On-saw sharpening vs off-saw sharpening - do you do both?

[Stumpshot]

Sean, we're not super-invested in it at the moment ($25 with a coupon), so it's bench mounted at the shop. If it proves to be useful we may consider taking it mobile, but we can always hand sharpen as we have since forever, even if we hit metal or rocks in the field. We're not really jumping in with both feet on this, just testing the waters -- since the crew is uneven with turnover and newer faces that don't know how to hand sharpen, it may give us an "edge."

 

[SeanKroll]

Little bit of grinding at a time.

If you hit a nail or rock, it 'work-hardens' the tooth, or something, making a file not very effective.

If you are going to fight a stump cuts, its nice to have along, sometimes, and pretty compact.

For $25, it would pay for itself to keep one with the stump grinder, unless you get all your stumps flushed to grinding height on job day.

$.02

 

[Stumpshot]

I think your 2 cents = $200,000 most times.
Aw shucks, you're just being humble.

 

[sotc]

Nobody gets to use my Silvey. They can file the saws they dull by hand, my chains I will square grind. Anything other than the Silvey grinders (unless there are some knock offs that are similar) have been useless to me for the reason Justin mentioned. Those little units are under powered and make up for that with RPM's, that is what heats the tooth up. Other than grinding, I never would take a chain off just to hand file it.

 

[SkwerI]

Willie! Damn, I thought you abandoned us. Good to see that bright yellow shirt again.

 

[sotc]

I'm around on occasion

 

[MasterBlaster]

Bright yellow, you say?

 

[Stumpshot]

Our Oregon bulk skip chain arrived, as did our spinner. We made our first chains Sunday, ready to roll. The current thinking is to carry 2-3 spare sharp chains for each saw (in banker's bags, one per saw). Then in the field we can swap chains out if someone (*ahem*) dulls them, bring them back to the shop and do an off-saw sharpening session once per week on maintenance day (Fridays). We can always hand file in the field in a pinch, but why spend time out there on a job site when we could be doing additional jobs that day? I'll report back how it goes.

 

[SkwerI]

Your box of chain didn't include a bunch of boxes to put chain loops in? My Stihl chain always has tons of extra boxes. I use less than half of the boxes they give me. They also include the paper inserts with all your safety warnings to put in every box, those go straight in the trash. I've built up a nice supply of extra master links also.

I carry spare chains for every saw on both bucket trucks, but I swap them out when a chain gets trashed beyond filing or is just plain worn out. Removed chains go in the recycle bin.

 

[flushcut]

The boxes never last very long in my gear bag. I have my spare chains in these small zippered diddy bags made by CLC, last forever, I have some coming up on 20 years old.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

We just got a Chicago Electric off-saw chain sharpener. Gave it a go on the 200T, 372 and 395 chains. They were ripping today -- very aggressive and fast cutting. We're thinking at this point to do this once a week on maintenance day, then hand file through the week for touch ups. We'll see how it goes in the long term; this is just after one weekend and first day out in the field.

Somebody bought one of those as a present for me when we were first starting out. It will eventually disappoint unless they fixed how the angle works. It was not true on mine. Eventually, it's like it cuts off on one side.

 

[Stumpshot]

We customized it from the start -- adjusted the angle to suit our needs. All this is very much in its infancy, just testing out the method for the first time. If it proves profitable, we'll upgrade and get a better grinder.

 

[LeafCollector]

I've got one of these for all my chains.
Really makes it easy. I had a hard time with depth gauge and this style removed that issue.
I always sharpen on the bar, I got one of those stump vises that holds well.

 

[stig]

Yep, those are really fine for arborists and farmers.

I used to do the occasional " Chainsaw 101" course for woodturners in order to fatten up my travel fund.
I always recommended those.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

arborists and farmers

 

[Magnus]

They set the riders too low for me.
I like tooth sharper and riders higher.

 

[Magnus]

Yep, those are really fine for arborists and farmers.

I used to do the occasional " Chainsaw 101" course for woodturners in order to fatten up my travel fund.
I always recommended those.

They don't function optimally on all chains. Its not a universal thing...

 

[stig]

Let me correct that for you:
They don't function optimally on ANY chains.

Like I said, fine for arborists and farmers.

 

[Magnus]

When I file freehand I can adapt my filing to the users job at hand as well as the model of chain he is using.
Each chain model is different, not just in pitch and tooth type.
To get them to cut optimally saws engine property's has a big part in it as well.
Easy to do when free filing, if you know what to alter to get most out of it.

 

[Altissimus]

Plus I'll file w slight difference for job at hand , a little steeper (longer) angle on the chisels say for a whole day of Pine or Poplars

 

[Stumpshot]

Our Oregon bulk skip chain arrived, as did our spinner. We made our first chains Sunday, ready to roll. The current thinking is to carry 2-3 spare sharp chains for each saw (in banker's bags, one per saw). Then in the field we can swap chains out if someone (*ahem*) dulls them, bring them back to the shop and do an off-saw sharpening session once per week on maintenance day (Fridays). We can always hand file in the field in a pinch, but why spend time out there on a job site when we could be doing additional jobs that day? I'll report back how it goes.

This new method has been working great for us over the past month or so. We got one of these organizer boxes from Harbor Freight, so now there's a tray per saw with sharp chains. Top bin gets the dull chains to be filed and a scrench.

 

[pantheraba]

Great method of organization. Sounds very efficient.

 

[Altissimus]

Yes , seems a good system

 

[Bermy]

I've got something like that in my truck in Bermuda...odds and sods in the top, files and stuff in the next and sharp chains in the next drawers, works well

 

[Al Smith]

I think with hand filing the choice of a file makes a lot of difference .Oregon is rather soft and aggressive and doesn't work well on Stihl chain .A better choice would be Pferd or Save edge .
Those little hand grinders with a round stone are okay for a rocked chain not so good other than that .Square is a PNW thing which although I can file it I seldom use it .Too much of a pain in the butt to sharpen .
The only way to get good at filing is to do it .There's little tricks you may or may not pick up along the way.What method some use might not be what you are comfortable with .