Sharpening

[Cast Iron]

Just say "no" to home electric grinders. Amateurs don't have the metal know how to know when to stop. If you cut part time learn the simplicity of the rigs that will allow field sharpening....fast, safe, simple. Get one of the Pferd Stihl or Husky 2in1 rigs and a stump vise for the woods use. You'll never go back to the electric tools that take more time to set up than the 2in1's.
Some of the tree people, loggers, chainsaw mill guys use the Pferds. It takes more time to set the electrics for BOTH the edge AND rakers. The Pferds do both in each pass without electricity or set up time..
Bill is in the email....or a micro brew VT ale will suffice.
P.S. Do trees grow in the city ?

 

[Poindexter]

Late to the party, but what the heck. I used to carry a bunch of chains, like five or six for a days cutting.

My mantra is safety in the woods. Everytime the saw needs gas, the saw also better need bar oil, and if I am properly hydrated I should need to pee. This is (was) a great time to walk back to the truck for another bottle of gatorade, and the tool box with all the chains in it is more likely to make it home if I leave it in the truck.

So it used to be I would come home from a long day of cutting, exhausted, and have five or six chains to sharpen, after I unloaded all the wood I had cut. Sucked.

I set a goal to be able to field sharpen a chain as fast as or faster than I could field replace a chain. I had a few cords go by under the saw before I got there, but with a couple seasons of working for it, I can now touch up a chain in the field with a file faster than I can change one. I still carry a spare or two, but not five.

The main struggle for me was getting the teeth facing opposite ways equally sharp. If you are cutting a round off a log and the cut wants to go to the left (your left, as you watch the bar dropping through the log in front of you, well, you too are a right handed sharpener and the easy teeth to sharpen are sharper than the hard ones to get at.

I tried a few different ways, what ended up working for me was to go around the chain once, sharpening all the teeth as i go - but spinning the saw back and forth on the tailgate of my truck like some kind of maniac. One tooth, spin the saw, one tooth, spin the saw, one tooth, spin the saw - advance the chain- one tooth, spin the saw, one tooth, spin the saw and etcetera.

I generally sharpen after every two tanks of saw gas.

I do use a file guide, and a speed handle on the file. Both of them together were under twenty bucks.

I only fool with the rakers after 3-5 teeth sharpenings. When I know the teeth are sharp but the chips are small, rakers.

FWIW I do sharpen a factory new chain before I start cutting with it, and resharpen when it gets to be about as dull as a factory new chain.

Are all y'all lubing the teeth with bar oil before you take a file to them? I got one of those old time metal cans with a gooseneck nozzle and the clicky-clacky feature on the bottom metal panel, like engineers on steam locomotives used to use, only smaller. Holds maybe half a pint of so. I find it quicker to file lubed teeth, and the file cleans up better too. The oil can was my grandpa's, I know he is happy that I am putting it to work.

 

[Highbeam]

After reading all of that. Maybe I’m doing it wrong. I cut an entire 5 cord load of logs this year on one chain for the 28” bar. They were dirty butts of log waste from the landing that had been loaded at least twice.

So if you keep your bar out of the ground maybe that helps? I know it only takes hitting the ground once to really dullen the chain.

 

[blades]

Rubbing file with chalk is the time honored tradition of keeping filings from sticking- and files only cut pushing away from yourself, dragging them back thought the cut dulls them out and tends to rub filings into the gullets of the file. Because I am a sharpening/ machine shop, I do any where from 5 -50 chains a week sometimes more- ain't no way I am hand filing that amount. i literately wear electric grinders out. Slow week only 7 chains waiting right now.

 

[salecker]

Poindexter...
Instead of turning your saw back an forth like a maniac try this...
I keep a piece of chalk with me,but on a lot of chains you end up with two cutters on the same side.Thats where i start or i mark a tooth with chalk.I do all the teeth on one side then find a spot where i turn the saw upside down and do the other side.A tire works great for turning the saw upside down into which i have around my wood pile.Or a couple of rounds.

 

[Highbeam]

I use a big yellow surveyors “crayon” or keel, whatever they call it. To mark my start tooth.

Also let’s me easily know which chains have been sharpened. You can’t always tell if you make it a habit to sharpen before the chain is too dull.

 

[Ashful]

After reading all of that. Maybe I’m doing it wrong. I cut an entire 5 cord load of logs this year on one chain for the 28” bar. They were dirty butts of log waste from the landing that had been loaded at least twice.

So if you keep your bar out of the ground maybe that helps? I know it only takes hitting the ground once to really dullen the chain.

I'm right with you there, bro. I usually use 1 or 2 chains per saw per day of cutting. I'll often swap the chain on the saw I'm using most (almost always my 064) when I break for lunch, just because I know it'll be dull before the day's end if I don't, and I'm already taking a break to cool off. It's rare that it actually needs changing before noon, and I don't think I've ever used more than 2 chains for a full day, without hitting rock.

 

[Tar12]

I have decided to strike a balance with my sharpening procedures as I cut all year and keep 10-15 chains per saw...yes per saw...I work long hours through the week and hit it hard when I cut...there is no way in heck that I can sharpen the chains on my big saws(44 & 660) with a file quicker than I can change the chain out...so...my new Simington square chisel grinder will be here Wednesday....it will be used for the long chains and I recently acquired the Stihl 2-n-1 and I am very impressed with it! I sharpened one chain for the 660 as I had a pile of Red Oak logs left over from a logging operation to buck up yesterday...the largest being a 60 incher and the smallest 32 inches...that chain ate them up! With some more practice I think I can sharpen the 16 in chains on the 260 Pros pretty fast with the 2-n-1...that will be nice working in the tops..