Whats the best handheld electric chainsaw sharpener?

[Fivepoints]

I was trained with an Oregon electric sharpener when I started out. I've only tried sharpening with a hand file once, and it seemed laborious to me, but I'm sure it's because I didn't know what I was doing. The handheld sharpener can definitely make a sharp chain, you just need to know what goes into a sharp chain to properly sharpen.

Another option is the Timberline chainsaw sharpener. It does a REALLY good job and doesn't require power, but it doesn't really save any time (It sharpens each tooth ridiculously fast, but you have to slide the chain and adjust for each tooth). I bought one because my workers just never seemed to master sharpening. One worker liked it a lot and it improved his sharpening quite a bit, but I still prefer to sharpen with the Stihl handheld sharpener. Overall, I was disappointed with this for the price point.

Timberline Chainsaw Sharpener Kits

The Timberline Chainsaw Sharpener makes sharpening your chainsaw much easier and more precise. The Timberline Chainsaw Sharpener lets you sharpen your chain on the job. Allowing you to work f

www.treestuff.com

What was disapointing about the timberline to you? We have one that we absolutely love to use. We get great results and with about 15 minutes of instruction so do all my guys. Good luck teaching someone to hand file and getting them to master it in 15 minutes. Ours has been flawless.

 

[27RMT0N]

Interesting that you’ve had brand new dull chains from Stihl. We’ve bought hundreds of chains from Stihl and never found a dull one out of the box. Makes me wonder if someone used it and returned dull or something.

It was unusual. Ordered it from Baileys, brand new clean chain for sure.

When I say I've received other 'dull' chains in the past, I guess I may be overstating the 'dull' part. I just didn't always like the tooth profile and could do much better by hand after giving them a few swipes. But even then I've found some variation within 'in box' chains, some better or worse than others. I found that especially the case when I used to buy some of the cheaper WoodlandPro chains.

 

[Reach]

It was unusual. Ordered it from Baileys, brand new clean chain for sure.

When I say I've received other 'dull' chains in the past, I guess I may be overstating the 'dull' part. I just didn't always like the tooth profile and could do much better by hand after giving them a few swipes. But even then I've found some variation within 'in box' chains, some better or worse than others. I found that especially the case when I used to buy some of the cheaper WoodlandPro chains.

I can definitely understand the cheap chains having some variation, the top end chains confuse me. I won’t say it’s impossible, but I would expect it to be very rare that a Stihl or Husqvarna chain would escape the factory in any state other than razor sharp.

 

[CaPowell]

What was disapointing about the timberline to you? We have one that we absolutely love to use. We get great results and with about 15 minutes of instruction so do all my guys. Good luck teaching someone to hand file and getting them to master it in 15 minutes. Ours has been flawless.

Don't get me wrong, it works great and makes a sharp chain (even for guys who can't sharpen well if it's set up properly). I guess I just feel the motion is more laborious than an electric hand grinder: you have to slide the file out far enough, slide the chain forward, and sometimes tighten/loosen the knob that puts pressure on the back of the tooth for each tooth (I think the last part is what makes it laborious and is probably where the operator error is coming in. The file really shaves off metal ridiculously fast.

 

[Mark Chisholm]

Someone messaged me today about their brand of battery sharpeners. I'll let you know of I give it a try. Don't even know the brand yet.

 

[JeffGu]

Why are you sharpening your batteries?

 

[ATH]

Because he might throw a breaker if he tries to sharpen a receptacle.

 

[Al_trees]

We used to just use a round file on the job and then had to file the rakers at another time. Now with the stihl combination file the rakers and teeth get done every time and we always have a consistent chip. Electric table top filers don't do the rakers anyways. Any battery one still requires a steady hand. I can sharpen a 20 inch chain in maybe a minute or two on the job. It is so quick I never cared to time it but now I will.