Electric chainsaw sharpener

Hey everyone. I am wanting to buy an electric bench mount sharpener. Don't know a whole lot about them but I don't want to spend an arm and a leg but also want to get a quality sharpener that is user friendly. Any advice is much appreciated!!

 

I don't know much about them either. I know this is a cheapo one but my sister in law got it for me. Did a fantastic job on my .325 chain. Not sure what it costs but it's intuitive and works well.

One tip.. Mounting it directly to the bench was awkward. I'd recommend mounting it to a 2x4 like I did and placing it in a rotating vice.

 

I have a harbor freight sharpener. I've never used it in fact never even opened the box Christmas gift Id give it to you but it prob cost as much to send it as one is at the store.

 

I have one of the Oregon ones, can't remember the model off the top of my head. It's freakin fantastic! It can do anything but square ground and is easy to operate. You're gonna hate me but I got it at an estate sale for $30 with 6 wheels. I think nobody really knew what it was. It is the same one that my local stihl guy and the echo guy have.

I mounted it on a piece of angle iron and clamp it in a vise. Way more handy than on a bench.

I have come to realize that in this game, quality is worth the money it saves you in time and headaches.

One idea to help pay for it is to sharpen chains for people. If you did it for $5-7 you'd get guys all the time. Dealers around here charge $12 and the quality of the job is pretty poor. Of course not all places charge that or do crappy work.

One thing I've noticed is my chains last a lot longer than before because I remove the minimal amount needed to get the job done. If the kid at the dealer does it he is just grinding however much to get it done fast.

 

I've been using a hand held dremel type sharpener for 35 yearsnow. It may, or may not, be quite as accurate as the bench sharpeners, but for sure it's the quickest way I know how to sharpen a chain saw, and very handy in the field.

 

If you go the motorized route, especially on the cheap end, make sure you get one with the right size wheel for your chain. There are different sized wheels for different pitches of chain - .375, .325, just like there are different sized hand files.

I started off with a cheap grinder, and it did a pretty good job. But you'll still need to touch up the rakers from time to time if you want to get back to 'like new' performance. So eventually I broke down and bought a hand file set, because I didn't have a flat file to do the rakers. So I gave hand filing a shot and I haven't looked back. Now I have a couple different chainsaws running different sized chains, and I'd need to get a real-thing expensive grinder with different wheels to sharpen all of them. But I'm cheap and I have the files so that's what I do. It takes a little practice but eventually you'll open up a brand new chain and wish it was a little sharper...

 

Wow thank yall so much. I appreciate all the Input. Going to keep looking and hopefully get the chance to use a couple different ones and make my decision. Thanks again!

 

with the dremel do you hand file the rakers ?

 

I don't doubt the effectiveness of doing it with a dremal but I can see myself not getting the angle right or taking to much off one side am I overthinking it I might try it on a older chain

 

Question...Do any of the grinders maintain the rakers, or this a manual job?

 

I prefer my Oregon 511 for tooth work. I have a rough neck dedicated to raker duty. I use the grinder to reset things after 5 or so sharpenings.

 

Awesome thanks a lot. Sorry about putting this post in the wrong spot, that's my fault. I am pretty new to all this along with getting more into chainsaws and all the things that go with firewood cutting. I am on here trying to learn as much a possible and my wife is thinking my new found concentration is crazy LOL.