I have hand filed my chains for years. My skills seemed to be kinda slipping away a little, mostly because of my eyesight. I seem to do OK outdoors during daylight, but haven't quite as good at holding the file in the corner of the tooth when sharpening chains in the shop. I had tried rigging a couple different lighting fixtures but they were cumbersome and in the way most of the time. Then... I dropped the wife off at Hobby Lobby and I went into the Harbor Freight store next door to kill time. I had walked every aisle 3 or 4 times when I noticed a battery powered floodlight style flashlight. I already have a drill and impact that take the 20V lithium battery that this light uses. So I bought one. I was tuning up the bars and chains on a couple of the saws this evening in the shop and used this new light while sharpening... OH MY... I can see again... Double bevel file on the MS250's bar and square filed .325 chain. The light sits right on my sharpening fixture and I can easily position it out of the way but so I can see much better. The 3/8 chain is easier to file, but after getting used to cutting with square filed chain, I just can't go back to round filing. Semi-chisel chain... NO Thanks... I can now easily see to keep the file in the corner of the tooth. Side plate showing the undercut of the small round file I use to clean the gullet out first below where the double bevel file cuts the side plate at a near vertical angle. I try to keep the side plate angle 5 to 10* off vertical so it self feeds while cutting wood, but keeps plenty of strength at the corner. I only like the double bevel to cut down the side plate .040" to .080" to make it easier to file. That is fine since I set my rakers to cut .025" thick chips. I find it much harder to file smoothly if the double bevel file is trying to take a full cut on the side plate, especially if the second corner of the file is cutting down in the gullet. I only ever want 2 surfaces of the file cutting at any time. When the third surface is also cutting down in the gullet, it makes the filing action grabby and inconsistent. This picture has some glare at the corner tip of the tooth and makes it look like there is a beak on the top plate, but that is just an optical illusion due to the glare. Note the angle line at the back of the tooth is also obscured by glare. Sorry for the crappy photography. This new light makes it so much easier for me to see while filing... I'm glad I grabbed that light. Side note: It's funny how it seems like the shorter teeth on my chains are always the ones that hit metal or something and end up needing a few strokes to get a razor tip back on the tooth. The longer teeth never seem to need more that one stroke with the file to get them back to where I like 'em... The rakers all get set by however long the tooth is so the chains keep cutting smooth and fast.
Good deal Monte. I use an LED light too. And I’ve been forced to use readers to focus on the small details. For me it’s adjusting the pawl so my grinder is lined up w/ the corner. I’ve thought about getting one of those lighted magnifying arms that I could easily move to the side when not in use. As far as the shorter teeth taking the hit, if I have to grind off a lot of damage on a relatively new chain, I’ll adjust the rakers on those teeth to take less bite than the rest in an attempt to “preserve” those short ones so the rest can catch up, or work harder and need more material removed next grind. Does it work, I dunno but I try.. I have the WCS depth plate that allows for 4 different angles, which makes that easy. They list numbers but the progressives work off angle. I’ve not put a feeler on my chain to test that accuracy but my ported saws and rim choice likes the .035 slot. For the random short tooth, .025.
Good thought, I hadn't thought about that. I'll adjust my thinking on that... I'm just happy that I get a ton of life out of a chain by sharpening them myself compared to my brother (retired from cutting wood for several years now). He always took his to his local Stihl dealer and would only get about 4 or 5 sharpenings on a chain, then have to toss them. I have one of those lighted magnifiers, but for hand filing I can never get it in a position to see with it where it isn't in the way of my hands while filing... So I just quit trying to use that. It would probably work well with a grinder though. I may start going a little more aggressive on the larger saw's shorter chains, but on the longer bars I'll stay at .025" on the rakers. I have an 18" bar for the MS362 that would be fun with an aggressive chain... LOL I like to let the saws rev out to where they chew chips well, and if they aren't tossing enough chips, I can always hunch in on the dawgs a little.
I have a full size drafting table up in the barn from one of my old careers, but the light never made the trip home for some reason. I have several of those headband LED lights.... that never even entered my mind... Old-timers must be starting to kick in... yikes... I'm thinking I may have to order a few more files here one of these days.
