I've heard about the Harbor Freight sharpener... can it do the job?
I've used the Harbor Freight sharpener for a couple of seasons now. It's a flimsy thing, and it sorta works, but it has several draw backs, at least in my amateur opinion. You see, I've never used anything else, not even a hand file, to sharpen chains.
The first challenge you'll face with the HF sharpener is getting the teeth to space the same for each grind. Even on a never sharpened chain, there always seems to be a few teeth that take a heavy cut to sharpen and others that barely get grazed. I use Stihl chains only, and I can't believe that there's that much variation in what many consider to be the best out there. The next problem is that when you take a heavy cut, the metal in the tooth over heats and softens, so even though it's sharp it won't stay that way for long. Lately I've been setting the little gauge so that the grinding wheel just misses the end of the tooth so that I can flex the head over and just kiss the tooth with the wheel. Not the best for repeatability, but much better than the hit and miss that happens with the little gauge.
The HF sharpener is a classic case of you get what you pay for. It'll make sparks and act like it's sharpening the chain, but in the end I find it's just better to buy a good chain to start with, keep it out of the dirt, and replace it with a new one when it gets dull. I keep those old chains, because someday I'll spring for one of the professional grade sharpeners. But for now I can get almost a cord of wood cutting out of one chain and that's good enough for me.
