Review of chainsaw sharpener I just bought

[Sawyer Rob]

I take in a few chains to sharpen, every once in a while... As far as I'm concerned, it's easy money!

Quality of the finished chain, is only as good as the guy running the sharpener!

SR

After coming back to this post, I can see it isn't very clear as to what I meant.

What I meant is, I sharpen a few chains for "others" once in a while... I have a Oregon sharpener, and it does a great job.

SR

 

[goeduck]

I have a Oregon sharpener, and it does a great job. SR

Same here, Oregon. I have the 511

 

[4570Man]

How long does it take you to sharpen a chain and how good of a job does it do? $4 a chain wouldn't be a profitable venture with my setup and I've never seen a good job off of an electric sharpener. Although that's not a bash toward electric sharpeners.

 

[turnkey4099]

I do a 20" loop filing with a jig that sets all the angles and depth. 10" per loop and that includes putting saw in vice, mounting and adjusting the ffiling jig. Of course that is a loop that wasn't "rocked". rocked loops take more file strokes and sometimes more than one pass.

 

[milkman]

I have one of these Granberg Bar-Mount Chainsaw Sharpener, Model# G-106B and like to use it in the shop to get the chain just right and then hand file in the field. After several touch ups in the woods, I like to use the Granberg to get the chain just right again.

 

[EddieWalker]

I forget what brand I had, but I found it to be very time consuming to sharpen a chain on it, so I gave it away ten or twelve years ago and had the shop I bought my chainsaws from sharpen them for $5 each. Then he raised the rates to $7 and I felt it was too time consuming going there, so I tried using the file like I saw those guys do on the logging shows that used to be on TV. Turns out that the file is super quick and easy. I just keep sharpening it when I feel it needs it and keep the chain on the saw until it's too stretched out to tighten it anymore. I only split 2 chords a year, so that, and whatever I cut when clearing timber is all I use it for. My current chain is probably three years old and still cutting great.

 

[Oldpath05]

My first requirement for buying any chainsaw chain sharpener is the chain stays on the bar, and the bar stays on the saw, the Grandberg meets those requirements.

The last thing I want to do is fiddle faddle around with taking a saw chain off the bar, whoops dropped it, now it's knotted all up in a figure 8, finally got the 20" chain unknotted so I can line it all up on a bench mounted chain sharpener.

Then have to fire up the compressor spend 15 minutes blowing the debris debree off the saw, line up the bar and chain with the rim sprocket, loosen up the chain tensioner, get the cover plate back, now where'd that nut go, tighten everything back up, twice, to me for me that's a 1/2 hour of complete wastes of time and unneeded aggravation...........

 

[4570Man]

It shouldn't take 30 minutes to take a chain off and put it back on.

 

[goeduck]

When the chain gets knotted up just keep the drive links in and the cutter teeth out. Then roll the two knots towards each other. The bar should be flipped regularly, the sprocket area kept free of buildup and the tip roller checked, all of which can be done when pulling the chain which takes just a few minutes.

I have about 6 loops for my most commonly used saw and about 3 loops for the other two. Every now and then I pull out the bench grinder (I put it on and old workmate stand) and spend 45min to an hour and I am all set to go. Much less time than I can hand file. But that may be just me.

 

[turnkey4099]

I forget what brand I had, but I found it to be very time consuming to sharpen a chain on it, so I gave it away ten or twelve years ago and had the shop I bought my chainsaws from sharpen them for $5 each. Then he raised the rates to $7 and I felt it was too time consuming going there, so I tried using the file like I saw those guys do on the logging shows that used to be on TV. Turns out that the file is super quick and easy. I just keep sharpening it when I feel it needs it and keep the chain on the saw until it's too stretched out to tighten it anymore. I only split 2 chords a year, so that, and whatever I cut when clearing timber is all I use it for. My current chain is probably three years old and still cutting great.

You don't need to throw away a chain that has stretched too far to tighten. Just remove (or have dealer remove) one drive link.

 

[turnkey4099]

It shouldn't take 30 minutes to take a chain off and put it back on.

I saw clip of a competition. Total change over in less than 10 seconds. For me a minute or two depending on how long it takes to untangle the new chain.

I don't know how the dealers do it or what the look for but they will take a knotted chain, lay it on the counter, look at it a few seconds, pick up and it magically uncoils.

 

[/pine]

My first requirement for buying any chainsaw chain sharpener is the chain stays on the bar, and the bar stays on the saw, the Grandberg meets those requirements.

The last thing I want to do is fiddle faddle around with taking a saw chain off the bar, whoops dropped it, now it's knotted all up in a figure 8, finally got the 20" chain unknotted so I can line it all up on a bench mounted chain sharpener.

Then have to fire up the compressor spend 15 minutes blowing the debris debree off the saw, line up the bar and chain with the rim sprocket, loosen up the chain tensioner, get the cover plate back, now where'd that nut go, tighten everything back up, twice, to me for me that's a 1/2 hour of complete wastes of time and unneeded aggravation...........

It's good practice to flip the bar over every other sharpening etc...

 

[Deere Dude]

It seems every chain I touch gets knotted somehow, and I can never figure out how to unknot them but somehow out of the blue they straighten themselves out. Go figure.

 

[/pine]

No offense to anyone...but there is an old joke about tangled chains..."You have to be smarter than the chain"

 

[4570Man]

You don't need to throw away a chain that has stretched too far to tighten. Just remove (or have dealer remove) one drive link.

I've never had that happen, but I don't know why you'd go through that much trouble. A new chain is around $20 and the stretched chain is probably near the end of its useful life anyway. And it's nice to have a junk chain around for times when hitting metal is likely.

 

[goeduck]

No offense to anyone...but there is an old joke about tangled chains..."You have to be smarter than the chain"

Yep, not that hard. Drive links in and cutter teeth out.

 

[Oldpath05]

I put together a short video that I thought was short, but after uploading it I should've shorten it a little more. I been using my sons Stihl 441 Mag with 20' with bar the last few weeks and after a final bang on a rock it needed sharpening bad.

So this afternoon I went to get it back to full chisel, started with a new flat file, went around the worst side with 7 swipes/tooth ended up ruining the file, I wanted to do both sides but I dont know what that chain is but if it was any harder it would be carbide. Then I put my Granberg sharpener on it and even that had a tuff time compared the the Oregon chains I get, so after I went around the chain then look it over with flashlight, nope needs one more time, then check it again, nope this chain is so hard I had to go around it three times, thats the video I made of this one last time, just a little more touch up. Think I was about a hour trying to straighten that chain out, the good news is the saw didn't have a 24" blade on it.

Should've had my son videoing so could zoom in better but after church all he does is nap all afternoon. So if you got a few minutes to waste take a look and maybe get idea of how a Granberg sharpener works. I didn't up load the whole video if I did be hour long, I also left out taking the rakers down with it, maybe next time. If my son trys his saw out this week he better hang on.

Chainsaw sharpening - YouTube

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^
I used a friend's power sharpener once and it hardened the teeth so much that I couldn't use a file on them anymore. Is that what your son uses for sharpening?

 

[Oldpath05]

No he uses a file, I tried it and his file was dual, he said it wasn't that old, they dont last long on a Stihl chain, and that chain was the first time the Granberg sharpener was on it. I've been using my Granberg sharpener now for 2 years on my saw with 325 Oregon chains, they sharpen easier, maybe Stihl makes a stronger file for their chains. As hard as they sharpen dont know if I'd wanna put one on my saw that I havent bought yet.