Thread: advice or pics on sharpening a ripping chain?

sharpening a ripping chain with 10' top plate angle for milling timber slabs


Gordo - When i first converted a ripping chain to slabbing I did it gradually as the cutters needed a touch-up I brought them back to the 10 degrees. The quality of the cut improved markedly the closer I got to 10 degrees, and now I immediately file the teeth on a new chain back to 10 degrees. I also remove every second set of cutters and depth gauges (metal cutting blade on a table saw) to make my own version of a skip tooth. I only have a small power head (Stihl 044) but with a 2 foot bar I am able to slab 20 inch slabs with this set-up.

Regards
Brosh

Originally Posted by Gordo78

Morning all,

has anyone got any pointers on sharpening a ripping chain with 10' top plate angle for milling timber slabs? I've only ever sharpened standard chains and even then only to cut up firewood/fall trees etc.

thanks

Gordo

Gordo, get ya self one of those clip on file guides, they have a couple different angles marked on them, they also hold the file from dropping into the tooth too deep. Also you can get 10 deg top plate angle chain from new when you need to get new chain. Contact forum member 'Sawchain' for a price, he does a nice price

Definitely what the others have said. I would also add that consistency between teeth is far more important on a rip chain than a cross cut chain so as to prevent wandering in the cut. BobL has posted several times about setting the depth guides progressively and this is of equal importance whether cross cutting or ripping.
The bottom line, take your time and practice. Oh, sharpen frequently when ripping too, horsepower and sweat are poor substitutes for a sharp chain.

Originally Posted by Sigidi

Gordo, get ya self one of those clip on file guides, they have a couple different angles marked on them, they also hold the file from dropping into the tooth too deep. Also you can get 10 deg top plate angle chain from new when you need to get new chain. Contact forum member 'Sawchain' for a price, he does a nice price

I should have mentioned it's a new skip tooth ripping chain from 'sawchain', worked a treat too. I've done 2 practice cuts, and now it's time to try and produce a better quality slab so need to sharpen the chain. I've got one of those clip on file guides, somewhere, better have a look for it. thanks for the reminder

I use oregon file guides like these.
Oregonfileguide.jpg

To find out how to use these guides properly download the Oregon Chain manual and they give a good run down on it.
If you can't find it PM me.
The guides have a range of the top plate filing angles marked on top of them but the lowest I have seen marked is 15º
I use the 20º angle marking and halve it to get 10º although sometimes I use half the 15º line which I have also marked

The guides come in different sizes, 1/8, 5/32, 3/16, 7/32 and 5/16 and the guide should normally match the file sizes being used.
This combination produces a cutter with a fixed "cutter hook" or "top plate cutting angle" but not many people know that you can vary the cutting angle by using a different size file in a different sized guide.

For example if your saw is not self feeding enough that means it does not have enough hook
Using the normal file in a smaller guide produces more hook, using a size bigger file in a smaller guide produces even more hook.
The more hook the cutters have the more grabby they become so if you go to far the will bog the saw down - they will also go blunt quicker.

I use 13/64" files on my 3/8 chain and as there are no file guides for this I use it in a 3/16" guide which gives a decent hook. For less hook I would go to a 7/32 guide, for even more hook I could go to a 5/32 but that is usually too much. The amount of hook also depends on your raker setting - if that is lower than usual you might want to ease up on the hook.

I mark a piece of 4x2 with the angles and clamp onto bar whilst still in mill. You can site the angle as you freehand file well with practice and seed up the process.