Are you talking about the one Harbor Freight sells, on sale for about $30 as I remember?

What does it sharpen? just the cross (the part one gets with a 1/32 round file - not sure I remember the diameter right, but I know the size is that or close to that number) file sharpening? Does it provide any way to uniformly control the other edges: height, flat across the top of the blade?

I don't have any advice on pitch and sap cleaning, I'll watch for something on that too.

It sharpens the top flat part and the curve of the blade with ease. You can control the amount you want to grind off. I say grind but it is more like just lightly touching the blade the with grinding disk, which is adjustable to the amount that you want to grind off. The vise table where the chainsaw blade mounts has the different angles so you can adjust it to sharpen any angle chainsaw you need. While sharpening each blade a lock stop holds the blade in position and each blade sharpened after that will be set to take off the same amount for a uniformed sharpened blade. After you sharpen the blades in one directions you leave the chainsaw blade in the vise table and turn the vise table to sharpen the other blades going the opposite direction. It's just that simple!

I hope that helps, Jerry

Thanks, I think I'll order one, tonight, if they're still on sale at HF.

On these electric chain saw sharpeners, I notice some come with 1/4"x1/8" wheels, my question is do I need different wheels for each different size chain? Example 7/32 or 11/64?
Or will these frinding wheels work?
Thanks

1/8" thick wheel, for 1/4" and .325 pitch saw chain
3/16" Thick Wheel for 3/8", .404 and 7/16" pitch chain
1/4" Wheel for depth gauge grinding and 1/2",9/16" and 5/8" pitch saw chain

I hope the Harbor Freight low cost (on sale for very low cost) comes with some DIY information.

I received the HF chain saw sharpener a few weeks back and got around to using it tonight. The instructions were helpful, but not the best. Some of the parts that came assembled required resetting or adjusting, added a couple of washers to get a better fit on the the tooth stop, and were a little rough and not strong looking...still, to my eye it did a great job sharpening blades, I did 2 14" blades. One has to move it through tooth by tooth, then reverse angle to get the other half of the teeth, still the time to sharpen was faster than using a file, for me. I think the chain saw blades look great, I'll give one of the chains a try when the rain stops.

Overall I give the Harbor Freight electric sharpener a "great buy" rating.

Is this the one you guys are talking about in the link??

Here is a link that might be useful: link

...or this??

Here is a link that might be useful: linky

jimtnc,

Yes, the electric model in your first link is the unit I have. I have not yet tried on a tree/log a blade sharpened, but the sharpened teeth look great to my eye, much better and uniform than any I've ever done with a hand file or Dremel bit/tool.

Would this be useful to someone that hasn't ever sharpened a chainsaw before? I have 2 of them and a polesaw, and won't use them because I know very little, not to mention the danger aspect.

The electric sharpeners can be nice but like any sharpening requires some practice and knowledge.

The $30 Chicago/HF unit is not a very good one. It is very sloppy and inconsistent. A better unit would be the ~$80 one offered by Northern Tool.

However, an electric sharpener will not benefit most chainsaw users. They really help when you have rocked out a chain. Other than that, you would better served by doing more frequent light touch ups. IMO, hand filing is the best method to do this. Hand filing does have a learning curve though.

If you do use an electric grinder, avoid hogging into the sawchain. You can heat up the teeth and lose the temper of the steel. I consider myself a moderate user with ~2 tree removals/month (60'+, 18"+ DBH ). With that sort of volume, I only use my grinder about once a month or every other month to get a chain back to shape. Even then, the follow-on hand sharpenings refine what the grinder did.

I'd say, save your money on the HF one and get the Northern Tool grinder. Some like the Dremel, but I have no experience with those. Most who power sharpen and use their chainsaws quite a bit will have something like the Oregon, Silvey or the NT grinder. They avoid the HF one.

I agree that they can work, I would just place them in the cheap tool category. I don't mean that as a personal attack in any way Jerry. If you have the time and patience, that machine can do a fine job. I think it requires more art than I like to use on an "automated" process.

When you are cutting, try to cut a large block and see if the saw cuts straight. I.e., if the cutters are unbalanced, one side can cut stronger than another and pull the bar left or right.

I hope your cutting goes well!

Okay, thanks. From what I'm hearing I should NOT use a grinder to do a small 8" polesaw chain, right? Probably better just to do the manual file way.

I can't think why you would not be able to use the grinder on that smaller chain, as long as you have the correct shape and sized wheel and the chain will fit on the holder. The chain should be in decent shape unless it has been run dull for awhile, it managed to "find" a nail or something else really banged it up.

Especially on smaller chains, I find hand filing to be quicker. Just taking the chain off and setting up the grinder can take longer than a few strokes on each cutter. 16" seems to be about the break even point for me on hand vs grinding. But for me, my decision to use hand or electric is based on amount of material I need to remove. Touch-ups are always by hand. I used to dread it but I now have enough experience and confidence to do a half way decent job of it.

Cut down a small hardwood, Ash I think, trunk between 10" and 12", also took down three red cedar that were about 8" diameter at the trunks. Cut the cedar into 14-15" lengths and split a few that were at the big end of the tree. The saw worked great with the HF Electric sharpener sharpened blade, oh yes, cut up a downed branch of Ash that was about 8" at the large end into 10 or so 16" lengths. That raised a question in my mind: How dry in too dry when it comes to fire wood. The downed branch was solid, but felt light, real dry. I touched up the chainr saw (a 14") with a hand file when done....so I'm with "masiman" on that point.

Thanks guys for the lesson. I'm just getting started with this even though I've had the saws for a while...need to get some confidence, I guess.

jimtnc,

Sorry, I read "small 8" polesaw " and didn't read the chain, part, yes the HF Grinder should work fine, the 14" I've sharpened were much longer than needed to fit over the sharpening rails...i.e., 8" should fit fine.

stilltenfingers,
Pitch and sap can be removed with oven cleaner. I use this on my woodworking blades (saw, router, etc.) and it works great. Spray it on, let it sit for a few minutes, rinse off. You can use a brass bristle brush to scrub if needed and/or repeat as necessary. Oil chain after cleaning (very important.)

jerry_nj,
As long as there is no rot the wood will burn just fine. Rot can sort of look like a sponge or can be a damp soft spot, easily pulled out or pushed in with thumb/finger nail. I've taken down a few standing dead trees in my yard and the only problem I have with them is they are harder to split than the wet stuff. I guess that's the trade off with them being lighter and easier to carry ;-)