Sharpening saw chains is worth the effort

During my many years of burning firewood, I’ve bought a variety of sharpening instruments - files, gauges, and even an attachment for my old Dremel grinder. They were all pretty slow and - for me - too time-consuming and tedious. Finally I chucked all of it and began taking my chains to a shop, keeping on hand enough extra chains to keep me going.

With slim hope that it would help, I ordered a little sharpener (shown above) from Harbor Freight tools. It cost less than $40 and paid for itself quickly, compared to shop sharpening prices - now about $4 per chain in my part of the world.

It isn’t difficult to set up once you know your chain’s size and angles, and the sharpening process goes fairly quickly.

Don’t mistake this thing for a quality tool. It’s mostly plastic and probably the angles aren’t exact, and I don’t expect it to last a lifetime. Still, this is an affordable way to avoid commercial sharpening prices.

Sponsorship for this essay is provided by wood-burning stove suppliers.