ROLLACOSTA
Addicted to ArboristSite
Lumberjack said:
surely the first post read Troll !!!
Newbie (part 2) how to sharpen a blade
- Thread starter hammerfall
- Start date
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surely the first post read Troll !!!
MasterBlaster
TreeHouse Elder
hammerfall said:
It's all good, my brother!
I think you guys are just a tiny little bit OBSESSED WITH TROLLS!!!!
leweee
ArboristSite Operative
all the trolls on one thread
Glen.... Excellent
Glen.... Excellent
tony marks
Addicted to ArboristSite
start with an roller guide.. then try to match the xact way the chain when new..
keep an experimental chain or three to develope any custom changes u find that work.. then one on the saw that you know works good .. no time for experimenting with new ideas when trying to do a days work..after studying all the info provided , you will come up with your owns customising of chain .. that works in your application..it takes time..
i say the roller guide as its the simplest way to insure proper angles ,when used rite.. if your vision is good[mines distorted by stigmatism.] you wont need the roller later mabe.. ill probably always use it.. i do put out an chain worhy of my saws.. hope to get better.
keep an experimental chain or three to develope any custom changes u find that work.. then one on the saw that you know works good .. no time for experimenting with new ideas when trying to do a days work..after studying all the info provided , you will come up with your owns customising of chain .. that works in your application..it takes time..
i say the roller guide as its the simplest way to insure proper angles ,when used rite.. if your vision is good[mines distorted by stigmatism.] you wont need the roller later mabe.. ill probably always use it.. i do put out an chain worhy of my saws.. hope to get better.
newbie sharpening questions
Is it the same sharpening for soft and hardwoods?
Loaded question. If you use your saws every day for work yes. If you use your saws once in awhile no, you won't notice or care about the difference between round filing and square filing but that square filing is much harder to master than round filing. Round filing cuts a little slower but holds an edge little longer. Most sqaure chain will take a round filing but round chain does not take well to square filing. If you are cutting the same kind of wood all day every day or racing in competitions learn to square file, if not round filing is the way to go. It's not until you saw day in and day out that it matters one way or another. 90% of the saw owners out there don't know how to sharpen their own chain and don't bother to learn. They don't cut enough wood for it to make a difference.
Should I buy a kit to sharpen chain?
Strait answer,YES and use it until you master round filing by hand. Until you have a need for square filing stick to round filing and use the jig/kit until you master it. It takes practice to get to the point you can round file by hand and get a good angle and edge every time without the kit/jig.
What interval should I sharpen?
There is a difference between touching up the chain and sharpening the chain, both achieve the same goal, a sharp chain. 1-2 or 3 strokes on every cutter every other tank of gas to keep a fine edge. Short of hitting something this will keep you cutting at a good speed all day. If you hit something (nail or rock) you have the option of chaging the chain to be sharpened at the end of the day to get the cornner and edge and length of cutters all the same or spending some time sharpening the chain on the spot. Always carry an extra chain or two, nails and rocks are everywhere.
Short of being a professional, or wishing to impress those around you, you don't need to know how to square file or whether or not you need different techniques and chains to cut soft or hardwood. If you're not doing this for a living round filing will get you through the days work. Touch up the chain as soon as it feels like it's not cutting as good as a new chain (it's not pulling itself through the wood). If you push your saw through the wood it will need touched up more often than if you use a light touch and let the saw pull itself through the wood. If you have to lean on the saw to get it through the wood your chain needs to be touched up or sharpened. If you hit dirt, touch up the chain, now. It takes less than a second in the dirt to take the edge off the cutters.
If you use a chainsaw you should learn to sharpen a chain. What setup (type of chain and square or round filed) to use for soft or hardwood matters to the professional not the average chain saw user. The average chainsaw owner doesn't cut enough wood for it to make a difference.
Is it the same sharpening for soft and hardwoods?
