Hand Filing 360, or, How I Came Full Circle after 30 years of Sharpening

I used a dremel on a chain yesterday just for grins...
File removes material better, but I can see how a dremel could be used for good results.. But like everything else, knowing what you need to make a cutter perform, is the most important thing...
And it's just hard to beat a file.. Even if its the wrong size, you can make a tooth cut in a pinch...

 

I never did run a chisel chain where you needed a square file to sharpen... I believe from looking into it some years ago,, you actually file from the outside of the cutter in, just the opposite of what you normally would do on semi chisel chain, etc..

 

Yes.. From the point inward.




Sorry for the blurry pics... Hard to focus that close with the phone..

 

Looks like those cutters will zip through wood pretty fast..

 

Most helpful chain sharpening post. I was ready to buy a grinder, because I can never seem to get that brand new chain feel. I tried your Mennonite friends technique yesterday, still not at that brand new chain feel, but the results are the best yet by far. I will forego the grinder for now.

 

Good to hear!!!
Keep at it, and you'll be making them cut faster and smoother than the factory can!!

 

Awesome post. With my new saw purchase I also bought the file and guide to hand file. Plan on learning the ways after many times taking chains to get sharpened.

 

Nice thing about learning to sharpen your chains yourself, you'll stay right on top of your chains as soon as you notice they are a little dull and not wait until they are really dull , then taking them to get sharpened... plus it will save wear on your bar keeping your chains touched up and sharp.. You'll be rewarded big time learning to sharpen! Stick with it and you'll just keep getting better and better... your learning a lost art so to speak.... Your chains will last a long time as well, sharpening by hand,, another plus..

 

I've never had a chain ground by a shop. My friends uncle showed me how to file a chain when I was in high school. We cleared a couple acres by hand for shooting lanes using a husky 350 and atvs for skidders. Hand filing is more rewarding to me any way. Hand filing a good square chain is a great feeling when it pulls big chips

 

Grinders have their place.
- Badly damaged chains: Rocks, metal, stump work, ...
- Raker heights. Use your file & guide to set your reference tooth' raker height. Then I have a 1/4" wheel dressed with a quarter round recess/cove into it on the grinder. Place the reference raker under the wheel then set the depth stop on the grinder & you can do your rakers in no time. I generally have several chains I do at a time.

But so does hand filing! Can file a normally dulled chain on shorter bars as quickly if not faster than changing a chain. On longer bars, if rushed will change the chain, if not, I use the time while I sharpen the chain to have a drink & snack as needed.

*** Note *** This hand sharpening challenged person, ME, recently have become reasonable adapt at hand filing largely due to using a Pfred CS-X/Stihl 2in1 filing system. It setts the raker height at the same time it sharpens. You just have to round over the leading edge occasionally after sharpening has been completed. There are round files on both sides. Sharpen the cutters on one side then just flip the guide over to do the cutters on the other side.

Handles are angled to be parallel to the bar. Simple to use. In the center: Round, Flat, Round files. The end snaps open to make changing the files easy. At $40 it is twice the price of some of the other filing systems, but since it does the rakers at the same time, it is worth it to me.

 

If using a power grinder for myself, I would mark one cutter with a paint dot, take dial calipers and quickly go around the loop once , finding the shortest cutter, keep zeroing the dial caliper reading to zero as you find a shorter cutter, then set it to read plus .010 at the end.. Now just start with any cutter and slowly adjust the cutting wheel stop , until after checking each time you touched that one cutter, that it finally gives you a reading of zero on the dial caliper, now just grind all the rest of the cutters and you will be removing the least amount of material needed to make them all even.. In my eyes quick to set and importantly, a long lived chain, if,,, your going to power grind..

 

Which goes back to my original statement... If you know what it takes to make a chain cut, and why, then you can use whatever method suits you best, or is convenient at the time.
So it's a real good thing to practice and read, and practice some more...
That, and there is some pride in making a real nice cutting chain.
Pride in a job well done...

 

Be nice if dealers could spend a few minutes with a new chainsaw purchase, show the new owner how to basically hand sharpen.. What happens not doing this, the owner will burn the bar rails up trying to get ever last bit of cutting out of the chain, knowing he has to take it off and run it to be sharpened..

 

I do know a fellow here that cuts and sells firewood...
Probably 100 loads a year.
He'll touch a chain up once in a while, but when it ceases to cut good enough for him, he just pitches it, and puts on new...
He's got it all figured out how many loads he can cut with a new chain, and figures it's just part of the cost of doing business... Funny guy... I've thought about offering to sharpen up a couple for him, but then thought better of it...
Not sure I could ever change his mind... And I don't really want him dropping off gobs of thrashed chains for me to deal with...

 

I read once that to get the longest bar and sprocket life, you should start with 3 chains..

As one gets dull you switch them out until you now need to sharpen the chains.. you can also sharpen them as they dull but put the next new one on..

They said doing this lets the chains kind of all wear in the sprocket and bar at a pretty even pace... So your not putting a new chain on a bar and sprocket that have gone through 5 chains, wearing one completely out at a time... Myself, I'm guilty of just owning one chain.. That seems to last me a very long time the way I sharpen..

Back when I worked for Harley and before the belt drives, you never installed a new chain on the old drive and rear wheel sprockets.. It made a lot of noise and shortened the new chain life do to a poor fit..