hand sharpening - whats your routine?

[imagineero]

Hi all,
Curious about hand sharpening routines that folks have out there, mainly for bars in the 36"+ range since with smaller bars you don't really need to be efficient all that much anyway. Smaller bars i do in my lap with the saw pointing to the sky.

what i usually do is sharpen the chain on the saw. I clamp the saw handle to a plank of wood on some saw horses, and then with a few clamps and bits of wood i clamp the tip of the bar so it cant move around. I put a dab of red grease on the top of one tooth so i know when I've gone full circle. Then i crack a beer ;-)

I start on one side of the bar. From that side I'll do every other cutter which can be filed towards the tip of the saw. While its possible to do both left hand and right hand cutters from one side, it would mean i'd have to file some of the cutters back in the direction of the saw which i dont do.

I file at 15 degrees, by eye. I file by hand and dont use a guide. Ive tried a few but i really don't like them. I twist my file as i slide the file through, and the strain of the file is pushed back *into* the cutter, not down on the bar. I hold the file in my right hand and hold the tip of the file in my left hand with 2 fingers to give me better angle and pressure control. I keep the file level on the horizontal, no drop or rise. I figure if i had rise the top corner of the cutter would get thin and week, and i cant see any advantage to going the other way either. I tap out my file every couple of strokes, and after each sharpening i blow the file out because bar oil makes filings stick to it.

I usually do 1 stroke on every tooth for a touch up, 2 strokes on the tooth plus one light stroke on the raker if its really blunt, or 3 strokes on the tooth plus one medium stroke on the raker for heavy wear. Im always surprised by how many guys never touch their rakers, ever! I decide on 1,2, or 3 strokes depending on what gets 95% of the cutters good again. If one or two cutters don't come good, i leave them. I would rather have a balanced chain with the same number of strokes on each cutter and one or two not quite sharp teeth than file every cutter an extra stroke or two (and have extra wear just to get that one or two teeth good) or put extra strokes on the one or two bad teeth and have them slightly shorter than the rest. I figure i get good balance and life out of a chain this way, and i can always get that tooth on the next sharpen.

I use a home made metal guard over the cutter to protect it while i file the raker, I don't think FOP's are aggressive enough for big saws. My raker depth is decided by eye and i might skip it if the raker looks good, but i find 1 stroke on th raker for every 2~3 on the cutter is close to right. every 3rd or 4th sharpening I'll skip filing the rakers.

I do a full run of teeth from one side, then a full run of rakers from the same side. Then i go to the other side of the saw and do a full run of the opposite teeth, then a full run of rakers from the same side. I unlock the chain break and slide the chain forward to an unsharpened section and go again. This way i do one full bar length from the right, then move to the left of the saw and do one full bar from left, move chain forward and another full bar from left, then move to right of saw and do one full bar from right, move chain forward, another full bar from right, then move left and one bar from left.

This means i move around the saw 3 times (Start from right, then left, right, left). 3 rotations of the chain gets me a full sharpen no matter how big the bar is, it takes me about a minute a side to do cutters and rakers, so a 36" bar takes about 6 or 7 minutes for cutters and rakers i guess. I keep my chains well out of the dirt, but all bets are off for rocked chains.

After this i remove the chain cover, blow everything out, dab of grease on the clutch bearing, blow out my file, refit cover, adjust tension, blow out air filter then grab another beer and move on to the next saw.

Would love to hear input from other guys on their hand sharpening routines, especially anything that improves efficiency, accuracy or any little useful tips and tricks you use while sharpening or servicing your saw during sharpening.

would be really good to hear from everyone about their setup - bar size, clamped or not, how often, how many strokes per cutter, how often they do their rakers, cutting conditions.

Shaun

 

[mikefunaro]

I use a strong vise securely fastened to a sturdy work bench, and then do all the cutters on one side, then all the cutters on the other. I find the quality of my sharpening goes down bigtime if the saw is not held securely. Sometimes I can do a touch up in the field, but I always get better results with a vise. especially when multiple file passes (5 or 6) will be involved.

