Anything to this Sharpening Device

Looks interesting but may be a tinker toy. Anybody used it?

looks like a copy of the timberline I have not used what I've been curious of but the original timberline is rather pricey for what it does.

I have not

Always used a file

File not included, I think

Awww maaann, I was counting on you bro 😎

It looks interesting.

Looks good but does it work as advertised, I have also looked at it maybe someone will post a good review on it here.

Why wouldn't it work?....anything to help you sharpen your saw seems like a good thing.

Get a file and learn how to use it

I had to imagine my own chainsaw sounds for the video, the music was making those bad azz saws sound not so bad azz.

Dad has used the Granberg File-n-joint jig for 40 years.
It works great, you can get a very sharp chain consistently.
Without much skill.
I started sharpening our saws on it as a kid.
He gave me one when I got a wood stove, but by then I was hand sharpening.
It is fidgety and cumbersome to someone who is comfortable free handing.


My neighbor bought a Timberline, and showed me how it works.
It too seemed fidgety, maybe a little less so. The rotary files are expensive and don't last very long.(2 chains I think) The whole unit was pricey. It is nice and compact, something easily carried with you.


I'd suggest the File-n-joint. It's $50ish, uses normal files.
The thing I like best is the combination of forced perfection on every angle,
while (if you pay attention) you are learning the filing motion and you learn what your teeth should look like.

If you are a 10 minute at a time, 5 times a year saw operator, the jig is all you need.
If you cut more, after using the jig awhile, try freehanding.
You will not achieve perfection. (Ever)
But you may be surprised with the result.
Use the jig every once in awhile to keep things from getting out of hand,
before too long the jig will be gathering dust.



Hints
Semi Chisel chain is more forgiving of bad sharpening, a bit more forgiving if
you cut dirty wood. (Dirt still dulls it)

Don't forget the rakers.

Flip the bar, clean the track and oil holes.

Check the corners of the bar for burrs, remove with a flat file.
(I like to just barely break the corners, it helps prevent burrs)

I always use a dremel and the little stones
they sell in the 2 pack for the purpose.
Easy enough to freehand it if you just follow
the proper angle

Used the files before I had a dremel
Same thing- follow the angle

This is the easiest and best that I have found, files teeth and rakers at the same time

I have a Stil knockoff that I got off ebay and it works good enough for me.

This! Sharpening a chainsaw blade ain't rocket science. Do a touch up more frequently and it's not a job that takes more than a few minutes.

There are only a few reviews on Amazon and they aren't that great. They have Chinese clones with better reviews than the original.

There are only a few reviews on Amazon and they aren't that great. They have Chinese clones with better reviews than the original...but still not very good.

I have the timberland and had good luck with it. But I got a good deal on an Oregon chain ngrinder and that is all I use now.

The way it is advertise seems scammy and like a tv infomercial, immediately turning me off from purchasing it.

I use that too. Best I've found.

Yup.

Sharpen with a file while I’m sitting on the couch watching Wagon Train…

Yup
Swiss files all by eye. Rakers adjusted with a flat file, according to saw, and whether wood is frozen or not. I'd be embarrassed as fk to admit that I use any of these fkn training wheels devices to sharpen a saw.

10 degrees on milling saws, 25 degrees for the falling/bucking saws. I run about 50 gallons of mixed a year in saws, hand filing is like breathing air, yah just do it......
















[img]https://i.postimg.cc/W4htbXJf/20220528-151224.jpg[/img]

I have always used a round 13/64 or a 5/16th file to sharpen my saws. Easy peasy. Inexpensive.

Your file has a handle on it. Fancy.

Do these work? Got one for Christmas a couple of years ago. I haven’t taken it out of the box to try.

Yeah, they work, but....

Dad got one 30 or so years ago. He's tapped out of the wood cutting thing at 80 years old and he told me to drag it to my shop last summer. I bolted a 2x4 to the bottom of it so I can just clamp it in a vise because I didn't want it taking up space on the saw bench.

If you set your angles right, take your time, and not hog too much, you can get a decent sharp with it. In my opinion a hand file and good eye is damn quicker, and less prone to burn teeth.

