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Tool Talk Discussion Forum

Chainsaw: Benchtop electric sharpener

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Quebec Bob

02-05-2007 13:19:51




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Can anyone advise on the best benchtop grinder for filing chains? I should have done this years ago. I can get it pretty good by hand but not good enough when I compare it to a new chain and the price of a sharpening is getting to the point where it is worth buying my own machine. I see NorthernTool has two of them, an unknown at $100 and an Oregon at $170. Can anybody advise from experience about these machines or others? Thanks

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Shovelman

02-06-2007 04:42:14




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 Re: Chainsaw: Benchtop electric sharpener in reply to Quebec Bob, 02-05-2007 13:19:51  
We had an old Stihl HOS grinder for years and it has always given us excellent service.

However, I bought a new Maxx grinder for my brother this Christmas and he loves it. The head tilts in both directions and won"t raise a burr on the tooth like many other grinders.

It must be fun to operate because he has sharpened every chain on the place to within an inch of it"s life and now he is doing all of our neighbor"s chains as well.

Here"s a link:

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Dug

02-05-2007 20:13:50




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 Re: Chainsaw: Benchtop electric sharpener in reply to Quebec Bob, 02-05-2007 13:19:51  
I bought a cheap benchtop sharpner from Harbor a few years ago and wasn't impressed with it. Then bought a Dremel attachment and found it much easier and provides a decent edge. Last year I started hitting the teeth with a hand file everytime I fill the tank and haven't used the Dremel since.



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jokers

02-05-2007 19:47:00




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 Re: Chainsaw: Benchtop electric sharpener in reply to Quebec Bob, 02-05-2007 13:19:51  
Take a look at this one.



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MarkB_MI

02-05-2007 19:10:12




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 Re: Chainsaw: Benchtop electric sharpener in reply to Quebec Bob, 02-05-2007 13:19:51  
Actually, I think they are both Oregon brand grinders, and both are imported from Italy. I have used both of them, and the cheaper grinder is not very powerful. It will take you two or three times as long to sharpen a chain with the smaller grinder.

As a result of my experience with the smaller grinder (borrowed from a friend), I bought the bigger unit. I think you'll be satisfied with it.



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jokers

02-05-2007 19:00:42




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 Re: Chainsaw: Benchtop electric sharpener in reply to Quebec Bob, 02-05-2007 13:19:51  
I looked at an Oregon 511A clone on the Northern site the other day at the request of a friend. The clone seems to be physically identical to the Oregon and being that chain grinders are simple machines I think that it is a viable alternative to the real thing. The price was also good at $99 on sale but you can buy replacement grinding wheels much cheaper from Baileys-online.com than you can at Northern.

I`ve used one of the Harbor Freight grinders getting it set up for another friend. It`s true that you can learn to do a good job with it but only if you are patient and use an extremely light touch. I guess there is a place for them in the grand scheme of things.

I believe that you inquired regarding the "best" grinder available, assuming round ground chain, that would be the Silvey 510. I have a couple and they are real workhorses, like driving a german car vs a Yugo. Bring your checkbook though because I think they are up to about $700 now.

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Oldman1151

02-05-2007 15:23:34




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 Re: Chainsaw: Benchtop electric sharpener in reply to Quebec Bob, 02-05-2007 13:19:51  
I have been using chainsaws for many years and have always filed chains by hand which works OK but after a while I would take the chain to a loacl shop to get it professionally sharpened which was worth it to me to get te chain back to where it should be especially after hitting something. Several years ago I bought a Dremel Attachment which worked pretty good and was faster and little easier than filing and was worth the small investment but still not as good a bench grinder set up. It was handy though because you sharpen the chain on the saw. Last fall I bought a cheap bench grinder(Chicago, I think) on sale from HF for $29.99 (regular $99.99). I found this to work quite well and got my chains as good the shops did. The first one I sharpened took me about 30 minutes to get stops set properly, figure the the thing out and sharpen the chain. I practiced on an old chain but would not have had to as it worked out quite well. It is easy to set up and adjust angles. After the chain is off of the saw the actual sharpening takes 5-10 minutes depending on chain length. I have used it to sharpen three diffrent pitch chains. It worked well on all three sizes using the same wheel. I figured I paid for the grinder after six sharpenings. I bought an extra wheel for it but it looks like I will not need to use it for quite a while as the wheels holds up quite well. The grinder itself is not made for the professional and defintely could be built better. I saw the Oregon Grinder (catalog/online) which is probably a better made unit but for $29.99 I thought I would take a chance on the Chicago Grinder. I would buy it again. It is fine for what I have to do and beats taking the chains to a shop and paying someone to do something that can easily be done yourself. I should invested in one years ago.

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JT

02-05-2007 14:44:04




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 Re: Chainsaw: Benchtop electric sharpener in reply to Quebec Bob, 02-05-2007 13:19:51  
I have used Oregon grinders for the last 30 years and never have a problem with them. I run a shop and we sharpen a lot of chains in a years time, maybe 6-700 or more, we replace wheels, feeder pawls, normal wear things, but nothing beyond that. So, spend the extra dollars and buy the Oregon. One thing to remember, there are a lot of differant chains out there that, to get the best performance, some cahins need to be sharpened at different pithces and angles, and you need to know the correct info to get a good sharp chain and to make it stay sharp. And some of the new chains are getting even more picky about angles and pitches. Just make sure you ask questions, read your manuals and you will save a lot of money if you use a lot of chains. You will see a noticeable differance with a table top sharpener compared to a electric hand sharpener, especially when it comes to sharpening each tooth the same.

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lucasss

02-05-2007 14:07:38




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 Re: Chainsaw: Benchtop electric sharpener in reply to Quebec Bob, 02-05-2007 13:19:51  
i have the oregon benchmount chain grinder for 15 years. i have no complaints.as a matter of fact, im still using the wheels that came with it. i spent the extra to get the reversable motor but my freind has the one way motor and it does fine.. lucas



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Brad_bb

02-05-2007 13:57:00




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 Re: Chainsaw: Benchtop electric sharpener in reply to Quebec Bob, 02-05-2007 13:19:51  
Have you tried using the Dremel chainsaw sharpener attachment? It"s probably the cheapest thing out there. I use it on the small Poulan I have all the time. At first I used to buy new chains(too often). Then I started using the Dremel attachment and now get 4 or 5 sharpeings out of the chain. As you sharpen I think the chain doesn"t last as long as the previous time. It think that is becuase the teeth are case hardened and as you start wearing through the teeth you have less and less hardened metal. Still you get a lot more life than you otherwise would. It"s really quick to sharpen the chain with the Dremel. Leave the chain on the saw and make a couple passes with the grinding stone at the appropriate angle and in no time you"re done with the chain - Definitely less than 10 minutes. The attachment itself is more of a guide to help you keep sighted on the correct angle. If you had to you could probably get away with just using the stones if you could approximate the correct angle well.

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