Electric Chainsaw Sharpener Tips

Do you have a chainsaw that isn’t cutting as it should? Is it creating sawdust instead of nice little wood chips?  Maybe its time to have your chain sharpened. Now the question is, do you pay someone to sharpen your chain or do you sharpen it yourself? Let’s take a look at some electric chainsaw sharpener tips and options to help you determine what works best for you.

Who Needs An Electric Chainsaw Sharpener?

I believe there are three categories of chainsaw owners, each having different needs.  No matter what category you’re in an electric chain sharpener can be a handy tool for anyone.  What you’re willing to pay may vary though.  Read on to see what category you might be in and see what option might work best for you.

The first group is the infrequent user. This user only uses their chainsaw just a few time a year. They may cut up tree branches, that have fallen in their yard, or cut some bonfire wood. This user may use a file to touch their chain up occasionally and have it sharpened by someone else once a year.

At the other end of the spectrum is someone who has a firewood or brush cutting business. These users may require sharpening multiple chains on a weekly basis. It’s probably more cost-effective for them to spend the money on a high-quality electric sharpener.

Then there is the group that falls somewhere in the middle. I consider myself in that category. I cut between 25 and 30 face cord of firewood a year. This requires sharpening my two chains somewhere between 10 and 15 times a year. That’s beside touching them up with a chainsaw chain file between sharpenings. For someone in this group, I would definitely recommend purchasing a less expensive type of electric sharpener.  They can do you a good job for several years.

An Electric Chainsaw Sharpener Can Save You Money!

The higher quality sharpeners offer more precise and accurate sharpening, but most of them will cost you hundreds of dollars. However, many of the less expensive sharpeners can provide good service at a much lower cost.

I purchased my sharpener for about $30, five years ago. In that time I’ve sharpened the chains I’ve owned at least 45 or 55 times. That would have represented a cost of approximately $225 – $275 if I would have had someone sharpen them for me! There was also the convenience of being able to sharpen my chains whenever I needed to.  There are times when that is a huge benefit!

Benefits of Electric Chainsaw Sharpeners

When you sharpen your chainsaw, it is very important to sharpen all the teeth equally. Over time this is hard to do when you sharpen your chains with a file. That is why an electric sharpener works so well. Once you get the sharpener adjusted to clean up the first tooth, the rest of them on that side are sharpened equally. Then switch the angle to the other side and sharpen the teeth on that side. With a file, the teeth can vary for tooth to tooth, as well as from side to side.

By keeping your chainsaw chains sharpened your saw cuts straighter and faster. This saves you time, fuel and wear and tear on your chainsaw.

Possible Downside of Less Expensive Sharpeners

The only downside I’ve experienced, with my less expensive model, was the accuracy of the sharpener. When I switch from the teeth on one side, to the other side, they were not perfectly equal. You would grind more off one side, and that’s a no-no!  On the more expensive sharpeners, the angles are the same and should be for the price you are paying for them. By being uneven this causes you to spend a little more time making adjustments to sharpen both sides equally. It still only takes about 15 minutes to sharpen the entire chain.  To me, it’s well worth the time.

This doesn’t mean every brand of chain sharpener that cost less than $50 will have this problem, but if it does, all is not lost. When the time comes to replace my sharpener, I will be looking for another $30 sharpener, similar to the one I currently have. If you know of a good quality, accurate sharpener, for less than $50, please leave a comment and share it with the readers.  That would be the best of both worlds!!

The Work-Around

After sharpening the teeth on one side of your chain, its time to change the angle to sharpen the teeth on the other side.  This is where you need to take care when using a sharpener that may have accuracy issues. Just like when starting the first side, carefully make the necessary adjustments until the tooth is cleaned up.  Now continue sharpening the rest of the teeth on that side and you’re all done! The video below shows exactly what the issue is and how to make the sharpener work without to much trouble.

Electric Chainsaw Sharpening Tips

First and foremost, always wear safety glasses when running any power tool, especially a grinder of any kind.  I would also recommend wearing earplugs as well.  Please consider reading my article on safety for home projects.  It has lots of good ideas.  

Before you begin to sharpen a chainsaw chain, mark one tooth with a little spray paint or a magic marker, so you can identify your starting point. Then when making the initial adjustments, I darken the first tooth’s cutting surface with a black magic marker. This allows you to clearly see that the entire cutting surface has been cleaned up when you start grinding. This is a little trick I learned back when I worked in a machine shop, running a surface grinder.

If you hit an object while using your chainsaw, like a nail or a rock, you may need to go around the chain a couple of times to get the teeth completely sharpened. In that case, don’t try to grind it all in one pass. Go around once, then adjust it to take a little more and go around again. In most cases going around once will do the job.

A set of calipers is a good tool to help keep the teeth even from side to side when using sharpeners with accuracy issues, or when you use a manual sharpener. Keeping the teeth even will help you make straight cuts.

Don’t Throw Your Chainsaw File Away

Electric sharpeners don’t make the chainsaw file obsolete. I still use mine once or twice in between each sharpening with the electric sharpener to keep the saw cutting good. They are also great to have out in the woods for a quick touch up if needed. You just need to hold them at the proper angles, both horizontally and vertically, throughout the filing strokes. It’s also important to get the correct size chainsaw file for your particular chain. This link will provide you with the different file sizes and pricing available at Homedepot.

Most of the time I carry a second chain when I’m out cutting wood, just in case I hit something hard like a rock or nail and seriously dull my chain. It would take forever to sharpen a chain in that condition with a file. And believe me, this happens on occasions. I recently found a screw inside a piece of wood I was splitting (see below). If I would have hit the screw while cutting the log, I would basically need to either swap the chain out or remove it and sharpen it.

Save Time and Money With Your Own Electric Chainsaw Sharpener

So if you cut a significant amount of wood, the best way to sharpen you chainsaw chains is to own your own electric sharpener. It can save you a lot of money. But more importantly, you’ll love the convenience of being able to sharpen your chains whenever you need to. So don’t hesitate. Buy your sharpener and try some of these electric chainsaw sharpener tips and start saving time and money today!

If you have any comments or questions, you can leave them in the comments section below or you can email us at [email protected]. FYI, we do not collect or share email addresses.  We will only use them to reply to your comments or provide answers to your questions. We are also required to let you know that some of our links are “affiliate links”. This means if you click on a link and make a purchase, we could make a small commission, at no extra cost to you. This helps offset the cost of maintaining our website. So, if you like what you’ve seen, please be sure to give us a “Like” and “Share” on Facebook and Instagram too.  Thank you for reading and good luck with all your home projects!