Filing vise

[lambs]

I've thought about a chain filing vise for years, but decided to go for it after applying to join a group of Baptists on Mission for disaster relief work in Morehead City NC. (hurricane Florence). It was my first time volunteering with them and I'd had none of their official training, but they assigned me to work with a chainsaw team from Tennessee based on my experience with a local wood bank. What a great group of guys and gals to work with. I had no idea whether our work areas would have power, and even if they did, I did not want to lug a grinder down there.

The evening before I drove down to the site, I cut off the vertical motor mount from a leftover 511a clone (with no motor) that I had lying around for parts. I then bolted it down to some scrap 2x6, grabbed a couple large C clamps and headed for the coast.

I got my chance to use it after two days of sawing up tree debris with another team member. Mounted the vise to the door channel of a dumpster in the parking lot, and used a Stihl 2 in 1 file on the chains. It all worked perfectly. I know not everyone has a spare grinder base lying around, but if you do, this might be a good use for it.

 

[Del_]

I think I'd just take along a couple of these. Two so you can teach on the jobsite. It would save time removing and installing chains.

At your local Home Depot:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/ECHO-Stump-Vise-99988801808/205180605

 

[lambs]

I'm sure people use those with good results. I almost always take the chain off though to clean up and look for any issues with the saw. And then put on a fresh chain. So I've never invested in a stump vise. And in this case all I had to buy was the hardware to bolt the vise to the board.

 

[Del_]

I'm sure people use those with good results. I almost always take the chain off though to clean up and look for any issues with the saw. And then put on a fresh chain. So I've never invested in a stump vise. And in this case all I had to buy was the hardware to bolt the vise to the board.

I'm an arborist by trade and always have a stump vice in the truck but seldom use it.

When I take off a chain in the field I have a fresh one ready to put on.

I hate to imagine what a bunch of Baptist volunteers do to a chain. I've worked with volunteers before and they can dull chains faster than I can sharpen them. It's easier to just do the cutting and them do the moving.

I do like your vice. It would be nice for the shop.

In my shop I put the whole saw in a bench vice or pull off the chain and put in on the Stihl USG.

 

[CentaurG2]

Just do a shallow plunge cut into whatever you are cutting, preferably around waist height, and file the bar on the saw.

 

[lambs]

I hate to imagine what a bunch of Baptist volunteers do to a chain.

LOL. I actually only have a sample size of one, since there was only one other guy on our team sawing wood, but he certainly knew what he was doing. Members have to take a class to be allowed to cut wood in the field.....I've not taken it since I joined them ad hoc. I guess they make an exception once in a while!

I might be mounting this in my shop too. I'd like to get more experience with the 2 in 1 file setup, and this should be a good way to do it since it locks each cutter in place for filing.

 

[Chainsaw Jim]

That's a pretty good set up.
I've ruined one too many bar sprockets with metal filings. I prefer to use a chain vise and rinse the chain clean when finished.

 

[user 122190]

Great for you for signing up to help out. I like the vise. Good use of the final parts/donor grinder. If I was closer to any of this I too would be down helping. I was looking a photos of the wreckage from Micheal, and it is going to take a very very long time to get back to some kind of normalcy for so so many of them. Many of people have only the cloths their are wearing and they are wet. Good Lord!!!

 

[Ted Jenkins]

Lambs in my opinion you have settled many debates concerning chain sharpening. Never will most agree that one way or another is the only way to get some wood cut. You have pointed out some very practical issues that you faced with your volunteer endeavor. I usually do not take a chain off of a saw until I throw the chain away. The only maintenance it receives is to clean the air filter once and awhile. When the chain comes off the saw gets a thorough cleaning and back on line. A chain lasts from a week to two months. For more than 20 years of my working career has been with a chainsaw not to mention the years that I cut wood part time. So I am a pro with saws and chain. I have several grinders to work with, but it takes so much time out of my day to set up a chain on a grinder and for why. Often I do not have electric power available so out comes the file and 10 to 20 minutes latter chips are flying. As far as vices I have several that I have fabricated. My vices use various sizes of lag bolts so that they can be screwed into a log or stump and be quite secure. For those that do not use a file to restore the cutting edges depend on their grinders in their shops, but maybe if they tried what you did they might really display much more independence. Thanks

 

[lambs]

Thanks guys for your very kind words. I would have responded earlier, but my power's been out for most of the last two days (Michael). No damage though. We were pretty well saturated by Florence, so the last thing we needed were winds gusting to 50 mph or so and another 3 inches of rain. But all is well and I hope to apply for another deployment in the next few days.

