Chain sharpening for beginners

[Catman]

So this is how I teach beginners how to sharpen a chainsaw I like 30° for the hardwood in the Midwest myself, get yourself a 2 x 4 at a 30° Or 35° angle clamp it onto your chainsaw bar then file away, can be used with a file guide or freehand. Hope This helps.Notice how the Husky file holder clamps right into the Husky file and guide.

 

[Homemade]

Good idea on the 2x4. Much easier to visualize the angle. You could put the second 10 degree angle across the top to see that too. Or 45 degrees x 45 degrees for square filing.


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[Philbert]

I made some simple ‘angle checkers’ out of aluminum channel, with a miter saw, for teaching chain sharpening. Not designed to remain in place, but to check/verify/compare.



Philbert

 

[5155]

I drew lines on the vise jaws with sharpie.
No help for tilt though.

Good idea with the 2x.

 

[Basher]

 

[jetsam]

If I had to teach someone the bare minimum to keep their chain cutting at least somewhat... I think I'd talk raker height before angle. If the tooth has some kind of edge and the raker is right, they'll be able to cut wood.

The number one thing I'd want to teach them is what a sharp tooth looks like. "Keep this loose cutter with your files and look at it every time you sharpen" maybe.

Judging by the screwed up chains I've rehabilitated, many people who heat with wood and have had saws forever could use some lessons in raker maintenance (as well as proper angles, keeping tooth lengths the same, etc).

 

[Philbert]

If I had to teach someone the bare minimum to keep their chain cutting at least somewhat...

Mine: The edges do the cutting, not the gullet.

Many are so focused on the 30° top plate angle, that they do not realize that there are 2 cutting edges. I often get a blank stare in return.

1. Get both edges sharp.
2. Try to make all the cutters the same.
3. Check the depth gauges.

After they get that, we can discuss angles, options, guides, etc., etc., etc.

Philbert

 

[jetsam]

Mine: The edges do the cutting, not the gullet.

Many are so focused on the 30° top plate angle, that they do not realize that there are 2 cutting edges. I often get a blank stare in return.

1. Get both edges sharp.
2. Try to make all the cutters the same.
3. Check the depth gauges.

After they get that, we can discuss angles, options, guides, etc., etc., etc.

Philbert

My (untested) assumption is that only the top edge matters for ripping, and it is also the edge seeing the most action during crosscutting.

How do you think a chain with a sharp top plate edge only would do on a crosscut? Seems like it'd be hard to get a chain that way by accident.

 

[Philbert]

My (untested) assumption is that only the top edge matters for ripping, and it is also the edge seeing the most action during crosscutting.

How do you think a chain with a sharp top plate edge only would do on a crosscut? Seems like it'd be hard to get a chain that way by accident.

When crosscuting, the side plate chops through the grain; it has the harder job.

The top plate clears out the chips. ***Trigger Warning*** It is ‘the real raker’ (!), and why I call the other things ‘depth gauges’.

When ripping, the roles of the top plate
and side plate are reversed, which is why they get sharpened differently.

Philbert

 

[Basher]

Mine: The edges do the cutting, not the gullet.

Many are so focused on the 30° top plate angle, that they do not realize that there are 2 cutting edges. I often get a blank stare in return.

1. Get both edges sharp.
2. Try to make all the cutters the same.
3. Check the depth gauges.

After they get that, we can discuss angles, options, guides, etc., etc., etc.

Philbert

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The number one most neglected piece of chain sharpening I have seen is the filer is not seeing, or looking at what the file is doing to the cutting edge. Just stroking a file aimlessly back and forth across the cutter will not yield a properly shaped and sharp cutting edge.

 

[jetsam]

***Trigger Warning*** It is ‘the real raker’ (!), and why I call the other things ‘depth gauges’.
Philbert

I'll bite.... rake is a word with many meanings, but the one we're talking about is:

Definition of rake:
3. to touch in passing over lightly
3b : scratch, scrape

So the cutter's top plate and the depth gauge are both, strictly speaking, rakers in that they both either touch, scratch, or scrape the wood.

In common usage, many chainsaw people call the depth gauge a raker and and the cutter a tooth. I don't think calling a cutter a raker is common?

I'd definitely keep that argument out of an intro to sharpening class either way.

 

[Philbert]

I'll bite.... rake is a word with many meanings, but the one we're talking about is:

Definition of rake:
3. to touch in passing over lightly
3b : scratch, scrape

So the cutter's top plate and the depth gauge are both, strictly speaking, rakers in that they both either touch, scratch, or scrape the wood.

In common usage, many chainsaw people call the depth gauge a raker and and the cutter a tooth. I don't think calling a cutter a raker is common?

I'd definitely keep that argument out of an intro to sharpening class either way.

Philbert

 

[jetsam]

LOL!

Well, language is a living thing. If the current usage always matched the etymology, we wouldn't have etymology!

I do take your point, though.

 

[davidwyby]

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The number one most neglected piece of chain sharpening I have seen is the filer is not seeing, or looking at what the file is doing to the cutting edge. Just stroking a file aimlessly back and forth across the cutter will not yield a properly shaped and sharp cutting edge.

THIS!

 

[Basher]

I kind of go back a fair bit on sharpening tree cutting tools. My dad was a crosscut filer and I sat and watched him file when I was still in diapers. Dad, his two brothers and my grandad were still felling trees in the forest with the two man crosscuts and the 48" big bow saws in the few years before I was school age and even for a couple more years after I started going to school. I could pick up the files and tooth setters and file a crosscut and Swede saw as they called the big one man bow saws by the time I was 9. That was when the chainsaws were coming into the woods as felling saws and were slowly replacing the manual powered saws used by most cutters up to this time. Thing was there was no one to show them how to file a chain and many struggled with getting them to cut after a new chain became dull, they could not transfer the knowledge they had from filing the blade saws to the chain. It was at that time I self taught myself to file chain and it took several years to get it right and get good at it, good enough that I was filing chain for everyone for miles around . I think being young and determined was a benefit to learning some things in life, I had more time and could experiment with few outside distractions or pressure from life in general. When I have tried to teach others how to file chain there have been very few that actually got the finer points required to become good filers. Maybe one in ten ended up filing a satisfactory sharp chain with properly set depth gauges.

 

[davidwyby]

You gotta be mechanically/manually? inclined/good with your hands, detail oriented...

 

[jetsam]

I kind of go back a fair bit on sharpening tree cutting tools. My dad was a crosscut filer and I sat and watched him file when I was still in diapers. Dad, his two brothers and my grandad were still felling trees in the forest with the two man crosscuts and the 48" big bow saws in the few years before I was school age and even for a couple more years after I started going to school. I could pick up the files and tooth setters and file a crosscut and Swede saw as they called the big one man bow saws by the time I was 9. That was when the chainsaws were coming into the woods as felling saws and were slowly replacing the manual powered saws used by most cutters up to this time. Thing was there was no one to show them how to file a chain and many struggled with getting them to cut after a new chain became dull, they could not transfer the knowledge they had from filing the blade saws to the chain. It was at that time I self taught myself to file chain and it took several years to get it right and get good at it, good enough that I was filing chain for everyone for miles around . I think being young and determined was a benefit to learning some things in life, I had more time and could experiment with few outside distractions or pressure from life in general. When I have tried to teach others how to file chain there have been very few that actually got the finer points required to become good filers. Maybe one in ten ended up filing a satisfactory sharp chain with properly set depth gauges.

Everyone who cares to can be good at it now; detailed instructions and pictures of what good cutters look like are already in their pocket. They can go right over to a chain manufacturer's website and listen to the guys who engineer cutters describing how one goes through wood!

I went decades "knowing" that I was sharpening correctly because I was doing it the way I was taught. Now that I've taken the time to actually learn about it, my results are night and day better.

I used to treat myself to a new chain once in a while; now it's a treat every time I pick up a saw!

Learning a skill is so much easier now that information is everywhere... but you still have to be someone who cares to learn and is willing to practice, and that sure ain't everyone.

 

[Wonkydonkey]

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The number one most neglected piece of chain sharpening I have seen is the filer is not seeing, or looking at what the file is doing to the cutting edge. Just stroking a file aimlessly back and forth across the cutter will not yield a properly shaped and sharp cutting edge.

THIS!

yes I can absolutely agree here.
I don’t teach many people, but when I used someone’s saw and it didn’t cut but the teeth felt half sharp. (Blunt) .. I asked when he had sharpened it, the reply was not that long ago.

I said to the guy do you want me to sharpen the chain for you. he replied yeh ok. So I set about sharpening and as the teeth were almost half way back, I saw and asked about the depth gauges.
The reply was I didn’t know you had to file those .
So I set about telling him how and why etc.
Then showed him how to file them. Then watched him seesawing the file over the teeth and the depth gauge.
Even though I said many things about seesawing the file he didn’t grasp it.
So I just settled for filing it myself , as time was passing and I wanted to get on.
So I then let him try it, to see how it cut.
I was listening to what he said and I was watching his face. The two didn’t really match, I,m sure you know what I’m saying.
I used it and it cut way better, so I guess he will be back at sometime asking again.

 

[Basher]

I agree wholly, any one with the true interest can learn if they keep at it and actually look at what the file is doing and get the shapes correct but so many just expect the file to automatically sharpen the cutters but that`s not all there is to it.

 

[davidwyby]

I was thinking about this.


“The file is not a magic wand you just wave over the saw...”