I would like it exponentially better if the motor was reversible so wheel rotation is correct for both sides of the chain. Variable speed would be cool too.

Set it up and use it, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Most people don't even have a basic knowledge of how to sharpen anything. Knives, chainsaws, scissors... whatever.

They all look for a magical tool to do it for them. Lacking basic knowledge of bevels and angles, they are probably better off using some sort of machine that does the thinking for them...

I used to work in a saw shop and sharpened thousands of chains on the bench mounted grinder. In the shop we had a MIDI Jolly. When I quit working in the shop, I got one more myself. This will do only the cutting edge, you've still got to do the rakers with a flat file and dress the bar by hand.

This.

Easy peasy.

at less than 30 bucks for 2 chains from amazon it ain't worth my time to sharpen a chain any more

A friend has a 12v he run off his pickup battry.

lol

Do you even need to keep a sharp chain cuttin all that spruce, pine, balsa chit.

More of the “out west bliss”


🤣

I buy a new one when I have a lot of cutting to do.

If you're cheap: link

Gotta be smarter than the tool. 🤣

These flamboyant fkn PNW Canadians with their cedar balsa wood, high heels, skip tooth chains and saws ported for max rpms. They literally think the cutting world revolves around them.

Few observations:
Those saws don't run fer fkn sht up here in below zero weather. Running too much rpm, saw won't even get up to temp, even with a flywheel bib.

Too high rpms, chains just skip and chatter over the frozen alaskan birch, no matter the raker depth. Alaskan birch is as dense as oak. Then 20 below zero: semi chisel only full house only.

Humboldt under cut: senless up here. Our wood isn't that valuable, no need in preserving a half a foot of a fkn stick. Congratulations, that Humboldt cut buried the butt end of the tree into 4 foot of snow pack. If u don't immediately dig that tree out of that snow, it'll freeze into the packed snow so badly, you'll snap winch cables trying to lewis-winch it out. Whereas a conventional face cut: tree launches off the face cut, crown slaps the snowpack, butt end of log high n dry.

A lot of those gadgets work, but usually are more trouble to set up than they are worth. Get a proper sized file, learn to use it, and do it in a fraction of the time.

I run a Timberline and really like it!

It's a Chinese knockoff of a Timberline, why would you openly support stealing ? Neither of them trim the rakers, so what good are either..
The Stihl 2in1 sharpener is the best I've ever used.

I like to hand sharpen new chains.

Factory sharp isn't as good as it can be.
And they get better with wear.


Matter of fact, I don't care for new chains.
Kinda like random new, squiggly, wiggly, soft, puncture prone tires.

The Granberg File-n-joint is the best thing I've used, I can get a chain as sharp as new with mine. Anything I have to hold by hand doesn't come close.

There's no way I'm buying a new chain every time I need a sharp one. I dulled one in 5 seconds the other day cutting down a sweetgum that had some hidden barbed wire in it. 5 minutes with the granberg and it's good as new.

Learn to file by hand without gadgets

You either don't cut much or you've more money than sense.

Why?

I own the gadget and have for years, it does a better job than anyone will do by hand, and I pull out a chainsaw every couple of months so there's no reason for me to invest time in getting good at hand filing. If I made my living cutting wood then I would, but I don't and I have much more important things to spend my time on.

I usually hand file as well and also admit I still have a lot to learn about filing rakers, how much and when. Recently watched a video on the Granberg system. They also have a guide that uses a grinder similar to a Dremel tool and a round stone. The grinder runs on 12 volt power. I like to touch up my chains with a grinder from time to time, then hand file in between. Thinking about looking into this.

I grind with a cheap HF grinder, and touch up between grindings...it works well enough for me to do the 8-10 cord a year of wood I am currently doing. As for the rakers, the best, easiest way to do it, IMO, is a Husqvarna gauge and flat file.

I run alot of stuff that you can't get in the states. I've had sht shipped from Sweden, Malaysia, Australia and a half dozen other fkn places.

