Last year I bought the Northern chain grinder and started grinding chains when they got real bad. Normally I hand file until the chain is bad from things like a rock strike or embedded metal. I used to take bad chains in to a shop to be ground.
So here is the problem. When I use a 3/16" wheel (as recommended in sharpening charts) on a chain that normally takes a 7/32" file, if I want to keep touching up the chain by hand after grinding I have to switch to a 3/16" round file to fit the contour of the ground chain. No big deal, but isn't the chain designed to fit the contour of the 7/32" file? Why isn't there a 7/32" wheel? I don't recall having this problem with chains I used to get ground at a shop; the 7/32" file seemed to fit fine after I got them back.
The same thing is true with the smaller chains that take a 1/8" wheel and a 5/32" file.
I've looked for the answer to this question for a while and have not found it. Why the difference in wheel and file sizes, and after grinding should you use a smaller file size or just reshape the ground chain by hand with the recommended size file?
So here is the problem. When I use a 3/16" wheel (as recommended in sharpening charts) on a chain that normally takes a 7/32" file, if I want to keep touching up the chain by hand after grinding I have to switch to a 3/16" round file to fit the contour of the ground chain. No big deal, but isn't the chain designed to fit the contour of the 7/32" file? Why isn't there a 7/32" wheel? I don't recall having this problem with chains I used to get ground at a shop; the 7/32" file seemed to fit fine after I got them back.
The same thing is true with the smaller chains that take a 1/8" wheel and a 5/32" file.
I've looked for the answer to this question for a while and have not found it. Why the difference in wheel and file sizes, and after grinding should you use a smaller file size or just reshape the ground chain by hand with the recommended size file?
!! I doubt they make wheels to exacting tolerances like they dew files.
