LOST AND ALL ALONE

[Jackbnimble]

Can't take one more video on chain sharpening. They don't show what I'm dying to learn. I need to see up close, magnified big time, maybe in slow motion, with perhaps a special, professional camera, the results of each file stroke on a CHAIN CUTTER. I've watched tons that tell me what to do, how to do it, how it's done, but never the "before and after" up-close., crystal clear results from each stroke with a file that ultimately achieves the step by step outcome we all want.
If I knew how to sharpen like a maestro and had the equipment, I think I'd make the video to end all instructional videos, charge millions and be a superstar.

 

[HarleyT]

You want to know, see, feel, how much metal comes off with each stroke,

when all is going as it should?

 

[Mad Professor]

Tension your chain, put the bar in you vice, then observe as you file.

If you want to see each strokes results, hit the cutter with a sharpie each stroke.

Use just a file, or the gizmo holder of your choice.

Gloves will keep your knuckles happy.

Move on to dull vs rocked chains.

Once you have filed the cutters off a few chains , it will become clear.

 

[Canyon Angler]

They say to "count strokes," but I go mostly by feel. You can "feel" when the file is cutting off metal on the full width of the cutter nice and smooth, when all the burrs are gone. That's when I stop and go to the next tooth.

It's kind of like sharpening a chisel. You want one straight line to intersect the other straight line all the way across the length of the cutting edge. On a chainsaw chain, the cutting edge is curved, but you see what I mean...

I use one of the Stihl orange file handle holder things, with the angle molded into the plastic. Seems to work as well as I need it to. (I tried one of the Granberg jigs, but it seemed too fiddly to me.)

 

[SEAM]

...to feel is one thing, in a quiet place you can hear the chain getting sharper. A dull chain produces a harsh, low-pitched sound. As the chain get sharper the pitch increases and the sound becomes less audible. At least that's how I perceive the change from dull to sharp...

 

[Mad Professor]

They say to "count strokes," but I go mostly by feel. You can "feel" when the file is cutting off metal on the full width of the cutter nice and smooth, when all the burrs are gone. That's when I stop and go to the next tooth.

It's kind of like sharpening a chisel. You want one straight line to intersect the other straight line all the way across the length of the cutting edge. On a chainsaw chain, the cutting edge is curved, but you see what I mean...

I use one of the Stihl orange file handle holder things, with the angle molded into the plastic. Seems to work as well as I need it to. (I tried one of the Granberg jigs, but it seemed too fiddly to me.)

Yes, you can feel when the cutter is cleaned up. Stop on that cutter then. But give any "long" cutters an extra stroke or two to keep the chain cutters even, short cutters just get an edge.

My chains cut good until the cutters start breaking off from wear. Then they become "stumpers" before I scrap them.

 

[Jackbnimble]

Thanks guys! Appreciate every bit of advice. I know how to sharpen chains now! Unbelievable

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

YouTube search “Bucking Bill Ray”. It’s the best sharpening content I have found on YouTube. No BS / nonsense and backed by 2 decades of professional experience. Sure he’s crazy and his content jumps around, skip all that and just catch the content you want. He’s got lots of close up magnified content

 

[siouxindian]

YouTube search “Bucking Bill Ray”. It’s the best sharpening content I have found on YouTube. No BS / nonsense and backed by 2 decades of professional experience. Sure he’s crazy and his content jumps around, skip all that and just catch the content you want. He’s got lots of close up magnified content

i 2nd the billy vidio. a sharp chain is like a sharp knife . when you learn how . .. well you will cut till you want or your body tells you to stop. just my 2 cents.

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

You can watch videos until you go blind- even if someone does take the time to make a HD super slow mo in a sterile operating theatre- and all you will see is how other folk do it.
Buy yourself a few loops of cheap chain, a box of new files and go learn- just like folk did before the advent of digital videography and the internet.

Sure, watching and reading will ground you in the basics and perhaps prevent you from making basic goof ups, but only way you will learn the knack is to teach yourself the "feel", the muscle memory and the hand to eye coordination.
It isn't some kind of black art- it is using a SHARP file to remove damage and dress an edge back to a rough sharpness (as against a polished sharpness you might gain by dressing an edge with a leather strop and honing paste).

 

[Ted Jenkins]

Thanks guys! Appreciate every bit of advice. I know how to sharpen chains now! Unbelievable

I was ready to make you a up close and personal video. That was two years ago now you know??? How did you do and show some pics and video. What were the challenges. Thanks

 

[Ted Jenkins]

I do not think that I sharpen to an exact science but i do think I will or am able to sharpen asleep. I am always watching some thing other than the chain that is dull. When at the ranch the horses come to talk when at the timber project I watch the birds and the mule deer but not the chain. Thanks

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

My conclusion on sharpening chain is the point of diminishing returns happens veryyyyy quickly with firewood chain sharpening for the average bloke who is capable at sharpening.

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

I do not think that I sharpen to an exact science but i do think I will or am able to sharpen asleep. I am always watching some thing other than the chain that is dull. When at the ranch the horses come to talk when at the timber project I watch the birds and the mule deer but not the chain. Thanks

Just think, you are missing a golden opportunity to be watching youtube videos while you are filing in that case!

 

[lone wolf]

...to feel is one thing, in a quiet place you can hear the chain getting sharper. A dull chain produces a harsh, low-pitched sound. As the chain get sharper the pitch increases and the sound becomes less audible. At least that's how I perceive the change from dull to sharp...

You can still hear?

 

[North by Northwest]

Yes, you can feel when the cutter is cleaned up. Stop on that cutter then. But give any "long" cutters an extra stroke or two to keep the chain cutters even, short cutters just get an edge.

My chains cut good until the cutters start breaking off from wear. Then they become "stumpers" before I scrap them.

Just touch up the rakers on the short cutters accordingly , and keep an eye out for rocked cutters !

 

[SEAM]

You can still hear?

? Try it!

 

[HarleyT]

YouTube search “Bucking Bill Ray”. It’s the best sharpening content I have found on YouTube. No BS / nonsense and backed by 2 decades of professional experience. Sure he’s crazy and his content jumps around, skip all that and just catch the content you want. He’s got lots of close up magnified content

Don't mess up and google "bucking Lily May"

 

[Nex]

To circle back to the original question; Here's the close-up-video with professional camera you may or may not be looking for

 

[pioneerguy600]

You guys are so gullible!....LOL