archibaldtuttle
ArboristSite Lurker
i keep seeing these new fangled sharpeners and dreaming that someone has finally made the better mousetrap but after reading up down and around i realize that this 50 year old McCulloch bow sharpener is the best every made. but i have two problems.
This works a bit like a hacksaw with the blade supported by a back brace. But over the years i have worn the back support down to half its thickness but i cannot find new ones. the things i should have bought ten of when i could.
I keep looking at the various hinky new versions. The stihl EZ file has the back support idea but it isn't clear how you change or rotate the files and i'd have to cut off the outside back supports because the advantage of this simple bugger (if i had taken a lighter closeup would be easier to see) is you can roll the file upwards into the tooth and it sharpens the underside of the top of the tooth like no file guide i've ever used. The flat steel two sided run of the mill guides of the moment are OKish but they don't provide the same ergonomics between the file and the back support of the guide, maybe because the handle is on the file and not the guide. anyway it just doesn't rool up into the tool as well although it may be my next best solution when the mc culloch gives out (unless someone knows and old line shop where there are some of the old mccullochs in the closet . . .).
Back in the day when i was going through electronic ignitions on my olympyk 254 pretty regular i had the saw in the shop to double check i wasn't losing my mind since i had just replaced the ignition the year before and when they put the new coil on and went out back to try it out, the guy told me he never ran a sharper chain and it was just my standard hand filing with that guide! And these guys sharpened chains for a living. . .
Although i took a quick picture on a bar here, i keep a vice set up on the bench and take the chain off and do this in the vice set not tight so the chain moves as if it were on a bar but it is macro held still so i can use two hands on the file guide. this is similar to the idea of clamping the bar in a vice if you set that up on the back of the truck for field work although with the vice set on the bench the way i like it, perfect height and i can stand in ergonomically to get this done.
one other problem. it is still a pain to loosen two set screws and rotate the file (although i don't even know how you rotate the files on the Stihl easy guide). It would just plain be better if there were diamond file that lasted longer without needing rotating. The wearing of the file is really the most frustrating thing about the system i currently use.
as to better mousetraps, i kind of like the theory of the hand rotary sharpening tuner but is still more guide than freehand dependent, doesn't do well with smaller diameters (snapping sharpening bits) and isn't intended for significant takedown if you hit something bad.
then there is the powersharp approach. seems pretty clever. not really sure if a chain designed to be sharpened from the outside is easier to dull when hitting something from the the outside . . . experiential feedback appreciated here. maybe this is the next best thing since sliced bread, but nothing anybody has come up with in 50 years, so far, is better than this mcculloch guide. but i can't find any. and it has no model number. it just says "mc culloch file guide" on the handle.
