Help with Stihl/Oregon Sharpening guide

[greenmule]

Yeah,I bought one several years ago,think I looked at it,read the directions,and,figured that was wasted money,never did use it.

Maybe if they worked as advertised and you had time to see just how factory like you could get chain,maybe.

I can get it almost as good as new,but not quit there,by hand in 15 min or maybe a little more,so.

Main thing I've learned is to use new files.

 

[LD1]

As the chain wears, should i keep the "tooth stop" (#1 in your pic) in the same place and adjust the acorn nut? Or leave the acorn nut and adjust the tooth stop?

Ill throw up a couple pics of my sharpening adventure

It looks like you got it down.

The sharpeners that I am familiar with the "tooth stop" isn't adjustable. The only way to ajust how far back you cut the tooth is with the acorn nut (#3 in the pic). If you sharpen now til your center bar hits the acorn nut, next time you sharpen, you won't remove any material unless you tighten the acorn nut a little.

 

[LD1]

o i almost forgot to ask....

What model is that little husky?? Dad has a 136 with a 12 or 14" bar but yours looks a little bigger. I'll guess maybe a 140 with a 14 or 16" bar?????

 

[Scooby074]

Its a Husky 51. 16" Oregon bar. Wish it was a little bigger, but its been a pretty good saw.

 

[BigE_]

I finally got mine working properly. It was just a pain to set up. Once I taught myself how to sharpen without the fancy guide, I could sharpen the entire chain in the time it took me to set up the fancy guide.

I've got an Oregon 511 clone electric sharpener. It works, and works well. But, it still takes longer to set up and sharpen than what I can do by hand. And, doing it by hand I think gets it a bit sharper.

 

[Egon]

May be some help or not?? Put a larger C clamp on the saw blade and then clamp the C clamp in a vise. That will give nice solid point to work from. The chain can still be moved by hand and you can face the saw or approach it from either side which may make your work station a little more user friendly.

If you have a proper vise forget the above senior ramblings.

 

[LD1]

You don't even need a c-clamp. Just clamp the middle of the bar in the vice so the underside of clears the jaws and it works perfictally.

Another note: Always sharpen from inside to outside. Exactally the opposite of sharpening a knife. You chain will be sharper and the files will last longer.

A lot of people like the bench top electric grinders but not me. The time it takes you to take a chain off and put it back on, I can be done sharpening. From start to finish, it takes me about 4-5 min to do a 24" bar on the 7900.
The key is not to wait until the saw is dull and won't cut anything. Keep it maintained and you only have to take 2-3 file strokes off each cutter.

 

[Scooby074]

May be some help or not?? Put a larger C clamp on the saw blade and then clamp the C clamp in a vise. That will give nice solid point to work from. The chain can still be moved by hand and you can face the saw or approach it from either side which may make your work station a little more user friendly.

If you have a proper vise forget the above senior ramblings.

Thats not a bad idea Egon. With my small bar, i cant clamp it into my vice and use my new sharpener (jaws on vice too big). Ill give the clamp trick a try next sharpening.

 

[Smalljobs]

I was using one of the little Oregon red diecast and plastic guides and found I could not get consistent results. The chain always popped up out of the clamp over the rivets or the entire fixture would rise up out of position. If I had the chain clamp tight enough over the rivets, the chain could not be easily advanced to the next tooth. I used sharp files and counted the strokes but somehow never got consistent results.

Yesterday I received an Oregon grinder from Northern Tool. It took me about 20 minutes to set it up and 30 minutes later I'd sharpened 3-4 chains with no hassle. I quickly found out how inconsistent my filing had been. (Even with same # of strokes, the file pressure resulted in variation.) They are now consistent and definitely better than my attempts with the Oregon jig. I haven't cut anything yet but am sure, after reading the pre-purchase reviews, that they will be sharper, more consistent, and take less time than before.

I have three saws - 12", 16", and 18" - all with spare chains so I bought a little 5 draw plastic cabinet from housewares at Walmart. Three draws hold sharp clean chains sorted by size, one draw has the extra grinding wheels, and the top drawer has tools. I'll be better off and spend less time.

 

[Egon]

You don't even need a c-clamp. Just clamp the middle of the bar in the vice so the underside of clears the jaws and it works perfictally.

It all depends on the type of vise you available! And the location of the vice!