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

I originally started out hand filing my first saw back in 1980 using the saw files with the flat guides that are still in use today. Like many of you, I just could not seem to replicate that "new chain" factory edge and quickly became discouraged. I started taking my chains back to have them serviced. They usually came back better than I could get them, but over time they quickly got ground away, with one side of the cutters invariably ending up longer/shorter than the other.

I began a 30 year quest to find a better sharpening method. I first bought a jig type of guided filer that mounted on the bar. This worked pretty good, but your angles were constantly just slightly different depending how the guide got remounted every time you sharpened. Plus the length of the cutters didn't stay consistent, so the file did not sit at the same position on every tooth without readjusting all the time.

Next came grinding! Oregon came out with a little 12V grinder with the small rotary grindstones. This device actually worked pretty decent. It was designed to be used from one side of the bar in a clockwise rotation. I found it worked even better if you reversed the polarity of the terminals to get it to run backwards, and did the other side of the bar "in reverse" so the stone ground both sides the same way. I used this for many years, but as the stones ground down, your angles would change. It was just not consistent over time, the stones were expensive, and the grinder finally bit the dust (probably from me running it backwards half the time)!

I next tried a bar mounted rotary cutter jig. This jig had very nice alignment features which consistently mounted it each time, and it used a hardened steel rotary cutter which you turned clockwise with a little handle. There were two 30 degree holes on one side of the jig to cut each alternating tooth. The problem with this device was that the rotary cutter addressed the teeth on each side of the chain differently, cutting "into the" tooth on one side and "out of" the tooth on the other with a resulting difference.

Then came the El-cheapo HF bench grinder. I should have known better, but I bought one of these to give it a try. Very cheaply made, but with a little practice, and a lot of fine tinkering, I could get close to a good edge. However, as soon as the tooth was run for a bit loosing its fine edge, it would not cut straight , one side was still different than the other.

Then came my last device. I was at my Stihl dealer and saw they had come out with a little 120V AC rotary grinder just like the old 12V Oregon one described above. It, and a supply of different sized stones for .325 and 3/8 cost a small fortune of course, but I bit on it and took it home. It worked just like the old Oregon, but at a much higher RPM level, and you needed ear protection when this thing ran. You could smoke a tooth in a blink of an eye, and the edge it produced just didn't seem to last.

It all changed when I met this guy:



I had hired this Mennonite gentleman to help me timber out 120 big trees. The stump gives you an idea of their size, about 30 of them were well over 3' diameters. He cut them all with his 24" Husky, sharpening just by hand, with just a file with no guide. This saw was cutting through those trees like butter throwing big chips all the time. He would stop after about every 3 trees were dropped and cut to logs to resharpen. He would position himself as in the photo with a lot of force on the saw to stabilize it (hurt my chest and neck watching him) and just give 2-3 very slow, light, controlled strokes on each tooth. That was it, and off he went ripping into another tree. I thought if he can do this, I can do it, maybe even better!

I started by stabilizing my saw's bar, in a vise as others have said, only way to do it. I clamp it right on the middle of the bar and crank it down tight. (I used to try to hold the bar down with my left hand and file with the right hand, isn't going to work, you need that bar tight and 2 hands to file).

Next, I use the flat guide on the file to help align my angles and maintain my file depth. He's doing it all by sight and feel, but I have no doubt that the guide gives more precise consistent results. He's also filing straight across the tooth as opposed to the slight upward angle. He explained that since the tooth will "tilt" over slightly when stroked, you are actually giving it a slight angle holding flat ............ I agree with that and hold level too.

Then, the most important part, and difference from what I had been doing, the stroke. I know that a file only cuts one way, but I still used to do more of a "sawing" action backing off the tooth on the return stroke, and applying force on the cutting stroke. This still caused the file to occasionally drag lightly on the tooth on the return. Like him, I now use a slow, light, 2 handed controlled stroke, then lift the file out on the return. I'm amazed at how much metal you can remove with just a few light strokes of a sharp file. Here is where the "feel" comes in. You should feel maximum resistance when you have the tooth totally cut as the largest fresh surface area is now exposed.

He also didn't aggressively take his rakers down, maybe just a smidgen more than normal.

That's all there is to it. Looks easy, makes total sense, then why can't most of us do it? I'm not sure. But after practicing for a while now, I'm not perfect ................ just pretty darn good at it! I'll never buy anything other than an occasional round file again.

