Chain saw sharpner

[dodge man]

I'm looking at buying an electric chain saw sharpner. Any recomendations? At most I cut a couple of cords a wood a year. I've looked at prices on line and see price anywhere from $40 to $400. I don't need an expensive one since I won't use it a lot but I don't want a piece of junk either. My chainsaw is an Stihl MS250 if that makes any difference.

[Highbeam]

I cut 16 cords of wood this year. The most ever and I'm looking into selling some on the side since I can't possibly burn that much. I use a stihl MS290.

I have been bringing my chains to the saw shop 2 or 3 at a time to be sharpened and he charges 5 bucks or so per chain. Does an excellent job with an electric sharpener, nice guy. It was inconvenient though and I thought I should really learn how to do this. Kinda like changing your oil.

I read a bit and then bought a harbor freight chain grinder for 30$. What the heck. If it only works long enough to sharpen six chains then I am money ahead. I've sharpened four chains with it and I find it very easy to get results that I need while not removing very much tooth material at all. Seems the saw shop was removing lots of tooth in an effort to sell me new chains, another point for sharpening your own. I might not get the chains as sharp as a new stihl chain but it is very close and the important part is that the saw cuts great.

They make electric chain grinders from 20$ to more than 500$ for regular people. Maybe a professional would need the 500$ sharpener. Maybe after 30 chains my HF will break. It will have paid for itself after two more chains and I will have gained experience using a chain grinder.

Great experiment.

[forgeblast]

I have the harbor freight one, but honestly i never use it. I use my file. Every time i fill the chainsaw i take a file to it. It keeps it sharp and going strong. Plus i dont have to take the chain off to do it. I used to let the chain get real dull and then take it to a guy to sharpen them. I feel that when they use the chain sharpeners it heats the blades up too much and they dull quicker. just my observation but i stick with the file.

[buckle97]

Oregon at Lowe's: Electric Sure Sharp File Guide

I have this Oregon Sharpener from Lowes and I love it! It came with jumper cable type clamps on the ends and can be hooked directly to any battery to use it. I have hooked it to my tractor, ATV, and pickup for quick use. It takes me less than 2 minutes to completely sharpen a chain and it doesn't have to be taken off of the bar. Like Highbeam said, this allows you take take off as little of the tooth as possible for longer chain life.

[Richard]

And don't forget to file down your rakers (or what ever they're called)

I was once busy cutting a tree down that had died and could have possibly hit my house had it hit the 1 in 360 degrees to fall.

I was cutting it... the tree sat back & pinched my blade. I was stuck. I was in the woods so I could'nt bring my backhoe up to unseat the tree.... no problem... went to garage, got my second bar and a freshly (from the local hardware store) sharpened blade.

Took 5 minutes...removed saw from pinched bar...installed new bar and was going to continue on.....

This freshly sharpened blade would not cut melted butter

Long story short... I'm sure they sharpened the cutters however, must have forgotten about the rakers and because of that, not a single blade would cut into the tree.

I had to go back to garage.... swap out for an old, beat up DULL chain to finally make my cuts.

To say I was furious is an understatement. I've never said anything to them (buy propane from them every now & then) but I've never trusted them again with sharpening my blades. I bought a 100' spool from Oregon Chain, had them turn them into about a handful of new chains for me and now I sharpen my own and if I get into a pinch, I've got an inventory of new sharp chains.

[dodge man]

Buckle97 I saw one of those at the local farm store. I may give it a try, and I like the price.

I have a file set I bought with my chain saw, and yes I do file down the little things in front of the cutting tooth, which I think are in place to help with kickback. My file kit came with a little gauge to help with knowing when to file them down.

[buckle97]

Originally Posted by dodge man

I may give it a try, and I like the price.

After using this particular model, I would gladly pay twice the retail price for the value I'm getting.

[BigE_]

I went through 4 of the HF sharpeners before I finally gave up and bought a nicer one from Northern Tool. It is an Oregon clone, and it is much nice, much better made vs the cheap HF sharpener.

Issues I had with the HF sharpener:
On one the on/off wouldn't turn the thing on after a few uses.
On another, the on/off wouldn't turn it off.
On a third, there was way too much vibration
On a 4th, the wheel was cracked.

Overall, I thought there was too much flex in the operation of the arm, and the Northern Tool one is much more adjustable, and so you can sharpen a wider variety of chains properly. Some people are happy with the HF version.

The Northern Tool model was around $100, and well worth the price. I'd take that over the HF version any day of the week.

Side note: I can still sharpen the chains faster by hand, because you don't have to bother with taking them off the saw.

[SPIKER]

i bought the 26 buck HF one and sharpened about 10 chain last week. I thought it was well worth the 26 bucks I paid. Though you can't man-handle it and ya dont need to. go easy and let the grinding action do the work. took maybe 20~30 min for the bunch of chains I did, have not tried to cut with them yet though...

Mark

[woodchuckcanuck]

Originally Posted by BigE_

... and bought a nicer one from Northern Tool. It is an Oregon clone,...The Northern Tool model was around $100, and well worth the price. ...

Same here. YouTube - review oregon chainsaw sharpener