Chainsaw chain sharpening

MRGJNV · Feb 19, 2011

I got to sharpen the chains on my Husky 41 and 365 special chainsaws. The manual that came with my sharpener told me what angles to set my sharpener to but foe the life of me can't find the manual. Got to looking on the net for the angles according to the chains I have but there is so many variations of the number type of chains. My chains are stamped 73, 33 and 21. The 73 and 33 are oregon and i think the 21 is a sthil.

Anybody have a handy chart or be able to help on what type of 73, 33 and 21 I have? Thanks.

PJH · Feb 19, 2011

The chain that I get from my Stihl dealer has a line on the top of each cutter. That line is the file angle.

Paul

jokers · Feb 19, 2011

73,33, and 21 are all Oregon numbers. The 73 is 3/8 pitch .058 gauge, the 33 and 21 are .325 pitch .050 guage chains. What is equally important to know if you want to look the angles up is what follows the numbers? LG,LP,DG,DP, etc but you won't find that info on the chain.

An easier method is just to determine if you have a square chisel corner or a rounded semi-chisel corner. Rule of thumb close enough is 30° angle across the top and a 60° on the inside angle and upper side plate, but be careful not to get too much hook, on the chisel type chain.

25° across the top and 80° sideplate on the semi-chisel type chains, again being careful not to develop too much hook.

Here's something that might be useful to you.
Oregon Chain Maintenance Manual

Rod (NH) · Feb 19, 2011

For filing and grinding angles for Oregon chain, see the <a href="http://www.oregonchain.com/pro/2011Catalog.htm">Oregon Handbook</a>.

RodinNS · Feb 19, 2011

All of my chains have a line on the top/rear of the cutter. File to that angle until the edge is striaght and clean.

Rod

MRGJNV · Feb 19, 2011

Thanks for the help guy's! I'm on dial up so the big pdf's will have to wait a bit. I have an Oregon 511A sharpener so no filing for me. From what I have read, I think a 25 and 55 degree with a 0 degree tilt should work for me. I have a 20" bar on the 365 and 16" on the 41.

jokers · Feb 19, 2011

I'm not positive but I believe that you can request a free hardcopy of the manual from Oregon which would save you the huge download.

Here's some food for thought, if you are sharpening chisel chain and you don't give it the 10° down angle across the topplate, you are actually blunting part of the cutter. It may not be crucial in your mind but there's a reason that the better grinders are capable of grinding that angle.

BTW, that manual from Oregon has a ton of good info in it, it's the best resource of it's type and they are giving it to you free.

One more thing.....throw that stupid symettrical plastic profile gauge for your stone away, instead of a symetric profile with a 3/32" radius you will be better served by an asymetric profile based on a 3/16" radius as you will find on a Silvey grinder, in other words, only one side of the stone is radiused...but all the way to the opposite side.

JayinNY · Feb 19, 2011

Mine too, you must have Stihl chains?

RodinNS · Feb 19, 2011

Stihl or Oregon. Every chain I've seen in the last 10 years has that guide mark...

Rod

JayinNY · Feb 19, 2011

Dumb statement on my part, I only have Sthil chains, so I dident realize other chains had that mark too. Jay

NCWayne · Feb 19, 2011

Don't know if it will help you being on dialup but Sthil has a sharpening guide you can look at on their site.
sthil

RodinNS · Feb 20, 2011

There mabey chains that don't have the lines. I really don't know. It's just that we've used either Stihl or Oregon since as long as I can remember and they're the only ones I'm familiar with.

Rod

Chainsaw chain sharpening

MRGJNV

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PJH

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jokers

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Rod (NH)

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RodinNS

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MRGJNV

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jokers

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JayinNY

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RodinNS

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JayinNY

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NCWayne

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