3 Chainsaw Sharpening Myths

how you doing today folks today I want to talk to you a little bit about what I'm gonna call the three myths of sharpening a chainsaw for most of my life I've been trying to master the art of using of using a file to sharpen a chainsaw and today I want to show you some of the myths that if you go by the book or you read the directions they're gonna kind of steer you in the wrong direction for lack of a better term so these are some some quick tips that might help you get ahead in your efforts to sharpen a chainsaw and the first thing I want to say is you know this is a power tool this chain is spinning very fast I see so many videos on YouTube where people just do really stupid things with a chainsaw and you know you read the manual know what you're doing some of these things I see happening just should never happen I don't want somebody who just got a chainsaw who maybe doesn't work with power equipment a lot to just grab their saw I think they're gonna sharpen it up and get going because that is just that's just not the way to go so with my little disclaimer I the way the other thing is is I should be wearing gloves whenever you sharpen saw you should be wearing gloves but the first myth of chainsaw sharpening is you know when you see dust come out of your your saw that means you need to sharpen it well I sharpen a chainsaw much more often than that you know I basically sharpen the saw every time I fill the tank with gas I do what I call maintenance sharpening on the saw which is anywhere from two to four strokes just enough to bring that edge back so it's my goal to keep this saw as sharp as possible at all times not have it like super sharp and then get dull dull dull dull dull and then super sharp dull dull dull dull dull I want to keep it super sharp pretty much all the time so that's the first myth is don't wait till you see dust folks sharpen it every time you fill up with gas just a little sharpen just enough to get that edge back the second myth of chainsaw sharpening and every manual since the dawn of time says this is to take the same number of strokes on the teeth when you're sharpening the chainsaw well folks I want to just come right out and say that is wrong if you look at anybody's chainsaw that hand files if you look at the teeth you'll notice that there's always one side that's little longer or a little shorter than the other because folks we just do not sharp in the same way you know when we're sharpening when I'm sharpening on this side for me this is my weaker side so when I'm sharpening on this side I end up leaving the teeth longer and also with a hook now when I sharpen on the other side I end up getting a much more blunt edge on it and I remove material quicker so these teeth are usually shorter it's not use the same number of strokes every time you file but what you want to do is remove the same amount of metal every time you file and let me just move the camera in and I'll show you a little bit more about what I was just talking about so the first thing I want to say is yes I do keep my files in a straw when I'm storing them in the tool box that way I keep that edge now the chain you're looking at is a mailing chain so if the angles don't look quite right and it's also a skip tooth chain there's two teeth between two drive links between each tooth so if it doesn't look you know the same as yours this side feels like it's my strong side but when I'm sharpening this side I end up taking less metal and I also end up driving the file deeper into the gullet there so I get more of a hook on this side so when I'm sharpening when I'm sharpening on this side on what I would consider a maintenance sharpening it takes me four strokes I'll do four light strokes for a maintenance sharpening on this side as opposed to when I do this side and it only takes it only takes two white strokes so while I do agree you want to you know remove the same amount of metal on each side I disagree it's not going to be the same number of file strokes unless you've really trained yourself well to take the exact same file strokes I haven't quite done that now the last thing I want to show you is with these file guides and you know I really thought at some point in life I would end up abandoning the file guide and be able to just free file and I really do think that you know I could do this I could definitely do this for three or four sharpening but eventually I end up losing the angle so I kind of like to go back to this file guide or I use this file guide basically all the time and hopefully a little by little I'll wean myself from it but I will never I will never throw out these file guides because they're just so handy to have you know to get those angles back so when we're filing this side the last thing when you read the directions for the file guy they say to rest the file guide on the tooth so you see this edge of the file guide is resting on the tooth now that works pretty good most of the time but what will happen is sometimes either you'll you know sharpen your saw wrong so your tooth won't have a straight line across it or your rakers will get be too low and you'll start undercutting the teeth so what I end up doing is not all the time but if I'm having if I'm doing a lot of strokes and my teeth aren't getting sharp I will actually take the file guide off that bottom tooth a little bit and use that you can really straighten the edge of the tooth out quickly if you do it that way and I guess that's the other myth because there have been times when I've been just really under cutting teeth with this file guide and I couldn't figure out why but then as soon as you just lift it up off the teeth a little bit get that nice straight edge back it works much better and that's another one that you know with both with both sides of the teeth you know most of the time you leave it on the file guide but if you're having trouble keeping that edge or getting that edge lift it a little bit off that front that front raker and running across the teeth it's going to make a difference so those are the three myths of chainsaw sharpening I just wanted to dispel for all you guys are learning how to do it by hand number one remember don't sharpen when you see dust sharpen before you see dust I really like to do a touch up edge every tank of gas give it a try I think you're gonna like the results the second myth of chainsaw sharpening is you don't take the same number of strokes on each side of the chain you want to remove the same amount of metal on each side of the chain as you're sharpening whichever side you notice getting more metal taken away after three or four sharpens you see one getting longer do less strokes on that side and keep the strokes the same on the other side and eventually you'll find the ratio that works good for you you'll never have it perfect I still after every five or six sharpening have to take a little bit more off one tooth for me I actually take half the number of strokes on one tooth one side than I do on the other side and then the final myth of chainsaw sharpening and the directions say you know run that file against the depth gauge every time and I just want to say sometimes if your tooth is so screwed up that it's just not working or if you're digging under and you've got a lot of hook in your tooth you got to raise it a little bit off the tooth just to kind of just to kind of even out that tooth a bit and get a nice fresh edge back you know guys I don't really feel like an expert on chainsaw sharpening I know there's guys that you know do this all day every day if you'd like me to make a video about you know how I sharpen a chainsaw I'd be more than happy to you know let me know below so have a wonderful day folks and I look forward to seeing you soon take it easy [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: CTSCAPER

Views: 4,703,248

Keywords: how to sharpen a chainsaw, chainsaw sharpening, how to file a chainsaw, hand filing a chiansaw

Id: _CTW8Lp_Jf4

Length: 8min 36sec (516 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 11 2014