Best chain saw file?

[Kim_Ked]

I use an Oregon chain grinder. 
It takes me about 10 minutes to do one. 
I usually have t do at least one each night when my dads been running the harvester. Unless he bumps something with it, (not common). The chains can last a whole day easy and only need a slight rub to get back into perfection while cutting just spruce stud and logs.

It was about $750 buck with tax and shipping but worth every cent. 

[nativewolf]

You carry chains in the woods?

You carry chains in the woods?

Yes I do an old crown royal bag or something like that works well. If I'm cutting all the time I'll swap a chain after a few hours or around noon to finish the day out. Remember my chains start at 105 drivers so sharpening them is time consuming vs swapping a chain out in less then a few minutes on either Stihl or Husky saws. Most days I'm packing 6 chains but normally use 2 maybe 3 if I hit something well bucking.

This is a cutter straight off the grinder I like a predictable chain every time I start.

That's what I've always heard re square, the one guy here that uses square (he learned that on fire crews in CA) grinds and carries 3 with him and keeps a semi chisel if he has a need to cut dirty wood.  Swapping a chain is pretty easy and he just grinds on really nasty days, I think he'll have 20 loops made and just saves dull chain for a rainy day.  
Do you make your own chains ?  What brand chain do you like?  

[Bandmill Bandit]

I generally have 2 extra loops with me but I also carry my trusty Timberline sharpener. https://www.timberlinesharpener.com/shop/

Gives you a better than new edge and it is a prefect sharpen every time. Once you got the hang of it, its a 10 to 15 minute job on a 20" bar. Real hard to beat.

[Skeans1]

Yeah i run 84 drives. I could see some advantages but for the most part I'll carry a file. No way I'd get a couple hours on a sharpen. Maybe one hour to hour and a half. I basically touch it up quick every tank of gas. Then it only takes a swipe or two. Also I've heard after grinding it's to hard to hand file? Is that pretty true?

If you burn a cutter yes and well you're learning to grind you will burn some cutters. Well I'm grinding I'm also doing all my saw/harvester chain maintenance checking the tie straps/presets cleaning bar rails and blowing the saw out including air filters. With doing all of that I have less time in sitting down grind then you do filing I'm also only allowed to fall 6 hours a day so I need to watch how much time I screw around out in the brush.

[Skeans1]

You carry chains in the woods?

You carry chains in the woods?

Yes I do an old crown royal bag or something like that works well. If I'm cutting all the time I'll swap a chain after a few hours or around noon to finish the day out. Remember my chains start at 105 drivers so sharpening them is time consuming vs swapping a chain out in less then a few minutes on either Stihl or Husky saws. Most days I'm packing 6 chains but normally use 2 maybe 3 if I hit something well bucking.

This is a cutter straight off the grinder I like a predictable chain every time I start.

That's what I've always heard re square, the one guy here that uses square (he learned that on fire crews in CA) grinds and carries 3 with him and keeps a semi chisel if he has a need to cut dirty wood.  Swapping a chain is pretty easy and he just grinds on really nasty days, I think he'll have 20 loops made and just saves dull chain for a rainy day.  
Do you make your own chains ?  What brand chain do you like?  

I do make my own chains you loose too much buying by the loop I can get a roll out here cheaper. Almost all my chains are Oregon I'm not a fan of Stihl it works but I don't like the angles on a factory cutter I have angles I like to run well cutting. Even a brand new chain gets tossed on the grinder for the teeth sharpened and then the rakers are ground.

[Firewoodjoe]

I buy loops. A case of loops .20 more per loop. Free shipping. And I use Oregon and it husqvarna but I prefer and generally buy Oregon. All to there own I guess. I'm cutting cold frozen big hard maple right now. Sharpen about every tree🙄

[Firewoodjoe]

I buy loops. A case of loops .20 more per loop. Free shipping. And I use Oregon and it husqvarna but I prefer and generally buy Oregon. All to there own I guess. I'm cutting cold frozen big hard maple right now. Sharpen about every tree🙄

[Firewoodjoe]

I screwed up. I don't have the chain assembly tools so I'd save $2 per loop after I paid for the tools. 

[Tacotodd]

I screwed up. I don't have the chain assembly tools so I'd save $2 per loop after I paid for the tools.

