krushing73
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I normally use a dremel with a chainsaw guide that screws on the end of the dremel. I bought off amazon. It works fine for a weekend warrior.
Sharpening your chain
- Thread starter Aaron Frasher
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I tried to watch the video to see what I been missing with a chain sharpener all these years. It looked like too much work even before I hit the 2 minute mark! Been hand filing for 10 years with good results. When I put in the dirt accidentally, they go in for a sharpening at 5 bucks a pop. Over the years I have become careful not to put them in the dirt 
I find it interesting that someone that doesnt like the chain grinders, will take their saw chains to a shop to have them precision sharpened on a chain grinder at $5 a pop. Especially when you can buy one of those chain grinders for about $30. Sharpen 6 chains yourself and the grinder is paid for. Take out for your gas and time to drive to the saw shop and the pay back is much faster.I tried to watch the video to see what I been missing with a chain sharpener all these years. It looked like too much work even before I hit the 2 minute mark! Been hand filing for 10 years with good results. When I put in the dirt accidentally, they go in for a sharpening at 5 bucks a pop. Over the years I have become careful not to put them in the dirt
7sleeper
Addicted to ArboristSite
Did not say I have negative feelings about grinders, just looks like a PITA- and more crap laying around the garage. Hand filing works for me. Have to make a stop at the shop a couple times a year anyway to pick up goodies and shoot the bull with my pals there. Some years I have a chain or two to drop off, sometimes not. We all do what works.
haveawoody
Addicted to ArboristSite
Just got to look at the profile of a file cut VS a grinder cut.
No way around the fact that a big wheel grinder make straight cuts and a file or small wheel/ dremmel/ Oregon 12 etc make round cuts.
A round cut profile naturally tries to keep itself sharp and flat cuts don't
Easy to answer a what to sharpen with question with that answer unless you love grinding.
IMO hand file is the best way to go with a normal guide.
Every 5 or so sharpens a locked bar guide and file cleans up the angles to near perfect, neither Oregon 12v or dremmel will help in getting back precision angle cuts so hand file wins again.
The big wheel grinder always has precision angle cuts but at a cost of more chain loss and sharpening that looses it's edge much quicker.
IMO hand file and a lock bar guide for once in a while gives you the best sharp, longest lasting teeth, longest lasting sharp, best angles and best bang for the $.
Lots of people miss the rakers when sharpening, when they get to tall they can contribute to a quicker dull time, a gummed out bar all the time or just the feeling that the saw is not as powerful as it once was.
Every 10 or so sharpens break out the raker file and clean them up, the for the next 9 sharpens you can feel great about flying chip and sharp as a razor and stay that way for much longer all at once.
No way around the fact that a big wheel grinder make straight cuts and a file or small wheel/ dremmel/ Oregon 12 etc make round cuts.
A round cut profile naturally tries to keep itself sharp and flat cuts don't
Easy to answer a what to sharpen with question with that answer unless you love grinding.
IMO hand file is the best way to go with a normal guide.
Every 5 or so sharpens a locked bar guide and file cleans up the angles to near perfect, neither Oregon 12v or dremmel will help in getting back precision angle cuts so hand file wins again.
The big wheel grinder always has precision angle cuts but at a cost of more chain loss and sharpening that looses it's edge much quicker.
IMO hand file and a lock bar guide for once in a while gives you the best sharp, longest lasting teeth, longest lasting sharp, best angles and best bang for the $.
Lots of people miss the rakers when sharpening, when they get to tall they can contribute to a quicker dull time, a gummed out bar all the time or just the feeling that the saw is not as powerful as it once was.
Every 10 or so sharpens break out the raker file and clean them up, the for the next 9 sharpens you can feel great about flying chip and sharp as a razor and stay that way for much longer all at once.
Give me a break. "No way around"? The profile you make with a grinder is the profile you choose.
Someone keeps passing the Kool-Aid around A.S. that 'the way' to use an Oregon type grinder is to drive the wheel down to the tie straps, then complain that it does not leave a profile like a round file.
The tool doesn't choose to do this - the operator does.
