chainsaw sharpener

MrBill

MrBill

Active Member
was wondering if anyone has experience with an electric chain saw sharpener? i dont mind sharpening my small chains by hand but my 660 with the 28 and 36inch bar is a killer and it seems to be the chains i eat up most (hitting metal oh about head level). i saw oregon had some sharpeners for about 300-400 bucks, worth it?
thanks in advance..
 
treevet

treevet

Well-Known Member
I just do rakers with my stihl grinder I've had for oh 40 years. I think you take too much off with a grinder on teeth and it can take the temper out of the metal imo. I can hand sharpen teeth on a 48" on my big saws in maybe twenty mins while watching tv. If you buy a grinder you either need a stand or bench high enough for your biggest chain to hang loose.
 
MrBill

MrBill

Active Member
last job i killed 2 36" and 2 28" brand new chains in a matter of 45min trying to get the stump down to the ground, turned out there was a pipe in the middle of the tree , its just sucks trying to restore big chain by hand when its damaged that bad..
 
Treetopflyer

Treetopflyer

Well-Known Member
I've become attuned to hitting all sorts of wonderful things in stumps that I'm able sympathize how bad I wanna kill the s.o.b. whom decided it was a good idea to place that foreign object in the f:in stump / tree .. But I've also learned a lot about pulling out ( just ask my wife) before the damage is too far done :bananas: . And sometimes you just gotta pay to play!
 
Tom Dunlap

Tom Dunlap

Here from the beginning
Second vote for the Pferd system. Unless I rock-out the chain I do them all by hand. If they get trashed I take them to the shop and ask them to sharpen them 'almost sharp' or 'just clean up the wreck'. Then I finish it by hand.

If you do get the electric grinder take the stub from a scented candle, fire up the grinder and 'dress' the wheel with the candle wax. This does three things...it covers the nasty smell of metal grinding and the wax lubricates the wheel a little. The wax also fills in the porous abrasive grain and gives a support to the matrix. Once I started doing that the wheel stayed dressed a LOT longer.
 
Hotsaw

Hotsaw

Member
I have one of those $300ish Oregons. I've used it for years and I love it. Comment was made about taking too much off and or ruining temper. I dont find that to be the case at all. Actually quite the opposite. Its your chain. No need to take off any more than needed to clean the edges up. If you really bang one up you willneed to make 2 passes around anyway to get things back in shape. If your only taking a little you will never overheat it. The 2 keys i find and this is regardless of whether you hand file or grind
1) Check/ set rakers everytime you sharpen
2). Use a Husquavarna raker gauge. It set the raker height to match that cutter. All others raker gauges use an average of the other cutters.
I set mine after im done grinding and its still in the clamp. Oregon also sells a raker grinding wheel for setting rakers. I did not find it worked well. Too much vibration and inconsistent heights were the main issues. Make sure you dress that grinding wheel when you switch from L to R cutters
 
treevet

treevet

Well-Known Member
Hotsaw said:
I have one of those $300ish Oregons. I've used it for years and I love it. Comment was made about taking too much off and or ruining temper. I dont find that to be the case at all. Actually quite the opposite. Its your chain. No need to take off any more than needed to clean the edges up. If you really bang one up you willneed to make 2 passes around anyway to get things back in shape. If your only taking a little you will never overheat it. The 2 keys i find and this is regardless of whether you hand file or grind
1) Check/ set rakers everytime you sharpen
2). Use a Husquavarna raker gauge. It set the raker height to match that cutter. All others raker gauges use an average of the other cutters.
I set mine after im done grinding and its still in the clamp. Oregon also sells a raker grinding wheel for setting rakers. I did not find it worked well. Too much vibration and inconsistent heights were the main issues. Make sure you dress that grinding wheel when you switch from L to R cutters
Click to expand...
Don't know if you are some kind of a saw racer from your name and not sure of your sideways pict...or an acutual treeman...but I can do a 48 inch chain's rakers in about 5 minutes on my Stihl. I am not gonna adjust the rakers every sharpening, I very rarely "bang one up" like you and the op mentions (why? because whenever I get onto a piece of metal like barbed wire etc...I get off it immediately). So most of the time I am doing a "touch up" to get a razor edge. Why not super fussiness like you and others? Because often I am doing half a dozen touch ups before a crane job (which sometimes is every day) or I am just wanting to get done fast and get a perfect edge before needing some sleep or emailing multiple bids late at night. Like I said...I have had a machine for maybe 35 or 40 years and a good one, and I can get a better edge on the teeth while losing less tooth, hand sharpening as most other arbs I know can.
 
