Which Chainsaw Sharpener is Best? Let's find out! Stihl, Granberg, Chicago Electric, Oregon

when it comes to using a chainsaw one of my least favorite things to do is chain sharpening we've got nine different chain sharpeners to test today one of them claiming to sharpen a chain in only three to five seconds very impressive if that could actually take place well let's get the testing underway and see which chain sharpener is the best we'll see how long it takes for each sharpener to sharpen a chain we'll see which sharpening system does the best job we'll find out if any of these chainsaw sharpeners can actually outperform the sharpness of a brand new chain in order to get a fair comparison i went ahead and purchased 10 identical chainsaw chains the first thing i have to do is dull each one of these chains and then we'll sharpen them the chain that we'll be using has 56 links 3 8 pitch and 43 gauge this is a semi chisel chain it can take a long time to dull the chains if i cut clean wood but cutting logs have been on the ground for a long period of time with dirt on them will definitely speed up the process this cell fence post is probably 40 years old it's made out of hedge apple this stuff gets really tough to cut when it's this old and dry try hedge apple will wear out a chainsaw chain very quickly while i'm at it i need to take down a couple of trees that are dropping branches and are ready to fall i've got a dead tree that's right over top of my fence is probably going to fall any day now half the tree has already broken off in the other direction so this tree is definitely ready to go the cutting edge on the new chain is very sharp and it's going to be very challenging for the chainsaw sharpeners to outperform a new chain okay it took me about two and a half days to dull all nine chains but they are definitely dull and they definitely need some attention we want to remove the grease as well as a tree sap and other solids i'm going to spray down each one of these chains with brake parts cleaner to remove the oil then i'll soak each of the chains that lie for about 15 minutes 99 pure lie i bought this on amazon but you can find this pretty much at any hardware store i'm gonna add a cap full of light of the water the last pretty well dissolved so i'm gonna add the chains wow that didn't take long for the light to go to work dissolving those organic solids we'll give it about 15 minutes and then we'll remove the chains okay it's only been about 15 minutes and the water is really dirty i'm going to remove these chains rinse them off really well with water and then we can begin sharpening them at a price of 18.99 is this oregon field sharpening kit the organ kit is made in china the kit includes a file frame a file handle three round and one flat file and a depth gauge tool since this is a 3 8 chain we'll be using a 5 30 seconds file according the instructions sharpen a chain to 30 degrees the mark on a chainsaw teeth serve as a guide to know which angle we need to use for sharpening the chains we'll start with the gold chain link and then once we get back to it we'll rotate the saw 180 degrees and work on the other side this chainsaw chain is pretty dull so i'm going to begin with five passes the field sharpening kit does have a guide bar which helps provide the user with reference points but sharpening results will vary quite a bit based upon the proficiency of the person using the sharpener [Music] this is the chainsaw tooth and this is the depth gauge the depth gauge controls how deeply these teeth cut into the wood since this is the first sharpening we shouldn't have to file this depth gauge down but we're gonna go ahead and check it anyway file is unable to make contact with the depth gauge because we haven't worn down the teeth enough the chainsaw tooth looks much better after sharpening it only took around seven minutes to sharpen a chain using the organ file sharpening kit to test performance of the chainsaw sharpeners i'll be using this lithium-powered chainsaw the chainsaw requires two batteries to function and fortunately i have eight batteries to work with so i'll be throwing these batteries on the quick charger after each test i'll be adding two and a half pounds of weight to the of the saw and not applying any downward pressure other than the weight of the saw plus the weights that i'll be adding we'll see how long it takes for the saw with the new chain to cut through six four by fours 13.48 seconds for the oregon field sharpening kit at a price of 29.99 is this chicago electric power tools chain sharpener which is sold at harbor freight the chicago electric is made in china with the angle cutting edges facing right place the saw chain in the vise engaging the chain on the spokes of the chain wheels squeeze the vice handle to test clamping tension adjust the clamping lock nut until the saw chain does not move while being clamped loosen the angle adjustment knob align the angle arrow to the correct angle to the left of zero on the miter gauge then tighten the angle adjustment knob turn the chain roller until the first right hand cutter is in position pull down on the handle to bring the grinding wheel into the gullet then make adjustments turn the chain stop adjustment knob until the grinding wheel just grazes the cutting edge tighten the chain stop lock nut turn the depth adjustment knob until the grinding wheel is just above the bottom of the golem tighten the depth adjustment lock nut i'm adding a bread tie to the chain so we can keep track of where we started squeeze the vice handle and pull down on the handle until the grinding wheel makes contact with and sharpens the cutting edge sharpening the left hand cutters leave the chain in the vise loosen angle adjustment knob align the angle arrow to the correct angle to the right of the zero on the miter gauge then tighten the angle adjustment knob about five and a half minutes to sharpen the chain with the chicago electric chicago electric is definitely more aggressive than using a round file so i have to file down the depth gauge the chicago electric did a great job putting a sharp edge on the cutters but it also changed the geometry of the cutters just a little 12.33 seconds for the chicago electric which is about a second and a half faster than the oregon field sharpening kit at a price of thirty dollars and forty eight cents is this oregon sure sharp 12 volt electric chainsaw sharpener contains three sixteenths five thirty seconds and seven thirty seconds sharpening stones includes 12-volt automobile power adapter and alligator clips the organ is made in china alligator clip adapter chainsaw sharpener sharpening stones lock motor shaft with spindle lock button loosen lock nut install stone tighten lock nut loosen adjusting screw position guide plate against wrist to achieve correct stone height tighten the adjusting screw sharpen chain at angles recommended by chain manufacturer be sharpening 30 degrees and put a mark on the sharpener so it'll be easy to see [Music] about four minutes the oregon did a great job putting a very sharp edge on the cutters the oregon sure shark moves into the lead with a time of 10.82 seconds at a price of 36 dollars is a steal 2-1 file and go the steel is made in germany this is a really innovative product it has a flat file to work on the depth gauges while you're filing the chain so it's two in one the file that the steel came with doesn't fit my saw so i'm going to