 

[BarkBuster20]

i sharpen after every 1-2 tanks sometimes more or less depending on the cutting conditions. 3 strokes for every tooth - no deviation. i take 2 strokes off my rakers every 3rd sharpening. all free hand.

 

[gwiley]

I hand file after each tank of gas. Usually just plop down where I am and have at it - all by eye. 4 strokes per cutter, if I was seeing dust then I use 405 strokes on the rakers as well.

If there is a stump or log in the shade and I have the energy I will pound the stump vise in, otherwise I just rest it on my leg (chaps).

I never use a file guide.

 

[imagineero]

I use a strong vise securely fastened to a sturdy work bench, and then do all the cutters on one side, then all the cutters on the other.

I do a lot of precision knife, chisel and planer blade sharpening and find that accuracy is really important for getting a consistent repeatable bevel. I have an accuracy of about 0.1degrees with jogs on my water cooled slow speed tormek machine with jigs i've made myself. Hand sharpening with a file on the saw i figure im getting 1~2 degrees if the bar and powerhead are both rigid clamped. If nothing is fixed and i sharpen by hand i think realistically its creeping out closer to 5 degrees.

Do you keep the saw on the flat, or at an angle? is the bar locked into the vice in the middle of the bar? Does that mean you do all the sharpening from the position of being at the powerhead and leave the bar locked in, or do you do the sharpening from one side then unlock the saw from the vice and flip it round to do the other side?

Shaun

 

[imagineero]

i sharpen after every 1-2 tanks sometimes more or less depending on the cutting conditions. 3 strokes for every tooth - no deviation. i take 2 strokes off my rakers every 3rd sharpening. all free hand.

That sounds pretty close to what im doing in terms of cutter to raker sharpening ratio i think. Do you not clamp your bar or saw in any way? what size of bar are you sharpening?

Shaun

 

[mirkaba]

I've been free hand filing for a while. If I am using semi-chisel I will touch up about every 2nd or 3rd tank. If I am using chisel bit every 1 or 2 tanks Sometimes my chains go their entire life without seeing a vice. I give a couple strokes to the rakers about every 3rd sharpening.......Bob

 

[imagineero]

I hand file after each tank of gas. Usually just plop down where I am and have at it - all by eye. 4 strokes per cutter, if I was seeing dust then I use 405 strokes on the rakers as well.

4 strokes on each cutter for every tank sounds like a lot... are you cutting hardwoods, or cutting in dirty conditions?

Shaun

 

[mikefunaro]

My vise has an indentation in the area below the jaws/contact points that allows a chainsaw chain to turn. I fasten the saw in, do all the cutters on that side, and then flip the position of the saw.

I think generally where on the bar I file changes depending on the position of the powerhead. When the clutch side is facing away from me (the bulk of the powerhead is closer to me), I tend to sharpen closer to the tip of the bar for those cutters. When the clutch side is facing me, I tend to file closer to the powerhead. I also lean over a bit more. This gives me more consistent results, or at least I am more comfortable doing it. I have heard people saying they sharpen one side more than the other inadvertently however I find that if I work the cutters where I am most comfortable then this is not the case.

I have a vise that is mounted on a rather high chest of drawers--it's probably 4 feet or so over the ground, whereas normal work table height is about 30". I like this a lot more. you can get right up in it, and you don't have to stoop over. If anything it's a little bit too high.

I will file in the field if I have to with a stump vise. Lately I've been cutting dirty stuff and have dulled the chain in a bit of a hurry, or I have been too lazy to flip logs over and think that I'm slick enough (especially when cutting little stuff) to get out in the nick of time and not touch dirt. Both of this has led to an increase in the degree of dullness in my chains.

I am also pissed because I had a single cutter on a loop of RSC break where it was cantilevered over the cutter post. It didn't seem like I had cut metal (i was cutting clean wood in the middle of a forest). Stihl NE is supposedly taking a look at it.

