Saw Chain Sharpener

Casco1 · Jun 16, 2006

Harbor Freight has a $99.95 saw chain sharpener on sale for $29.95. I am aware HB's tools are medium quality at best but for my needs this may serve the purpose. Does anyone out there have experience with these units.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93213

scesnick · Jun 16, 2006

That sure looks like a complicated tool just to sharpen a chain. Good luck taking that out in the field with you also.
I bought a $25.00 chain sharpener from Stihl and it works great. It is just a little hand held " Dremmel " tool with the proper pitch guides on it. It hooks right to your truck or tractor or ATV Battery with alligator clips. I can sharpen a chain in about 2-3 minutes. I would look into one of these and save your money for more gas for the saw...

Casco1 · Jun 17, 2006

Thanks for the reply. This would be a bench mounted shop tool. In the field I just file by hand. My problem is getting the pitch right. FYI About two years ago I bought a 1000 watt inverter for my truck. I searched until I found a good brand on sale. I took the wires that came with it cut them in half put a heavy duty plugs on each. Now when I'm not near power I can run most power tools off of my truck. This year I'm going to wire the Kubota so I can use the inverter with that. Total cost was about $125, not real cheap but it's come in very handy several times.

Dozernut · Jun 17, 2006

I have one and it works well! They are easy to set up and adjust and do a good job sharpening chains. They are not a commercial unit and would not stand up to hard use but for me and my son-in-law, it does fine. $29.00 is a great price, I bought mine two years ago and thought I got a good price at $69.00, oh well thats the way it goes!

texasjohn · Jun 17, 2006

Buy the HF chainsaw at $29. I have one and it works fine... read the manual and use your head about how to get your chain sharpened. I have 3 chains and sharpen all at one time... change to sharp one in the field. I'm sure there are many techniques that will work. What I do is to get the angle set right, then advance the tooth to the proper point, lower the blade then gently pull the chain into the rotating blade. A few sparks fly and that tooth is sharp. Fiddle with the adjustments and you'll git it... took me a little while.

Bedlam · Jun 17, 2006

Ive had one now for a few years. I paid almost $90. It does a great job as far as Im concerned. As others have said it's not a comercial one. I also found that they occasionally have the grinding wheels on sale too for about 5 dollars. I bought two, thinking Id replace them more often. The extras are still in the package.
I think its well worth the money. Ive been told, that it takes grinds too much of the chain off. I set it "light". And even if it does a sharp chain is well worth it. New ones are cheap too.
Good luck with it.
Allan

Lazy · Jun 17, 2006

Hi
I have one and it works great. A person can't sharpen a chain by hand and get the angle correct on every tooth like the HF unit, no matter how good they think they are. I wouldn't be without one now that I've used one. At that price I'm tempted to buy one for a spare.
Charlie.

Casco1 · Jun 17, 2006

Thank You All for your advice. I'm going to order one now,

Tom_H · Jun 17, 2006

I have that exact model. It only looks complicated. In actuality, the compound angles are what make the chain and grinder fit correctly. It is easy to use and works pretty well.

Cottonhawk · Jun 18, 2006

I ordered one two days ago. For less than $40 I don't think that I can go wrong. In the field I always take a back up saw chain so that my saw is always sharp.