Sharpening Chains

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jimbojango

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I'm sure this has been beat in the ground but i can't find it. So i went to harbor frieght and bought the el cheapo chainsaw grinder on sale for my birthday. I've never sharpened a chain with one as a 66 year old friend of mine always did it and he managed to have a heart attack the day before thanksgiving and kill himself.

So: i run 26RSC and 36RSC Stihl brand chains. .325 and 3/8 .063 chain. What angle do i set this thing up at (.25, .30, .35) I've already run a couple "tests" on some junk chains i had and .30 seemed "ok" but it didnt' stay sharp very long maybe because i didn't take enough material or i don't know. Help me out here guys and yes i KNOW i should of bought a Stihl grinder but I'm a farmer and i wasn't given any ground or equipment so I'm happy to make $15,000 a year these first few years instead of $250,000 like all the big ones think they make.

Thanks for all the help! If you have a copy of an old thread toss me the link and i'll go read it!
 
My brother bought one of those. I just eyeballed the angle that closely matched the existing angle on the teeth. Had to hold a little side pressure on the grinder to get it to cut consistently but it did a pretty fair job sharpening a chain. Seemed to me that it cut as well as new chain on that particular little saw.

I bought the hand filing Granberg style sharpener that I like better but unless I run across a nice grinder used or have an unexpected influx of cash(yeah right!) I'll probably buy an el cheapo grinder to get things started on badly rocked or wired chains.

Hu
 
If I remember correctly, the sharpening info is on the box. I just spent 5 minutes trying to find the info on the stihl site. Evidently it's well hidden, not there, or I'm just not looking in the right place.
 
Neighbor has the horror fright sharpener and I have a key to the shed and I much prefer to use my grandberg jig. It does work but I find the jig faster and the biggest problem is the gullets don't get shaped right so when you touch up a chain at fill ups it takes longer to file the gullet before you get to the tooth. Wheel is not quite the right shape.

If the chains are loosing their edge quickly then you are getting the angles wrong( buy a angle/raker depth tool from your Stihl dealer for 3-4$) or you are burning the teeth. The wheel should barely spark each time you touch the tooth and never turn shades of straw, blue, or purple.

With the grandberg jig and stihl brand files I can do a chain nearly twice as fast as the HF grinder. It's to cheap and fiddlely for me. The pro grinders with better chain clamps, angle gauges, and depth setting work much better. My neighbor who owns it even prefers to hand sharpen after I taught him correctly.
 
yeah, i already put an "extra" washer in the arm to firm it up after watching the youtube video and got the calipers out to get it all squared up. I think its actually going to work out. Took a chain missing a couple cutter (thanks barb wire!) and have made 3 sharpening attempts at it. The first time i'm sure i didn't take enough material off because some of the teeth looked sharp on half and bent back on the other parts. 2nd attempt was better and went out and cut a few pieces of wood before i layed into a FROZEN piece of hedge. Was throwing great big chips and then instantly to dust once i hit the frozen wood. Chain wouldn't even cut a maple log after that. 3rd attempt at .30 and a decent amount of material off seems decent. The chain was a junk chain to start with but it just doesn't feel quite as "sharp" as it should. Should i measure out my raker's and grind them a touch maybe?
 
As always,

with practice comes experience, with experience comes progress, with progress comes victory

Glad the video gave you a starting point. I usually give a go over and then before use one or two stroke with a file to make it feel perfect again. But with the grinder alone it still cuts very good! Nice chips and as seen in the video you can take down the rakers evenly on all. Depending on the type of saw you can take them down more or less.

7
 
yuppers, i ground my rakers down (saw a diff stihl video) and i think i went to far as i have a TOUCH of chatter, but damn she cuts like a raped ass ape now. So i basically sharpened probably 2 "real" sharpenings off my test chain and did it 3 times to get it right... we'll see how this turns out after i cut a couple tanks of fuel. I always cut 2 tanks of gas and then change chains unless i hit something hard and then they come off sooner...

Anymore tips would be appreciated if anyone has more input or idea's
 
@sunfish, hate to be a **** here, but did i ask about filing a chain by hand? no. I didn't ask a question about a dodge truck to hear someone say "ford's are better" i asked a question about a dodge truck because its what i have and what i'm using and if you have nothing good to add then shut up. You added zero to the thread except for someone else also reading your stupid reply and being dumber because of it.
 
jimbojango said:
@sunfish, hate to be a **** here, but did i ask about filing a chain by hand? no. I didn't ask a question about a dodge truck to hear someone say "ford's are better" i asked a question about a dodge truck because its what i have and what i'm using and if you have nothing good to add then shut up. You added zero to the thread except for someone else also reading your stupid reply and being dumber because of it.
Click to expand...

His reply was quite educated. He has found, as I also have that using a proper hand filing technique is faster and yield better results than using a grinder.
 
ok, let me rephrase a bit and apologize a bit.

I'm using my new tractor instead of a horse and plow. yours might be better, might be faster, and might cost less to operate. But this is how i'm doing it. So sorry for jumping all over you in quick succession.
 
redfin said:
His reply was quite educated. He has found, as I also have that using a proper hand filing technique is faster and yield better results than using a grinder.
Click to expand...

I understand both sides. But sometimes handfiling isn't faster. With severly damaged chains, and that was the OP criteria, it will take longer, just that simple. Of course using a few strokes over a chain after a few refills in clean wood is of course much faster.
But then again I donot believe that the way it was communicated is oportune.

7
 
jimbojango said:
ok, let me rephrase a bit and apologize a bit.

I'm using my new tractor instead of a horse and plow. yours might be better, might be faster, and might cost less to operate. But this is how i'm doing it. So sorry for jumping all over you in quick succession.
Click to expand...
No problem man.

I just like the way a filed chain cuts much better than a ground one and I can file one quicker than grind one. That's all.

I like my fairly new tractor also...:D
 
So what do you do when your cutters are all uneven, or really jacked up? If you only hand file, do you even know your cutters are different lengths?

I use a Husky 2 in 1 file jig every time I fill the tank. It's super quick, and takes down the rakers at the same time. After a while though, maybe 6-10 sharpenings, it really pays off to put the chain on the grinder and square things up again.

Even though I try really hard to hand sharpen exactly the same for every cutter, they're never the same length in the end.

I'm not sure how you would ever keep the cutters uniform without grinding once in awhile.
 

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