 

Having a handle on the far end of the file can help with your control. A handle for taps works well.

 

Nice write up. I have always struggled with hand filing too. Sometimes I get it right and sometimes I don't. I watched a guy sit at the end of the saw like your pick shows, he would switch from right to left hand and file each tooth as he went. Very impressive and intimidating.

I guess it is a skill I can work on this winter.

 

Nice Boog! I also hand file despite having a nice grinder.

 

I figured you would like the fact the all he used was a 24" Husky. I suggested we use my 440 with my 28" bar (didn't have the 460 then) on the really big ones, that's what I bought it for, but he graciously declined, said "Let's just use my Husky" ...................

 

That's exactly how Dad taught me many years ago....Started out with Granberg clamp on guide then progressed to freehand filing.Saw on sturdy surface like a workbench,stump or tailgate.Firm pressure,2-3 strokes (rarely did it need more unless it was rocked or hit embedded metal). Lean into it,I never got on the ground like that though.My back wouldn't take much of that,even when younger.

One thing I remember from metal shop in high school all those years ago - Always lift your file at the end of the stroke,NEVER go back & forth.All that does is wear out your files quicker without doing nothing for the cutting edge.

 

Yep
ran the gamit , & gizmos , & paid to have chains ruined.
Now, hand file with a guide & in a homemade saw vise.

I cut firewood,
only about 10 cord /year.
After all the tried methods
File & vise is faster, cheaper & better IMO, for my situation

tip: spray your file with brake-clean, hit with air;
cleans them & gets the oil off so filings don't build up.

 

Another tip, rub bar soap on file, then go file this keeps the file from loading up with stuck on chips. Don't pack the soap solid just a light coating. Clean your file with a file cleaning wire brush like unit made specifically for files also comes with a small pic to pop out chips that are stubborn.

 

Nice write up! The picture doesn't show up for me though. I have recently started practicing the hand filing method and it's working ok so far. I still have a long ways to go though.

 

+1 Nice write up!
+1 soap file (my machine shop days this was done filing aluminum)

 

Good thread Boog...
Anyone care to expound on different angles and what the effect is?
It's always good to know why you do what you do...

 

A very long thin top cutting edge will dull quicker than a more blunt one same goes for the corner a long pointed corner will dull faster. Gullet of the tooth should not be real deep just enough so the lower 1/2 is not leading the top cutting edge

 

I sell all kinds of filing jigs,plates and what not. when a chain comes in to be sharpened I go to the back and use a grinder on it. I have a couple of them set up. but when one of my chains need sharpened you wont see me putting it on a grinder or using a jig. I do it all by feel and site. I can look you in the eye and talk at the same time as I file a chain without ever looking at the tooth. I found that filing a chain is as much muscle memory as it is anything. once you have the correct stroke programmed into your muscle memory then it is a breeze to keep em flinging chips better than new out of the box.

 

Good right up there boog. Ive just started into hand filing and it was intimidating but once I got going with it I found that it wasnt that bad or hard Im going to take some of the tips youve given here and apply them that ought to get my chains even better.

 

The guy in the photo looks like Scotty overkill I had to do a double take.

 

Good for you Boog! That's exactly what I do after cutting for over 30 years... Once in a while I will take dial calipers and measure the cutters around once and bring them all back to the same length... In between that I keep an eye on the hash mark on the top of the cutter that shows the sharpening angle and keep that distance to the front of the cutter the same from left to right cutters.. If your right handed you tend to take more off the left hand cutters then the right, so I give the right cutters another stroke if they need it.. Free hand takes a while to learn but it's worth sticking with it until you figure it out.. Now,,, I have a sharp 20 inch chain in under 5 minutes... again good for you ! Now you'll really enjoy cutting because you can have a nice cutting chain in a few minutes, no matter where you are.. I keep a stump vise with me so I can use two hands on the file... And yes, I file is only meant to cut in one direction, not dragged back for a second stroke over the cutter face..

 

Everybody should know how to hand file even if you have a grinder. Grinder doesn't do a lot of good when a storm comes through and you have a dull chain and a tree in your way. I honestly think you should learn how to file before you learn how to start the saw. I did. Can thank my dad for that.

 

Some don't have the opportunity to use a bench grinder or to send their chains off to a shop... You can bet they get good at doing it the old fashioned way.

 

I have a square chisel grinder and free hand the semi chisel. Filing is a lot of muscle memory if you've done a lot of it. Square filing is another art to learn and totally different than round filing.