Sharpening: What size tollerance?

[Mr_Brushcutter]

My sharpening set up consitst of a guide roller for the Husky and a typical guide for the stihl chain. I start buy finding the most damaged tooth and sharpenig it back till the damage is gone. Then i measure this tooth with a vernier caliper (i have a digital one to speed things up) and sharpen all the other teeth to as close as i can to that one.

How close is close what do you guys do it to? I'm using 0.07mm at the moment.

Thanks

Andy

 

[Butch(OH)]

I count file strokes for routine sharpening. I seldom whack a chain but when I do I start with the worst one as you do. Not ususual to have a hard or soft cutter in a loop and every so often I even things up by eyeball. I have never even laid a tape on a chain let alone a caliper so you are way more precise than me. I have to take an extra stroke or two now and then on the RH cutters as my strokes must be different reaching over the bar with my left hand as aposed to my right.

 

[kf_tree]

when sharpening by hand........i just sharpen each tooth as it comes. if one or 2 teeth are wacked up bad there is no sense in taking all the others back to match, just sharpen them and eventually they will match the rest. i just sharpen each tooth individually.

provideing we can both sharpen a chain properly, if i sharpen a chain my way and you use a caliper on yours and you ran them both you would never feel the difference. i applaud you for trying to be precise but i think it's a waiste of time and your going to get shorter chain life.

 

[ShoerFast]

Mr Brushcutter
The best awnser to your question is how well your sharpening works and how long it stays sharp. Dose it cut fast , smooth and seem to hold an edge?
As for me, I'm fussy as ya can get, and will spend a lot of time hand fileing. If I can cut all day on a good sharpining job, I more then made up for the time spent sharping.
Useing a calipers is a good idea! I have a plastic calipers made by General, but i use it more like an educated cresant wrench, as I just compair cutters. I also like the bar mounted file guides as everything is a little closer to perfict.

 

[eric_271]

No way would I file the rest back to match one or two damaged teeth. A waste of time and a waste of the rest of the chain. Both are money.

 

[2Coilinveins]

Yeah, what Eric said. That's how I feel too. I'm sure I'd feel different if I milled lumber with my saw, but my firewood the occasional TD doesn't give a darn.

 

[Mr_Brushcutter]

Well I've used the 346 today which is the chain i sharpend and it was fantasitc. Held an edge not even bothering to sharpen it tonight theres no dammage to the teath and its cutting in a streight line.

The teath on the chain were around 9.18mm and i had to file them back to 8.5 is to remove all the dammage. I've tried sharpening the teeth as they come and i end up with a saw cutting in a wonkey line.

 

[eric_271]

Well I've used the 346 today which is the chain i sharpend and it was fantasitc. Held an edge not even bothering to sharpen it tonight theres no dammage to the teath and its cutting in a streight line.

The teath on the chain were around 9.18mm and i had to file them back to 8.5 is to remove all the dammage. I've tried sharpening the teeth as they come and i end up with a saw cutting in a wonkey line.

Practice. You dont have to even all the teeth to the bad one to cut straight or hold a good edge.

 

[CNYCountry]

My sharpening set up consitst of a guide roller for the Husky and a typical guide for the stihl chain. I start buy finding the most damaged tooth and sharpenig it back till the damage is gone. Then i measure this tooth with a vernier caliper (i have a digital one to speed things up) and sharpen all the other teeth to as close as i can to that one.

How close is close what do you guys do it to? I'm using 0.07mm at the moment.

Thanks

Andy

I'm like you. Supposedly they will cut straight and well if the rakers are set right for each cutter, even if they're different lengths. But I'm picky. I sharpen them by hitting them all until they're sharp, then taking a small piece of cardboard, find the shortest one, draw a line on the cardboard and just eyeball it from that to file the rest of them down to that length. It's very close, close enough, cuts beatifully in the harder hardwoods with perfect very close to equally sized chips. One big mistake I made was listening to my father and taking the rakers way down on one Stihl RS round filed chisel chain. They do not have to go any lower than they are from the factory, maybe a little lower as the cutter gets filed down. It gets way too grabby.

 

[CNYCountry]

My experience with Stihl RS is that the depth gauges do need to be filed down to maintain .025" setting. Not any for the first couple of sharpenings but after that, yes.

You're precisely right, I wasn't clear. Of course they need to be taken down to stay in adjustment as you take the cutter down, from about .025" when the cutter is long to as far down as .035" when the cutter is almost done. What I meant was I made the mistake of taking them down past .035" with a new cutter, on my father's advice based on what used to work for him with an old 041 with old Oregon chipper chain. Now I use the depth gauge just like you're supposed to, every time I file.