Warning - dealer bashing. My local power equipment dealer is now getting $10 to sharpen a chain. Is it me or does that sound like a lot? A two pack of new Oregon chains costs $26 at the big box stores and I don't have to wait for them. It's almost worth throwing the dull ones away and starting new.
Disposable chainsaw chains?
ggsteve
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Maybe your chain is. My Stihl chain holds an edge very well. I can buck up 6 cord on a single filing. I'm not talking face cords either.
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I work in IT and am paid an obscene amount but that has no bearing on what is reasonable to pay to sharpen a chain. It's not like the guy will setup my spanning tree and troubleshoot rogue BPDUs while he sharpens my chain.
I burn wood cuz I'm cheap and I can file a chain in a few minutes without taking it off the saw, driving it to town to drop it off and driving back to town to pick it up.
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5,106 Posts
Learn to sharpen your own chain, if $10 is too much to pay to have somebody else do it for you. If you learn to hand file one, it will also last about 10 times as long, and that 2-pack you paid $25 for will last several woodcutting seasons. Those places who sharpen for a fee usually take about a 1/4 of the usable tooth off every time they sharpen it.
And what I get paid an hour is also obscene, but not the same way LLigetfa means, I think:biglaugh:
And what I get paid an hour is also obscene, but not the same way LLigetfa means, I think:biglaugh:
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I have never sharpened a Chainsaw chain.Was researching and reading how to and what is needed.After asking about having one sharpened at a Stihl dealer.I never asked what he charged and $10.00 seems reasonable.But what has made me decide to learn how.Was when he told me he was backed up 2 weeks so it would be atleast 2 weeks before he could get to it?Seems like a long wait for a 5 minute job.I was thinking it would take longer then 5 minutes but still seems weird.He was not doing anything when he told me how busy he was.Sort of a independent Cuss.I do not mind paying for a service.But if there that busy they do not need my business I will just figure out how to do it my self.
The point I was making in my original post was that, if you were a business and were going to offer the sharpening service to customers, there are lots of contributions to the costs that influence what you can charge and still make a profit.
My previous post didn't offer an opinion that any of you should pay that $10 to get the chain sharpened. That is, of course a totally different question that requires considering whether that $10 charge is worth it to you, different entirely from whether it's a reasonable price for the store to charge.
I haven't used my chainsaw in a number of years, but I always sharpened it myself using a little jig kit with file guides and a couple of round hand files that I bought long ago. When you are out in the woods working, if your time has much value to you at all, you could easily "spend" more than that $10 just taking the time to get to and from the "sharpening store".
My previous post didn't offer an opinion that any of you should pay that $10 to get the chain sharpened. That is, of course a totally different question that requires considering whether that $10 charge is worth it to you, different entirely from whether it's a reasonable price for the store to charge.
I haven't used my chainsaw in a number of years, but I always sharpened it myself using a little jig kit with file guides and a couple of round hand files that I bought long ago. When you are out in the woods working, if your time has much value to you at all, you could easily "spend" more than that $10 just taking the time to get to and from the "sharpening store".
If you don't want to hand file you could get one of these.
http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa....com/usa/itemdisplay/displayItemList.do?search.keyword=chain+saw&submit=find+it
cost 39.99 on sale with out 20% coupon
http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa....com/usa/itemdisplay/displayItemList.do?search.keyword=chain+saw&submit=find+it
cost 39.99 on sale with out 20% coupon
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You are correct, I'm using my BIL's 16" bar saw (old Macullough) and I don't use it day in and day out, just from time to time. So far he's gotten a new chain, bar, and drive sprocket (not sure how he was using it with the rounded sprocket that was in there) out of loaning it to me.
If I was using it more often I'd buy a newer saw and probably keep some extra chains on hand. It does seem like they should be able to come up with a quick-change chain system.
The point about other people not wanting to do their own maintenance also applies to I.T. It amazes me what people will just throw up their hands for and call for help. "The printer's jammed. Did you try to unjam it? No, that's your job." #@$@@#%! :thSick:
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Exactly, I was dumbfounded yesturday when a customer came to me and asked if we sell accessories for Echo Chainsaws. I wish people would learn the difference between an accessory and a part, as he was looking for a replacement fuel tank for a 20 year old Echo (didn't have a model number or part number or anything, regardless of the fact that we don't carry parts). Anyway, yeah. Young, meek looking guy who looked like he's comfortable behind a desk, already had the saw split in half and ready to put in a new fuel tank. BRAVO!!
It's amazing how bady people can beat the crap out of things. I've rented out brand new chainsaws to people, and they come back a day later looking like the dragged it through a quarry behind their truck.
On the other hand, I bought a new chainsaw in 2003 to cut up some of 60 fallen trees following Hurricane Juan. The saw I got is one of the previous model, Echo 14" w/ overhead handle limbing saws. It performed beautifully on all the limbing and chunking I threw at it. My friend, who I taught to mix gas and file the chain has used it many times since and it STILL says ECHO on the original bar, plain as day.
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That's what it really boils down to.
I work in IT also, and make more in an hour than a lot of yard workers/landscapers make in a day. Yet these guys bringing home $100 or less per day do seem to find the money to drop their mower blades at the local shop for a $5.00 per blade sharpening.
Don't tell the guy charging $10 to sharpen your chain that he is asking too much. You might lose your big job to someone in a third world country who will set up your spanning tree remotely for $10. Then when you have to start selling firewood for a living, you're going to run into cheap folk who don't want to pay a "dumb country boy" $100 per cord.
Karma is a terrible thing. Just say you won't pay it - don't say the guy is charging too much, or that his service is worthless.
