Chain Saw Chain Sharpening

[glenn kangiser]

I didn't see the boxes to check for "Drop off second story onto concrete" or "Back truck over saw" for sharpening methods 

Funny you should mention that, Don.   Today I kept moving the saw because I was afraid I was going to run over it with the forklift.  After every place was the wrong place I finally put it back in the truck..

I was loading a log onto the sawmill.

[Redoverfarm]

I normally hand sharp at least 4-6 times and then have a shop to bring it back to where it was before I started hitting it.

[Don_P]

Funny you should mention that, Don.   Today I kept moving the saw because I was afraid I was going to run over it with the forklift.  After every place was the wrong place I finally put it back in the truck..

Yup Glenn, they'll give you a brand new chain along with the new saw, avoids the whole headache of sharpening  .

A neighbor found another way to do it. He was proud of the fact that a milk crate nestled in his box scrape and he could throw the saw, gas, oil in the crate, head into the woods and snake a tree out. A box scrape will just about totally unwrap a chainsaw that jumps out of a mikcrate  . Luckily he knew somebody with parts to an identical saw that had been run over by a truck.

[glenn kangiser]

There's got to be a cheaper way to get a sharp chain, Don...

[glenn kangiser]

I was just thinking my forklift would make my saw all smashy like....

[Don_P]

Yup that'd do it. Our roofer came into the house one day with a double handfull of blue plastic, metal and a cord hanging out of the pile. He said "Who's was this?". I had set my power planer on one stack of shingles and he was shooting out another stack to the roof edge when he overbalanced and tipped forward landing on the stack with my planer sitting on it.

I've often wished I had bought his old telehandler, he offered to sell it cheap. I was 1,000 miles and mountain roads from home though.  How do you move yours or is it farm use only?

Nice log! I don't know my western trees well, beetle killed ponderosa?

[glenn kangiser]

I have a trailer with 8 mobile home tires that will move it.  Kind of a hillbilly lowboy.  I do it evenings and weekends and whenever there are special events at the donut shops....

During some of those occasions it has also moved a TD15 and an old cable style D6 Caterpillar with a blade on it.

I have a Hino crane truck I pull the trailer to move the big stuff with.

The Lull forklift is an 8000 lb capacity  35 footer and weighs 21000 lbs.  

I bought it for my steel construction projects but now use it mostly at home around the mill and shop.  Being on the ridge, it always requires thought and care to keep from tipping over or getting down a hill it wont come up from.  It backs up hill well but does not go uphill forward well unless loaded.  Too heavy and it peels out.  It has a hydraulic 4 wheel assist but it is not much help.

I have another one at our place in the valley.  

I think the beetles were working on the Ponderosa but the fire last year was what got it.  

[SardonicSmile]

It really depends on how much you cut.

If you have a couple saws and use them pretty much daily (year round), I would say get a table sharpener.

Once every week or so - get a dremel.

Otherwise you should be fine hand sharpening. Hand sharpening will ALWAYS give you a sharper saw than a table saw or a dremel.. if you know how.

[cordwood]

 Like dug I used to sharpen chains in a shop, Same experience too. Lots of burnt chains. The Oregon sharpener we had I could tweek the head a little get kind of a sweeping motion across the teeth and not burn them too bad but I usually cooked at least one tooth on an 18" or larger chain. As far as the raker teeth we always just drug them under the sharpening wheel while moving the chain, A little sweep across each time will usually keep you close. And for a couple of my bigger saws that I might use on soft wood I could take them down to nothing and let it eat. I bought a few chains that had NO raker teeth and they worked good. Now I have five saws ranging from 12" to 30" and I sharpen all of them by hand because changing wheels to fit each chain became a chore and finding a dedicated place to put it that had power was always a problem. When my Oregon burned up I never missed it.

[MarkAndDebbie]

about $7 at the shop and I still have pretty knuckles.

[glenn kangiser]

I have taken plenty of chunks out of mine years ago when filing.

[SardonicSmile]

You guy's must know that the links between the teeth need to be taken down from time to time to get the right tooth height as the chain wears!

Well that is too much work for me so I hand file with the round file with an angle alignment/file about 15 file cycles or until I get bad results. I then take the blade in to Mr. Barrien on Spring hill and for 6 dollars he gets me back to nice big chunks of oak flying. Sorry for the excessive local color.

Not to be a naysayer, but modern chains don't need the safety links filed down as long as you keep the chain sharp. If the cutting tooth gets low, it just means it isnt properly sharpened.

[glenn kangiser]

If you are riding on the safety link it won't bite the wood as good - the link has to wear the wood down before the tooth can bite.  Makes for slow cutting.  Give me the fast cutting kickin' back chain any day.

I like the square corner but round sharpen it after the initial sharp wears off.

That is why I like the full chisel skip tooth chain sharpened at about 20 degrees.- no safety chain for me.  Waiting for that first big red gash in my forehead.



Warning

*This symbol indicates that the product has increased risk of kickback injury and is for use only by persons with extraordinary cutting needs and experience and specialized training for dealing with kickback.

[SardonicSmile]

If you are riding on the safety link it won't bite the wood as good - the link has to wear the wood down before the tooth can bite.  Makes for slow cutting.  Give me the fast cutting kickin' back chain any day.

I like the square corner but round sharpen it after the initial sharp wears off.

That is why I like the full chisel skip tooth chain sharpened at about 20 degrees.- no safety chain for me.  Waiting for that first big red gash in my forehead.



Warning

*This symbol indicates that the product has increased risk of kickback injury and is for use only by persons with extraordinary cutting needs and experience and specialized training for dealing with kickback.

Yep, they call them "chipper chains" around here. As long as you know about the dangerous kickback area on a bar, you should be fine. NEVER cut wood with the kickback area of a saw.