One place where hand filing is difficult: a good cutting edge on 3/8 lp (Low Profile/thin kerf) pmx milling chain. The tiny files are frail, and the teeth get work-hardened on 16 ft long milling cuts. The tiny milling teeth, an Oregon file guide and the slightest of file strokes, gives mediocre results at best.

The stihl dealers dont even have this pmx chain. This all mounted in a GB-lp milling bar i had shipped from Australia. This required a special rim sprocket, regular 3/8 didn't support the chain right.

Problem with using a grinder: taking the whole fkn milling frame apart and bar/chain off the saw is stupid.

Tecomec makes all the professional grinders used in most saw shops. Everybody just rebrands them.

Anyhow, for the past 8 months, I've been tracking a real fkn tecomec grinder, that was only available overseas. Had a guy in Ireland shipping me one.

A major saw-stuff importer from the states: ArcherPlus just imported them! Should turn obsolete, all these ancient or Chinese garbage sharpeners.

BAR MOUNTED, uses good grinding wheels, cordless and uses lithium ion batteries, you're welcome:


https://www.amazon.com/Tecomec-Chainsaw-Battery-Mounted-Sharpener/dp/B0CCPNGCYT

Birch isn't even close to the density of oak. And I've cut birch in the UP of MI and far Northern Ontario.
I would be surprised if Birch has less density than Douglas fir.

Different tree species, and what you were cutting was not Alaska birch. Alaska birch has very small growth rings, and is very dense, especially the further north. I plane alot of ash to build dog sleds, which planes like nothing. Planing Alaskan birch, just about burns up my planer.

Check out USFS btu ratings on Alaskan birch. Was right on par with red and white oak. Coupla local guys just had trucked up a 32 ft trailer of red and white oak. We are comparing it to our interior birch.

Anyhow, a stove full of Alaskan Birch will burn in my stove for 12-14 hours, if pieces be large. For not having much tree diversity up here, I'm happy to use it for almost everything building/heating.

Conceptually, it looks fine probably very consistent as to angles and depth. All I would question is its durability and whether one can easily acquire replacement stones/files. I suspect the latter won't be found in the corner hardware stores.

Rakers are the easiest.

Buy a gauge, Oregon makes a good one, the Carlton file o plate is great if you can find one.

Either buy a file at a saw shop or make sure the file you buy is a safe edge. You want a simple small bastard file, do not let a Stihl dealer gouge you $15 for their wired file that goes in the goofy tool.
You can buy a good Swiss file from another dealer for about $8. It will only last for a couple chains.

After using the gauge, either round or put a bevel on the leading edge so it glides across the wood.

In the first place both the locations I've noted have an extremely short growing season. In the second I checked out your Alaska Birch and no its not the same BTU per cord as oak. It's a pretty soft wood and a chain saw cuts through it like butter, even when frozen.
Also skip chain has its place. It works great in the softwood in the western US with longer bars. I never used it until I moved to MT, but after trying it I like it. That and I will keep my high RPM modern saws over those 30 year old design Echos.

When I said they're comparable, they are indeed comparable

Alaska birch is 23.6 million btu's per cord

White oak, 25.7
Red Oak 24.

Do you honestly think that you'd notice that miniscule difference running a wood stove? Seriously, getting a 12-14 hour burn in the stove, and you think that wood is soft?

Do you make lumber or buy various hardwoods to build outdoor equipment, comparing density? How do you know alaska birch is soft?

Have you even cut 20 below zero frozen birch? It'll rattle your saw apart if chain type and raker depth isn't proper.

I have all sorts of husq, jonsered, stihl, and echo saws. Oftentimes, the older stuff is simpler, and cheaper to work on. Less to go wrong as well.

Merry Christmas.

to the OP, looks like you can buy the knockoff for as little at $17 on Amazon



From Amazon.....
Customers say
Customers are not satisfied with the performance, quality, ease of use, and sharpening of the outdoor living product. For example, they mention that it does not work very well, the instructions are awful, and the sharpeners dull within the first 10 teeth. They also say that the product is a complete waste of money and time.

Stihl tool. Just a guy, just 2-4 cord/yr lodgepole, spruce, fir, larch. Sundry chores/projects. MS261. Clamp in a receiver-mounted vice. Shrug.