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Years ago I would try to sharpen my on chains but I wasn't very good at it, and I didn't have you guys to help me. Maybe I'll try it again. I guess the $10 price point just bugged me. I didn't mind paying $7.50 so much, but now that it's getting to be almost the cost of a new chain, time to learn a skill.
As far as what I make, I'm a public school teacher so my wife makes twice what I do, but I still need to have a masters. I don't think the kid sharpening chains needs a masters degree.
As far as what I make, I'm a public school teacher so my wife makes twice what I do, but I still need to have a masters. I don't think the kid sharpening chains needs a masters degree.
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Nor does the plumber charging you $90/hr to deal with your septic tank backup.
I'll agree that I would not pay $10 to sharpen the $15 chain on my Poulan, but I'll sharpen the heck out of it myself. Now when I get my Stihl and a quality chain, I might just have a pro do it.
BTW a Masters degree is optional here in VA, but you get a 7% bonus for it. You've been at it for a while too, so your salary would be about $65K in my county. There are no jobs outside of doctors and lawyers that pay that much. Most residents commute an hour and a half to D.C. t make that kind of dough. Maybe you should move south - we need more good teachers. :trink40:
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Buy Stihl chain and learn to sharpen it yourself. Buy the Stihl guide and file kit when you buy the chain. You will never have to pay for sharpening again.
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When I first saw the title to this thread,I thought I read "disposeable chain SAWS..had to look twice!...after seeing some of the saws for sale in box stores lately,I wouldn't doubt if the chain outlasts them!..
I'm no chain saw expert,I only use mine a few times yearly,but I do know how to touch up the chain with a file--maybe I aint doing it perfectly,but the saw always cuts much better after I do it...are the "Oregon" chains really that poor a quality??..I always thought they were one of the better ones,most saws come with them new..I rarely ever see any other brand in stores here except maybe Poulan and Huskvarna's own brand ,which might not be made by them either..
I'm no chain saw expert,I only use mine a few times yearly,but I do know how to touch up the chain with a file--maybe I aint doing it perfectly,but the saw always cuts much better after I do it...are the "Oregon" chains really that poor a quality??..I always thought they were one of the better ones,most saws come with them new..I rarely ever see any other brand in stores here except maybe Poulan and Huskvarna's own brand ,which might not be made by them either..
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The Husqvarna chain is actually Oregon chain.
I just bought 2 new Oregon chains today $12. 95 apiece.
While I was at the saw shop I checked on the sharpening cost. They charge, for up to 20” $5.00 per chain, over 20” $6.00. Then if the chain is still on the saw, it costs $2.00 more. Not too bad, but I’ll still file my own. I always touch up the chain after every 2 tank of fuel. At the same time I flip the bar and clean out the gunk.
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This thread is getting derailed...
Just as the sharpening shop is pricing themself out of work, so too are many of us. Lots of jobs moving overseas or simply disappearing. In my present job, our IT department has been cut from 5 people to 3, then to 2 before my boss quit, leaving me by myself. Can't see how they can move my job to India but then one never knows...
There's no market here for firewood cut/split/delivered when a load of logs cost $100 per cord. Based on how much the kid grinding chains makes, I would have to sell a cord of C/S/D firewood for $500. I think the price would be over $1000 a cord at my rate of pay. I would be better off to buy a grinder and go into the chain sharpening business since there appears to be a proven market there.
Anyway... to try and drag this thread back on topic... as others have said, there are guides you can attach to a file that work like training wheels. Hand filing is not difficult. You just need to understand the angles and have a bit of manual dexterity.
My father (God rest his soul) could never file a saw chain his entire life. Couldn't sharpen a knife either and he was a butcher by trade. Every time I went to visit him, he had a dozen dull chains for me to file. Try as I may, I could never teach him how to do it. Personally, I think most of those that can't do it, don't really want to do it.
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I've cut many trees as an amateur. I don't cut often but when I do its usually a big one.
The biggest single problem I have with sharpened chains is getting one so they don't cut a curve once going Through a 6" or larger diameter limb/trunk.
Sharpening with the correct size round file never yielded great results for me.
Taking the chain or saw with chain to someone else to do has always been hit or miss. Many will sharpen the tooth but it may or may not cut straight without curving and binding.
The best solution I've found is the correct size grinding stones that fit in a dremel tool. I guesstimate the correct angle of the tooth relative to the bar using my round file holder or the guide that came with my stihl manual sharpening kit. I can get 3 - 4 good sharpening before the cursed curve cut comes into play.
I think many businesses assign a minimum wage to sharpen chains without any real schooling in what it takes to do the job properly.
The biggest single problem I have with sharpened chains is getting one so they don't cut a curve once going Through a 6" or larger diameter limb/trunk.
Sharpening with the correct size round file never yielded great results for me.
Taking the chain or saw with chain to someone else to do has always been hit or miss. Many will sharpen the tooth but it may or may not cut straight without curving and binding.
The best solution I've found is the correct size grinding stones that fit in a dremel tool. I guesstimate the correct angle of the tooth relative to the bar using my round file holder or the guide that came with my stihl manual sharpening kit. I can get 3 - 4 good sharpening before the cursed curve cut comes into play.
I think many businesses assign a minimum wage to sharpen chains without any real schooling in what it takes to do the job properly.
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1,178 Posts
Just my take on the subject. I was taught to sharpen a chain many years ago so I've always done my own sharpening. Short while back I could not find any "good commercial grade chain" so I had my local Echo dealer make up one for my 4300. While I was there I had him sharpen my sample chain that only needed a "touch up." The kid cut half way through the teeth and burned the teeth to boot. I was satisfied with the new chain but the lesson learned was, "Sharpen my own, always" Buy a couple chain files and learn if you don't know how. I guess the electric device would be nice but you really don't need it unless you're sharpening a bunch of chains.
ray
ray
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