Sharpening your chain

[Philbert]

I will stress that you need a means of mounting the saw if your going to learn how to hand file correctly and quickly. . . . you need a vise be it a big bench vise, a home made one just to hold saws, or a stump vise used out in the woods.

Here is a whole thread with ideas on that:

http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/tree-machine-filing-clamps.240030/

Also, a cool, new receiver mounted vise that could work well for this in the field:

http://www.lawlessgroup.com/Wilton-ATV.html



Philbert

 

[haveawoody]

Sawyer Rob,

I have an Oregon 12v sharpener also and rate it pretty close to hand sharpening for quality of cut, takes a bit more material of the chain but not like most chain grinders do .
I use it mainly when I'm on a big cut up job and the last chain is getting dull and I still need to cut so will quickly sharpen up a chain or two.
When I get home though all the dull chains get hand sharpening, long lived chains for me = less cost cutting and quite a bit sharper done by hand file so less work the next job done in less time.
Always seems to work out that saving 5 minutes in one place costs you 10 later LOL

For me the Oregon 12v grinder takes about 10 minutes on a 20" bar to sharpen and maybe 15-20 minutes by hand depending on the shape the teeth are in.

 

[Philbert]

I have an Oregon 12v sharpener. . .

Just to be clear, which type?

Philbert

 

[sunfish]

Pferd or SaveEdge files on the saw in the field. I much prefer the way a filed chain cuts over a ground one.

 

[haveawoody]

Philbert,

The first picture with the battery clips.
Small tiny wheel grinder that isn't that far from hand sharpening chain.
Easy on chain, decent sharpen and bonus works any place you have 12v like most places you cut wood.
Much like hand sharpening with power so very quick to get a dull chain sharp pretty fast when you have been cutting all day and just don't have the will to hand sharpen.

I'm not a big fan of big grinder wheel sharpeners, way to much removal of teeth each sharpen for me and no savings on hand file for time, if anything the big wheel grinders took longer.
I've used 4 or 5 different grinders and bar grinders and IMO the all eat chain up and sharpen yes they do.
But not like hand sharpening or even the little 12v sharpener.

 

[Philbert]

The first picture with the battery clips.

Thanks. Do you find any variation in the cutter profile as the stone wears/changes diameter, or do you compensate for that?

Philbert

(P.S. -I believe that you can 'kiss' a cutter with a standard grinding wheel, and not burn it up or grind it away.)

 

[lefturnfreek]

Just redress the wheel.

 

[turnkey4099]

I file with a clamp-on guide, takes only a few seconds to mount and once started filing one doesn't even need to look at what he is doing.

Time to file a 20" loop, including set-up, under 10 minutes. I also have a HF grinder - don't use it, filing is much faster.

Two things that make filing better.

File before the loop "needs it"
Buy files by the dozen and throw them away at the first sign they have quit cutting well. Took me years to learn that lesson.

Harry K

 

[CTYank]

Philbert,

The first picture with the battery clips.
Small tiny wheel grinder that isn't that far from hand sharpening chain.
Easy on chain, decent sharpen and bonus works any place you have 12v like most places you cut wood.
Much like hand sharpening with power so very quick to get a dull chain sharp pretty fast when you have been cutting all day and just don't have the will to hand sharpen.

I'm not a big fan of big grinder wheel sharpeners, way to much removal of teeth each sharpen for me and no savings on hand file for time, if anything the big wheel grinders took longer.
I've used 4 or 5 different grinders and bar grinders and IMO the all eat chain up and sharpen yes they do.
But not like hand sharpening or even the little 12v sharpener.

That was my take-away in the past, from seeing others' experiences from having their chains ground down at a dealer.
After I got an NT grinder, I found that 'taint necessarily so, if you see what the grinder is doing and how to make it work for you. Primarily, take advantage of the lateral flexibility of the mechanism. Set the depth of cut (the tooth stop) so that it's close to sufficient to handle the short cutters. Then with each cutter, start grinding by pushing the handle gently away from the cutter.
Make subsequent "hits" with the grinder with no lateral force, then toward the cuitter as required until each individual cutter is sharp. I do NOT obsess about keeping the cutters exactly equal in length; close is just fine.

That way you can fine-tune how much metal you remove from each cutter, and keep it to a minimum. Trying to make a one-time, fits-all setting to do all cutrters the same, will shorten the cutters and their lifetime. The strategy described also saves major time. Win-win.

