Chainsaw chain sharpening

============================================== Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked! "The original frugal ponder" ~~~~ } ~~~~~~ } ~~~~~~~ }

Boris The top of the wedge should be dressed the same as you dress your cold chisels, you do dress your chisels don't you? Anyway grind the mushroomed metal from the edges of the top and then bevel the top at ~30 to 45 degrees all around the top to side intersection. The flat on the bevel for a wedge should be about 1/4" wide. This will prevent splintering and knocking chunks off the wedge. lg no neat sig line

Your time to sharpen the chain is worth more than $0. If you don't do it frequently, you'll be a lot slower at it as well. Sharpening the occasional chain myself would likely take up $20 worth of my time and not produce as good a result as the $6 sharpening from my local shop.

For the average person who does not use the saw on at least a weekly basis it's unlikely to be practical to sharpen the chains themselves.

Pete C.

You are right, sharpening a chain does take some time. But not a lot of time to touch it up. And it takes time to remove and replace the chain too plus driving to where ever one gets chains sharpened plus money for gas. For me the time to sharpen a chain is less than the time I would spend at the counter of the saw shop when picking up the sharpened chain. And it is kind of like grinding a lathe tool bit. I don't think one has to do it a lot to remember how.

I will say I probably cut the life of the first chain I sharpened in half, so it cost me $10 to learn based on a $20 new chain ( and that does not count the time ).

Dan

I hand sharpen all my chains on the saw . I also own a commercial chain grinder . About the only time it ever gets used is when a competition guy asks me to do some chains for him . Lots of misconceptions to what is the right angle . For competition saws we ran lots of tests . Simply put the difference between the angles was not significant . It is not really the angle that determines how fast a saw cuts . Brand new chains are not as close tolerance as people might think . Every tooth might be the exact same size but they end up at slightly different heights once assembled . One high tooth makes the bar jump a small amount and the next few teeth get a free ride so to speak . Rakers or depth gages determine how much each tooth can cut . To high means your saw is not working at maximum efficiency , too low and it increases kickbacks . Lots of west coast fallers take them off completely but their saws have more then enough horsepower to get away with this . On smaller saws it will bog them down . With the added risk of eating a spinning chain it is not a risk worth taking . For the average person it is enough to get the teeth as close to the same angle and same length when hand filing . Keeping too pronounced a hook from developing . As the tooth gets filed back it gets shorter . One size smaller file should then be used to prevent sloping the tooth back . The real key is the tips of the teeth should be needle sharp when done . If you look at the end of a tip and see a tiny shiny spot give it another stroke . That shiny spot is a flat on the tip . Some people file one side then turn the saw to file the other . This is fine , in fact it's the way I do it . Some people have the knack of filing one side right handed and the opposite side left handed . I can't but works well for lots of people . Just try get both sides roughly the same length . No need to get it all at one sharpening . If it is off by much just add a few extra strokes to the long side each time you file until you get it close again . Very often a saw that is cutting crooked it blamed on the chain . Yep some times it is but very often it is the bar . Bars should be serviced every 25 hours . Taken off the saw and a flat file run along the long edges to remove groove the chain naturally produces . Then the file laid flat on the bar and the burr removed. watch out these can be razor sharp . The groove should then be cleaned out , going from tip to base so as not to push the sludge into the roller tip . The oil holes cleaned out . Then the bar reinstalled upside down , unless it is some kind of specialty bar they sell for anti whatever is popular this week . Bars should be rolled regularly to get maximum lifespan out of them . When I was younger I did dangerous snag falling and falling on wild fires . Then I carried an extra bar and chain . Now I only carry falling wedges . I am not sure how many people get pinched in trees but pretty much never happens to me so I avoid packing the added weight . Ken Cutt

The last time I took a chain in for 'professional' sharpening, they ground half the teeth off and left it completely dull, far worse than when I brought it in. I threw that chain away and bought another, and have been sharpening my chains ever since with a diamond electric sharpener and am happy with it.

