davidwyby
Desert Beaver
I’d sharpen a bunch of 20” chains for a lot less than that. Chillin in my shop in the AC…it’s relaxing. Being productive without a lot of effort.
Stahl's logging supplies
- Thread starter SkwerI
- Start date
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I don't think $10 a chain is unreasonable for the time and expertise involved. Their time is valuable too, but the cost doesn't make sense to me from a user perspective. It seems to me some things you just have to do yourself.
SkwerI
Treehouser
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #29
The thing to remember is that people who sharpen their own chains will stop when the saw is no longer sharp and touch it up. Takes a few minutes at most. People who do not sharpen their own chains will keep cutting until the chain just won't cut any more. And those chains will take a long time to fix.
davidwyby
Desert Beaver
I have a coarse CBN wheel 😁
SeanKroll
Treehouser
My local Stihl shop robo-sharpens and dresses takers for under/ about $10/ loop.
Maybe a better deal for a bucket of chain.
I never have them sharpen for me.
I told a customer about it. They asked if I wanted their new, cheapo grinder.
I use it for rocked chains, with a round file- finish.
Those HF grinders are cheap and effective for what I need them for.
I've used a Silvey. Very nice.
Thankfully, the lack of rookie employees means little sharpening, in general.
lumberjack
Young man on the go
I'll hand sharpen on the saw on the job, or replace the chain with a new chain. At some point I'll probably figure out getting a grinder, then the pile of chain will continue being an asset.
Looks like these sell for about $8k...
www.chainsharpening.ca
I might be more inclined to do that before I paid someone $10 to sharpen a chain. I'd have to research it. If it's more fiddly than set it up, let it go, change the wheel every so often, then that affects the bottom line, but there's some interesting possibilities for recovering the investment. Evey 100 chains sharpened takes $1k off the purchase price.
Automatic Chain Sharpener | Triplematic
Triplematic functions as a fully automatic saw chain sharpening machine, grinding the cutting link at three key points – the cutting edge, the raker, and the
www.chainsharpening.ca
I might be more inclined to do that before I paid someone $10 to sharpen a chain. I'd have to research it. If it's more fiddly than set it up, let it go, change the wheel every so often, then that affects the bottom line, but there's some interesting possibilities for recovering the investment. Evey 100 chains sharpened takes $1k off the purchase price.
davidwyby
Desert Beaver
Tecomec Super Jolly Chain Grinder with Hydraulic Clamp
Your source for forestry tools and supplies, arborist gear, kiln drying services, and local hardwood lumber sales.
northernwoodsmen.com
SeanKroll
Treehouser
That's without overhead/ opportunity cost.Looks like these sell for about $8k...
Automatic Chain Sharpener | Triplematic
Triplematic functions as a fully automatic saw chain sharpening machine, grinding the cutting link at three key points – the cutting edge, the raker, and the
I might be more inclined to do that before I paid someone $10 to sharpen a chain. I'd have to research it. If it's more fiddly than set it up, let it go, change the wheel every so often, then that affects the bottom line, but there's some interesting possibilities for recovering the investment. Evey 100 chains sharpened takes $1k off the purchase price.
Sure, but it isn't really about money anyway. That's the justification, and to ease the financial pain. The real point is keeping chains sharp without having to do anything, not having a disaster of partly used chains on the wall, and to not pay someone half the cost of a chain to make it sharp. That last one's the big one for me. I'd be pissed off every time I took a chain in to be sharpened, and I'd pay *a lot* of money to not do that. Would I pay $8k? I don't know, but it isn't off the table.
As it is, I don't mind filing for the most part. It gets annoying on the long bars, and rocking a chain twice in a fueling is almost enough to send me back to a bowsaw, but it's alright, and success/failure is all on me, which I like. The chain's as good as I make it. I get all the glory for a good chain, and all the ridicule for one that sucks.