go ahead and use a different file we'll be using a five thirty seconds file the first step is to place the chainsaw inside of a vise the sharpener has a couple of marks on the bar so we can make sure that we have the right angle sharpening the chain now that we've sharpened one side we're going to rotate the chainsaw and sharpen the other side it took me about five and a half minutes with the steel the chain sharpened with the two in one looks extremely sharp the steel two in one did the best yet at 10.2 seconds at a price of 41.49 is this grindberg file and joint it claims to quickly clamp on the bar and keeps chains factory sharp we're gonna test that sharpens all salt chains lower depth gauges the groundburg is made in usa step one position filing joint on bar tighten screws to lock clamp over chain rivets hold file and joint parallel to the bar and tighten screw back off screws slightly to allow chain to move through snugly but freely position backup cutter against chain stop set the file height by turning the screw thoughts should show approximately one-fifth to one-tenth of its diameter above the cutter set the tilt dial zero degrees set the filing angles according to the manufacturer's instructions on horizontal scale the gromberg does not come with a file so i'm going to install a five thirty seconds file it definitely takes a little while to set up the gronberg as long as the groundbreaker is set up properly it definitely seems to be the best design sharpener for providing precise consistent results [Music] it took a while to set this tool but once it was set up a little over six minutes to sharpen the chain the grindberg looks to have done a terrific job sharpening the chain the grindbird did fairly well at 11.24 seconds but that's almost a second slower than the still two and one system at a price of 83.99 is this steel portable chainsaw sharpener 12-volt unit clips to your vehicle's battery comes with an eight-foot cord unfortunately the sharpening stones are not included the sharpening stones were just under six dollars insert proper size grinding stone using the two wrenches attached to the cord loosen the screw on the height plate select appropriate wheel size slot on the easy gauge and place over the wheel slide the height plate down until it is in full contact with the easy gauge and grinding wheel place the grinding stone into the cutter with the height plate resting on top of the cutter line up 30 degree angle mark parallel to the bar stroke grinder back and forth gently until the cutter is sharp sharpen the right and the left hand cutters from the same side of bar about six minutes with the steel sharpener the steel looks to have done a great job sharpening the chain 12.96 seconds for the still 12 volt sharpener that's about two and a half seconds slower than the still two in one file at 95.33 the second most expensive product we'll be testing is made by grondberg powered by your car truck battery built in the usa for performance and durability three sharpening stones included place precision grinder over chain and bar to position precision grinder base tighten screw the lock chain clamp over chain rivets hold precision grinder base parallel to bar tighten screw back off screw slightly to allow chain to move through snugly but freely position cutter back against chain stop set the tilt angle set angle dial to the selected angle tighten thumbnut adjust height dial if grinding wheel protrudes one fifth to one tenth above cutter [Music] the grondberg sharpen chain looks really sharp and the ground berg moves into the lead with a very impressive 9.78 seconds at 194.99 the most expensive chain sharpener that we'll be testing is made by oregon fairly powerful motor at 220 watts the organ is made in china three different sizes of grinding stones a small amount of assembly is required the organ is assembled and mounted so let's go ahead and set this up to sharpen the chain the operator's manual for the organ includes instructions on how to set up the sharpener for each type of chain right type of chain we need 55 degrees head tilt we're going to set the angle to 30 degrees we're going to set up our chain stop so we tick off just enough from each tooth this knob controls the depth of the cut we definitely want to get down in the gullet quite a ways but not all the way down to the chain link everything's just about set up the last step is to rotate this arm to the right about as far as i can applying some pressure so it'll hold the chain in position [Music] we just finished the right hand cutter so i'm going to set this up for the left hand [Music] four and a half minutes to sharpen a chain the organ has done a terrific job sharpening the chain but the geometry looks like it's changed just a little 16.2 seconds for the oregon bench grinder the sharpener is definitely more capable than that so the grondberg 12-volt precision system came out atop at 9.78 seconds still two-in-one file 10.2 oregon sure sharp 10.82 grondberg file system 11.24 and chicago electric 12.33 seconds obviously there's a learning curve and i didn't do a very good job with some of the sharpeners so i'm going to spend about twice as much time on each chain and check my work under the microscope to give each one of these brands the best possible chance we'll go ahead and remove the felling spikes just to make sure it's not interfering with the test results okay i just spent about three and a half hours sharpening the chains to make sure every brand has the best possible chance to do well let's test the oregon field sharpening kit first 8.89 seconds for the oregon field sharpening kit the fastest time yet 9.1 seconds for the harbor freight is very good but not quite fast enough to take the lead 11.34 seconds is quite a bit slower than the oregon and chicago electric and the steel tune one file system moves into the lead with a time of 8.26 seconds very impressive and the granberg filing joint moves into the lead with a very impressive 7.74 seconds the steel portable 12 volt sharpener was quite a bit slower than the ground berg at 10.56 seconds and the groundbreaking portable 12-volt sharpener was nearly as fast as a groundbreaking filing joint at eight seconds very impressive [Music] the oregon bench grinder did much better this time at 9.26 seconds but that's not nearly enough to take the lead so are any of these brands fast enough or even faster than a new chain well let's find out i'm gonna make three passes just to make sure we get the fastest possible time 8.89 seconds on the first pass 8.48 seconds on the second pass 8.42 seconds on the third pass so nearly identical times in all three tests for the granberg filing joint the granberg portable 12-volt still two-in-one file all outperformed the new chain the oregon field sharpening unit was almost as fast at 8.89 seconds chicago electric 9.1 and oregon bench grinder 9.26 so which chainsaw sharpening system is best in my opinion the grondberg systems both chain sharpeners are very impressive and hard to beat i also like the steel two in one if you have badly damaged chains and you have a lot of material to remove it's gonna be very hard to beat a bench grinder for the price of 29.99 the chicago electric does a fairly good job all the videos in this channel including this one are viewer recommended so if you have a video idea i hope you'll take time to leave a comment thanks so much for watching please take care and look forward to next time

