chainsaw sharpening help
 

Hey guys,
I got the HF chainsaw grinder that Mac recommended - still haven't used it,
but I got it :-) (and I got a 30 ton logsplitter yesterday).

Question: How are you grinding the flats?

I recently saw a Dremel with proprietary attachment but I don't have a
Dremel. I do have a Foredom carving kit.

I got a fantastic chain info site from an earlier post and I'm sure this
has been covered before so be patient. My computer crashed two weeks ago and
I lost everything (please, that's another story).

TomNie

chainsaw sharpening help
 

Tom
What flats? If you mean the top of the teeth, do not grind. I file the round
section of the tooth and occasionally the depth guages in front of the
tooth. This has worked fine for myself and my family many of whom are
professional loggers.

--
God bless and safe turning
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS Canada
http://aroundthewoods.com
http://roundopinions.blogspot.com
"TomNie" wrote in message
...
Hey guys,
I got the HF chainsaw grinder that Mac recommended - still haven't used
it, but I got it :-) (and I got a 30 ton logsplitter yesterday).

Question: How are you grinding the flats?

I recently saw a Dremel with proprietary attachment but I don't have a
Dremel. I do have a Foredom carving kit.

I got a fantastic chain info site from an earlier post and I'm sure this
has been covered before so be patient. My computer crashed two weeks ago
and I lost everything (please, that's another story).

TomNie

chainsaw sharpening help
 

Is their really an advantage to using the Dremel or other power sharpener on
a chain? Can someone explain what it is?

It strikes me that it is REAL easy to remove too much metal, when all you
need is a light touch. And I prefer not to buy new chains until I have to.

I use a hand file on mine--takes about 3-5 minutes, and I'm back in
business. Seldom do I need to do more than 6 strokes per tooth to get it
sharp again.

Heck, I usually need a longer break from sawing than 3-5 minutes, so I have
a cup of coffee too.

Old Guy
Sadly, NOT turning in MN


"TomNie" wrote in message
...
Hey guys,
I got the HF chainsaw grinder that Mac recommended - still haven't used
it, but I got it :-) (and I got a 30 ton logsplitter yesterday).

Question: How are you grinding the flats?

I recently saw a Dremel with proprietary attachment but I don't have a
Dremel. I do have a Foredom carving kit.

I got a fantastic chain info site from an earlier post and I'm sure this
has been covered before so be patient. My computer crashed two weeks ago
and I lost everything (please, that's another story).

TomNie

chainsaw sharpening help
 

In article GwmRi.158874$Fc.127327@attbi_s21,
"Old guy" wrote:

Is their really an advantage to using the Dremel or other power sharpener on
a chain? Can someone explain what it is?

The main advantage to using the non-Dremel (Large wheel with jig) type
of power sharpener (whether from Oregon or from HF) is that the jig
helps to even out tooth length - which helps things to cut straight when
you've munged 3-4 teeth on one side by clipping a rock or nail. It's
what the pro saw shop here uses to sharpen chains.

If you're patient, there's no reason you could not do the same with a
file and gauge of some sort. The jig/grinder setup makes it easier and
faster.

In the field, I use a file with every tank of gas, or sooner if it seems
to be needed. I swap chains if one gets munged too badly.

Power sharpening also has an advantage with carbide chains and diamond
sharpeners, but that's a whole 'nother level of spending.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

