flushcut
TreeHouser
I like to compare chains and stumper teeth as dimes holding up a dollar. Use them and use them up, kick to the curb, rinse and repeat.
Decluttering
- Thread starter cory
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SeanKroll
Treehouser
Huh?
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #54
That's very impressive but why do you hand file those chains instead of using a grinder?
It can be either way, and cost isn't an indicator. All my arborist saws have hardened teeth, but there's others in the same price range that can be resharpened. I got a silky feather file to sharpen my carpenter saw. It was pretty expensive($35), but it's a really nice file, and works good getting those little teeth.
What's your chain arrangement exactly? Do you get beat chains, then recondition and sell, or are you doing this for a company?
edit:
For hardened teeth, you might want to consider this...
Code:
https://www.amazon.com/Samurai-Kanzawa-Japanese-Diamond-Sharpenner/dp/B074P51CJ3/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=silky%2Bfeather%2Bfile&qid=1630843277&sr=8-1&th=1I saw this when I was shopping for files, but I'm distrustful of impregnated sharpeners like this. Reviews are somewhat mixed, but some people are idiots, and might have been misusing it. It's fairly cheap, so worth a gamble if you're interested in sharpening hardened saws. For non hardened teeth, I stand by the silky file. If I ever wear it out, I'll get another without considering other options.
edit2:
This is the silky file...
Silky Sharpening File
150mm feather edge sharpening file made in Japan by Silky. Recommended for blades that are not impulse hardened such as the models below.
www.treestuff.com
I might have misremembered the price. Checking amazon and wesspur, it looks like they're in the $40s range. This is the cheapest I've seen looking at a couple sites.
edit3(!):
I'm giving this waaaay more attention than necessary, but I just dug up my old invoice, and I paid $30.58 from TreeStuff this past May.
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flushcut
TreeHouser
Kyle has it right. Dull chains are worth sharpening but rocked chains aren't, if it's your only chain then yes. IMO dull stumper teeth aren't worth sharpening too much time and health risk to make it worth it.
Burn it up, throw it out, and run some fresh.
pantheraba
More biners!!!
I suspect from the grindings being airborne.
Cobleskill
Treehouser
I think carbide is the danger.
Altissimus
TreeHouser
I once took home a bunch from the ski area , true mixed bag for size and worthitness to file. Probably fifty chains maybe fourty got filed ... still a time consuming recycle , speaking of worthitness
flushcut
TreeHouser
Carbide and silica if using a green wheel. Just carbide if using a diamond, ABN, or CBN wheel. Heavy metals and all.
Cobleskill
Treehouser
A cheap grinder would make saving rocked out chains worth it-no?
Steve Mack
Life Member.
Those green wheels are deadly. I have diamond but don't use them much, bought a stack of teeth from a place closing down years ago and still have some left so it's been use and chuck them out for me.
www.svhlunghealth.com.au
Silicosis - St Vincent's Lung Health
Learn more about silicosis, the causes, symptoms, possible tests and treatments.
www.svhlunghealth.com.au
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Nutball
TreeHouser
I do it for one tree company, it is more convenient and quicker to sharpen on the saw, and swapping a chain usually doesn't take long. I don't have a grinder and haven't seen that grinders are much faster, but they are easier on the body. I've had issues in the past with the quality of operation of grinders, but I might still get one. I've just been considering the design of a portable grinder box that opens with the grinder stored inside, and functions as a dust collection hood with a fan and possibly filter too on the back. Something that slows down grinding is retouching the teeth after a heavy grind to grind off the tempered surface, and changing wheels & angles for depth gauges.
flushcut
TreeHouser
It depends is it a new chain or one that has made some dough? Ok obviously it's a new chain because that's when you rock a chain.
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SkwerI
Treehouser
I have always filed my own chains but I'll be damned if I file chains used by some idiot who keeps grinding away with a dull chain until it simply stops cutting. With mine I can touch them up with 3 strokes per tooth. When an operator doesn't sharpen his own chains he will use the saw until it stops cutting, regardless of how many rocks or nails he hits. The chain gets heat hardened and is way harder to sharpen until you cut through the hardened layer.
SeanKroll
Treehouser
Grind then file, unless you have a decent grinder.
You can buy a shit grinder for $30 to start rocked teeth, without overheating, and finish with a file.
You can get a decent grinder for $3-400.
A great grinder for $800-1000.
In addition to time and wrist strain better applied to production, good files are not cheap. The grinder doesn't dull.
You can buy a shit grinder for $30 to start rocked teeth, without overheating, and finish with a file.
You can get a decent grinder for $3-400.
A great grinder for $800-1000.
In addition to time and wrist strain better applied to production, good files are not cheap. The grinder doesn't dull.
Mellow
BCMA
What Brian said! Keep it sharp always. I can put a like-new edge on a small saw in about a minute or two. Even the 36" is less than 5 minutes. I haven't used a grinder in 20+ years. If a chain is nicked bad enough to need a grinder to fix it, then it's trashed and replaced.
I've never rocked a chain bad, and I'm pretty bad about sticking it in the dirt. I've had a couple bad teeth, and I just give them about the same file strokes as the good teeth, and wait til they catch up. It spends a bit of time being a semi skip, and then works fine. I sharpen every tank of fuel doing hardwood; maybe just a stroke. Sometimes I do really filthy wood, and it quits cutting well before a tank's done. I'm getting better with that by adjusting cutting technique.
gf beranek
Old Schooler
Rocking the chain on the 090 sucked big time. Full skip, 404 over 200 cutters, or there about. Pure misery. Yeow!
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
Saw shop here runs about 7-10.00 for grinding rocked chain for me. If it has enough tooth left. Drop off, pay and pick up. New chain costs me more and my time is money.. always have back up new and sharp chain.
Now, if it's my square ground chain, my baby on the Silvey. Sharp chain makes money, dull chain costs you. If a groundie can't be bothered to sharpen his appointed saw, he aint worth my time either. They usually follow suit when they see how fast my sharp saw dismantles wood and want to keep up. Ones that don't, never get a saw, drag dat brush and feed the chipper. Or bye bye. Pick your battles accourdingly.
Now, if it's my square ground chain, my baby on the Silvey. Sharp chain makes money, dull chain costs you. If a groundie can't be bothered to sharpen his appointed saw, he aint worth my time either. They usually follow suit when they see how fast my sharp saw dismantles wood and want to keep up. Ones that don't, never get a saw, drag dat brush and feed the chipper. Or bye bye. Pick your battles accourdingly.
They're good stump chains, or maybe use them for yard trees you suspect are full of metal. I always have enough trashy stuff to cut to use up a chain. Policy dictates at least one tooth has to be missing to consider a chain "done". Sometimes I push them much longer than that. Doesn't take much to cut vines, so I use spent chains and old bars on that.
