Chain sharpening woes.

[MossRoad]

There’s probably not a lot of experienced saw filers in corn country.

We're too busy having fun in corn country...

 

[jyoutz]

We're too busy having fun in corn country...

I wasn’t denigrating corn country, just pointing out that there’s not much logging expertise there.

 

[RandyT]

Most shops that sharpen chain, sell chain. They seem to conveniently shorten the life of your chain. Not to mention overheat the metal by either not giving a **** or not knowing what they are doing.

I don't seem to have this problem sharpening my own chains with my own grinder.

All valid points. Some shops just don't care which results in overheating possibly due to being in a hurry to get the chain sharpened, which also results in shops being way too aggressive in their sharpening. And the thing is shops actually loose money on sharpening which may be the reason for the poor performance. And there is little to no profit in selling chain.

Unless a chain is damaged and require removing excessive metal there is no reason to remove more than about .010 with either a grinder or a file. And I have witnessed shops take off about a 1/3 of the cutter in one sharpening on a never sharpened chain that didn't looked damaged from a distance I could see that on a chain that hit a rock or a nail or other metal when cutting but just dirt strikes won't cause that amount of damage.

 

[Raul-02]

I have been getting my saw chains sharpened (for me for the last 20 years), since it has been been cheap, well done and easy(er). I have the proper round file, with guide, that I've used for touch ups.

Since moving to rural Iowa, I had to find/choose a new hardware store for this (normally painless) task. I took five chains in, and two weeks(!) later, they were done - after I called 'em they got done that day. Tried one, then the second "sharpened" chains and got sawdust. Arrrrg. I checked the chains and they indeed were sharp, but the rakers were not addressed. They are flush with the cutters. I have now bought a depth gauge and will need to re-do the chains, by hand. Since the closest chain sharpener is 30 minutes now, I will start doing these myself.

I used to sharpen my chains with a grinding wheel holding the chain in my hands. Did it that way for years. Then a couple of years ago I got a used sharpener. It was junk, didn't hold the chain well the frame flexed. I rebuilt the little vice to hold the chain properly and learned to be ginger with the thing so as not to turn it into a pretzel when I use it.
I think I'll make a project to build a right proper sharpener.

 

[MossRoad]

I wasn’t denigrating corn country, just pointing out that there’s not much logging expertise there.

I just like that jingle.

 

[SandburRanch]

I use these on mine. They aren't perfect but do get a sharp chain.

https://www.stihlusa.com/products/chain-saws/filing-tools/2in1file/

Now if you want to learn the real way to do it.. check out Buckin.

Watch the file as he has sharpened a chain wrong for 20 years . The file should be moving in a straight line rather than the severe arc of the file in his file strokes . It's for sure he has never attempted to file anything flat .

 

[PILOON]

Had friends that had a rental shop and sharpened chains.

Actually fairly complex as U have a multitude of styles and gauges and I recall 3 different angles and that for 2 (left and right) teeth plus raker adjustment.
He had a chart that he'd refer to B4 adjusting his grinding set up as naturally most chains were not the same as the last one.
Then only very light touches should be made so as to not over heat the teeth.

Quite frankly I doubt that he actually make a profit at it, maybe minimum wages.
But then he was very meticulous.

But then he had a top line jig and sure used a lot of stones as again not one size fits all.

 

[Bill Guenthner]

I have been getting my saw chains sharpened (for me for the last 20 years), since it has been been cheap, well done and easy(er). I have the proper round file, with guide, that I've used for touch ups.

Since moving to rural Iowa, I had to find/choose a new hardware store for this (normally painless) task. I took five chains in, and two weeks(!) later, they were done - after I called 'em they got done that day. Tried one, then the second "sharpened" chains and got sawdust. Arrrrg. I checked the chains and they indeed were sharp, but the rakers were not addressed. They are flush with the cutters. I have now bought a depth gauge and will need to re-do the chains, by hand. Since the closest chain sharpener is 30 minutes now, I will start doing these myself.

I don’t sharpen chains. I replace them. I use maybe 5 a year and my time is too valuable to mess around trying to sharpen chains.

 

[gstrom99]

I wasn’t denigrating corn country, just pointing out that there’s not much logging expertise there.

You'd be surprised, maybe... I often see tractor trailer rigs, packed with big logs, going somewhere...

We also have lots of cleanup to do, after derechos and twisters.

 

[John_Mc]

Watch the file as he has sharpened a chain wrong for 20 years . The file should be moving in a straight line rather than the severe arc of the file in his file strokes . It's for sure he has never attempted to file anything flat .

Yeah, I'm not a fan of Buckin' Billy Ray's sharpening technique either. He does talk about straightening out the stroke to finish up each tooth, but that arc he starts with messes up the point of the tooth, which is critical to good performance on a full chisel chain. If he does enough of the straight strokes afterward, he'll get past the messed up part of the point, but he has just wasted some chain life and some of his time.

I also get a chuckle out of his comment at about 9:10: "This file is getting raw" (or "rocked"? I can't quite make out the exact word). Of course the file is going bad. He is back dragging it on most of his return strokes. That's a quick way to ruin the teeth on a file. Lift the file off for the return stroke.