I handfile, touch up as I go. I do better with the bigger chain, old eyes you know. I learned from my Grandad, he was an old style logger, knew how to get the most out of a chain. As a lad, I spent 3 years in the CA forestry, one of our projects was clearing old logs left by the 1964 flood. I was attacted to a Mac 660 geardrive with a 48" bar, the logs were well seasoned, grit embeded Doug Fir for the most part. It wasn't unusual to touch up the chain 4-5 times a day, more if things were nasty. I got good at it, could whip through the almost 9' of chain in 10 minutes or so. 1/2" pitch was easy, the files were pencil sized. Square file came later, a bit of a trick there, not that tough after awhile. As with anything, the more you do, the easier it gets.
From 1975, a few crew members clowning around, I'm at the left holding a boat anchor.