As it is, I don't mind filing for the most part. It gets annoying on the long bars, and rocking a chain twice in a fueling is almost enough to send me back to a bowsaw, but it's alright, and success/failure is all on me, which I like. The chain's as good as I make it. I get all the glory for a good chain, and all the ridicule for one that sucks.
lumberjack
Young man on the go
I'm assuming a CBN wheel is the way to go, perhaps a Baltic? I remember using pink stone wheels, I don't like the dust or the constant dressing/adjusting/fidgeting.
Would I not want the Oregon 620-120 for the auto hydraulic clamp, one less thing to mess with/make the process easier?
Would I not want the Oregon 620-120 for the auto hydraulic clamp, one less thing to mess with/make the process easier?
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davidwyby
Desert Beaver
I have a Baltic and a wood turner’s wonders
The WTW is less $ I think and coarser so faster metal removal with less heat fixing rocked chains, but maybe a less than ideal edge? I could never tell.
I got a std Baltic which is a mixed grit and it’s good…I had them make me a fine wheel and it leaves a smoother finish but heats the tooth if one is not careful. Good for just touching up or a fine finish which for just work is ear elephant.
Then recently I bought a square grinder and all that became almost moot
The WTW is less $ I think and coarser so faster metal removal with less heat fixing rocked chains, but maybe a less than ideal edge? I could never tell.
I got a std Baltic which is a mixed grit and it’s good…I had them make me a fine wheel and it leaves a smoother finish but heats the tooth if one is not careful. Good for just touching up or a fine finish which for just work is ear elephant.
Then recently I bought a square grinder and all that became almost moot
Wouldn't a cbn have a tendency to clog and glaze since chain is usually dirty? I could see if you were running carbide chain since that's so hard, but for normal chain i would think a more traditional abrasive would be better, the wheel being used leads to dust, which constantly exposes new abrasive so it cuts better. @davidwyby would know more since he runs a machine shop, but i would think a cbn would be wasting money on a chain grinder because it would likely clog up. I would think a slightly tougher wheel or different bond would do less dust and dressing for a much lower price, and he would know far more, likely even the numbers of what to get to match your desired performance since that's part of machining. Personally I run an angle grinder pretty much everyday, and I'll even go so far as dressing them regularly so they cut like a laser, as they will clog and glaze from paint and slag, or the abrasive dulls before the bond can be worn down. When i was a helper on the pipeline i even carried a star wheel dresser in the ditch just for that purpose, overkill perhaps, but sharp cutting tools is the name of the game no matter the job.
I stumbled hard over this. I read that last sentence about five times :^D That's a curious phrase. A search unhelpfully gave me a bunch of stuff about the plant. I guess it means overkill, or gilding the lily. Where did you get it?
davidwyby
Desert Beaver
I pulled it out of my nether regions…sorry…fine grind is irrelevant for work chain.
@Tree09 i despise trad grinding wheels, mainly due to the grit everywhere, unless i want to shape the wheel for a special grind. CBN is awesome. Never had a lick of trouble and hardly bother to clean them or my chains.
flushcut
TreeHouser
CBN for the win!
flushcut
TreeHouser
Probably. I don’t know for sure but it makes sense.
Nutball
TreeHouser
Looks like CBN wheels are like diamond wheels: metal wheel coated with crystals of the desired grit. I think regular angle grinder wheels are silicon carbide, which is harmful to breath, but I thought it's normally green, while many cutoff wheels are black, and bench grinder wheels are blue/grey.
I haven't done it to an angle grinder wheel, but to make Dremel aluminum oxide cutoff wheels cut faster I cut angled saw teeth into them with another wheel.
I have seen a chain sharpener mounted in a custom made dust collector hood. It wouldn't work well with the grinder going in reverse, but they often don't make them reversible anymore.
lumberjack
Young man on the go
Dave Shepard
Square peg, round world.
Ouch! Part of the job, but it still sucks. No brand of chain that I've used will even nick the pallet forks when I cut slabwood. 
