Newbie (part 2) how to sharpen a blade

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hey it took me better part of two years trying to hand sharpen, before the light bulb came on.

1. use a vise and tighten up chain to steady what you are doing
2. gotta see what you are doing. if your eyes need help, get a light and/or magnifiction if you are to file correct angles
3. use correct sized quality sharp/new files like stihl files
4. if you are doing it correctly, should only take 2-3 strokes per teeth. sharpen right away when dull, don't wait for teeth to get hammered
5. experiement until you find what works for you. example: I cannot do a good job, unless I've got my old homelite file guide. your mileage may veri
 
Gypo Logger said:
Russ, Ithink Sawtroll is Glans.
John
Not true!

Anyway I think it is a valid point that a less experienced chain filer doesn't need to see as much detail as an expert filing race chain.
He or she should focus on the main angles and hight of the file, and that is where the rollerguide helps.
 
SawTroll said:
Not true!

Anyway I think it is a valid point that a less experienced chain filer doesn't need to see as much detail as an expert filing race chain.
He or she should focus on the main angles and hight of the file, and that is where the rollerguide helps.


Hi SawTroll,

I`m not arguing this point with you, I simply meant that I don`t think John was agreeing that roller guides are OK. Just having some fun, let it flow.....

Russ
 
I'm no stupider than the next guy, it took me years to sharpen well, truly better than that, but honestly I just haven't been able to do anything decent with a roller guide and I have tried a couple, one from Windsor and one from Husky.

Heck, it just aggrevated the he!! out of me.
 
Maybe its just dumb luck on my part but the roller guides work good for me.
 
I'm trying desperatly to think up a dumb question, just to see what geofore is gonna write!! There's probably a French internet site for this fella, but I am very concerned that anyone would let him go near a chainsaw at all !!! Cheers, from Downunder.
 
Actually I am glad a thread like this has popped up as I recently stuffed up a chain sharpening it at the wrong angle "oops" it had been a while since I last sharpened a chainsaw and I made the boo boo of having the file sitting in an oregon file guide with the 25 degree lines at the top thinking ok I should be filing at 25 degrees but by the time I finished on the chain it did not look right or cut right. then I did a google search on sharpening saws and I revised before attacking another chain and I felt a right royal twit for sharpening at 25 degrees instead of 30 degrees and the worst part was it was on my dolmar i did it (no guide lines etched in the top of the teeth) last night I sharpened the .325 chain on my husky (running the file parrallel to the guide lines etched on the teeth) and now that saw is nice and sharp (went by the sharpness on the corner of the tooth where the top meets the side of the tooth... apologies for the incorrect terminology)
 
ross_scott said:
Actually I am glad a thread like this has popped up as I recently stuffed up a chain sharpening it at the wrong angle "oops" it had been a while since I last sharpened a chainsaw and I made the boo boo of having the file sitting in an oregon file guide with the 25 degree lines at the top thinking ok I should be filing at 25 degrees but by the time I finished on the chain it did not look right or cut right. then I did a google search on sharpening saws and I revised before attacking another chain and I felt a right royal twit for sharpening at 25 degrees instead of 30 degrees and the worst part was it was on my dolmar i did it (no guide lines etched in the top of the teeth) last night I sharpened the .325 chain on my husky (running the file parrallel to the guide lines etched on the teeth) and now that saw is nice and sharp (went by the sharpness on the corner of the tooth where the top meets the side of the tooth... apologies for the incorrect terminology)

That top plate angle is not nearly as important as the side plate angle (amount of hook) or the raker depth, from what I have read almost everywhere. I try to get the top plate right but concentrate more on uniform cutter length, depth of the file in the cutter top to bottom (side plate angle) and raker height and my chains cut straight, smooth and very fast (for ordinary round filed full chisel that is).
 
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