A neat skill, the guys who can do it consistently by hand, adjust angles per task, etc.

I’m just a guy who’s got chit to do.

Just as white birch varies in density with length of growing season so does oak. I can assure you that in the upper midwest birch is considered a garbage firewood and oak isn't. It's not close either.
And yes I have cut plenty of frozen wood. I logged in Upper MI for quit a few years cutting yellow birch, red and white oak, sugar maple, ironwood and beech. All of which are much tougher than white birch. And I never had a chainsaw not blow though these species with ease. I might add that the average diameter at breast height was probaly 3 times the size of those pecker poles your cutting.

This
If you cant figure out "how to" with a dremel and round stones , ya might not outta be playin' chainsaw.

That frozen wood deal is a bit unique. Had a tough cold winter several years back and had to get into the woods early for firewood due to summer scheduling issues. We were dropping roughly 36-inch dbh dead standing tamarack in early May, and about 80% of the cut surface area still supported ice crystals. Had the bar running a bit cooler than normal. Wood must be a damned good insulator.

I hand file but admit to mounting a jig for angle reference.

Occasionally, I'll hit something and screw up one side or the other of a chain (full-chisel). If it's severe enough to alter tooth length, I'll drop that off at a shop to get things trued up and even on both sides via machinery. If not so, one generates nice curves to one side or the other, and things eventually bind in bigger wood. Another reason to pack extra chains and saws to the woods. Learned that on an early trip when I made about 3 cuts and came home with an empty truck.


Five layers deep there being about 3.6 cords of tamarack. We normally burn about 2 and 1/2 cords. Winter of 2022-23 it was 3 and 1/2. I think we're back to normal this year.

Never been to Alaska, never cut birch at 30 below.

I've cut maples and oaks at 5 below,
never cut anything as hard as old dry locust.
It will make you think you got into something, until you try the saw
in other wood. Suddenly it cuts good again. Green, it's not so bad, saw self feeds
and nice big chips.


Frozen wood is definitely worse in one way,it dulls the chain.

Same here, grew up in the logging industry back in northern maine. Grandfather, uncles, step dad. Yep, I'm familiar with all the common hardwoods like maple, ash, oak, beech, etc. My grandparents met at a logging camp. My parents just sold the old logging shop, that my grandfather retired from.

I run a small tree service company up here, and I'm a bit surprised by you. Don't you think I'd be a good judge of what l'm cutting, and building with, that you have not cut? I build ported saws dude, I don't need you to tell me what works in my environment. I also own port work by many other saw builders.

Anyhow, here's an example of how dense Alaska birch is:
Milling my first 20 in diameter Alaskan birch, that had leafed out. I attempted to mill it with 3/8 milling chain in a 92 cc Stihl MS 660 magum that was equipped with a dual port muffler and a max flow filter kit. Saw fell flat on it's face. Would bog to zero rpm's in the cut.
That 660 did fine in 30 inch spruce. But milling Alaska Birch, even tuned rich on the high jet, running 32:1, that saw got HOT in a 16 ft rip. Constantly damaged the oiler gears from the heat of the inboard clutch, oiler worm gears were plastic.


This is why I run 3/8 lp in the smaller 70-90 cc saws in Alaska Birch.

But really, even my ported 116 cc saw has a hard time, pulling .404 cutters sharpened at 10 degrees, in a 16 ft rip on the real big ones. It does it though, year after year. I like the .404 cutters, they stay sharp a long time.

Yep, lotta pecker poles up here, but around my region, I've found plenty of large birch and white spruce that make great saw logs for framing wood(spruce) and birch flooring/tables/counters. Most of the spruce I mill are 27"-32". Most of the larger birches yield 20"-26" slabs. Anyhow, birch isn't a "trash wood" as you claim. I really enjoy working with it, some really nice products are built up here in Alaska, with birch. Then we get birch syrup, Chaga for tea, bark for crafting and fire starter.


Spruce slabs:



Birch:

That is hard stuff. One can bend staples and nails hammering into that stuff.