Mike

 

[BarkBuster20]

That sounds pretty close to what im doing in terms of cutter to raker sharpening ratio i think. Do you not clamp your bar or saw in any way? what size of bar are you sharpening?

Shaun

Lately iv been using my 026 more than any other saw and its wearing a 20 inch bar with a full comp 3/8 chain, on this size bar it is really not required to use a vice, when i start sharpening my 30 inch chain.. a vice is kinda nice, still not required though. But to answer your question for the most part the only time i vice my bars is when im taking a flat file to them when they need to be dressed.

I usually like to have the saw close to chest level and be standing so i am comfortable, it seems with me this is about the only way i give each cutter the attention it deserves, or else i start rushing cause im uncomfortable.

 

[BobL]

what i usually do is sharpen the chain on the saw.

I touch up my chains on my mill while I'm milling, like this;

I usually swap out once or twice during the day, I file those on a spare bar like this usually in the evenings or weekends.

I even take my chains and bars camping, and do them while others are at the beach or whatever, . . . . the riff raff at the camping site seem to give us a wide berth after I've sharpened a couple of 60" chains on this rig.

I clamp the saw handle to a plank of wood on some saw horses, and then with a few clamps and bits of wood i clamp the tip of the bar so it cant move around. I put a dab of red grease on the top of one tooth so i know when I've gone full circle. Then i crack a beer ;-)

I use a red felt marker pen and then crack a beer.

I start on one side of the bar. From that side I'll do every other cutter which can be filed towards the tip of the saw. While its possible to do both left hand and right hand cutters from one side, it would mean i'd have to file some of the cutters back in the direction of the saw which i dont do.

Yep - I do the same

I file at 15 degrees, by eye. I file by hand and dont use a guide. Ive tried a few but i really don't like them. I twist my file as i slide the file through, and the strain of the file is pushed back *into* the cutter, not down on the bar. I hold the file in my right hand and hold the tip of the file in my left hand with 2 fingers to give me better angle and pressure control. I keep the file level on the horizontal, no drop or rise. I figure if i had rise the top corner of the cutter would get thin and week, and i cant see any advantage to going the other way either. I tap out my file every couple of strokes, and after each sharpening i blow the file out because bar oil makes filings stick to it.

I pretty well do the same if I'm free hand filing. Usually I use a file guide, I find a 7/32' file guide with a 13/64" file gives me the right amount of hook so the mill self feeds. I also push slightly back and not just down on the guide when filing and rotate the file like you do when freehanding. All my milling chain top plate fling angles are 10º.

I usually do 1 stroke on every tooth for a touch up, 2 strokes on the tooth plus one light stroke on the raker if its really blunt, or 3 strokes on the tooth plus one medium stroke on the raker for heavy wear. Im always surprised by how many guys never touch their rakers, ever! I decide on 1,2, or 3 strokes depending on what gets 95% of the cutters good again. If one or two cutters don't come good, i leave them. I would rather have a balanced chain with the same number of strokes on each cutter and one or two not quite sharp teeth than file every cutter an extra stroke or two (and have extra wear just to get that one or two teeth good) or put extra strokes on the one or two bad teeth and have them slightly shorter than the rest. I figure i get good balance and life out of a chain this way, and i can always get that tooth on the next sharpen.

Aussie hard wood usually requires a minimum of 2 strokes for a touch up (after approx every 32 sqft of cut) but I find counting strokes does not produce as good a touch up by filing to remove cutter glint so if I still see glint after 2 strokes I keep filing. I'd rather leave a tooth sharp and short than long and blunt. Whether I count strokes or not, after a while, ie about every 20 touch ups, the cutters become uneven in length and I have to get them back to the same length by hand or put the chain on a grinder. My rakers are set higher than necessary to start with so during the day , depending on the type of wood, the rakers reach optimum depth after about 4-5 touch ups and then the rakers get 2-3 swipes every 3-4 touch ups. There's a fair bit of winging it in all this. Whenever I get the cutters back to the same length I also reset the rakes using a digital angle finder.

