iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Grinding/hand filing thread...let's see upclose pics of your chains guys!!!!

Started by khntr85, March 17, 2017, 11:45:22 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

khntr85

Hello guys.....so do any of you guys grind your chains....I used to be a hand file only kind of guy....however, I am so busy anymore, any spare time I get is always needed somewhere else.....I decided to get a grinder, so I got an Oregon 520....well I tell you after learning how to use her, I absolutely love it....I now have 2-CBN wheels, and I can get a great chain with the grinder....yes I still hand file, but you can also touch a chain up with the grinder too....

  I will include pics of cutters I have sharpened using my grinder....please feel free to include pics of cutters you guys sharpen....don't matter if you use a file it not, I just like to see what everyone else's chains look like....we can always pick up new tips, and tricks to get better chains!!!!




HolmenTree

I never owned a grinder and only hand file so I can't show any pics of ground chain. But I can say you have a good aggressive side plate with both the Stihl RS and Oregon  Vanguard chains. About spot on sideplate angle with the bottom Stihl green chain for durability an cutting efficiency.
As you shown best to keep the depth gauges high with the 2 aggressive hooked chains.
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

khntr85

Hello sir...ya that's why I put grinding/hand filing chains both...I would love to see your handfiled chains too!!!!

  I know you have been in the business for years, guys could learn a lot from seeing upclose pics of your chains....those pics were taken with a phone, so it's very easy....

HolmenTree

Yeah I can take phone pics of my round filed cutters :D
But I won't have anything extraordinary to show hehe.
I guess the best way to show proper hand filing with end result is a 2 minute video on the technique that I use.
I'll have to get my 13 daughter to help me get it up on YouTube.  ;D
I'll get the video for this thread, but with my busy schedule with my young family it will take a bit.
At the moment we're getting ready for a 2 week vacation to London England.
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

khntr85

Yes sir, I hear ya about having no time....with full time job, doin wood on the side, and a woman and 18-month old girl, my time is spread thin LOL...

Hey that would be awesome to have a video from you....I grew up with saws, but I know for a fact it will help people, and I am always learning myself!!!!

  Guys like you are few and far between!!!!

And I enjoy grinding/filing chains for some strange reason, always have...its one of the most important things to do right I believe!!!!

HolmenTree

Thanks khntr85.
Yes in my opinion there are few things as rewarding as cutting your own wood with a chainsaw and maintaining it to perfection.
I have a couple customers one who is a judge and the other is a surgeon. I put their tree on the ground for them, but they are more then happy to cut it up and stack it themselves plus take a few pointers on hand filing.
Great way to relax and unwind they claim :)
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

Woodcutter_Mo

 I have access to the chain grinder at work but the only time I use it is if I hit a rock and severely dull the chain. I prety much always hand file my chains. I don't claim to be a pro at hand filing chains but I get them to cut prety darn good generally.  :) I'll try to get a pic tomorrow when it's light out.
-WoodMizer LT25
-592XP full wrap, 372XP, 550XP, 455 Rancher, RedMax GZ3500T
-Fixer-uppers/projects:
024AV, MS260, MS361, MS460, Shindaiwa 488, 394XPG

khntr85

Hey good deal, love to see what you got....you know since I started sharpening chains for people(very small scale side business), I have come to find out 1-important fact....99% of people who tell me they can sharpen a chain do NOT HAVE A CLUE how to sharpen a chain....even when I see a chain that has the cutters fairly sharp and a decent profile, the left or right cutters are way shorter than the other side...I believe a lot of people do a lot of work l/mods to their saws and try to take care of them, but neglect the most important part, the CHAIN.....

   I do know that I am a little OCD about my chains, but a sharp chain can and will make any saw run well....i will say I am so glad that my dad taught me years ago to not fight the saw, when it's not cutting he would say STOP RIGHT NOW, and either file the chain or swap chains....



  Well anyway, if you guys have any "secrets", or just a tip that youbthinkncan help a beginner or a seasoned pro, let's hear it!!!

khntr85

Ok guys, as my buddy @philbert says, grind as you file, file as you grind!!!

I grind the same profile into a cutter as a file would....this way me and my customers can still file/touch-up our chains when needed!!!!

