Harbor Freight bench sharpner review now with pics!

[wetwood]

I may be wrong, but it looks to me as though the chain is mounted in the wrong direction in the illustration for the new one...

That's what I was thinking, Looks like it will grind into the back of the rakers, but with never seeing a bench sharpener work before I was not sure.

 

[oldspark]

It's right just not adjusted correct or a funky picture.

 

[MasterMech]

Wetwood just be aware that it is still going to take a lot of patience this is still a cheap hf sharpner. It works much better for me after the mods and I get a way better edge with the stops all tightened and realigned though.

Good luck
Pete

When we were on the way to buy a POS come along, my six year old asked where we were going. I said 'To a place that sells cheap tools.' She said 'If they're cheap why are we going there? They will just break.' :-/
It did, first time we were using it. 'Told ya.'
I'm not taking her when I go get the grinder....

Like anything you have to be careful what you buy ! I will say I have many of my tools are from Harbor Freight and I really use and love them such as my pitsburg wrenches, chicago electric welder, greyhound splitter and the list goes on. Just be careful and research fully what you buy and you won't have buyers remorse I use the reviews on there website before I buy anything from HF as a rule. One nice thing they do offer is a no questions asked warranty on there products its cheap piece of mind if your not sure about a purchase.

Pete

Jeff T - That kid is my kind of thinker! :lol:

Pete - I'm surprised you like those Pittsburgh wrenches. We have 'em at work :sick: and I loathe them. They do work okay in situations where a pair of channel locks would unscrew the fastener just as easily but they just have too much flex in them to be reliable for tougher jobs. If you watch carefully you can see the jaws spread as you apply torque. Unfortunately there are several areas on our machines that don't allow use of the box end. I have Craftsman wrenches at home in my shop and I still hate them. They're not much better than the HF set. I also have a small set of Snap-On Flank Drive Plus wrenches that are nothing short of amazing. Besides being too pretty to use (well, almost...) and costing a small fortune, the amount of grip they have is AMAZING! I'm not saying that everything in the Snap-On catalog is worth the $$ but for open-end wrenches there is nothing better that I've found.

That HF warranty is a great safety net for all the turds mixed in with the tic-tacs. There are some deals there but like you said, buyer beware.

 

[Pallet Pete]

MasterMech I am not a pro mechanic but I do a lot of my own repairs the majority anyway and can say I have beat the sh&* out of my Commons ( out of business so no warranty ) and HF wrenches and they hold up very well. My Craftsman stuff is garbage in comparison but it is lifetime warrantied so I don't care to much when they crack. Too be honest I won't by snap on because I am a diy mech and don't feel the need however when I used them a few years ago at my old employer the ratchets where amazing and the sockets broke like the rest but again lifetime warranty so who cares. The best tools in my set are the ones I have banged the heck out of scratched and dropped they make my garage feel like home :lol:

Pete

 

[MasterMech]

Finally, someone else who thinks Craftsman wrenches are worth more as scrap.... :lol:

 

[kenny chaos]

I got one of them cheap orange ones out in the barn. It's the best "extra" you can have if using a saw.
It's all the sharpener most people could need and your chain will last a lot longer than the local shop that takes off 1/4
of the tooth at a time. I remember having to add washers also. Good pictures but don't let them scare you.
It seems that it's obvious to most that it needs tightening and where/how to do it.
Kenny

 

[jlightning]

I just purchased the new model the other day and it works pretty well for $29. I did purchase the 1yr warranty $6 which i thought was worth it...the cashier said if it stops working just bring it in and we will replace it no questions asked! I still hand file every tank of gas or two which keeps it real sharp as long as I don't do anything dumb I did have some trouble getting the hand break set up and is still not 100% rite but works ok.