Philbert
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Re-reading my post, it did look like i was singleing you out, but that wasnt my intention. Lots of folks will talk about how bad grinders are, but will readily take a chain to the saw shop, to be put on a grinder, just to get their angles back right. For the cost of sharpening just a few chains, they can own their own grinder and do it themself. I have one of those harbor freight grinders and use it to keep my chains true, but as I said in a earlier post, I always hit the chain with a file after i use the grinder. I think a file sharpening cuts better than a chain right off the grinder. To me, and it is visible in the video of the harbor freight grinder also, grinding will leave a burr on the cutting edge, hitting the chain with a file afterwards, gets rid of the burrs. No burrs and the chain cuts better and stays sharp longer.
Dont really agree about the chain loss, again, it depends on the user. I use a grinder to just shine up the tooth. If you dont hit a rock or plough with the chain, just a light polishing is all it really needs. I will agree that using a file will keep the edge longer, but you can take off more tooth than necessary to sharpen a chain with a file just as easily as you can with a grinder. A grinder will keep the teeth more uniform which improves the quality of the cut.
haveawoody
Addicted to ArboristSite
Philbert,
Only trouble with the pictures is that a grinder wheel surface is flat, it's going to give a flat tooth cut no matter what angle of attack.
If you have a grinder with a round end then you will get the bottom of the tooth round but the cutting tip is still a flat cut.
Just the nature of a flat wheel cutting.
Only trouble with the pictures is that a grinder wheel surface is flat, it's going to give a flat tooth cut no matter what angle of attack.
If you have a grinder with a round end then you will get the bottom of the tooth round but the cutting tip is still a flat cut.
Just the nature of a flat wheel cutting.
haveawoody
Addicted to ArboristSite
muddstopper,
Think of it this way a ground tooth stay sharp about 50 - 70% as long as a filed tooth.
Each grind has to remove a flat sheet of metal to sharpen a tooth and a file is removing mainly metal under the tooth.
If you have a very light touch with a grinder 10- 20 % more material on each cut and have to cut them 30 - 50 % more often.
Think of it this way a ground tooth stay sharp about 50 - 70% as long as a filed tooth.
Each grind has to remove a flat sheet of metal to sharpen a tooth and a file is removing mainly metal under the tooth.
If you have a very light touch with a grinder 10- 20 % more material on each cut and have to cut them 30 - 50 % more often.
7sleeper
Addicted to ArboristSite
@haveawoody
If with every strop with a file you would only remove metal underneath the tooth edge, you would soon have a serious hook becomming bigger and bigger. So it doesn't matter which remouval method you use you should always remove equal amount of material to have a symetrical tooth form.
7
If with every strop with a file you would only remove metal underneath the tooth edge, you would soon have a serious hook becomming bigger and bigger. So it doesn't matter which remouval method you use you should always remove equal amount of material to have a symetrical tooth form.
7
Hedgerow
HACK
Not so...
I will kill a chain way before either type is dull if done right...
With a file or grinder, I can make either method do exactly what I want by changing angles and hook...
Like I said before...
It's knowing what to do and why you're doing it that's more important than the tool you use for the job...
Now, the most important question this morning is who wants to fix 2 chains I used to stump yesterday... They're 115 drive links of full comp each...
I really ain't looking forward to it..
I don't think we are going to change each other's minds, but I will respond once more for those following the discussion.
No.
If you stop grinding before you reach the flat side of the wheel, you will have a cutter profile that matches the wheel profile.
If you want more 'hook' than this provides, you can use a different size grinding wheel, just as you can use a different sized/diameter round file. If you file the cutting edges of the tooth first, then move the file lower to get more hook or to clean out the gullet, you can . . . (wait for it . . . ) grind the cutting edges of the tooth first, then reposition the grinding wheel to get more hook or to clean out the gullet.
If a chain needs the gullets cleaned out, I grind all of the cutting edges first (both sides), then back off the tooth positioning dogs 1/2 a turn and lower the grinding head stop 1/2 a turn, and 'run' the gullets - it goes fast, with little chance of burning..
I have no idea where you are getting these numbers from. But I frequently hear guys here on A.S. saying that they 'touch up' their cutters every tank of fuel with their files. So even if you are taking off less metal each time, but you are doing it more frequently, you may end up removing the same amount of metal. Depends on how you define each 'sharpening' - as a touch-up? as maintenance? as bringing back a rocked cutter?