Out in the woods, my tool bag always has a Granberg guide. Forget all the chain vises and kludges, IMO. That guide gets 'em done quick, simple and cheap. Besides extremely precisely. Mainly I use the grinder for friends' chains- the ones they use for trenching & tilling.

 

[haveawoody]

Philbert,

The profile changes a bit as the wheel wears but with the guide it tends to cut up and in the tooth much like hand sharpening so I get a pretty similar tooth cut even as the grind wheel shrinks.
I find when the wheel becomes an effort to sharpen a tooth or the tip of the tooth isn't sharpening properly it's change, time but up to that point little difference in tooth cut.

IMO the little 12v puts the closest thing to a good hand sharpen and similar wear on teeth as hand sharpening.

 

[haveawoody]

turnkey4099,

Yeah not much can match a good old file session.
I've tried a few clamp on guides but I find them generally to be fiddley and in the time it takes to set up I could have been done just a normal hand file.

The clamp on guide is probably a good idea every 5 or so sharpens just to get all the teeth back at a consistent angle.
Nothing like sharp and perfect angle to make a cutting day fun and fast

 

[haveawoody]

CTYank,

Yeah lots of the grinders on the market should be called chain eaters LOL

I find with almost all grinders the tooth cut ends up being sharp but a flat cut tooth so dulls much quicker than a round file profile cut.

LOL I hear you on sharpening stumpy the wonder saw.
I have a Poulan pro that fits that bill, cuts more dirt than tree trunk

 

[benp]

I primarily use Save Edge files and the Husqvarna roller filing kit.

In the shop I clamp the bar in a vise and prop up the powerhead so everything is sitting level.

In the field I use my stump vise and a cookie to secure the saw. Works well on a trailer, pickup tailgate, or the bed of my wagon.

I can knock out a 24" bar in about 5 minutes and 32" with skip chain in under 10.

Makes for no excuse not to touch up when topping fluids off.

 

[Sagetown]

A chain guide will help your learning curve for hand filing saw chains. I favor the pferd round files too. Hand filing is best done when only a few strokes per tooth is required to keep it sharp. Guide filing is best when hand filing has gotten out of kilter and the chain needs touching up. Electric Chain Grinders are very beneficial when several chains need sharping, or long chains are severely abused, and hand filing them would be murder on your elbow.

 

[mainewoods]

Never used a file guide or a grinder on a chain. Hand filing has always kept my cuts straight, and my chains sharp. There wasn't any guides or grinders back when I started cutting, and you learned how to hand file, or you went home with no money in your pocket.

 

[Sagetown]

Never used a file guide or a grinder on a chain. Hand filing has always kept my cuts straight, and my chains sharp. There wasn't any guides or grinders back when I started cutting, and you learned how to hand file, or you went home with no money in your pocket.

The above File Guide in post #34 was purchased by my Dad in 1961 at Sears and Roebucks. He was an ole pro logger back in the 30's up in the high Sierra's. He taught me the ABC's of hand filing, but a Chain Guide is sure handy.

 

[mainewoods]

I'll be damned. All this time I could have been filing with a guide! Never heard of anyone using one up here, that I recall. The Sears and Roebuck catalog always ended up in the outhouse and pages disappeared pretty quickly. Must of missed the file guide.

 

[Philbert]

The Granberg guide goes back to the late 50s, and versions were sold under different names. But there were other types of filing guides going back to the crosscut saws.

Philbert

 

[chucker]

I'll be damned. All this time I could have been filing with a guide! Never heard of anyone using one up here, that I recall. The Sears and Roebuck catalog always ended up in the outhouse and pages disappeared pretty quickly. Must of missed the file guide.

them colored pages were slippery suckers they were... just about as bad as a quick run to the little house in the snow and ice! lol

 

[muddstopper]

I usually keep several chains on hand and just swap them when they get dull. Cutting wood that has been skidded will dull a chain pretty fast. I use one of those harbor freight, $29 grinders to touch up the chains when I get home. I bought one of those clamp on file guides back in the early 70's. Never did like it very much, but for trencher chains and gravel busters, it worked pretty good for getting the chain back in shape, if you kept a sharp file in the guide.. I dont really like the grinders either, they leave burr on the teeth after sharping. Usually after I grind the chain, I take a round file and hit it a lick or two to knock off the burrs. I find the chain stays sharp longer and cuts better if the burrs are removed. My use of the grinder is limited to removeing just enough metal to correct the tooth angles and equalize the lenght of all the teeth. If I have one or two theet on a chain that are particularly messed up, I might not remove all the messed up part, but leave it until the next sharpening.