saw sharping ?

ratskinner

I bought a nice bench top chain sharpener last year and i still have not got the hang of it yet.so I am here to get some help .
when I cut wood I get the nice big chip like you should but I also get real fine sawdust .so what am i donig wrong.

royson

my guess is your murdering the chisels (like al lectric sharpeners do) and not touching the rakers.

my advice throw the benchtop charpener out , get a good bench vice and a pferd chainsharp cs-x. that way you can sahpen the chisels and maintain the raker depth in one action.

ScottyAFoster

Do a google search for chainsaw grinder videos.

Tony Knight

Have to disagree, I believe they have there place for those that have learnt the in's and out's. Some things to take into consideration is pitch and angle, shape of wheel on the contact edge (this is important), appropriate width wheel for chain size, depth of grind, heat generated from the grinding, and this is just to point out a few. You are correct with the depth gauges, an absolute must that they are within manufactures specs during chain wear (unless your racing or know what your doing). Buy a gauge and once lowered by file or grinder round the noses as they looked from the factory (IMO it makes a difference). Oh yeah, a chain only sharpens and stays sharp as good as its quality and user, cheap chain sucks. Failing all this use a file and if your new to manual work a jig stops the angles running out until you get the gist.



Tony

ScottyAFoster

There is a lot to consider when using a electric grinder. The cheapo style has a fixed head angle versus the little more pricey ones that you can change the head angle .

Tony Knight

Very true, a couple of months ago a mate (grazier, not in the tree industry)came and seen me with a number of chains and bars from several different saws. He had bought a grinder a couple of months prior and had been fire wooding so it had been getting a bit of a work out. His complaint was the all the chains/bars were "slabbing out" left to right (even over a 12" cut) and wondered if I could tell him why. One look identified one side of the chain was sharpened at a more acute angle and slightly lower. I reset all the chains (costly as he lost a little wear) and asked him to bring the grinder round as I believed it was not set up correctly (I didn't know what was wrong just something was). I used it on a old chain and had the same issue although not as bad. It appears that there is flex in the plastic chassis more so sharpening one way than the other changing the angle when you make contact with the wheel. For those appling a little pressure the angle increased. It was truly a cheap and nasty device designed by the Chinese to a price and not for actual usage. If you are after a grinder buy a good quality one and learn, read up. Maybe try to replicate the best you can the tolerances of a new unsharpened cutter by eye and always check the setup before commencing a chain.

Cheers


Tony

Grizzly

I see if your sharpening all the chainsaws for the company every night, that would become handy. For a small operation like ours, the cutter takes care of their own saw. If its not up to par we'll train them in proper sharpening. thats half of being a good tree guy; maintaining your own equipment. You know what it take to make that saw tick and rip right throu a tree like a hot knife in butter.

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ScottyAFoster

The chicom plastic ones are garbage! I like the Italian metal ones. Head flex is no issue there The one issue peopl have I see is applying to much pressure,ya only need the same pressure as when typing on these here electronic gizmo

Eric Frei

Dress the wheel often too to remove embedded grindings that burr the tooth and overheat it.

A good accurate grinding I still think beats a hand filed saw. I used to sit there with a vernier and measure each tooth, left and right and make them exact, a real acute angle too with the gullet well ground out. But these days I file, still get a decent result, also I use file guides etc when needed, all helps.

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ScottyAFoster

The grinder is good for cleaning up hand filed chains and it works fast to fix rocked chains. File guides are a good aid to get angles straight and true.

Josh Wrigley

Round file by eye, flat for the rakers. Machines can never get it as close. Persevere and learn it the old fashioned way, like the old timers.

Probably get a blasting for this one

Cheers

Josh

Eric Frei

Not really, well filed is great.

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ScottyAFoster

The machine is only as good as the bloke running the runnning it

Grizzly

Best of doing it by hand to touch it up or flip on a new chain. it the only few time you can get away with a cold brew working on the saws

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Tony Knight

Embrace technology Josh

I file, have been since a wee boy before dad would even let me use a saw, but I also value a grinder from time to time. Really its not unlike a file in regards to you gotta learn it, just the new fashioned way.

Cheers

Tony

Josh Wrigley

Unfortunately it's a habit of necessity. Can't carry a grinder when you are miles from nowhere cutting a track. Then you clean up a bit of granite with the chain.

Can be quite a bit frustrating at times

P.S; Found a rather amusing example of tree bracing today. If I remember to grab a photo I reckon Eric will have a laugh.

Cheers

Rob Chace

$3.50 says its occy-straps.

Tony Knight

Its a given they are not portable and not the only method that should be used, just saying they have their place. And I know all to well prematurely taking an edge off. I have/had the same issues and more so recently working with burnt trees quickly dulling chains. I also haul a couple of spare loops (amongst other crap including files and a stump vice) with me, just to be shaw to be shaw.

Cheers

Tony

Josh Wrigley

No, unfortunately I didn't get the chance to take a pic. It was a piece of angle line bottled to a fence post and then bolted to the tree. Obviously to stabilise the ten meter high hedge from one meter off the ground.

Hey Tony, do you have anything similar to Celery Top pine up your way? It has a similar effect as burnt timber on your chain. But I never said that, as it's protected...

Regards All

Josh

rogue60

I dont go by chips or sawdust i go by feel,you can feel if your chain is sharp or not..i only use a hand file... ive never felt a saw sharpend by grinder cut as good, as a hand file but thats just me and sharpend by me....one thing i dont think people get and thats a chainsaw is made to cut wood and thats all!!! if you see dirt clean it off before you cut or it will be death of your chain!! even a little dirt you say it will be fine nope! any dirt clean it off and dont go down into the ground...and also i give my saw a rub with file almost after every tank of fuel,if i not hit anything it will be say 2 rubs and say under 3min to do a 20in bar....but if i hit anything well rubs and time goes up.....anyways thats just me