It is easier to file in the field than to grind with a bench style grinder (some guys use the Dremel/Granberg/STIHL/Oregon 12V rotary grinders in the field). But that is why I try to grind a profile that is very similar to a filed profile - so I can go back and forth. If you grind differently than you file, you will use up additional metal going back and forth.
If you only grind, and if you have a flat spot because of the way you grind, you only have to remove enough of that 'flat sheet of metal' to get back to the cutting edge again. You don't have to re-profile the edge - same as you would if you only used a file.
You don't have to take off any more material with a grinder than with a file if you are using it correctly. The goal is to obtain a sharp edge, not to remove metal. I think it was my first post on A.S.when I said you can 'kiss' your cutters if all they need is a touch up. And you can buy (but hard to find) finishing grade grinding wheels for some grinders, just like you can buy finer or coarser files.
Philbert
No.
If you stop grinding before you reach the flat side of the wheel, you will have a cutter profile that matches the wheel profile.
If you want more 'hook' than this provides, you can use a different size grinding wheel, just as you can use a different sized/diameter round file. If you file the cutting edges of the tooth first, then move the file lower to get more hook or to clean out the gullet, you can . . . (wait for it . . . ) grind the cutting edges of the tooth first, then reposition the grinding wheel to get more hook or to clean out the gullet.
If a chain needs the gullets cleaned out, I grind all of the cutting edges first (both sides), then back off the tooth positioning dogs 1/2 a turn and lower the grinding head stop 1/2 a turn, and 'run' the gullets - it goes fast, with little chance of burning..
I have no idea where you are getting these numbers from. But I frequently hear guys here on A.S. saying that they 'touch up' their cutters every tank of fuel with their files. So even if you are taking off less metal each time, but you are doing it more frequently, you may end up removing the same amount of metal. Depends on how you define each 'sharpening' - as a touch-up? as maintenance? as bringing back a rocked cutter?
It is easier to file in the field than to grind with a bench style grinder (some guys use the Dremel/Granberg/STIHL/Oregon 12V rotary grinders in the field). But that is why I try to grind a profile that is very similar to a filed profile - so I can go back and forth. If you grind differently than you file, you will use up additional metal going back and forth.
If you only grind, and if you have a flat spot because of the way you grind, you only have to remove enough of that 'flat sheet of metal' to get back to the cutting edge again. You don't have to re-profile the edge - same as you would if you only used a file.
You don't have to take off any more material with a grinder than with a file if you are using it correctly. The goal is to obtain a sharp edge, not to remove metal. I think it was my first post on A.S.when I said you can 'kiss' your cutters if all they need is a touch up. And you can buy (but hard to find) finishing grade grinding wheels for some grinders, just like you can buy finer or coarser files.
Philbert
haveawoody
Addicted to ArboristSite
haveawoody
Addicted to ArboristSite
Philbert,
And that is the fun of this place is everyone has a different idea.
No one is right, right is what works for whoever does it
For me the grinder experience just can't get a decent hook under the tooth.
For guys that sharpen after every tank of gas they enjoy a very sharp tooth, nothing wrong with that.
For me it's a soon as I start to horse a saw it's time to change chain.
I've used a few different grinders and I understand the grinder hook, never quite like a file hook though.
I've cut after file, many different grinders, 12v grinder and even a dremmel once.
IMO grinder VS file comes down to a stays sharp thing.
I cut lots of hard hardwoods, hickory, rock elm, Black locust Etc so your experience might differ.
Best grind for me was around 70% life compared to a file sharpen before the chain needs horsing.
Oregon 12v and dremmel both cut very similar and sharpened much like a file so cut times were similar.
And that is the fun of this place is everyone has a different idea.
No one is right, right is what works for whoever does it
For me the grinder experience just can't get a decent hook under the tooth.
For guys that sharpen after every tank of gas they enjoy a very sharp tooth, nothing wrong with that.
For me it's a soon as I start to horse a saw it's time to change chain.
I've used a few different grinders and I understand the grinder hook, never quite like a file hook though.
I've cut after file, many different grinders, 12v grinder and even a dremmel once.
IMO grinder VS file comes down to a stays sharp thing.
I cut lots of hard hardwoods, hickory, rock elm, Black locust Etc so your experience might differ.
Best grind for me was around 70% life compared to a file sharpen before the chain needs horsing.
Oregon 12v and dremmel both cut very similar and sharpened much like a file so cut times were similar.
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