Mail-in chain sharpening service

Tom Dunlap

Tom Dunlap

Here from the beginning
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Retired in Minneapolis
A friend buys loops of chain when they're on sale for his power pole saw. When the chain is dull he puts on a new one...no sharpening.

Now he has a big ol' pile of dull chain. None of them are rocked of course just wood cutting.

I know there are shops with auto sharpeners that sharpen quite reasonably. A former employer did that and I was surprised how cheap it was and the job was pretty good too.

I told my friend I'd ask for names of any mail-in sharpening companies..any suggestions?
 
Gap Power Equipment in Gap, PA sharpens for $7-8 (I forget) each, they might be willing to mail the chains back and forth. They use a Franzen automatic grinder, and they give excellent service and very well sharpened chains.
 
The fire department around here used to use carbide chains. They had to send them off to be sharpened. Not sure where but if you know a fireman they might be able to help.
 
Great idea....mail in. I have some longer loops of chain that I hit a little dirt with or something and I haven't gotten them to cutting true again by hand filing.

Local saw shop said his grinding would change the temper/hardness. (Well....do it right then.)

Anyway if someone is great at it flat rate postal shipping could get a 100 feet of chain there in loops for about $18 and about that to return.
 
I recondition John Deere Gator clutches almost entirely on a mail in basis. The shipping cost is significant, but it doesn’t seem to deter anyone from sending them to me.

In the case of saw chains, it would seem that shipping cost would be very low. I believe that for someone who does such work, an internet based chain sharpening business could be a winner. Discussion forums like this one are a great way to get the word out.

My $0.02
 
Bump. I've still got to send off same chains to be trued up as 4 years ago - I'll call Razorsharp on Friday.

I just bought another couple of 100 foot reels of chain. Saw them at about $600 per reel at one place and thought that's about 100% higher than last I bought. Called Madsens and they said just over $300. (Stihl chain.)

Then I asked if they could make up half the two different reels into loops of my two most used chains. $2 or 3 per loop to make them up out of my 100 foot reel - twist my arm.
 
I stopped using them personally. My chains don't really cut. I think they use the wrong angle but in their defense they did their best to make it rite with me. I just decided to go with someone local. They are good people.
 
:)

Steve, any idea how long ago you went through that with them and they tried to make it right?

Hoping they put in a correction to their practices by now.

...just sent off 15 chains today.
 
Merle Nelson said:
:)

Steve, any idea how long ago you went through that with them and they tried to make it right?

Hoping they put in a correction to their practices by now.

...just sent off 15 chains today.
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Wow. I haven't sent anything to them for close to a year. I think the problem is the angle. my harvester chains need a 30 degree angle and I don't know if that was the issue. They are really good people and redid a bunch for free but out of the bag I couldn't make a cut. That forestry head is so unforgiving. It almost has to be perfect or it'll bund in the cut. I can't really explain it but after the 2nd/3rd time I just went with a local guy who does it on the side. He works for Bartlett. They probably corrected the issue and I didn't give them an adequate chance.
 
Updating...I would repeat having had a great experience dealing with husband and wife. When I called in before they recieved my package of 15 chains he clarified that they would do a round grind on my chisel chain whereas I saw an odd look to a picture or more of one chain on their website. He may have referred to that as elliptical or something but stipulated that he would not be doing that.

All my chains had been benched because I had gotten them to start cutting a half moon shape by my flawed technique of hand filling. They came back cutting well and making straight cuts again. The reason I had given up on local shops grinding was because of someone staying on the teeth too long and softening the steel. This was not the case with his work even though he had to remove alot of material on some chains.

I'll change my technique of hand filling and see if I can prevent the moon cutting pattern over the years but if a valuable chain (mostly 28, 36, and 42 iinch bar chains) gets bad again I will set them aside planning to ship them back for sharpening.

Cutting faster than new chain? Maybe not - possibly because my chains being ground are short in the tooth rather than long as close to new.
 