Channel: Project Farm

Views: 1,198,265

Rating: 4.9308314 out of 5

Keywords: project farm, Best chainsaw sharpener, chainsaw sharpener comparison, chainsaw sharpener showdown, chainsaw sharpener test, which chainsaw sharpener is best, chainsaw sharpening system, how to sharpen a chainsaw chain, Stihl 2-in-1, Stihl 12V, Granberg Bar Mount with file, Granberg 12V bar mount, Oregon Sure Sharp 12V, Oregon 120V Bench, Chicago Electric 120V Bench, Lil DiHo, Oregon Field Sharpening Kit, fastest chainsaw sharpener, easiest chainsaw sharpener

Id: BzmKwxfqjjQ

Length: 16min 7sec (967 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 21 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/steve_o_mac]

His technique is certainly lacking, but then again so is the technique of the vast majority of chainsaw users. I guess this makes the test semi-valid?

[u/slick519]

I thought it was worthwhile for the average homeowner. His chains, especially after the first test, looked like hot garbage! But that is what most homeowner chains look like....

[u/NorthernRedneck388]

That 2-in-1 sharpener could’ve been bought with the proper size file

[u/JABooty1337]

Nothing will beat a round file and a practiced hand

[u/Krayus_Korianis]

I've got the Harbor Freight saw chain grinder. It works good for ⅜ pitch. .325 is a different story though lol. But I also have a Stihl file kit for teeth, depth guides and bar cleaning.