hello everyone.. im looking for a chain saw sharpener, dont know what a good one or a bad one is.. Im sick of payin $6.50 to have a company sharpen a chain.. whats a good place to get one? probably a website, and brand name.. any input would be helpful, thanks
Baileys (Site Sponsor) would be the web page to look at.
http://www.baileysonline.com/category.asp?catid=152 (http://www.baileysonline.com/category.asp?catid=152)
Personally I use a file and guide, which gives good results, with a bit of practice anyway, and you can just do it as needed in the field.
Ian
I use an Oregon sharpener. Part number 23736A. It fits right on the bar. Never had a chain cut crooked. I always sharpen at the house and never worry about it not cutting straight. Harold
Chainsaw sharpeners are Ok. I make my own chain and have two different kinds of sharpeners. The grinding wheel type works, but if you hold the wheel down too long it hardens the chain and makes it difficult to sharpen by hand. They get the chain sharp, but not as good as hand sharpening. I also have the type that plugs into the battery of your truck and a round stone sharpens the chain. It works ok too. Not great. I go through A LOT of chain and have found hand sharpening is far superior. I never use the grinding wheel unless I totally destroy the chain on a nail or something. In all honesty, the most action my grinding wheel gets is grinding the rivets when I'm making chain.
Were a survey taken I'd guess the majority hand files .The exception would be the west coast fallers who use square ground chisel chain .
For less than 10 bucks if you don't know how to file an Oregon file guide will do the trick .Just follow the instructions that come with the kit . If you really want to learn how to file you won't learn any younger . ;)
sparky1,Happy Birthday!!!!! I have sharpen a chain free handed for many years, Yes,it took me a few chains to realize what I was doing wrong and to correct myself. If I was do use a device I would have to re-learn all over again. If I was closer I could show you. It's really simple,just takes practice and time.
There's little tricks you learn by filing free hand but that comes with time .If a person just filed according to the guide lines which every chain manufacturer has it will do just fine .If in doubt,Google it .
I have a Jolly chain sharpener I bought about 15 years ago. Really haven't used it in the last 10. I hand sharpen everything.
ok, so im gathering that i should buck up and use a file.. However im thinking i can turn this into a little buisness venture. im not gonna make a killing sharpeing chains, nor do i want to.. I just wanna maybe sharpen a few for some people to pay for what ever i buy for a grinder.. thanks for reminding me about my birthday :) one more year in the 20s... 8)
I use a MAXX grinder. Does a nice job. Get CBN wheels and you'll be much happier with the results. The pink rocks all the grinders come with are junk IMHO :)
I personally own a grinder but this might make it into my shop, Ken
http://www.timberlinesharpener.com/
That is an impressive jig for filing. And I don't think the $130 price is too high for the tooling that is in the jig, but it is slower than the hand-filing method I use that works great for me.
All those guides work .However there's a certain thing amongst saw men for using gimics like that ,old school thinking perhaps but that just from being old coots . :D
What ever works ,
Ken, it did look like a neat tool, coulda done with out that awful backround music! if im gonna spend a hundred plus though i like to see a motor!! ;D it does look like a clever idea though!
Silvey makes one of the best chainsaw chain grinder/sharpeners out there. They are probably $300 or so new. a chain holder and vise will help you sharpen any chain with a file, better than new, and is way cheaper. You could fashion a jig to hold in a vise, for shain sharpening loops off the saw, by using a worn out bar, cut a section out of it, that you can use for that purpose? An old saw shop friend of mine who passed away showed me how he sharpened all types of saws, circle, chain, hand, etc. He had fancy machines in his shop and would use them on occasion, but a lot of what he did was with a file, by hand, many times it was quicker and better. Having jigs and fixtures to facilitate hand filing really makes the job Way easier and faster.
I have a Gamn sharpener that looks like the timberline but not as fancy. It does a perfect job but is rather slow. I bought it about 20 or 25 yrs ago thinking it would be faster than hand filing, not the case. I did however buy a Maxx a year or so ago because arthritis makes hand filing painfull now. I like the Maxx. About $400 from Baileys. See link at heading for this category on FF.
on the thought of a filing guide, one of the best file guides I have ever used, and extremely simple was the Carlton File-O-plate. It would give you an angle guide for the cutters, and you could use it to gauge your rakers as well. nifty compact little tool, kind of like a "P-38" of the file guides.
I just use a dremel and round stone made for this. Works a treat, but eats through the chains.
I've discovered this not long ago http://www.amazon.com/4-Size-Rotary-Diamond-Chainsaw-Sharpening/dp/B003U8UOBO
I asked here if anybody used thoses, but didn't get too many replies. I'll order some, of the right size for my chain. And see how it works.
What i kike about the dremel, is that i hold it the same as a file pretty much. And it doesn't take forever to recover a chain which has been through nails or stones, which happens often for me, as i use the chainsaw on old roves!
what about this
http://www.chainsawsdirect.com/Oregon-541222/p6956.html?source=amazon&utm_source=amazon&utm_medium=shop+portals
I am a home owner in the suburbs, so do not use the chainsaw much... This looks like a good system for my needs that would possibly save me some cash 8$ per sharpening at my local lawn and saw dealer.
:D I dont like these homeowner help yourself things. its a waste of your money. sit down with a file and teach yourself, what can you lose. Tim
Not that it really matters,just saw a free chain saw sharpening class put on by a a tree group in the paper. I guess they do it every year, 100 turned out last year. Door prized too and a little bit of how to take care of your saw is talked about too.
Not hard to hand sharpen a saw. If I could show you you would get it it no time with some practice.
A search of the forum will cough up some previous thread(s) on this.
But it is your money, however I'd suggest in the long run you will be better off to learn hand filing (and learning to saw without the blade/chain dropping into the dirt). It happens, but some just saw that way as habit.