Keeping Your Chain Saw Sharp

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Depth-gauge guides are used to shape depth gauges, those rounded parts of the chain that extend upward in front of every cutter. If you look closely, you'll see that they reach almost to the top of each cutter edge, but not quite. The distance each cutter extends above the depth gauge is usually about 0.025 of an inch. This distance determines how deeply the cutters bite into the wood. As the cutters wear down, the depth gauges also need to be filed down, usually after every three or four sharpening sessions. And the depth-gauge guide lets you do that easily. Consistency is crucial: Don't try to file without a guide.

Sharpen Your Skills First

Practice sharpening on a saw chain that's almost new, ideally a chain that has become dull for the first time. Since crucial details like cutter angle and depth-gauge height still will be close to ideal, sharpening a nearly new chain is always easier. It also provides a great way to adjust your filing guide and learn how to use it well. If you have a half-worn chain on your saw right now, replace it with a new one before attempting to sharpen. By the time your new chain is worn, you'll be better at coaxing a full life from the old one when it goes back on.

Ready, Set, Sharpen

Start work by tightening the chain on your saw's bar so all the slack is gone. The chain should still slide around the bar with moderate hand effort. This is too tight for use, but is ideal for sharpening because each link becomes rigid under tension.

Between the bar and the body of the saw you'll find a small slot-head screw that tightens saw-chain tension. To tighten the chain, first loosen the two nuts that hold the bar, then turn the screw clockwise.

Next, clamp your filing guide in the middle of the bar. along the top edge. Full-featured filing guides include metal fingers designed to support the chain links as they're filed. Position the tips of these fingers at the base of the cutters, just above the rivets of the chain, then clamp the guide to the bar by tightening the anchoring wing bolt. You're now just a few adjustments away from filing the cutters.

Now's the moment when learning to file on a nearly new chain really pays off. I could make your eyes glaze over by listing all the various angles to which you need to adjust your guide, depending on chain type and size, but I'll spare you that. Instead, let your chain do the talking.

The filing guide has several angle adjustments (see the Image Gallery). Swivel the file in the guide so it matches the angle of the cutter's edge, usually 25 degrees or 35 degrees from perpendicular to chain travel. Loosen the adjustment knob on the guide, then nestle the file into the cutter. Match the cutter's angle before firmly locking that setting.

Most saw-chain cutters should be sharpened with the file pointing upwards a bit towards the cutter's point, usually 5 degrees from horizontal. Use the adjustment scale just below the guide's top scale to fine-tune this setting. Looking closely at the file and cutter will show you if the adjustment is correct.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print