Chainsaw sharpening machine

[MossRoad]

Just make sure to get the wheel low enough so the side of the wheel hits the face of the tooth, on some low profile chains I have to flatten the bottom of the wheel to get it low enough. You'll have chains that cut. Steve

The bottom of the wheel does nothing when sharpening, it's the side of the wheel that needs to hit the face of the tooth. The only time I do any profiling is to get the wheel low enough on a picco chain. The biggest mistake people make is having a well rounded wheel that is set to high resulting in the face of the tooth getting no hook angle. And too high rakers. Steve

Sure nothing wrong with asking. I've been sharping chains for over 30 years like mentioned above, everyone likes the way they cut. I'd have to ask how does a rounded wheel give the face of the tooth hook, this is a wheel not a file and there's no way a wheel can get in there like a file. My method is close to square fileing which cuts good. Also I use the same 1/8" wheel for everything and very rarely have to shape the wheel except for low profile chains. Steve

Yes it's shaped like a file, why. To get at the tooth like a file the wheel would have to be horizontal and that's not going to happen. I know your going by the book but give my method a try and see what you think.. Steve

Hook is the angle of the face of the tooth on any saw blade, more hook causes the tooth to pull its self into the wood . 0 or a negative hook it would want to push its self out of the and would require a lot of pressure to cut. As I mentioned above I think the biggest mistake people make with a grinder is not getting the wheel low enough with a round profiled wheel resulting in no or negative hook. 3/8 chain has a nice tall tooth, when sharpening a wore out low profile chain you wont want a rounder wheel, you'll need to dress the wheel to a point on the left side. Steve

I see what you are getting at and it makes good sense. When I grind my chains, I do not make them "deeper". That would be pointless as the cut is from the top of the blade, not the bottom. Hook angle is important, from what I read. From what I observe with my grinder, I see no difference between its results and a hand sharpened blade as far as the hook angle goes. I'm sure I could see it under magnification.

One thing to think about regarding hand filing VS grinder is that the hand file in the Oregon hand guide does not get under the blade 100 percent either. 20% of the file diameter is kept above the face of the blade. Oregon does not recommend getting all the way under the tooth and Oregon's guide will not allow the file to get all the way under the tooth.

All I know is the blades are flinging chips and pulling themselves into the wood very well and my hands don't get cramps operating the grinder like they do operating the hand file. :thumbsup:

 

[TMR]

Just out of curiosity do most of you...

1) hand file w/o a guide

2) hand file with a guide

3) hand file with the clamp on "vise" system

4) file at home with a power file system

5) have your chains sharpened for you

Just curious...Tom R

BTW...I hand file with the clamp on vise system and sometimes have my chains sharpened for me

 

[Treemonkey1000]

I use a Pro Maxx sharpener. I found that it will out do my hand sharpening skills every time. Especially on my long bar chains.

 

[mountainlake]

I see what you are getting at and it makes good sense. When I grind my chains, I do not make them "deeper". That would be pointless as the cut is from the top of the blade, not the bottom. Hook angle is important, from what I read. From what I observe with my grinder, I see no difference between its results and a hand sharpened blade as far as the hook angle goes. I'm sure I could see it under magnification.

One thing to think about regarding hand filing VS grinder is that the hand file in the Oregon hand guide does not get under the blade 100 percent either. 20% of the file diameter is kept above the face of the blade. Oregon does not recommend getting all the way under the tooth and Oregon's guide will not allow the file to get all the way under the tooth.

All I know is the blades are flinging chips and pulling themselves into the wood very well and my hands don't get cramps operating the grinder like they do operating the hand file. :thumbsup:

All I'm saying is to get the wheel low enough into the gullet so the side of the wheel hits the face of the tooth, the biggest mistake made is not getting the wheel low enough resulting in only the curved part of the wheel hitting the tooth which will result in a negative hook. Files and wheels have nothing in commen. Steve

 

[Kubota 2350]

I hand file my chains when it time for the second tank of gas in the saw, after a day of cutting I remove the bar and chain, grind the chain on my grinder to get it good and sharp, and also to true up the teeth.
Then I clean the bar and saw, then reassemble, and it's ready for the next cutting session.

 

[newbury]

Just out of curiosity do most of you...

1) hand file w/o a guide - yes for touch up on the saw in the field (this may be viewed as a time killing reason for a break)

3) hand file with the clamp on "vise" system - Yes when I get them in the shop and they are still on the bar.

4) file at home with a power file system - Yes, with an NT grinder after doing (#3), 3 times - this gets all the angles and heights the same

 

[MossRoad]

All I'm saying is to get the wheel low enough into the gullet so the side of the wheel hits the face of the tooth, the biggest mistake made is not getting the wheel low enough resulting in only the curved part of the wheel hitting the tooth which will result in a negative hook. Files and wheels have nothing in commen. Steve

Well, I hope that everyone would make sure to sharpen the cutting face of the tooth for goodness sake.

 

[Car Doc]

+1! :thumbsup:

 

[forgeblast]

I file with a guide after every tank fill up, unless its still thowing chips. Then its every other tank. I also no matter what file at the end of cutting so its sharp and ready for next time. Now some times i may need to only use 5 strokes, and it really does go fast.
To make sure im not resharpening the same area i start at the double left( i call it that i have two left blades next to each other instead of the normal left right left right).

 

[MossRoad]

To make sure im not resharpening the same area i start at the double left( i call it that i have two left blades next to each other instead of the normal left right left right).

Me, too. Although last night I somehow missed it and started going around again on the grinder. When the grinding wheel started making no contact with the teeth I knew something was up and went back a couple teeth and found the double where I started. :laughing:

I also find that a glow in the dark wide sharpie marker works great for marking the first tooth. I will get one for my grinder bench. :thumbsup: