Chainsaw chain sharpening

I agree. I just use the correct size file and touch up the chain every two or three times I have to fill it. Dan

Yep. I always touch it up before doing any big logs (to save time) and before doing anything fussy like pruning. I use a file on the bigger saw, a stone mounted in the Dremel tool for the smaller saws. I check the depth of cut teeth every other sharpening.

My newest saw has handy guide marks > Hello all.

snip

*If* you have a local shop, *and* you're not in the boonies when you need it/them sharpened, *and* you can afford to take it in every time you hit dirt, a rock, a nail, etc. then that might possibly be a viable option. OTOH: Using that rationale, why bother with doing/learning if you can have someone else do it for you.

In the woods, I'd rather file the chain than swap to a sharp one because the saw is likely to leak bar oil badly if a chip gets caught under the bar near the oil hole. There is a paintbrush in the toolbox to clean around the gas and oil caps before refilling but it doesn't work well if soaked with sticky bar oil. I am NOT about to clean a hot saw with gasoline while standing in dry leaves next to my tractor. Besides, touching up the chain gives the saw time to cool a little before refueling.

At home I'll swap chains after blowing out the sprocket area with compressed air.

jw

I run with a bunch of woodturners, who use chainsaws a LOT. We have found the electric chainsaw sharpener sold at Harbor Freight for around $60 on sale, (Nick the Grinder) is a wonderful tool. Common practice is to carry one or more spare chains when you go to the boonies, and do the sharpening at home.

Shucks. Why own a chainsaw at all? Just hire someone to cut the wood, too. Heck, you might break a nail. ;-)

Steve

"SteveB" wrote: (clip) Just hire someone to cut the wood, too. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Ha Ha. I once suggested to my boss that he could pay someone else to play solitaire for him, but he didn't see the humor in it. Maybe that's why I don't work there any more.

I think it is easier to touch up the chain than to remove and replace the chain. The first time or two you may screw up, but after a little while it is pretty quick and easy. Two or three strokes with the file per cutter. I do have another chain. I just have never used it.

If you want to see the tree I cut down and the progress I have made toward splitting it, go to <

>

click on the thumbnail photo to see the rest of the pictures. I have just been splitting a couple of rounds per day.

Dan

Dan, is that a pine? sure looks like it splits easy!

I'm just an amateur, but have cut and split (hydraulic) maybe 30 cords over the years, and learned a bit about how the saw and chains behave in that time.

So it is around $20 for a new chain, $6 for machine sharpening at a shop, and $0 to hand-sharpen with a file.

If you use the grinder every time, you might get only a few machine sharpenings before the teeth are used up. Of course it depends on the situation. Did you hit a rock, or just wear down the edges evenly. Either way, if you cut a lot of wood, you'll come out ahead by learning to sharpen with a file.

I tried a file jig, and tried sharpening on the saw, and didn't like either way. I do take the chain off, and lay it in a bench vise with jaws open just wide enough to hold the drive teeth rigidly. Filing by hand, the chains I use (Stihl and Oregon) have angle marks, that are good enough to get the angle right.

Sometimes there is a hard edge on teeth and it takes an extra oophm or a first cut at a different angle to get through the hard surface, after which the teeth cut more easily. So it is a good thing to be able to move the file at any angle, not constrained by a guide. Took a few tries but now it feels natural.

Now, when a chain looks half used up, I'll take it in for a machine sharpening to get everything even again, and then use it up the rest of the way by hand.

I also learned it's worth to be really careful about what you're cutting through, and cutting on, planning cuts to avoid dirt and rocks wherever they may be.

HOLY CRAP!

Does everyone realize that we are talking on topic almost nearly as much as the blogs and ranters are talking about off topic items?

Does a heart good.

Information and knowledge vs. politics, misinformation, rumor, and bias. Which one to choose.

Wait, wait. I know the answer to this....................

Steve

I've seen those sharpeners and am curious. How do you use them? Do you have to mount the chain for each cutting bit then move something, or ...? How automatic or manual is it?

Thanks, Wayne D.

...Unfortunately a wedge is too big to get thru the wood stove door and a limb makes it near impossible to split the tip off the wedge.... -- Dan

I cut up those messy hard-to-split chunks with the chain saw. It cuts pretty well with the bar parallel to the trunk, like cutting a slab off the side or slicing a big log in half lengthwise. I saw big wet heavy sections in half sometimes rather than getting hurt lifting them into the trailer.

The long chips jam in the sprocket area unless the bar is angled slightly up or down relative to the log, or the saw body is a few inches clear of the end of the log for the first pass down.

jw

I plan on doing something like that, but not right now.

Dan

Taking it little further. Has anybody had the joy of splitting Dutch Elm?. I swear that the grain is braided and bonded to itself with some kind of resin. Some varieties (Ontario) are incredibly tough to split even when notched with chainsaw.

Taking it back to metal content, is there a good method for toughening up a splitting wedge when it starts to mushroom? Few months ago a steel chip broke of with such a ferocity the it sliced through my pants and imbedded itself in the side of my knee. I sustained some minor nerve damage and would not want to repeat the experience. I have a TIG/STICK welder.

As far a sharpening goes I am back to file. I tried various rotary bits but as they wear, the diameter of bit changes and you do not get the proper cut.

Regards,

Boris Mohar

Got Knock? - see: Viatrack Printed Circuit Designs (among other things)

void _-void-_ in the obvious place

As good as a chain filer as you can be, its still impossible to get all the teeth on the loop the same size as some will ber filed more than others due to damages etc..........So about all I do is use a file to keep them touched up, and file that chain probably no more than 3 times if it really needs a good sharpening, and not just a touch up.......After that it gets thrown in the pile and eventually carried to the saw shop where they use a machine grinder and once set it will make all the teeth uniform again (uniform that is in that it will grind away wifer or longer teeth and make them all the same as the smallest one since thats what the grinder is set on.

I buy Woodsman brand chain by the rolls from Baileys, and its pretty cheap. Woodsman chain is actually Carlton Brand chain, which is of very good quality........I try to sytay away for the chain with all the anti kickback features on it as I want to cut wood, and have experieince, and what a difference between backyard saw chain and pro or commercial chain......The chrome edged or plated chain sucks big time and will wear a file out quicker, and is more of a pain to sharpen or touch up than good high quality carbon steel chain is.......Same with files, Pferd makes the best longest lasting files for chain sharpening..........Husky brand files are actually Pferd files.......Its important to hold the right angle, so the rake is proper, and the tooth does not get whats called a beak or hook on it from too much undercut, and its also important to keep the rakers filed to the correct limits below the top of the chains teeth. The amount is different for a lot of saws, but its genberally .025 to .030" on most saws....Too much and the chain grabs and stalls more than it cuts, too little and your making to fine of chips and working harder than you should be to cut the same amount of wood with a properly adjusted raker on the chain.

There certainoy is nothing wrong with sharpening a chain by hand, but do it wrong and the saw will not perform properly, and its possible to ruin a bar and chain with improper sharpening.......Get ahold of whats called a File-O-Plate made by carlton until you get used to what angle the cutters need to be filed to and also the rakers adjusted to. Much easier than a Oregon file guide......

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