Loaded question. If you use your saws every day for work yes. If you use your saws once in awhile no, you won't notice or care about the difference between round filing and square filing but that square filing is much harder to master than round filing. Round filing cuts a little slower but holds an edge little longer. Most sqaure chain will take a round filing but round chain does not take well to square filing. If you are cutting the same kind of wood all day every day or racing in competitions learn to square file, if not round filing is the way to go. It's not until you saw day in and day out that it matters one way or another. 90% of the saw owners out there don't know how to sharpen their own chain and don't bother to learn. They don't cut enough wood for it to make a difference.
Should I buy a kit to sharpen chain?
Strait answer,YES and use it until you master round filing by hand. Until you have a need for square filing stick to round filing and use the jig/kit until you master it. It takes practice to get to the point you can round file by hand and get a good angle and edge every time without the kit/jig.
What interval should I sharpen?
There is a difference between touching up the chain and sharpening the chain, both achieve the same goal, a sharp chain. 1-2 or 3 strokes on every cutter every other tank of gas to keep a fine edge. Short of hitting something this will keep you cutting at a good speed all day. If you hit something (nail or rock) you have the option of chaging the chain to be sharpened at the end of the day to get the cornner and edge and length of cutters all the same or spending some time sharpening the chain on the spot. Always carry an extra chain or two, nails and rocks are everywhere.
Short of being a professional, or wishing to impress those around you, you don't need to know how to square file or whether or not you need different techniques and chains to cut soft or hardwood. If you're not doing this for a living round filing will get you through the days work. Touch up the chain as soon as it feels like it's not cutting as good as a new chain (it's not pulling itself through the wood). If you push your saw through the wood it will need touched up more often than if you use a light touch and let the saw pull itself through the wood. If you have to lean on the saw to get it through the wood your chain needs to be touched up or sharpened. If you hit dirt, touch up the chain, now. It takes less than a second in the dirt to take the edge off the cutters.
If you use a chainsaw you should learn to sharpen a chain. What setup (type of chain and square or round filed) to use for soft or hardwood matters to the professional not the average chain saw user. The average chainsaw owner doesn't cut enough wood for it to make a difference.
tawilson
Addicted to ArboristSite
I must be stupid. I tried the roller guide a while back and couldn't figure out how to use it. After this thread and another recommending it I tried again. Still stupid. Didn't come with directions and can't find none online. Did the search and got so many responses I couldn't go thru them all. What is wrong with me?
There are cryptic pictorial directions on the back of the card they come on.
You place the guide over the chain with the rollers 90° to the top angle of the cutter, and with the roller axles tilting down towards the back of the cutter, and with the cutter you're sharpening centered within the guide frame. You push it firmly down to fully seat before using it. Then you place the file across both rollers at 90° to them, gently roll it into position against the cutter, and push it forward. When you reach the end of your stroke you roll the file away from the cutter (but not into the depth guide) and roll it back towards yourself, whereupon you repeat the process.
If you're using it on Stihl chain you need to modify it to accommodate the different angle at which the cutter recedes. The guides are designed for Oregon chain.
Glen
You place the guide over the chain with the rollers 90° to the top angle of the cutter, and with the roller axles tilting down towards the back of the cutter, and with the cutter you're sharpening centered within the guide frame. You push it firmly down to fully seat before using it. Then you place the file across both rollers at 90° to them, gently roll it into position against the cutter, and push it forward. When you reach the end of your stroke you roll the file away from the cutter (but not into the depth guide) and roll it back towards yourself, whereupon you repeat the process.
If you're using it on Stihl chain you need to modify it to accommodate the different angle at which the cutter recedes. The guides are designed for Oregon chain.
Glen
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
Hello Hammerfall, did you get a chance to file some chain yet?
With a username like Hammerfall it sounds like you might want to try a jackhammer to file that chain. LOL
Anyway, I don't like using filing guides because they obstruct the view of what you're doing.
The biggest deterent to would be filers is that they lose heart trying to learn on a severely rocked out chain. It's almost impossible to reserect a badly abraded cutter since the sideplate is usually badly damaged as well. This is where a grinder comes in handy, but that's another learning curve.
