Self sharping craftmen saw info.

[beastmaster]

I picked up this strange old craftmen chainsaw. I know craftmen never made saws. It looks like it could be a homelite or poulen. Whats unusual is it has a built in chain sharperner. Anyone have any idea what it is?

 

[s sidewall]

Pics

Steve

 

[s sidewall]

Could also be a Roper.

Steve

 

[undee70ss]

We would need a pics to determine what saw you have. You have to use special sawchain to use the built in chain sharpener.

 

[pioneerguy600]

Some of those old saws with that feature were called auto sharp or power sharp etc. Seen it on the Sears/Bradleys, Daytons and others, they required a special chain that was sharpened from the top outside unlike the regular chain. Just one of the many saws that had this feature,

 

[HarleyT]

Do not confuse it with the new style Oregon Power Sharp,
they are different.

 

[HarleyT]

Here is an old one..

 

[HarleyT]

 

[HarleyT]

It actually cut pretty good.

 

[undee70ss]

Chainsawlady still has chains (Oregon 80 series) for sale if anyone wants a original style chain for these types of saws.

 

[Conquistador3]

If it's a red Craftsman it's probably a 3.7hp made by Poulan or, less likely, Roper and branded as "Power-Sharp". Power-Sharp was actually an Oregon trademark and Blount still uses these days for their "self-sharpening" chains.
These Craftsman saws used a special Oregon chain nicknamed Barracuda which is very aggressive but actually doesn't cut any better than an ordinary Oregon chain. These chains also needed to have the depth gauges manually set every few "self-sharpenings" and could always benefit from a manual touch-up. I've heard Oregon tried marketing a .404" Barracuda chain to loggers in the early 80's and it was a dismal failure but I've never seen one so I'll just leave it in the "interesting if true" folder.

The self-sharpening gimmick was just that, a gimmick. It was great to impress your friends by pushing the button and see sparks fly everywhere but it was basically the only point over an ordinary (and cheaper) Craftsman or Poulan.

Oregon tried marketing an electric chainsaw with the old style (same as with the Craftsman models) Power-Sharp rather recently:

You can still find NOS of these as they were a dismal failure: a very expensive cheap electric saw. Big box stores sold them for about €200 right next to identical, non-Power-Sharp saws costing about €80 and you can well imagine how many they sold.

 

[beastmaster]

Here is an old one..

View attachment 624080

thats it, the one i picked up is a little cleaner and missing the air filter

 

[ray benson]

This may be the operators manual.

 

[PDXchain]

Top Sharp chain produced until mid 80's. More than a few saws came equipped with the system.

 

[Mr. Fix It Myself]

That craftsman is actually a either a D-44 or D-49 the 49 is a 80cc the 44 is a 70cc I believe. I think the engines where made by Tecumseh. I just sold a good running d49 identical to yours and a 3.7 Craftsman Power Sharp bolt action. Both blue and white don’t have a pic of the 3.7. If you take the air cover off on the back side it should say whether it’s a 44 or 49.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[a. palmer jr.]

I have several self sharpening saws. I generally remove the innards and replace the chain with a conventional one. A little bit of JB Weld in the hole it was in and it's all set...

 

[Mr. Fix It Myself]

Yeah I remove them if not already removed. The original chain are funky looking I threw one away because I thought someone just messed it up trying to sharpen it. Did look at closely though I have also had several McCULLOCH mini mac’s and 310’s with the self sharpener on them it’s a little different though.

 

[Treefella1973]

 

[Old2stroke]

Those barracuda chains with built in sharpening stones were common on Mini Macs and never worked worth a damn. Replaced many with a conventional chain.

 

[Grannykatereilly]

I am trying to get an operating manuel for my craftsman powersharp electric chainsaw since all the information I find online is for different models. I have buttons that I can't identify. Attaching pic from top view. I know about the oil cap and possibly the button behind it for extra oiling. What about the knob on the side or the screw on the top? (Picture was taken before I cleaned it up, sorry)