Thread: electric chainsaw sharpeners

I've used one at my Men's Shed.

One of the members had one that he hadn't ever used. He brought it in and we nutted out how to get it working.

Once we had things set up, it worked very well. So well in fact that a couple of the other members brought their chainsaws in, we removed the chains and they were done as well.

A bit fiddly to set up, but once set up, you are off like a rocket.

Now that I have a chainsaw I'm awaiting for Aldi or maybe from Ebay to pick up something suitable if my chain gets too blunt and Aldi doesn't come up with the goods in time.

Mick.

Ps: after a short period it became obvious that it was far easier to use if the device was bolted down. To that effect we mountede it onto some timber, which was then clamped to a bench.

I bought an EBay cheapie but it failed after a short time. I bought an Oregon brand one and it still going 15 yrs+ later.
I just lightly touch up the chain teeth often and never bother filing.

I bought a Chinese cheapy when I first bought my chainsaw; it gave a consistant and repeatable edge on every tooth BUT I found that it removed too much material. It wasn't really very good at touching up; just full on sharpening and my first chain didn't last very long because of it.

I passed it on and bought an EZE-LAP "Diamond chainsaw file with precision guide" which I use in a Dremmel type tool. Much quicker and easier to use than the electric sharpener.

Most of the Chinese version I have been associated with do not produce repeatable results.

Not many chainsaw users understand that the cutters on a chainsaw chain should be touched up after every tank of fuel when cutting hardwoods, and after about 2 tankfuls of fuel when cutting softwood.

Touching up only involves removing any visible glint on cutter edges. This means good lighting is required and some cutters might not even need to be touched , others might need 1/2 light swipes and some cutters might need 3/4 firm swipes. Grinders can't do this they have to take the same amount off every cutter whether it needs it or not as a result they always remove more than necessary.

Don't worry about some cutters getting too long - those that did not get touched this time will need it next time and VV and it all comes out in the wash. I used to put all my chains past a grinder whether they needed it or not every now and then but I haven't done that in 8 years, If a cutter looks too long just give it a few extra swipes.

If you can only use a grinder, that means stopping after every tankful of mix and taking the chain off the saw etc. You can use multiple presharpened chains but with a bit of practice you should be able to touch up a short chain faster than you can change a chain. Hence it really is worth learning how to touch up by hand.

The benefits of touching up after every tankful are; faster cutting, less load on the saw, and less wear and tear on the bar and chain.

Although I can touch up completely free hand I do find it faster to use a file jig. I use standard Oregon jig as shown in this video.


Oh yeah and don't forget the rakers, they should be give a swipe or two every other time the cutters are touched up.

If files still give you the heeby-jeebies then something like these battery powered sharpeners are pretty handy and very mobile.

Screen Shot 2017-10-09 at 1.37.05 pm.png

I have one of these...
Swarts Tools Premium Electric Chainsaw Sharpener (SWB1705) - Swarts Tools | An exciting new brand of semi-professional power tools launched in early 2011.

For me, I use it every 3rd-4th sharpen. I don't hand sharpen enough to get good enough at it to get the teeth to stay the same size on both sides, so I use the sharpener to get 'em all back to a standard...it's also a 28" so I can change a chain faster that I can sharpen, so I do that in the feild...

I bought an earlier model similar to the one linked to via ebay abt 15years ago, used it a few times but gave up on it and went back to my Dremel based unit. The issue I found with the unit I had was that everything involved with settings to accurately sharpen chains was semi rigid plastic that flexed a lot so that you could not get repeatable cuts, and the unit would take a near new well balanced chain and and turn it to rubbish in a couple of sharpens. I initially purchased the unit because it seemed to be a cheaper version of the all metal pro unit used by my local chain saw shop for over the counter sharpening, it turned out that it was a similar concept, but mine was an all floppy plastic unit and his was an all metal unit.
I would suggest that if you go ahead and buy anything other than a file, you should get one from a retail store where you can see it and check it out before purchase, rather than online where you get what someone in China thinks looks close enough to the real thing to be saleable.

Shop where your forestry workers shop. Locally here in McBride, I have never asked.
I know that some get together and buy 100' spools of saw chain from somewhere but that's about it.

have the same sharpener and with a slight mod it sharpens my band saw blades so don't see it not working on chain saw.