Ok, maybe not. However, I have been giving lengthy consideration to coming up with a "better way" to sharpen my saw chains for years. I started working with saws, and thus learning to sharpen, in the early 1980's. Except for a few chains being brought to a local saw shop for machine sharpening, I have always hand filed with a Stihl file guide and Carlton File-O-Plate. I leave the chain on the bar, hammer a stump vise into a stump or a sawhorse, and file away. For 30 years this method has sucked. The wealth of information here and on other forums has led me to look into alternatives for hand filing. I'm not a big fan of the stump vise, I don't feel it holds the chain bar securely enough. It's never at the right height, and my back is killing me after the process. Full-comp chains on a 24" bar seem like forever. I've investigated the Timberline jig (too expensive, unable to adjust for cutting angle or pitch); various 12v sharpeners (who carries around a 12v battery anyway? and the stones wear too quickly); various bench grinders (good ones are expensive, cheap ones are flimsy, they take too much off the chain); and any other solution I could think of. What I finally came up with isn't a revelation, it was a change in my approach. I decided I don't really mind hand-filing, as it gives me a break from cutting, it's quiet and can be relaxing, and it allows me to fine-tune a chain much easier than using other means. I always carry spare chains so if I accidentally rock my chain, or hit fence wire (hello, last week!), I can change out for a sharp chain in the woods. What I did was buy a cheap Pony vise. A 4" bench vise at a used tool store, has no sentimental value. I bolted it to a 12" square of 3/4" plywood, and then clamped the assembly to the cutting edge of my tractor bucket. I know, not everyone has a tractor, but I also don't have a decent workbench that is heavy or solid enough to mount a permanent vise. Plus the tractor bucket allows me to raise the vise to any comfortable height so that I am not hunched over filing and can clearly see the file and the witness marks on the chain. The tractor isn't gonna move, and now neither is my saw. All I have to do is file one side, turn the saw around in the vise, and file the other from the same position. Easy peasy. I did this over the weekend and actually enjoyed filing my chains for the first time ever. So I finally found that the stable foundation is the final piece of my puzzle. I don't need any other fancy gizmo or gadget to sharpen my saw chain, that years of experience, a sharp file and a steady hand is enough to get a razor's edge on my chain. Sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees.
So you drive your tractor everywhere you use your saw? I guess you can swap chains if not? I like my rough neck/timbertuff grinder myself and just take several chains with me when I go to the woods.
I do the same thing. I just use F clamps and clamp my vise to my tail gate. It's at waist height which so I don't need to bend over.
Good idea, a vise help a lot when hand filing. Made a vise a few years ago & screwed it to a piece of 3/4 plywood nice & portable, can clamp the plywood to a table, bench , PU tailgate, ATV front or rear rack . . . .
