file jig pictures

[Walt Galer]

Howdy John W.

Thank you very much. That is about what I was afraid of! (I wonder what they mean by Hard and Soft?).

.050 is a suicide depthgauge setting for a consumer! Because of this, there is no way I would recommend that device.

I found the filing acceptable when I tested the earlier versions of this device. The only problem I noted was that the hard rollers would tend to cause the tooth tips on a really hard file to chip off microscopically on the tips of the teeth, and this tended to shorten the life of the file. On lower quality files, there was no problem noted.

Regards,
Walt Galer

 

[jokers]

Hard and Soft

Hi Walt, Hard kickback or Soft kickback, LOL. No really, what do you think they mean? Hard(wood) = less depth gauge lowering, Soft(wood) = more depth gauge lowering. I agree that we can`t be putting loaded guns into the hands of the inexperienced, but I believe that most homeowners will never even see one of these raker gauges and they generally leave chain maintenance to whoever sharpens their chains. In fact, many, if not most homeowner level saw operators don`t even understand that depth gauges need to be lowered even though the picture is right in front of their faces, ie: the sloped cutter. The real danger lies with the "semi-pro" rock mechanic who thinks he can increase performance by completely eliminating the gauges. There is nothing you can do to make the world a safer place for these people other than locking them up, or taking EVERYTHING away from them. What should we do first? I seem to remember a thread of a couple years ago maybe where you acknowledged that progressive lowering, more clearance as the tooth got shorter, was vital to proper chain performance. Did I misinterpret what you had said, or have you had a change of heart? You are a chain expert and I have learned much from you, thank you. But don`t we agree that depth gauges need to get lower as the tooth gets shorter? Russ

 

[Walt Galer]

Howdy Jokers,

No, I've not changed my recommendation. If you don't know who is using the chain, what their level of expertise is, and if you can not speak to them, you had better follow the factory recommendation and keep those depthgauges at .025 to .030.

Otherwise, YOU are accepting a potential liability. I have seen where a customer gets killed because the local shop set the chain as for the local professional loggers. (One particular case I remember was 72LP on a 451 Echo. The local dealer had set the depthgauges at .045 - .050. The customer was bucking in a pile of logs and darn near cut himself in half lengthwise).

If you want to preserve as-new cutting performance throughout the cutter's filing life, you have to progressively lower the depthgauges, but never beyond .035 at very end of life. Personally I never recommend this practice for weekend woodcutters, because of the safety/liability consideration. I know there are those that would argue the point, but in the seven and a half years I had the responsibility at Windsor, we never had a liability case either. Ok, so I believe in being more catholic than the pope, but it keeps you out of court.

Regards,
Walt Galer

 

[Walkerized]

Hi Walt I agree about it being a little to hungry for the casual user.
Also the rollers are not metal, they are some kind of hard plastic material which should not harm the file.
I think they mean the soft setting is for softer woods like we have up here and hard for oaks and speciality woods.
I always recommend the soft setting to customers. I beleive that a dull chain is more dangerous than a sharp chain. The nice thing about the jig is that it is simple and small and hopefully people will use it and have a better saw experience

John W

 

[sedanman]

I bought two of these today one in 3/8 and one in .325(I only have one saw that uses .325 but I have too many spare bars and chains to switch it to 3/8) My XL12 has bumper guards and so did the chain that came on my 064, this jig will NOT work with these bumper guards. The jig was only available as part of a kit with 2 chain files, a depth guage file and a handle for $10.99 (I didn't think that was bad). I bought these at "Tool factory Outlet" and the salesman was not very knowlegeable about their use. I must also point out that the "instructions" that come with this thing SUCK!