But the chain would be less expensive after the tool is paid for. :-\

After I examined your reply closer, I noticed that my response was in error, oops 😬 

[Tacotodd]

Round filing is actually pretty quick in the woods. Before you start to file but after you've cut a log, use your stump or bits of another scrap of wood that is pretty well immobile and make a poor man stump vise. Just cut about 1.5" in to hold the chain and bar. Learn to file carefully from 1 side and when that side is done, pickup the saw to rotate the chain. It's not perfect but it works fairly well, just not quite as good as a stump-vise.  BTW, I have a stump vise but it's kinda heavy and takes up some room. When you do the poor man trick, the chain needs to be fairly tight. It rocks to much if it's got to much slack.

[Skeans1]

I screwed up. I don't have the chain assembly tools so I'd save $2 per loop after I paid for the tools.

So you're paying around 17 dollars per loop?

[Firewoodjoe]

$14.75 for husky. $15.50 Oregon. 

[BradMarks]

Just saw this, Pferd fer shur!

[BargeMonkey]

If i put a new chain on monday, cut and top with it come Thursday its done, frozen wood right now your filing every tree sometimes. I would have to carry 6-8 chains minimum and that would drive me nuts swapping chains. I cant justify building saw chain anymore for 3/8, i do for 3/4 but thats a diff beast. Friend of mine up north gets .404 by the bucket loads, brand new chain goes on the harvester, it gets dull another new chain goes on, he ran his firewood processor for yrs on once used chains. 

[sawguy21]

He doesn't sharpen?  There must be good money in firewood!

[BargeMonkey]

He doesn't sharpen?  There must be good money in firewood!

Ponsse harvester, put a new chain on and go back to work. He had 4-5 buckets of chain sitting there they gave him. 

[John Mc]

Also I've heard after grinding it's to hard to hand file? Is that pretty true?

Only if the guy operating the grinder doesn't know what the heck he's doing. If you overheat the chain, even just the very edge, it can ruin a couple of files the next time you try to hand sharpen. It doesn't take much: the alloy of most chains is such that it easily harden if overheated: between "air quenchng" and the body of the tooth suckin gthat heat out of the cutting edge very quickly, you can quench the steel very easily, resulting in an untempered martensite structure. This is really hard and brittle. You'll wear the teeth of your file trying to file it down.

If you are taking it somewhere to be sharpened, even if there is a lot to take off on each tooth (for example, if you rocked it) all you should hear is a series of short bursts on the grinder with a very light touch and a pause in between: bzt..... bzt..... bzt. If you hear Bzzzzt..Bzzzzzt..Bzzzzzt or even worse, one long BZZZZZZZZZT on each tooth, take your chain somewhere else.

[HemlockKing]

I've always used oregon files until recent, I bought a pack of stihl 5/32s and I will never go back, the teeth just hold edge much longer. 

[sealark37]

I sold four brands of files to professional fallers.  They preferred Pferd files to a man.  Only the farmers and homeowners went for the cheaper files.

[TmbrWlkr]

Ok guys - OP here.  I appreciate all the enthusiasm!  Since I started this thread I ordered a box of Save Edge and a box of Pferd 7/32 files for my 3/8 running saws, and a box of Save Edge 3/16 for the saws wearing .325 chain (ms261s w/16" bars). I have to say - really impressed so far with the Save Edge - makes bringing a dull chain that has hit metal back to life way less of a chore.  

[Stephen Alford]

  FWIW  I find storing my files inside a piece of small diameter hose really makes a difference in file life and sharpness.

 

[John Mc]

I store my files inside some plastice straws from McDonald's drinks. THey are a perfect fit for 7/32" files. When I get around to it, I'll heat up some needle-nose pliers over a flame and use them to clamp and melt one end of the straw closed. The closed end makes just enough friction no the file to keep it from slipping off the file when it's bouncing around in my tool box.

 Unfortunately, the McDonalds in my area recently switched to paper/cardboard straws , but I have a supply stored up, and save them from other restaurants when we are on the road.

[Ed_K]

 I had to go to my husky dealer to get a new batt charger for the elec chainsaw and while there I got a resupply of files. The 7/32 were peferd but I couldn't get 3/16 peferd so I got a box of husky sharp cut, never seen them before so we'll see how they do against the peferd.

[Tacotodd]

Remind me, who makes them for Stihl? Because the ones that I've bought from them seem lots better than anything else that I've seen/tried local. I just have an aversion to NOT getting anything locally.

[grabber green]

I'm still using pferds I bought 15 years ago when baileys had a big sale ,I bought several dozen. They are very good files. But several years ago I started sharpening mostly with a dremel ,powered with an inverter from the truck battery for use in the woods . The stone leaves a finer, sharper edge and cuts just a little better .