How do you sharpen saw chain?

[woodworkingboy]

What we think of as sharp by using a file isn't sharp at all compared to the edge you get with sharpening stones. If you looked at a chain tooth under a microscope after filing, it wouldn't be a pretty thing at all. I could see a properly designed stone being used to follow the filing, probably a man made ceramic one. Not sure of the strength factor with a stone that small in diameter, however. Perhaps a rod in the middle would help, and the stone wearing might be problematical.

 

[stehansen]

A for me.

 

[winch]

me file? no thanks....

I send mine to a guy in CA, believe it or not. He's good, inexpensive, and gets the chains right every time, every tooth.

I don't like filing, so don't do it. I focus on cutting trees, not teeth.

Nothing wrong with doing it yourself, if you have the time. I just don't.

 

[sotc]

Wow, that hardly seems cost effective.

 

[RopeArmour]

B for me.
Cept I set up my thumb and forefinger like a jig when filing right to left.
When I file left to right, practically lay on the saw or sit on top of it.
Tailgate sharpening is OK and I will bungee down the saw.
I like 30 or 35 because it seems to cut fair in either hard or soft and just to keep it consistent.
Recently learned to move down to smaller file as the tooth gets shorter. I believe this helps.
I also use larger file to knock off alot of material when the tooth is rounded and take a flatter angle. I don't care any more if one tooth is shorter than the others.

 

[Jed]

I'm with Stig here. The boys doing all the boasting about speed are round filing for sure--not that there's something wrong with that, it's just that I've recently become persuaded (and this probably betrays a Magnus-like eccentricity) that the cutting performance of the square file, over the long run, so vastly out-performs the round grind, that everyone should at least have a go at learning it. Sure the learning curve sucks, but in the end, the chips fly like nothing else, and the cuts are much, much straighter.

I don't believe that there is even a square grind disk out there that could even approximate the cutting speed of a hand square filed chain. The reason is that the double-bevel, and especially the "goof" file, can actually be efficiently worked at two different angles, while the grinder disk just has one. The idea is to first use a super steep or acute angle to effectually hollow the chisel out for better chip flow, and secondly to use the standard angle to put a tolerably durable angle on the edge of the cutter. Now those chains RIP!

Whose a bigger nerd: me or Magnus? (a man after my own heart!)

Winch: Start hand filing man. Don't worry. If you start to enjoy it, it doesn't necessarily mean that you'll wind up as big of a geek.

 

[SkwerI]

I tried the square filing thing, even bought a couple rolls of square ground chain. In our hardwoods it just didn't perform. Brand new square ground Stihl chain lightly touched up with a square file didn't cut well at all for me. I could take the square ground chain and hit each tooth 3-4 strokes with a round file and it would throw curly fries. So I just went back to round filing because for me the results were so much better, not to mention how easy it is to maintain an edge.

Winch, I don't even know what to say.

 

[stig]

I thought square grind was designed primarily for cutting those tough fibered conifers of the PNW.

Am I mistaken here?

 

[Magnus]

It depend of what you mean when you say square filing.
The filing were the side and top plate meet in the corner is very durable and stand a hole lot more beating before it perform less.
The flat filing with top plate sticking out above corner is not as good in hardwood and tend to strain the rear of drive link bottom.
Much like lowering depth guage or filing with too much tip so it grabs and try to lift or move sideway's.

Don't get me wrong... I like the true square ground were corners meet. It is not harder to learn than round filing if you try.
I am practicing and learning this. It will take time before I grasp it fully as most I file is for others and they round file.

If you round file, square file or grind you still need to learn how it is supposed to look and work. What the changes you make do and were to put the most effort to make it work well for you. If you are good at it it is not so important what shape of tooth you have.
Most important is that it is done right so it perform well. This is a topic we all can improve with, regardless of level of skill and result.

I don't think it is at all wrong to let someone else do it that have the interest and do the job good.
Actually I think there is a lot to gain on this for those that don't have the interest and wish to learn. Running dull chains or not sharp/correct will be more expensive than letting someone file for you.

 

[woodworkingboy]

"So vastly out-performs the round grind", seems like you are talking about sharp vs dull chain. Given the variables, I don't buy it as a blanket statement.

 

[kevin bingham]

this device looks pretty cool
http://www.treestuff.com/store/catalog.asp?item=1392

 

[stig]

Nice, but the price is outrageous!

 

[NickfromWI]

That doesn't seem like it would do a person like me any good. But if you had a ton of saws and a large crew, I could see having one guy sitting there just sharpening chains to have them ready for a swap out.

In that case, $125 doesn't seem like a big deal.

 

[Magnus]

A used bar cut in half, mounted in a vice will do just this and if you are willing to pay $50 I throw in some well used chains as well...
Hehehe.

 

[Magnus]

Note the tip pointing up...
That is to compensate the less material in bottom of cutter. This way it naturally travel back in tooth, and one less thing to keep in mind.

It is chest hight. Shoulder and elbow won't change angles very easily, so with locked wrist it can be exactly same repetitive for as long as I hold it locked.

 

[Magnus]

As files are cut today there is no need to turn file to get it to cut evenly. They do that them selfs.
But turning file after first stroke is highly recommended.

 

[sotc]

Thats what I was thinking Mag, short piece of bar and a sprocket below with a bungee through it for tension

 

[Jed]

Not real sure why a mere powerhead would seem to comprise such a formidable obstacle in the filing of a chain. On the contrary, I find the chain brake, and the weight of the powerhead to be pretty big assets when filing... I guess if you've got the scratch to throw away on a device that seems to nearly perfectly copy the function that the powerhead was already performing... "to each his own."

As to woodworking boy's comment about the blanket statement: yes, I guess that is what I was making. The square--to my less than comprehensive perspective--seems to cut both soft AND hardwoods very much faster than the round, and any lack of durability--that I had heard so much in the past about--compared to round-grind seems to me, completely negligible. I may be wrong.

 

[Magnus]

Thats what I was thinking Mag, short piece of bar and a sprocket below with a bungee through it for tension

I support the tooth with two fingers. I hold it as it is when file work. That way it will not change position between strokes, or much effort to keep it steady.
A clamp will work, but it takes time and adds another thing to do.

I know what you mean, it is needed when you don't support the tooth.

I used a 1kg metal disk that I had cut a groove in. It became a spinning hard nose so to speak with weight.

 

[HolmenTree]

Keep things simple....... even when sitting on the stump touching up your chain

 

[Magnus]

I find when sharpening stability and same motions is very important to get one correctly filed smooth surface.
When looking in good light you see reflection from the area you filed. If you see shadows or more than one reflection you have more than one surface.
If you file on the knee, stomp or vice it really doesn't matter. It is not the saw or bar you file, it is the chain, so that is were focus need be.
Holding tooth by hand or mechanically is the only way to make sure it is still.
It is like a knife, one edge is what you look for, not several that work independently.

 

[woodworkingboy]

A great pose, Willard, for Madame Tussaud's wax museum.

 

[HolmenTree]

A great pose, Willard, for Madame Tussaud's wax museum.

Jay that filing pose would look 100% better if I was sitting on a stump or log in the forest. My 7 year old daughter took that picture in our garage.

 

[Al Smith]

Ha I don't know how in the world Willard does that .Lawdy I'd have my knees bleeding like a stuck hog .

 

[treesandsurf]

I've been using a flat file on the top edge when my chain gets rocked, that starts the new angle. Second I use a file and push down and in to C it out to get that nice angle. Then use upward pressure to get the two surfaces to meet at the point. I've been trying to look more and feel less, which seems to work okay. Restoring a messed up chain by hand filing is tough.

jp