chainsaw sharpening help
 

I assume that you mean depth gages when you say "flats". As you know,
the cutters on the chain are angled up, so each time you sharpen the
cutters, they end up a tiny bit lower than they were before. The
non-cutting link between each cutter is there to keep the cutter from
biting deeper than the saw can handle. Each chain size,style has a
recommended depth for the depth gages to be below the cutting teeth.
It's gonna be somewhere between about 20 and 35 thousanths of an
inch. When needed, I file the teeth with a double cut (real fine) flat
file. There are gages for this distance. You should buy one from a
place that sells lots of chain saws so they will know what you are
talking about when you ask for one.
If I don't have a depth gage, I simply find the flatest part of the
chain's bar and lay a flat piece of anything on top of two adjacent
cutters. I look (or measure with an appropriate feeler gage) to see
how far the depth gage is below the flat piece. if the depth gages
need filing down. Try this in a few spots on the chain and you'll see
how much you need to take off. I then file one or two depth gages to
see how many file strokes it will take and file the rest the same amount.
I think that the competitive guys probably run the depth gages a lot
lower than most of us do. They get bigger chips that way but have to
have a real light touch on the saw to keep it from slowing down/ stalling.

Note that the "flats" on the depth gages shouldn't be flat. You should
round off their leading edges.

Having said all that:
The only time my chains get power-sharpened is when I take the saw in
for service. In the woods I hit the cutters with 4 file strokes each
whenever I start to see that I'm getting a little "dust" instead of
"noodles" coming out of the cut. Then, about every third cutter
sharpening I do the depth gages, or if I feel that the saw is requiring
me to push it into the wood.

Heated with wood for 25 years, made maple syrup with wood for 10,
Pete Stanaitis
-----------------------------------------------

TomNie wrote:

Hey guys,
I got the HF chainsaw grinder that Mac recommended - still haven't used it,
but I got it :-) (and I got a 30 ton logsplitter yesterday).

Question: How are you grinding the flats?

I recently saw a Dremel with proprietary attachment but I don't have a
Dremel. I do have a Foredom carving kit.

I got a fantastic chain info site from an earlier post and I'm sure this
has been covered before so be patient. My computer crashed two weeks ago and
I lost everything (please, that's another story).

TomNie

chainsaw sharpening help
 

"Ecnerwal" wrote in message
...

The main advantage to using the non-Dremel (Large wheel with jig) type
of power sharpener (whether from Oregon or from HF) is that the jig
helps to even out tooth length - which helps things to cut straight when
you've munged 3-4 teeth on one side by clipping a rock or nail. It's
what the pro saw shop here uses to sharpen chains.

There's a neat outfit I've been using for years with a file to answer that
problem. I still hate to take all the others down to compensate, but it's
the right thing to do.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,43072,43086

chainsaw sharpening help
 

"George" wrote: (clip) I still hate to take all the others down to
compensate, but it's the right thing to do.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I don't see any reason to do it. If all the teeth are sharp, and properly
angled, the only effect of having a few teeth filed back farther is in their
timing, as they reach the wood. I doubt that you could detect it in any way
outside a laboratory. The chain has to be retired when ANY of the teeth
become so narrow they are ready to break, but it doesn't matter whether a
few teeth get there first, or they all get used up at the same time.

If you hit another rock, you will have to file back some teeth
again--probably some diffeerent ones. If you file them ALL back each time
there is damage, your chain life is likely to be shorter.

Just my 2 cents worth. If you follow this reasoning and agree with it, it
could save you more that 2 cents. :-)

chainsaw sharpening help
 

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...
Just my 2 cents worth. If you follow this reasoning and agree with it, it
could save you more that 2 cents. :-)


Sadly your advice is worth the price. It's not so much the absolute length
of the damaged teeth, it's the fact they have no sharp corner to scoop
shavings. Until you get that back the chain will drift, heat, stretch,
drift some more, etc. The big if in the first paragraph is indeed a big
one.

chainsaw sharpening help
 

"George" wrote: Sadly your advice is worth the price. It's not so much the
absolute length of the damaged teeth, it's the fact they have no sharp
corner to scoop shavings. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
George, sadly, I think you missed my point. I was not advocating leaving
the damaged teeth alone. I was saying that it is not necessary to file all
the OTHER teeth back to the same width as the repaired damaged teeth.
Running a chain where the tops of the teeth are not all the same will not
produce any of the difficulties you list.