I think my next project will be to find a good place to mount the vise in my shop. I already have two grinders and a standard bench vise on my cluttered workbench, so I need to get creative here. I'm thinking about a bench grinder stand, which I think would have slots cut into it for the mounting bolts. We will see!

 

[Del_]

How about sticking it in a vice?

 

[lambs]

I guess one might bolt the chain vise to a piece of angle iron and then clamp that assembly into a bench vise. I don't have a piece of angle iron lying around that I might use. Additionally, that would add some height to the chain vise so it might end up too high for easy filing. But I would gladly give it a try if I had the right material. Perhaps there's another way to clamp it into a bench vise, but I can't think of one.

I think others on this forum have clamped various sharpening devices onto a step ladder. Not sure that would leave enough room for filing with my chain vise, but it might work.

Anyone with ideas on clamping into a bench vise, please chime in!

 

[scottr]

You could make a angle piece out of wood .

 

[Wood Doctor]

Here's mine, shop made out of oak:

In action:

The idea was to grip the bar, allow the chain to move, and hold the saw rock solid with my bench vise doing all the clamping. It works.

 

[Marley5]

I'm confused why a simple table vice won't suffice.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I'm confused why a simple table vise won't suffice. View attachment 679982

Yes, it will, but just support the saw's power head with a block of wood to take the strain off the bar. She will really appreciate that.

 

[Huntaholic]

I guess Im in the minority here, but I can sharpen a chain damn near anywhere with nothing but a file. As a professional in the timber business, I guess I take a lot of things for granted since Ive been in the woods all my life. I don't have or take the time to take my chain off, clean, etc..... when it gets dull. It gets sharpened and back to cutting trees in 5 minutes or less. I can sharpen the right side with nothing except resting the bar across my left leg. To sharpen the left side cutters all I need is something to prop the end of the bar up on, be that a tree, fence post, stump, log, truck tire, etc.... I have one of those stump vises, it stays in the toolbox of the work truck.
I understand that part timers, recreational woodcutters, hobbyists, etc... don't have the experience a full timer does and I can fully understand needing something to clamp it down in. Do whatever it takes to learn, but by all means LEARN!

 

[Wood Doctor]

I guess I'm in the minority here, but I can sharpen a chain damn near anywhere with nothing but a file. As a professional in the timber business, I guess I take a lot of things for granted since I've been in the woods all my life. I don't have or take the time to take my chain off, clean, etc..... when it gets dull. It gets sharpened and back to cutting trees in 5 minutes or less. I can sharpen the right side with nothing except resting the bar across my left leg. To sharpen the left side cutters all I need is something to prop the end of the bar up on, be that a tree, fence post, stump, log, truck tire, etc.... I have one of those stump vises, it stays in the toolbox of the work truck.
I understand that part timers, recreational woodcutters, hobbyists, etc... don't have the experience a full timer does and I can fully understand needing something to clamp it down in. Do whatever it takes to learn, but by all means LEARN!

I usually file sharpen the chain in the field by resting the bar on my shoulder and the power head on my lap, assuming it's a long bar. But, the dull chains that I bring to the shop get the vise that I made that allows sharpening on the bar.

 

[Marley5]

I use a vice, 800 lumen light, magnifying glass and about 30 minutes on chain and raker......your not gonna do this in the field. Lol

 

[Wood Doctor]

I use a vice, 800 lumen light, magnifying glass and about 30 minutes on chain and raker......your not gonna do this in the field. Lol

I agree. But, on occasion, the job needs to get done before the sun goes down.