Chainsaw sharpening machine

[RobertN]

Dunno. It is not significantly more, but was definitely noticeable. I don't recall what brand it was; it was a while ago. Might have been Ace or Tru-Valu branded; we did not have a local Wal Mart then, and I have not used Wal Mart branded oil.

I thought it odd too; as someone else mentioned, 30w is 30w is 30w.

RobertN; I have a stupid question, how do you go through more bar oil when using cheaper/other oils? If the regulater is set to only push____amount of oil then how does it change from brand to brand? Not trying to be a jerk just curious.

 

[20 20]

Dunno. It is not significantly more, but was definitely noticeable. I don't recall what brand it was; it was a while ago. Might have been Ace or Tru-Valu branded; we did not have a local Wal Mart then, and I have not used Wal Mart branded oil.

I thought it odd too; as someone else mentioned, 30w is 30w is 30w.

:thumbsup:

 

[FredH]

Regarding Harbor Freight saw chain sharpener : Have one , still have it , still use it . Like on my 4'th or 5'th grinding wheel . Made 1 modification to it and that was to the little gray locking knob to tighten the chain before grinding . Used a piece of 1/4" all thread and made a longer handle that sticks out past the whole machine , then bent it , thus now I don't have to keep pushing it in or spinning it back as with the gray knob being a half lever , you could only go so far , then release it and turn it back to push in again to tighten .

Use a depth gauge and a 4.5" cut off grinding wheel to file down the rake's .
Regular grinding wheel was to coarse , so since I have a bazillion cut off wheels , they work great .

Have not took a chain in for over 10 years . Chains last a lot longer since as mentioned before , you only have to take off a minimal amount , were as many places set their machine to the smallest tooth , then grind away . You can even experiment with what angle works best for your application / saw and wood type .

Fred H.

 

[DIRTROAD]

I just had to return a brand new Northern Tool brand chain grinder. I actually had to help the grinding wheel start spinning manually and then hit the on switch.

I would not recommend it to anyone!

I will be spending the extra and ordering a good one from Bailey's.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Check Ebay for the grinders as well.

 

[Car Doc]

Yup have one from Northern think its the same (?) and made numerous mods (ask me and I can post pics) and its great well worth the money!

Just re-read your original post I have the one that costs $89-99 or at least at the time it did not $30 so don't know which grinder you mean?

Steve

 

[MossRoad]

I picked up a Harbor Freight sharpener for $29.99 about a month ago. I have 6 chains. The hardware store wanted $5.00 a piece to sharpen them. 6 x 5 = 30, so I said, what the heck, try it out.

Hey, it works! :laughing:

I sharpened one chain before attempting the rest because of a lot of horror stories in reviews of this sharpener. After taking the advice from the reviewers that had taken the time to get it working correctly and ignoring the rants of those that "ruined their chains" and took it back after 5 minutes, I was able to set it up and sharpen a chain within 1/2 hour of getting it out of the box. I tested it on the saw and was pleasantly surprised at all the chips flying. The chain was as good as new. So I sharpened the other 5 chains. It took me about 1/2 an hour to sharpen 5 chains.

I cut two cords on one of those chains over the last two weekends. That's pretty good! :thumbsup: Even if the thing dies tomorrow, I will have broken even.

I think the key is to just kiss the blades, not grind the heck out of them. Some of these are older chains that I have had for decades, inherited from my dad. They had uneven teeth from hand sharpening and some cut funny. The nice thing about the sharpener is that you can get all the teeth even as long as you take the time to make sure the stop gauge is in the same place on each tooth each time and you put even pressure on the chain before you tighten the vice and touch the grinding wheel to the teeth with the same pressure each time.

The only thing it is lacking is a way to grind the depth gauges. But heck? For $30.00 it is what it is and it does work if you take the time. :thumbsup:

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Nice work Mossroad. You are right you don't have to take a lot of metal off with the machine if your teeth are in good shape. I take a cheap micrometer and try to find my shortest tooth and bring the rest of them to about the same length. Often I just have to touch the tooth a little to get an edge back on it. I have 5 year old chains that are cutting great. The really worn chains I save for stump cutting or where there might be crud in the log.
My new sharpener has a wheel for grinding the depth gauge teeth and the grinder sets up to vertical. Before I had that grinder I carefully used just a bench grinder and held the chain on the tool rest.
Sounds like you will get more than your moneys worth. :thumbsup:

 

[forgeblast]

I just sent mine to auction. I sharpen with a file and gauge. I cut about a tank or two of gas, and depending on how the blade is acting i sharpen then. It gives me a chance to catch my breath. In my opinon i have found that using the sharpening machines over heats the blade if done too long and the blade is then worthless. Plus i keep the blade sharper, when i was taking it to a place to get them sharpened i would make sure they were dulllllll, but now with a sharp blade i get much more done.

 

[MossRoad]

Nice work Mossroad. You are right you don't have to take a lot of metal off with the machine if your teeth are in good shape. I take a cheap micrometer and try to find my shortest tooth and bring the rest of them to about the same length. Often I just have to touch the tooth a little to get an edge back on it. I have 5 year old chains that are cutting great. The really worn chains I save for stump cutting or where there might be crud in the log.
My new sharpener has a wheel for grinding the depth gauge teeth and the grinder sets up to vertical. Before I had that grinder I carefully used just a bench grinder and held the chain on the tool rest.
Sounds like you will get more than your moneys worth. :thumbsup:

What I did was set it to the first tooth and just barely kissed the blade and it was sharp. Then I move on to the next tooth and apply the same pressure. If sparks fly, I know it was a tad longer than the last tooth I sharpened. If it doesn't hit the tooth at all I know it was shorter than the others, so I adjusted the stop to that tooth and went around the entire chain again. Once I found that shortest tooth and adjusted to it, all the rest fell in line.

I then switch it and do the opposite teeth. So, the best I can do is get all the right teeth to match and then get all the left teeth to match, but I have no way of making both the left and right teeth match without some fine measurement.

It cuts good enough for my firewood. Its not like I'm making fine furniture. :laughing: