I have 2 chainsaws, a Stihl Woodboss and a smaller Echo.?ÿ
I have always used a regular chainsaw file, basically a small rattail file, you know the kind. Anywhoo, I have been curious about other methods and if they actually work as advertised or if it is just a waste of money.
I have a seen a device made by Stihl designed for sharpening the teeth and I have seen others that clamp on the blade and use a little carbide cutter.
I usually sharpen with a file with a guide, also don??t forget a lot of newer saws with safety chains that need the rakers filed down, although not very often. ?ÿI also have a sharpener that hooks up to a car battery with jumper style clamps that??s electric and kind of a Dremel style. ?ÿI don??t use it very often though, only when a chain is really bad.
Keep in mind you should sharpen often. ?ÿI usually do after every or every other tank of fuel and it takes about 5 minutes once you get good. ?ÿ
File and guide on Oregon chains. I ran through two gallons of fuel last year and the chain is perfect. A lot depends on what and how you cut.?ÿ
The only motorized device I've ever used to sharpen a tool is a sanding belt. Not going to work on a chain... Even a low speed dremel will heat the edge enough to soften it in very short order. You will get it sharp fast but the edge won't hold as long.
While surveying in the Forest Service (age 22) our engineering dept. got activated to a fire crew for three weeks during a big fire season.?ÿ Got bussed to California (Tombstone fire & Observatory fire) for mopup, handcrew, hotspot searches & babysitting duty.?ÿ 5 days in I sprained my ankle so was assigned to the chainsaw maintenance crew which was ten people arranged along long tables in camp. The sawyers would drop off their saws at one end of the table and pick a saw up after a meal or bivouacking.?ÿ It was an assembly line situation where the first person would test, inspect & if it wasn't toast, shove the partially disassembled saw in a tote to the next station, who'd clean the pitch & goo off and shove the tote to the next station who'd replace mechanical parts if necessary then reassemble & move the tote to the next station, et. al.?ÿ The final station was the sharpening task which I got assigned to because I'd been sharpening saws for years ????.?ÿ We used a clamp on jig with the proper round file for the cutters, flat file for the depth gauges.
The line boss inspected my first sharpening and said nothing.?ÿ He came back a few saws later and told me I'm doing a good job but puleeze, could I speed it up by a factor of 3??ÿ The sawyers are not making furniture, so get it close enough and move on to the next cutter because they may need that saw in 20 minutes.?ÿ Don't do a second round fine tuning it. Over the next few days I did so and became as proficient as my peers.?ÿ I learned a lot of shortcuts, most notably to inspect the entire chain and if it was serviceable pick the worst cutter to file first, then do the same number of strokes on the perfectly good cutters for the length of the chain. If the chain was unsalvageable immediately switch in a new chain if the upline inspector hadn't already done so.?ÿ Also, fresh and sharp files are key and they wear out quickly so we'd have bucket full of used files each shift.?ÿ And, the depth gage drop depends on what the sawyers are generally encountering, a big drop for softwood & a lesser drop for hardwood, but mainly an aggressive drop for speed and who cares if the saw burns up.
Oh, and wear sturdy leather gloves if you're going as fast as you can or you'll end up with your fingers/hands cut to ribbons if you're doing an 8 hour night shift.?ÿ There were a few old timers on the line who used freehand files, no jig, who were much faster than jig users like me, but I never caught the knack.
Could not get the link to post earlier. Go to this and watch video. My son gave me one and it works great and is simple to use.
I'm skeptical compared to a jig sharpener and it apparently uses a proprietary flat file for the depth gauges with a fixed depth which cannot be adjusted.?ÿ Also it's dependent on hand orientation of the device so requires some skill to use properly. OTOH for a light domestic saw user it could keep the chain in good shape for a season and you could get a pro shop sharpening job annually.?ÿ Also it doesn't work so good on skip tooth chains.
For 50 bucks it seems to be a winner for light sharpening, but seems to be proprietary setup for Stihl chains only.?ÿ I may be wrong on that.?ÿ?ÿ
It??s hard to know what you are looking at but this is looking at the saw with the muffler off. ?ÿYou can see the saws piston is badly scored. ?ÿIt??s an Stihl MS250 that is a little over 10 years old. ?ÿNot sure what I did to it but I suspect me or my son over worked it with a dull chain. ?ÿIt still ran pretty good in the cut but wouldn??t idle. ?ÿI replaced it with a MS261 and plan on rebuilding the MS250. ?ÿ
An improved means to an unimproved end. It's too simple to sharpen a saw with the regulation round file, sans hamburger helper.?ÿ
That's obtuse.?ÿ Can you expand on that??ÿ I carried a round file to brush off burrs from accidental dirt contact in the field but could never actually sharpen a chain?ÿ using only a round file freehand.
I think it's clear enough. It's a chain saw, not a scalpel. I've sharpened plenty with nothing more than the round file, and occasionally a flat file to tune up the rakers.?ÿ
The tendency is to go Tim Taylor on everything. Got to have a power tool or it can't be done.?ÿ?ÿ
I think it's clear enough. It's a chain saw, not a scalpel. I've sharpened plenty with nothing more than the round file, and occasionally a flat file to tune up the rakers.?ÿ
Yup, especially considering 25' of saw chain is only $150 which should last a shorter saw for 5 years or so if you put a brand new chain on every year or so.?ÿ My post was mainly about saws run for 8+hours a day into burning logs and many ground hits where the chain is in incredibly bad shape and major filing using jigs returns the chain to service for a few days longer.
There's nothing finer than a tuned saw with a fresh chain ripping through a dry softwood log like it's butter.?ÿ There's nothing sadder than struggling with a live hardwood pitch filled tree with a dull saw and your saw overheats and blows up.
BTW, I'd posit chain saws are scalpels and the chain should be razor sharp with appropriate rakers for the best surgical effect.?ÿ Or not, if you have the time.