 

[Pallet Pete]

I just purchased the new model the other day and it works pretty well for $29. I did purchase the 1yr warranty $6 which i thought was worth it...the cashier said if it stops working just bring it in and we will replace it no questions asked! I still hand file every tank of gas or two which keeps it real sharp as long as I don't do anything dumb I did have some trouble getting the hand break set up and is still not 100% rite but works ok.

Could you put some pics up of the new sharpener? I am curious at the differences between our sharpeners.

Thanks
Pete

 

[clemsonfor]

Just bought the New model HF grinder for Sawchains. The Red one. Its an improvement over the old orange one posted here above. My HF had both and i looked them over. The red one holding mechanism is better so you dont have to use the washers on the holder thing that rests against the tooth (as its already pretty centered, i saw what your talking about on the orange one), and you from what i can tell dont need a washer on the adjuster part either. The chain gripping mechanism on the red one is like a bike brake that you pull a lever and it locks it in for sharpening, then orange one has a lever that looks like you had to flip it 90 or 180 degrees each tooth to lock it in causing you to have to put it on and off as opposed to the bike brake thing that you grap with the same had that you pull the wheel down with. I had it adjusted up and sharpening in a few mins, back to razor sharp on an old trashed chain in 5 mins. would be twice as fast once you get it good and if you dont have a chain with trashed cutters that you were trying to saw a hunk or mortar with.

Got it with the coupon in this months Flyer for $29.99 well worth it and the red model looks to be beter than the orange with some updates. They must of copied some other persons patents this time? I spent a good 10 mins or more contemplating which one to get. glad i got the red!!

 

[clemsonfor]

http://www.harborfreight.com/electric-chain-saw-sharpener-68221.html

See pics here.

 

[Huntindog1]

I couldnt find the coupon for the $29 deal but noticed they were selling the coupons on ebay for $3.

What I did was call their 1-800 order line and asked where I could get the coupon, the lady said she would just sell it too me for the $29.

 

[Pallet Pete]

That does not look all that different but does look like they have modified the chain holder. Does it work good for you clemsonfor?

Pete

 

[greythorn3]

might have to try one of these i got a buncha dull chains!

 

[clemsonfor]

That does not look all that different but does look like they have modified the chain holder. Does it work good for you clemsonfor?

Pete

No real big changes. Only one is that its obviously red, and the bike brake holder insted of the finger lock lever for the chain lock. Also the chain position holder u used the 3 washers was ligned up on this one where i did not have to use washers.

Yep works way more perfect than i could of imagined. I have held out for a few years on it and glad i did to get this one as well as actually got one. The one thing i wish is that the motor was more powerfull for one chop sharening when you have a really trashed chain to take a lot of metal off of.


I got the coupon in the January sale paper that you get at your house with the "special" extra coupons that are super deals on the front page.

 

[jlightning]

When I purchased the sharpener the price was $29 w/ no coupon. I have sharpened 2 chains w/ it and it worked very well to get the angles back to what they should be. For $29 plus another $5 1 year replacement warranty from HF you cant go wrong. The funny thing is that i have become much better at freehand sharpening w/ a file since purchasing the chain sharpener. I think the key is to hand sharpen the chain between every tank of gas or 2 and use the electric sharpener to bring back the angles after hand sharpening a couple of times. I can tell i will get alot better chain life doing the sharpening myself vs having a shop grind a third of my teeth away every time they "professionally" sharpen the chain for $8 a pop. The hand brake on the sharpener is ok but does not always align the chain up correctly and sometimes i have to pump the brake handle to get it to work correctly...still better then buying a $300 sharpener. In reality as long as i keep up on the hand sharpening w/ the file I could see not using the electric sharpener much at all...time will tell.