============================================== Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked! "The original frugal ponder" ~~~~ } ~~~~~~ } ~~~~~~~ }

Unless I find them first!

michael

Clearly, opinions differ. Grinding setups may differ - sounds like you have used something with no jig or stop mechanism. With a proper chain grinding setup, it's quite trivial (in my experience) to do all the teeth essentially the same, and that is why I have that done after several cycles of filing, or hitting something that makes filing a major chore. My chains develop a "handedness" drift over time (it's difficult to file each tooth the same when half of them point the other direction

- the left and right hands do not file the same, nor does the right hand when asked to go backwards - same strokes and trying to use the same pressure notwithstanding). A jigged grind job clears this right up, which means it's more consistent than I can manage with a file.

It's a Chinese knockoff of the Oregon (which is either made in Italy, or made in China and stamped made in Italy...).

You set the chain in the vise, looking for the worst/shortest tooth, setting vise to angle for that side. You move the setting jig up until that tooth gets fully ground, clamping with each grind cycle. Then you leave the setting jig in place and unclamp, move, clamp, grind, repeat. All manual, gets faster the more you do it. Swing the angle for the other side, do the other side. Swap grinding wheels, swing angle to 0, file one raker with the usual raker guide, use that raker to set the grinder wheel used for rakers, grind all the other rakers.

Ecnerwal wrote: snip

My chains develop a "handedness" drift over time (it's difficult

In my case I file from the side of the bar with the handle of the saw towards me, my chain(s) has 15 cutters on a side so when I have done 15 teeth on one side I change sides and do the other 15 teeth...the same number of strokes. Having done that, I still at times need to take a lot off due to hitting a rock etc. and it is better to hold it by the bar in a vice, I even have a removable vice I mount on the truck for times like that. But when I'm with the skidder say 40 acres back in the woods it is nice to have an extra loop along too. On a related subject: I'm getting old and a little worn out from traipsin through the brush so I don't wear chaps, head gear, and definately no ear protection. I need to hear the cracking sound things make when they fall unexpected or someone trying to get my attention, and chaps for me just make it harder to get around, and unsafe. But that's just me....;0) granpaw

I am surprised that you have any hearing left. I can't stand to be around a chain saw at all without hearing protection. I did it as a kid but not now.

I have a Stihl helmet with the built in face screen and earmuffs. I find myself much more comfortable cutting, and less distracted, when the chips aren't flying in my face. Far as I'm concerned, it's as much a safety feature for keeping stuff out of my eyes, as it is a safety feature for keeping me from flinching or being distracted by a chunk of whatever hitting my face.

Daev Hinz

Absolutely. I do a lot of grinding in my welding work. If I have a face protector on, I don't squint. I don't flinch. I can concentrate more on the exact point I am working on.

As an aside, I have gone to the doctor two times to have metal slivers removed from my eyes. Both times, I had safety glasses on, but no face shield. Then, another time, I was walking in to work, and a blast of wind on the back dock sent something into my eye that had to be removed by the doctor.

Protect your eyes and ears, kids. I wear hearing aids now because of exposure to industrial noise and rock and roll bands. They are great, but it would be nice to hear things just as they are supposed to sound. It happens gradually, and it happens to everyone.

My chainsaw is rated at 112db. Ear protection is "suggested" over 85db.

Steve

Steve

Unless you have a need for an ultra perfect chain (competition bucking?) there is no need to file everything down to meet the 'worst tooth'. Pick an average and determine how many strokes of the file it takes to get that one sharp. Give all the others the same number of strokes. Go cut wood.

Ken.

Where's the "cut in a semicircle because you didn't keep the angle consistant between the left and right teeth" step?

The grinders that are used in sharpening shops are fine, but those held in a dremel tool suck big time, as when the diameter of that small round stone wears the cutters do not get ground properly.........not the case with theones that are used for commercial sharpening though as the wheel is sort of cocked on an angle and a wheel of a specified width is used, it just gets smaller in diameter not width, like the little round stones do.

============================================== Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked! "The original frugal ponder" ~~~~ } ~~~~~~ } ~~~~~~~ }

Huh, whats that you say...........I used to be like that, but now even though I have a 60% hearing loss I wear a hard hat, with mesh face protectin flip up shield, and hearing protectors. Its all one unit and is quite confortable. Thje only time I do not use them is if I am felling a tree, but will wear it up until the point I make the finala cut, then the muffs get moved out of the way, but face shield and cap is still worn..I do not use chaps unless I am in brush cutting. Out in the open I go chapless........and they are a real pain to wear if up in a tree....

============================================== Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked! "The original frugal ponder" ~~~~ } ~~~~~~ } ~~~~~~~ }