Anyone use a Dremel for sharpening? I have struggled all my days with chain sharpening. Sure, I can sharpen by hand but I'm not great at it and arthritis in my hands makes it difficult and a dread. The Stihl 2-in-1 praised by many? Not for me. I don't care for it at all and I have tried many a time because many people love it. At an estate sale, I bought cheap an Oregon Sure Sharp, which you can plug into a cigarette lighter or clamp to a 12v battery. Somewhat like a Dremel. It worked pretty good but got me to wondering about a high speed Dremel. I tried it and love it! I just thought I would pass this along because it seems a game changer for me. It's pretty effortless and fast. I don't spend but just a couple seconds per tooth. Of course, still have to file the rakers as usual. My Dremel is 8220 model, which is 12v rechargeable battery. They make less powerful models but I cannot vouch for those. A popular youtuber recommends the Oregon stones and, so far, I am agreeing. I had some cheap non-Oregon brand stones and they will break in two easily, not good! The Oregon brand holds their shape and doesn't break and I get multiple sharpenings. Cost about $2.50/stone with tax and I have not been able to find a bulk supply. Can only find 3 per package. My local Lowes had as good a price as I have found so far. I have not tried Dremel brand stones but will. I also saw some say they did not find any need for the Dremel chain sharpening attachment, that it gets in the way and, so far, I am in agreement. I do fine just eyeballing it by hand, maintaining good angles. Admittedly, I have not tried the attachment. Someone gave me one of those cheap Harbor Freight electric grinder/sharpeners but I have never even assembled it. It might be ok but it has a lot of negative reviews about its sloppy manufacture/design. A big disadvantage of any grinder machine would be you have to take the chain off the saw. Dremel is fast!
I have one and it works OK(ish)... As with most everything there is too much safety pre-built in to the thing but it has a place. I use it occasionally mainly for re-establishing tooth angle then go back to the file to get a good sharp aggressive bite. Then there is the cost of the special stones, so yeah I don't use it often.
I was given a cheapo Harbor Freight one for Christmas years back. Worked good until i couldnt get the collet locked to remove the bit.
The underlined part... what do you mean by that? I turn it on and go. Curious what you mean. As for the stones cost... my take is that if I can sharpen a chain for less than $2/chain, that's good compared to having someone else do it. And I don't have to take it off the bar and it's fast. And totally portable.
One of the most important things with these is to not overheat the tooth. It’ll work fine as long as you know how to make the tooth look(proper hook, top plate angle etc). That’s one of the biggest challenges with learning square filing. Have you tried the Husky roller guide? IMO, they train you the best to file w/o any help.
The dremel thing I have produces a cutting angle that is not as aggressive as I like, and leads to slow cutting and fine sawdust instead of chips. The stone does not go into the gullet deep enough and leaves the leading edge too square to the top plate instead of a sharp cutting edge. I'm very willing to bet it is done on purpose in an attempt to avoid lawsuits. It seems you're happy with yours so that's all that matters.
The Husky roller guide, are you asking if used with a Dremel or you mean regular file? I do have those and like them better than the Stihl 2-in-1.
You seem to know what you are talking about, so, I salute that. That sure is a mighty fine graphic you put up! But I do like it. I just bucked some oak logs and it seemed nice and sharp. If I were to want to get more better, maybe I could follow the Dremel with a hand file but so far, it is def a game changer because it is so fast and so effortless. I also am not on the tooth long, so, it probably isn't heating the tooth badly. The guy I saw on youtube, I forget his name, but that guy processes a mountain of wood each season, he's just a monster firewood nut/seller and he likes the Dremel, too. We'll see if it 'holds' long-term! If I didn't have hand pain, it would be different. Getting old, lol.
W/ a file. If you just free hand it, like this: You could drastically vary the amount of hook on each cutter, which would end up not cutting consistently. Here is 2 different extremes: It's essentially the height of the file/stone etc. Some lock you into a specific height, which as GHinNH said, can limit cut performance. Usually leaning more toward the second cutter pic.
BTW, if you didn't pick up on it, I am NOT using a Dremel attachment. I am 'hand filing' except I don't have a plain file in my hand, I have the Dremel. EDIT: I posted prior to seeing The Wood Wolverine post where he has several images. Hmmm... I dunno, so far, so good, it's cutting great after I Dremel file. I am just eye-balling the angles.
i have a few of these 12v models , keep them around for out in the bush, don't use often ,once in a blue moon as i mostly always have several chains of each length with me, but xxxx happens.
That clarifies things nicely, so I think I'm on the same page with you now. Mine has the plate that limits depth, hence the so-so performance I get. So... I just use it to re-establish tooth angle when I get to far out of wack using a file.
I have a few bits for the dremel, but I use them for other things, and they don't last long before coming apart or deforming. I use a chain grinder at home and hand file between tanks if a touch up is needed. I carry several sharp chains and swap out when they are dull, then grind at home. I like grinding because it keeps the teeth just the way they are supposed to be.