 

[clemsonfor]

When I purchased the sharpener the price was $29 w/ no coupon. I have sharpened 2 chains w/ it and it worked very well to get the angles back to what they should be. For $29 plus another $5 1 year replacement warranty from HF you cant go wrong. The funny thing is that i have become much better at freehand sharpening w/ a file since purchasing the chain sharpener. I think the key is to hand sharpen the chain between every tank of gas or 2 and use the electric sharpener to bring back the angles after hand sharpening a couple of times. I can tell i will get alot better chain life doing the sharpening myself vs having a shop grind a third of my teeth away every time they "professionally" sharpen the chain for $8 a pop. The hand brake on the sharpener is ok but does not always align the chain up correctly and sometimes i have to pump the brake handle to get it to work correctly...still better then buying a $300 sharpener. In reality as long as i keep up on the hand sharpening w/ the file I could see not using the electric sharpener much at all...time will tell.

Yea the grider brings the angles back in. I thought i was pretty decent as well but have some that you can see are way off others are perfect.

I have sharpened 3 chains, one that was very dull another that was cut into the dirt(one from work, not my saw or my saw i even use) and the top of the cutters actually were worn, i had to take a cut out of it to get it to even come close to taking metal back to normal. This cahin was trashed but the grinder took some time bit got it back to almost new. And another chain for my wood cutting buddy that was kind of bad.

The stuff rotates on sales, i had the super coupon to get it for $29. The sale this and last month i think is $39 and regular price is $49.

 

[tuco1963]

but what about the depth of the cut along with the angle isnt bot important ?

 

[jlightning]

After sharpening a couple of times w/ the hand file I check the raker height w/ a depth gauge and file the rakers down if need be. If the rakers are not filed properly you will eventually get saw dust instead of chips when you are sawing. So far hand filing on a fairly new chain is working like a charm. I just cut up an ash yesterday that is at least 28" across and had no trouble w/ my ms390. I am still learning but definitely have made improvement over last year when I was taking my chains to a local shop and only getting 3-4 sharpenings out of a chain before it was trash. I figure I will get triple the life out of a chain w/ my new method and always be using a sharp chain which is less stress on the saw which also means a longer life for my saw.

 

[DanCorcoran]

but what about the depth of the cut along with the angle isnt bot important ?

The HF model also has a depth adjustment. You just want to barely touch the depth, enough to get bright metal. I use a magnifier to check the first few links, to make sure all looks good.

 

[clemsonfor]

Yea you can use the depth adjustment to go from full 3/8 chain to that tiny .325 i have done both so far. As far as the Rakers, yes you still need to file them down either by hand or i guess you can use a dremmel every so often. It only takes a few hits from a flat file every 5x or so of hand filing. The grinder will need more constant raker maintence as it takes more metal.

 

[Pallet Pete]

Well guys I took the plunge and ordered the new one with 20% off coupon so maybe I won't have to mod the snot out of it lol.

Pete

 

[greythorn3]

Well guys I took the plunge and ordered the new one with 20% off coupon so maybe I won't have to mod the snot out of it lol.

Pete

how you get the cupon, i need one.

 

[clemsonfor]

Either google Harborfreight coupon code, or look in your adds that come. They will put one in the paper, think they did a week or 2 ago. Sometimes there is one in Field and stream, or the NRA mag National Rifleman or sometimes boat mags.

 

[greythorn3]

Either google Harborfreight coupon code, or look in your adds that come. They will put one in the paper, think they did a week or 2 ago. Sometimes there is one in Field and stream, or the NRA mag National Rifleman or sometimes boat mags.

i just got my harbor freight paper in the mail and there was no 20% cupon.

 

[clemsonfor]

Either google Harborfreight coupon code, or look in your adds that come. They will put one in the paper, think they did a week or 2 ago. Sometimes there is one in Field and stream, or the NRA mag National Rifleman or sometimes boat mags.

i just got my harbor freight paper in the mail and there was no 20% cupon.

Not the Sale flyer that they send to your house each month. That is where i got the super deal $29.99 coupon for the month of January. The paper im talking about is your local city paper. They will put an insert in the coupons or the "Parade" insert. It had a 20% off coupon in it recently. I personally dont take the paper by my mother in Law got it out for me and gave it to my wife last week. I think its good till June or something.