Last edited:
treevet

treevet

Well-Known Member
some tips...nice heavy stand so it doesn't jump around much but high enough to keep a long chain off the floor. Low seat to put your eyes at level of the grinding, with safety glasses. Well illuminated. Good quality grinder. Once in a while I will indulge in doing the teeth on a blitzed chain...but seldom.DSCF1710.JPG DSCF1711.JPG
 
jim454

jim454

Well-Known Member
treevet said:
some tips...nice heavy stand so it doesn't jump around much but high enough to keep a long chain off the floor. Low seat to put your eyes at level of the grinding, with safety glasses. Well illuminated. Good quality grinder. Once in a while I will indulge in doing the teeth on a blitzed chain...but seldom.View attachment 28671 View attachment 28672
Click to expand...

Easy to tell that you've put a lot of thought into that tool, Dave.
Impressive
 
MrBill

MrBill

Active Member
thanks for all the info, the pferd def looks like a good deal, gonna have to pick one up.. still up in the air about the grinder, might hold off for a little.
thanks again
 
Hotsaw

Hotsaw

Member
treevet said:
Don't know if you are some kind of a saw racer from your name and not sure of your sideways pict...or an acutual treeman...but I can do a 48 inch chain's rakers in about 5 minutes on my Stihl. I am not gonna adjust the rakers every sharpening, I very rarely "bang one up" like you and the op mentions (why? because whenever I get onto a piece of metal like barbed wire etc...I get off it immediately). So most of the time I am doing a "touch up" to get a razor edge. Why not super fussiness like you and others? Because often I am doing half a dozen touch ups before a crane job (which sometimes is every day) or I am just wanting to get done fast and get a perfect edge before needing some sleep or emailing multiple bids late at night. Like I said...I have had a machine for maybe 35 or 40 years and a good one, and I can get a better edge on the teeth while losing less tooth, hand sharpening as most other arbs I know can.
Click to expand...
Treevet:
The name is because one of my vocations is cutting down trees that are on fire. The only time I " race" a Saw is in GOL comps.
The sideways pic is because I cant get this TreeBuzz page to load it normally for some reason.
I suspect the rest of the world is not as lucky as you because a bunch of us do unintentionally " bang one up" on occasion.
I square file by hand the saws I run every day. Every day. I round grind and set rakers on the crew saws because that is how I choose to do so. Everyday. Before I email out 5 or 6 proposals. No different than a probable large percentage of fellow Buzzers.
The OP asked for opinions. I gave him mine which happens to not agree with some of yours.
For the record I enjoy reading all your posts and agree with you about 99.9999% of the time and your no BS approach. And I will continue to do so.
And thank you for your Sevice to our country. I may not have been cutting trees as long as you....but I have been cutting them as long as I can
 
craneguy1

craneguy1

Well-Known Member
Lol....not so sure i wanna join this battle but here she goes! Splurge and pay the extra money for the stihl usg. The oregons work, but nowhere near as productive. And the wheels are cheap, leading to easier "blueing". FWIW, I have at least 18 years of grinding on the usg.
 
Tree_Frog

Tree_Frog

Active Member
Old thread but relevant. We took a chain sharpener with us on to Hurricane Michael. It was a life saver. Have one for emergencies. You will never have enough chains or time to hand sharpen 30-50 chains a week.
 
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