John
With a username like Hammerfall it sounds like you might want to try a jackhammer to file that chain. LOL
Anyway, I don't like using filing guides because they obstruct the view of what you're doing.
The biggest deterent to would be filers is that they lose heart trying to learn on a severely rocked out chain. It's almost impossible to reserect a badly abraded cutter since the sideplate is usually badly damaged as well. This is where a grinder comes in handy, but that's another learning curve.
John
Blowdown1
ArboristSite Operative
1. he is an electrical engineer, not mechanical, so consider that. Also, I know waaaayyy too many engineers that don't know $hit about anything other than crunching numbers. And even then, you might recall VTEngineer awhile back on this site. He kept trying to use convoluted formulas to do address an issue (gas/oil mix ratio changes) that only needed basic math. (and I ran the same issue by a couple engineers I know and they came up with wrong answers too)
2. TAWILSON the Husky roller guide is great in my opinion since it trains you on how to free-hand eventually. But while the pics on the packaging require some deciphering, it is pretty intuitive. There is really only one way to put it on the chain so that the file lines up with the angles of the chain (and there are only a couple different ways you can mount the thing, so just use some logic to work your way through it).
Now, as for Hammerfall; I figured you were French Canadian based on some of the wording, but I do have some concern that if you are that much of a saw newbie then sharpening is the last of your worries and proper and safe techniques in saw use should be your first priority.
2. TAWILSON the Husky roller guide is great in my opinion since it trains you on how to free-hand eventually. But while the pics on the packaging require some deciphering, it is pretty intuitive. There is really only one way to put it on the chain so that the file lines up with the angles of the chain (and there are only a couple different ways you can mount the thing, so just use some logic to work your way through it).
Now, as for Hammerfall; I figured you were French Canadian based on some of the wording, but I do have some concern that if you are that much of a saw newbie then sharpening is the last of your worries and proper and safe techniques in saw use should be your first priority.
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
I guess we were all newbies at sometime.
When Barky first gave me over the phone computer help he said first go and click on "My Computer."
Well how can I click on his computer when I'm in Toronto and he's in New Jersey?
Then he asked me what kind of system I have: "Hewlet Packard".
Hahaha.
John
When Barky first gave me over the phone computer help he said first go and click on "My Computer."
Well how can I click on his computer when I'm in Toronto and he's in New Jersey?
Then he asked me what kind of system I have: "Hewlet Packard".
Hahaha.
John
SawTroll
Information Collector
Well, I don't think the roller guides obstruct much wiew. At least I can see everything that I feel I need to see, but then I am not the expert filer that you are...Gypo Logger said:
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
SawTroll said:
True.
John
jokers
Addicted to ArboristSite
SawTroll said:
Gypo Logger said:
Your modesty is underwhelming John!
SawTroll
Information Collector
Gypo didn't say which of my statements were true, maybe it was the first one, or maybe both.....jokers said:
jokers
Addicted to ArboristSite
SawTroll said:
Well given that John made this statement
"Anyway, I don't like using filing guides because they obstruct the view of what you're doing."
in post # 30 of this thread, I`m pretty sure that he wasn`t having a changed perspective and agreeing with your statement regarding the use of a roller guide.
I may be a complete idiot to many of you whom are much more knowledgable in such saw related matters
but atleast my reading comprehension and short term recollection are intact.Russ
2Coilinveins
Former Member
Blowdown1 said:
No joke!
Hammerfall-
What kind of PPE do you have?
Edit:
Just realized this thread was dredged up from 5 months ago.
Last edited:
Gypo Logger
Timber Baron
jokers said:Well given that John made this statement
"Anyway, I don't like using filing guides because they obstruct the view of what you're doing."
in post # 30 of this thread, I`m pretty sure that he wasn`t having a changed perspective and agreeing with your statement regarding the use of a roller guide.
I may be a complete idiot to many of you whom are much more knowledgable in such saw related matters
Russ
Russ, Ithink Sawtroll is Glans.
John
