Sharpening milling chains

[Ben scott]

1mm - bloody hell that must make it pretty snatchy and grabby, damned tough on the saw. Get and use a proper depth guage to give the most consistent height. I used to have something called a carlton file-o-plate that was supplied with my lucas mill for doing the chains. Simple as could be but spot on every time

Just looked at the gadge was actually 0.65 mm somehow I had in my head that it was 1 mm sorry lads

[tre]

10 hours ago, MattyF said:

I use something like the Oregon 520 and it’s spot on so would definitely recommend one... I was always completely against bench grinders but for milling it’s needed for no ripples on boards and straight cuts.. you will always have a dominant side hand filling no matter how good you think you are at it and this will effect the end product.. I don’t think they are slower ... in fact I know they are not as put a chain I had sharpened in a grinder against a new chain and it was faster quite considerably we thought.. trick is take your time , don’t go slamming the wheel down hard on each cutter just gently grind away , knock off burrs until it’s perfect then move on to the next one.. I have an oil pot I brush on each tooth for badly damaged stuff and just watch out for burrs! .
I wish I had brought one years ago for milling chains.

Hi Matty,

I have recently bought an Oregon 520-230 bench grinder, and it seems pretty good. However when I grind cross cut chains it seems like the gullet doesn't go far enough in! I have checked settings and angles and feel like they're right for the chain, but the cut speed is slow, with not much pull into the timber. We are talking about cross cut here, but I've a bunch of ripping chains to sharpen, and want to get it right.

Thanks for any advice you might have. 

D

[muttley9050]

Carlton file o plate is awesome and the only easy way to check depth guage on a skip chain

[Rough Hewn]

Hi Matty,
I have recently bought an Oregon 520-230 bench grinder, and it seems pretty good. However when I grind cross cut chains it seems like the gullet doesn't go far enough in! I have checked settings and angles and feel like they're right for the chain, but the cut speed is slow, with not much pull into the timber. We are talking about cross cut here, but I've a bunch of ripping chains to sharpen, and want to get it right.
Thanks for any advice you might have. 
D

Check your depth gauges height.
[emoji106]

[MattyF]

Hi Matty, I have recently bought an Oregon 520-230 bench grinder, and it seems pretty good. However when I grind cross cut chains it seems like the gullet doesn't go far enough in! I have checked settings and angles and feel like they're right for the chain, but the cut speed is slow, with not much pull into the timber. We are talking about cross cut here, but I've a bunch of ripping chains to sharpen, and want to get it right.

Thanks for any advice you might have. 

D

 

So when you pull the wheel down I will pull it down hard for the last part and keep holding it there until it stops sparking really and the cutters all look clean at straight angles and no burrs.. from memory and I’ve only set it up once for 404 chain but you can adjust how much you clean from the gullet of the cutter when you pull the grinding head down.

Are you using the correct disc ? I did have a quick blast at doing a 3/8 chain that had hit some flint and there was no way I was going to get a satisfactory result so the correct disc for the chain your using and also keeping the disk dressed to the right shape is important, there should be a guide plate for dressing disks and a dressing stone.

I would go with what mutely says a Carlton file o plate is a good buy.

I think you can set the grinder up to do the rakers too but I have always have done them when the chains back on the bar just because I’m happy with how I’ve set the grinder up for cutters as to me that’s the most important bit to get right.

I think what you end up with any way is never quite the same as a hand sharpened chain and resembles a more out the box chain where the gullet is not huge.. my hand filled chains have the habit of getting a deep gullet that rips out wood, put that on a chainsaw mill and you end up with a very rippled finish that will need a lot of Sanding and planing when it’s ready to use... and they will blunt quicker and if you hit some thing hard there is more chance of buckling and breaking cutters.

 

[MattyF]

Can’t actually find a Carlton guide for 404 ?... maybe stick with a stihl.

[muttley9050]

Not sure where to get one but they are available. Trouble with stihl is that on skip chain they are hard to use accurately and on the 5 skip chain used on lucas etc they just don't work.
I tend to file all my Milling chains by hand with the carlton. I find it gives me a chain that cuts well for longest. If the chains are damaged or climbing in the cut etc then I get them back to perfect with an granberg precision grinder. Although as already mentioned I don't think this will cut as well for as long as a hand filled chain.

[gobbypunk]

Hi I have always used 404 chain and a Granberg grinder I got from Rob D never had a problem with it about £60 I think good bit of kit