A post with a link showing a video of me all doing this here.

I use a home made metal guard over the cutter to protect it while i file the raker, I don't think FOP's are aggressive enough for big saws. My raker depth is decided by eye and i might skip it if the raker looks good, but i find 1 stroke on th raker for every 2~3 on the cutter is close to right. every 3rd or 4th sharpening I'll skip filing the rakers.

I don't use a guard to protect the cutter, my dad taught me how to roll the file so that the cutter stays safe. I agree about the FOPs. They only generate a cutting angle of 4.5º and it does not stay constant enough during the life of the cutter. I use a raker depth that generates a starting cutting angle of ~7º and reset them when they drop below 5º.

This means i move around the saw 3 times (Start from right, then left, right, left). 3 rotations of the chain gets me a full sharpen no matter how big the bar is, it takes me about a minute a side to do cutters and rakers, so a 36" bar takes about 6 or 7 minutes for cutters and rakers i guess. I keep my chains well out of the dirt, but all bets are off for rocked chains.

I do a similar rotation set.
It takes me 6 minute to touch up 96 cutters on my chains for my 60" bars and about the same time to touch up the rakers. Resetting back to same length cutters and same depth rakers takes a lot longer but I treat it as my therapy for the day.

 

[BarkBuster20]

I touch up my chains on my mill while I'm milling, like this;

I usually swap out once or twice during the day, I file those on a spare bar like this usually in the evenings or weekends.

I even take my chains and bars camping, and do them while others are at the beach or whatever, . . . . the riff raff at the camping site seem to give us a wide berth after I've sharpened a couple of 60" chains on this rig.


I use a red felt marker pen and then crack a beer.


Yep - I do the same


I pretty well do the same if I'm free hand filing. Usually I use a file guide, I find a 7/32' file guide with a 13/64" file gives me the right amount of hook so the mill self feeds. I also push slightly back and not just down on the guide when filing and rotate the file like you do when freehanding. All my milling chain top plate fling angles are 10º.

I usually do 1 stroke on every tooth for a touch up, 2 strokes on the tooth plus one light stroke on the raker if its really blunt, or 3 strokes on the tooth plus one medium stroke on the raker for heavy wear. Im always surprised by how many guys never touch their rakers, ever! I decide on 1,2, or 3 strokes depending on what gets 95% of the cutters good again. If one or two cutters don't come good, i leave them. I would rather have a balanced chain with the same number of strokes on each cutter and one or two not quite sharp teeth than file every cutter an extra stroke or two (and have extra wear just to get that one or two teeth good) or put extra strokes on the one or two bad teeth and have them slightly shorter than the rest. I figure i get good balance and life out of a chain this way, and i can always get that tooth on the next sharpen.

Aussie hard wood usually requires a minimum of 2 strokes for a touch up (after approx every 32 sqft of cut) but I find counting strokes does not produce as good a touch up by filing to remove cutter glint so if I still see glint after 2 strokes I keep filing. I'd rather leave a tooth sharp and short than long and blunt. Whether I count strokes or not, after a while, ie about every 20 touch ups, the cutters become uneven in length and I have to get them back to the same length by hand or put the chain on a grinder. My rakers are set higher than necessary to start with so during the day , depending on the type of wood, the rakers reach optimum depth after about 4-5 touch ups and then the rakers get 2-3 swipes every 3-4 touch ups. There's a fair bit of winging it in all this. Whenever I get the cutters back to the same length I also reset the rakes using a digital angle finder.

A post with a link showing a video of me all doing this here.

I use a home made metal guard over the cutter to protect it while i file the raker, I don't think FOP's are aggressive enough for big saws. My raker depth is decided by eye and i might skip it if the raker looks good, but i find 1 stroke on th raker for every 2~3 on the cutter is close to right. every 3rd or 4th sharpening I'll skip filing the rakers.

I don't use a guard to protect the cutter, my dad taught me how to roll the file so that the cutter stays safe. I agree about the FOPs. They only generate a cutting angle of 4.5º and it does not stay constant enough during the life of the cutter. I use a raker depth that generates a starting cutting angle of ~7º and reset them when they drop below 5º.