Also this shows that you can put the excact same profile on a cutter as a file produces, if you practice and learn how to properly use a grinder......I used my CBN wheel on this chain....also this was a hard pic to take...I had the file in one hand and had the phone to take the picture in my other hand!!!





Kbeitz

I grew up on a Christmas tree farm so we had to have good sharp
saw's all the time. I hate filing. Guess that there was just to much of it.
My Dad was good at it. When I got my hands on a Dremel I learned
real fast. We even found a 12 volt Dremel to use out in the fields.
Now I bought a Oregon a sharpener I got to learn everything all over.
One thing that I did find out is that even with a good machine that
you can have a chain that the left or right cutters are way shorter than
the other side. I would have stayed with the dremel but it eats up the
rocks like mad and I think the diamond stones just cut so slow. I want
to get the job done now.
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Woodcutter_Mo

 Hard to get good close-ups with the smartphone but these turned out ok. This is just sharpened freehand with the saw bar leaned up on a tree. It's tricky keeping the angle of the cutter strait when doing this. And I'll admit when sharpening this way, I do sometimes get the cutters just slightly different from left to right but not enough to make a difference in the cut, although it does annoy the slight ocd I have  :D





-WoodMizer LT25
-592XP full wrap, 372XP, 550XP, 455 Rancher, RedMax GZ3500T
-Fixer-uppers/projects:
024AV, MS260, MS361, MS460, Shindaiwa 488, 394XPG

Woodcutter_Mo

Quote from: khntr85 on March 18, 2017, 07:56:35 AM
Ok guys, as my buddy @philbert says, grind as you file, file as you grind!!!

I grind the same profile into a cutter as a file would....this way me and my customers can still file/touch-up our chains when needed!!!!

Also this shows that you can put the excact same profile on a cutter as a file produces, if you practice and learn how to properly use a grinder......I used my CBN wheel on this chain....also this was a hard pic to take...I had the file in one hand and had the phone to take the picture in my other hand!!!




That is important for those who want to touch up their own chains after being ground. Another mistake is people burning the cutters with the grinder. We picked up a bag of chains a different company had ground and the cutters were blue and black from someone trying to take way too much off at once, when the cutters get burnt like that, that also makes it hard to hand file afterwards and can you can ruin a good file trying to even make a mark on the cutter. The angles were also all messed up so we ended up taking the chains and resharpened them at a discount or maybe even free I don't remember. If you want to mess up your own chains, that's one thing but it annoyed me that this outfit had charged the customer professional price to do such a sloppy job and just about ruined their chains. :o
-WoodMizer LT25
-592XP full wrap, 372XP, 550XP, 455 Rancher, RedMax GZ3500T
-Fixer-uppers/projects:
024AV, MS260, MS361, MS460, Shindaiwa 488, 394XPG

Gearbox

I broke down and bought a grinder for just the reason Woodcutter say's .  On my 044 on the processer I can not have the cut wander side to side or I can't get the saw back up . Like Woodcutter I can not keep the cutters even so I grind to even them up . I can keep 2 chains in rotation and in clean wood chains last forever . In frozen dirt on logs I have sharpened 3 times on 1 log . Not anymore logs like that get left for the owners saw .
A bunch of chainsaws a BT6870 processer , TC 5 International track skidder and not near enough time

sablatnic

Free hand filing.
The best I can do picture wise. Need to touch up the chain again, I know! And I am not using chisel chain, wood is too filled with sand for it to work - I live close to the coast, with lots of flying sand and dust.





Woodcutter_Mo

Quote from: sablatnic on March 18, 2017, 05:16:59 PM
Free hand filing.
The best I can do picture wise. Need to touch up the chain again, I know! And I am not using chisel chain, wood is too filled with sand for it to work - I live close to the coast, with lots of flying sand and dust.






