeMark. I think it works pretty well. I'm not as handy as some of you with shop tools and this is idiot proof.

 

[TK]

Assuming you have some sort of stop and/or manual procedure for the tip rails as the table saw would probably take off the rivets holding the sprocket in place if you pass the entire bar through? Most rivets stick out a hair and are not flush with the bar rails. Unless that isn't important. I've always been careful not to hit them with a file. If I don't have to worry about that then life just got a little easier :biggrinbounce2:

 

[nmurph]

Great tip! This type of info bears repeating occasionally for the new guys as well as a reminder to all. :msp_thumbup:

Yep, I see Heiman mention it with regularity.

 

[fearofpavement]

Assuming you have some sort of stop and/or manual procedure for the tip rails as the table saw would probably take off the rivets holding the sprocket in place if you pass the entire bar through? Most rivets stick out a hair and are not flush with the bar rails. Unless that isn't important. I've always been careful not to hit them with a file. If I don't have to worry about that then life just got a little easier :biggrinbounce2:

TK, I think you misunderstood. The orientation of the bar is lying flat on the saw's table top and the edge with the chain groove in it is what is getting ground.

 

[Bubbles Up]

I use on similar to the link below,mine came from the ski shop. Works like a hot diggity dog!
Bailey's - Pferd Universal Edge Sharpener

 

[Mad Professor]

Post 12 covered draw filing pretty well (nice start on the knife!, post a pic when it is done, what kind of steel?).

You want a nice sharp file and a sturdy vice to hold the bar. Realize there is some skill involved in getting the rail at 90 degrees to the flat of the bar, you can check things with a square.

With the vertical belt sander or sanding disc on a table saw, the rails are dead on 90 degrees. This is the way to go with a bar that has been abused........

 

[trappermike]

In a workshop that $10 metal cutting disc on a tablesaw made me hundreds of dollars grinding and servicing bars.