My thumbe


My thumbs still hurt from trying to drive staples in old posts.

Along with farm projects that involved driving nails into dry oak or locust boards.
Once battery drills becoame something worthwhile, we drilled pilot holes through the first board. Hadn't thought of the joy in standing on a ladder, holding a new barn board,
and bending 8d or 10d nails, one after another. A not so fond memory!

It’s chipper that is easier to sharpen because it is more forgiving , not chisel.


And takes more abuse, like 25 year dead locust.

Silvey (Simington) grinders are at the top or near the top grinders, tecomec are middle of the road, good yes. But not the top

Humboldt cut is also used so the stem doesn’t kick back over the stump as much,if ever

Ported saws, DONE RIGHT, run fine

Lot of weird facts thrown around ……..

Chainsaws don't have blades. They have bars

Yes and no. I've found that Oregon DPX semi chisel can be absurdly hard on files. They add more chrome plating to the cutters than their full chisel EXL. They designed DPX-VERSACUT for cutting dirty or dusty wood. It's really tough chain.


When I first started getting frozen/whole cows off the farm to feed my dog team, using EXL chain I'd break full chisel cutters right off the chain in bone. The teeth would be so dull and damaged after a half a cow.

Not that fkn DPX chain. Three cows, and it's still ripping doggy steaks weird fact.......i know:

I'll report back on that lithium battery powered, bar mounted grinder. Fkn game changer for zippin milling chains inside the constraints of a mk ll Alaskan mill. Without having to take ANYTHING apart:

A file if you know to use it.

A grinder is only as good as the guy setting it up. Oregon/tecomec grinders are very inaccurate side to side and it takes a fair bit if fiddling to get them right. This is why most shop ground chains suck.

Again...your birch isn't that tough and having lived in Maine you should know this.

You do not take your best tech on saws and put them on the grinder…..so most shops grind poorly
I set up a guy’s grinder but he wouldn’t use it……. Takes too much……he had shops grind them.

I took one of his chains and cut the top and bottom and didn’t touch the middle.

He has no problem with me grinding them now.

Duly noted. lol

I used to do hurricane clean up with really dirty wood. Chipper worked.

And the 25 year old locust …….you get sparks.

The chain you use for milling is impossible to find for mere mortals. It is great stuff. I’ve got rolls of chain but have never even seen a 25 ft roll. Much less a 100 ft.

Nice pictures of the projects…..a lot of skill there

257, It's actually disturbing how many chains I test/run.

When i cut canoe trail yep that wood is imbedded with all sort of filth. Some of these creeks up here are navigable, and have never been cut out. The Alders and wood plies choke em right out. Good place for DPX chain too.

Another interesting chain for apocalyptic conditions, is the carbide stuff on quick vent saws(firefighter saws). It's like $350 for the bar and chain.

I pick them up, hunerd dollars a piece, torched and broken. Last one, I fished red sports car metal, corrugated roofing metal and asphalt shingle remnants out of the flywheel! The plastics were torched, from cutting roofs on fire. The bad harmonic forces of cutting metal, air leaks galore torched the saw. Little metal bits packed against the intake boot, cut a hole in it. Run er till she burns up says the firefighters, haha!

Anyhow, I'm hording all this carbide chain, and will make a killer canoe trail saw that will cut sand/mud embeded log jams and beaver dams.

For a landing saw dealing with logs skidded through mud I used chipper. It does stay sharp a bit longer, but not a huge amount and it's certainly slower. Finally sick of having two types of chain on hand I just started using chisel on my landing saws filed a bit less aggressively. It worked fine with only slightly less time before sharpening than semi.
When cutting muddy logs it's best to bore into them and cut such that the chain is pulling the dirty wood out of the cut if you can.

Duly noted. May try that with the different angle.

I have that echo bar. Will go on an 034 once I mod the mounting.
And I have the rescue saw with the cover for the bar to set depth(brother was a firefighter)

Have a Stihl diamond wheel and a small Silvey grinder just for carbide chain. The chains cut slow but CUT…

I do saw set to the job. A top handle echo with a 6” at for dam faces. Mostly sumacs……..it woiks……..