Looks like about time for a new chain to me  :D
-WoodMizer LT25
-592XP full wrap, 372XP, 550XP, 455 Rancher, RedMax GZ3500T
-Fixer-uppers/projects:
024AV, MS260, MS361, MS460, Shindaiwa 488, 394XPG

sablatnic



New chain?!? That too, but with a bit of luck it will take one or two more sharpenings - it hasn't started shedding cutters yet! 
8)

Woodcutter_Mo

Quote from: sablatnic on March 18, 2017, 05:41:27 PM


New chain?!? That too, but with a bit of luck it will take one or two more sharpenings - it hasn't started shedding cutters yet! 
8)

Yea I've got several like that, I keep them for cutting stumps and fence rows where there are alot of rocks that would mess up my newer chains.  :)
-WoodMizer LT25
-592XP full wrap, 372XP, 550XP, 455 Rancher, RedMax GZ3500T
-Fixer-uppers/projects:
024AV, MS260, MS361, MS460, Shindaiwa 488, 394XPG

khntr85

Quote from: Woodcutter_Mo on March 18, 2017, 11:51:52 AM
Hard to get good close-ups with the smartphone but these turned out ok. This is just sharpened freehand with the saw bar leaned up on a tree. It's tricky keeping the angle of the cutter strait when doing this. And I'll admit when sharpening this way, I do sometimes get the cutters just slightly different from left to right but not enough to make a difference in the cut, although it does annoy the slight ocd I have  :D







  Hey man thanks for posting, looks good....I bet those chains cut fast!!!!

Do you cut more hard or soft wood????

khntr85

Quote from: sablatnic on March 18, 2017, 05:16:59 PM
Free hand filing.
The best I can do picture wise. Need to touch up the chain again, I know! And I am not using chisel chain, wood is too filled with sand for it to work - I live close to the coast, with lots of flying sand and dust.






Hey very nice, don't it feel good to get your money's worth LOL!!!

moodnacreek


A chainsaw grinder is a machine and a machine will beat a man every time. However, I never use  anything but a file for two reasons; for one dry grinding hardens the tooth edge so it files hard and 2 I can't carry a grinder in my file pocket. I spend a lot of time making saw logs out of tree service stuff and have to file constantly. It depends on the kind of cutting you do.







Woodcutter_Mo

Quote from: khntr85 on March 18, 2017, 09:04:58 PM
Quote from: Woodcutter_Mo on March 18, 2017, 11:51:52 AM
Hard to get good close-ups with the smartphone but these turned out ok. This is just sharpened freehand with the saw bar leaned up on a tree. It's tricky keeping the angle of the cutter strait when doing this. And I'll admit when sharpening this way, I do sometimes get the cutters just slightly different from left to right but not enough to make a difference in the cut, although it does annoy the slight ocd I have  :D







  Hey man thanks for posting, looks good....I bet those chains cut fast!!!!

Do you cut more hard or soft wood????

No problem, yea as long as you keep the drags/depth gauges in spec they cut plenty fast.  I cut mostly hard wood.
-WoodMizer LT25
-592XP full wrap, 372XP, 550XP, 455 Rancher, RedMax GZ3500T
-Fixer-uppers/projects:
024AV, MS260, MS361, MS460, Shindaiwa 488, 394XPG

sablatnic

Quote from: khntr85 on March 18, 2017, 09:06:35 PM
Quote from: sablatnic on March 18, 2017, 05:16:59 PM
Free hand filing.
The best I can do picture wise. Need to touch up the chain again, I know! And I am not using chisel chain, wood is too filled with sand for it to work - I live close to the coast, with lots of flying sand and dust.






Hey very nice, don't it feel good to get your money's worth LOL!!!

You just don't discard usable parts, and it cuts fine!   :D

khntr85

Quote from: moodnacreek on March 18, 2017, 11:55:39 PM

A chainsaw grinder is a machine and a machine will beat a man every time. However, I never use  anything but a file for two reasons; for one dry grinding hardens the tooth edge so it files hard and 2 I can't carry a grinder in my file pocket. I spend a lot of time making saw logs out of tree service stuff and have to file constantly. It depends on the kind of cutting you do.

Hello sir...., yes the grinders do keep the angles correct....I also take more than one chain with me when I cut....I am always strapped for time, so I just swap chains....you are correct that a grinder "CAN" harden a tooth.....however, if the oprerater uses the correct technique, you will never burn a cutter....

Thank You Sponsors!