Merle Nelson said:
Updating...I would repeat having had a great experience dealing with husband and wife. When I called in before they recieved my package of 15 chains he clarified that they would do a round grind on my chisel chain whereas I saw an odd look to a picture or more of one chain on their website. He may have referred to that as elliptical or something but stipulated that he would not be doing that.

All my chains had been benched because I had gotten them to start cutting a half moon shape by my flawed technique of hand filling. They came back cutting well and making straight cuts again. The reason I had given up on local shops grinding was because of someone staying on the teeth too long and softening the steel. This was not the case with his work even though he had to remove alot of material on some chains.

I'll change my technique of hand filling and see if I can prevent the moon cutting pattern over the years but if a valuable chain (mostly 28, 36, and 42 iinch bar chains) gets bad again I will set them aside planning to ship them back for sharpening.

Cutting faster than new chain? Maybe not - possibly because my chains being ground are short in the tooth rather than long as close to new.
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i know it‘s not really contributing or at least you didn‘t ask but i will say it anyway. you teeth don‘t have to be the same length as long as each raker is dialed to it‘s cutter your chain will cut straight. make‘s sharpening much easier. just file each cutter, some might need 15 strokes some 5 and than adjust each raker… will cut like a laser :)
 
Huh...never heard that - thanks. The thing I was doing was adding an extra stroke on my weak filing side to try and keep cutters the same length. I was going to knock that off for starters and just do x amount of strokes per tooth on both sides of chain.
 
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It's true. All the cutting teeth don't have to be the same length, although the rakers do need yo be in tune with the cutters. I recently put a band new Stihl 3/8 chisel chain on a saw for a felling cut. Dropped the spar and marked an X next to a screw hook. Little did I know, the hook was long and only screwed in a couple inches. It was then bent down and the tree grew around it. It was just below the surface. Since I was only scoring the wood, I only barely made contact with 5 cutters. All on the same side. I took just enough off to give them an edge again. Couple teeth had a bit of the hook jammed in them. I didn't bother with the rakers since I removed little material. Saw cuts straight again.

Even with a full hand file, I don't count strokes. The sound, and feel, of the file tells me when it's sharp. I adjust rakers after.
 
Merle Nelson said:
Huh...never heard that - thanks. The thing I was doing was adding an extra stroke on my weak filing side to try and keep cutters the same length. I was going to knock that off for starters and just do x amount of strokes per tooth on both sides of chain.
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I'll add 10 % more strokes on my left hand-held filing.

I generally do the right first (right-handed), if I'm not alternating. The file gets duller with every stroke.

Do you use the same raker offset for the life of the chain or increase the offset as you get shorter cutters?


Weak reading glasses and good light are necessities for me at 50 for really good sharpening.

Do you have a micrometer of you can't eye ball cutter lengths?

Do you have any kind of grinder?
 
No chain grinder. Tried that with a commercial quality grinder early in my career but didn't have enough interest in it or patients or something.

I just drop rakers by feel when the chain starts cutting slower than I think it should, usually three swipes per maker at a time. Yes, I think of it as same depth for the life of the chain.
 
I start 3/8" - 0.050" chisel at
0.025" raker offset, progressing to 0.040" by the time I'm closing in on a triangle-shaped cutter at the very end. A raker gauge helps.




I'll also free hand the rakers, regularly.

Three swipes is what I was initially taught and commonly do. That said, three swipes with a new file is one thing, and three swipes with a old file is another.

As the rakers gets filed down, there is more to file, whereas with the cutter (progressing to smaller round files from starting with 13/64" down to 5/32"), there is less to file as the cutter gets used up.
Does the raker need more swipes as it grows to achieve the same increase in raker offset to work correctly with the shorter cutter? I'm not sure.


A grinder will "true up" a chain, and good to use when free-hand filing isn't "cutting it" (pun intended). Great to,at least, get the chain started after damage. 'Rocked' chain beats up files due to 'work hardening', I've read.

I have a harbor freight grinder that was given to me by a customer. Good to start rocked chains, followed by round files. It's a crappy grinder, overall, but saves files.
I rarely use it...original disc after 16 years.
 
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