Chain sharpening

[RalphVa]

Any of these should help; there are tons of YT videos on how to use the 2in1 sharpeners.

Neat that it does the bits in between the teeth at the same time.

 

[RalphVa]

I ordered the Stihl sharpener from Amazon for a tad less than $24. Didn't have a tool for checking filing the depth things in between. Used to have, but I gave all that stuff away when I had to give away my gas powered Stihl.

 

[bridge4]

Any of these should help; there are tons of YT videos on how to use the 2in1 sharpeners.

Thank you!

 

[FTG-05]

Note the white handle in the 2nd video's preview. See that diagram? It shows you how to orient the sharpener relative to the chainsaw. All you have to do then is: go in the direction indicated (see the arrow?), keep it oriented at the same angle as the handles and then keep the sharpener flat and at 90 degrees to the bar. Pretty simple.

 

[ArlyA]

Please do wear gloved while handling or sharpening your chains. The visit to HR and get parts sown back on,, isn't that much fun.

 

[SergLab2018]

I use Stihl either

 

[RalphVa]

Tried the new Stihl sharpener. Like the Dremel better. You can easily see the shiny teeth where it has gone. Cannot easily see where the file has gone. Think the Dremel does a better job.

Does anyone have a good suggestion about how to mark the chain? I've some tailer's chalk that my wife gave me. Not too bad. Have tried white spray paint. A little container of regular, brush-on white paint might work the best. Anything else?

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Does anyone have a good suggestion about how to mark the chain? I've some tailer's chalk that my wife gave me. Not too bad. Have tried white spray paint. A little container of regular, brush-on white paint might work the best. Anything else?

I use a red or blue magic marker to color the rivet heads under one tooth, then sharpen until I see the colored rivets come around again.

One thing I learned the hard way using the Oregon bench grinder is not to take so much off the tooth that it overheats the chain and spoils the temper. I set it up so the wheel hits the stop just as it touches the tooth. Then I give the handle a little shove sideways to take material off. If the steel in the tooth shows blue color after the wheel does its work, that chain won't cut for very long.

 

[CobyRupert]

Tried the new Stihl sharpener. Like the Dremel better. You can easily see the shiny teeth where it has gone. Cannot easily see where the file has gone. Think the Dremel does a better job.

Does anyone have a good suggestion about how to mark the chain? I've some tailer's chalk that my wife gave me. Not too bad. Have tried white spray paint. A little container of regular, brush-on white paint might work the best. Anything else?

I usually count out loud. 17 teeth each “side”. Usually my count matches up so there’s a shiny tooth coming around after #17. I’ve probably sharpened some teeth twice and skipped others. Not a big deal, hand sharpening doesn’t take off too much if you hit it twice,
and if you missed it, you’ll get it next time.
Maybe take 4-5 strokes of the file instead of 3-4 if a tooth looks longer than the others.

Sharpening chains applies the old 80/20 rule. You can put in 20% of the effort and get 80% of the result. To get that last 20% upgrade, you have to put in 80% more effort.
I don’t race saws, and too me it’s it’s not worth extra time and effort when I might hit some barbed wire 2 minutes into my next sawing anyways.

 

[ericm979]

I mark the top of a tooth with magic marker so I know when I've done all the teeth.