I do a similar rotation set.
It takes me 6 minute to touch up 96 cutters on my chains for my 60" bars and about the same time to touch up the rakers. Resetting back to same length cutters and same depth rakers takes a lot longer but I treat it as my therapy for the day.

one thing you could try is finding the dullest/ worst cutter to start with and however many strokes it takes, use that same amount on the rest.

 

[edisto]

I sharpen at the end of every day of cutting, before I clean the saw. That way I'm not running filings around the bar. I sit it on the truck bed, and never bother with a vise.

I sharpen without a guide, but 2 or 3 times in the life of a chain I'll make sure everything is straightened out with my clamp on Granberg "file-n-joint".

Rakers don't get checked or filed every time, but I check them using this. The idea came from BobL's "sticky" on progressive guides.

 

[tdi-rick]

[snip]
I don't think FOP's are aggressive enough for big saws. My raker depth is decided by eye and i might skip it if the raker looks good, but i find 1 stroke on th raker for every 2~3 on the cutter is close to right. every 3rd or 4th sharpening I'll skip filing the rakers.

[snip]

Shaun

[snip]
I don't use a guard to protect the cutter, my dad taught me how to roll the file so that the cutter stays safe. I agree about the FOPs. They only generate a cutting angle of 4.5º and it does not stay constant enough during the life of the cutter. I use a raker depth that generates a starting cutting angle of ~7º and reset them when they drop below 5º.


[snip]

I'm taking my rakers down more than the FOP suggests too now and I like it.
I'm also running a more aggressive cutter (more hook) than any hand held guide places the file, although i found a 13/64 file with an FOP worked OK on some Windsor chain I use.

In fact I've found that the Oregon and Stihl guides hold a file miles too high for my liking.
Matt is sending me a Vallorbe guide that he reckons he's had good success with so it'll be interesting to see how it goes. I'm just using the FOP to re-check I'm holding the file at 30* ATM, although I did use mu old Oregon (tecomec/Precision Tooling) clamp on jig to get all the cutters the same length again a few nights back on an 84DL chain.

 

[masiman]

How long are you all's files lasting? It seems I get about 2-3 decent sharpenings of 20" 72dl chain per file. After that, I'm giving extra strokes because of less material removal. I blow off the files while using them and don't backstroke em.

 

[procarbine2k1]

I don't have a strict routine in which I sharpen, depends on the conditions and kind of wood that I am cutting. I typically hand file a few times, and then machine sharpen. I haven't had anyone show my how to hand file, just got tired if paying the cash for the drive to the shop and sharpening.
I've had great luck, and always keep a nice chain. I hand file on the tailgate of my truck when I'm out in the woods, and use my vice when I am at the house. My files seem to last quite a while, and use Stihl files for the most part.

 

[jimdad07]

i sharpen after every 1-2 tanks sometimes more or less depending on the cutting conditions. 3 strokes for every tooth - no deviation. i take 2 strokes off my rakers every 3rd sharpening. all free hand.

About exactly what I do.

 

[BobL]

About exactly.

Is that like "black white"?

 

[BarkBuster20]

How long are you all's files lasting? It seems I get about 2-3 decent sharpenings of 20" 72dl chain per file. After that, I'm giving extra strokes because of less material removal. I blow off the files while using them and don't backstroke em.

Good point, i throw out my files after 2-3 sharpenings depending on what size chain i sharpen. i use saveedge as well, my dealer stopped carrying saveedge and started exclusively carrying stihl files, and they are junk. Brand new stihl file wasnt even as sharp as a saveedge file i was throwing out.

 

[tdi-rick]

When I was an apprentice many years ago we used to use a thing called a 'file card' to clean our files, but I haven't seen one for near twenty years and everytime I think to ask at the industrial wholesalers they all give me a blank expression (but maybe I just bring that out in poeple ?)

Anyone still seen or use them ?