Chainsaw Sharpening Hacks for Quicker, Cleaner Cuts - the Stihl USG Chainsaw Sharpener

The Stihl USG Chainsaw Sharpener is the best I've used. I still hand file as well, but I'm nothing beats this tool for fixing rocked teeth or zero timing a chain to good as new.
I'm Robert Milton, a professional sawmiller and business owner and teach sawmill tips and tricks to make your lumber as good as ours at Hobby Hardwood Alabama - ranked as producing the highest quality wood in Alabama, if not the country. / @hobbyhardwoodalabama . I am a retired aerospace engineer, my wife is a retired engineer at NASA, and we are a multimillion dollar, Dunn and Bradstreet listed, A+ rated BBB business. We used to build very high end houses and furniture using our lumber, but now sell it retail all over the country, and teach others to do the same.
We started with a chainsaw mill, upgraded to a portable manaul sawmill, then a production bandsaw mill. We are not a video company, but we are a real lumber company, and want to show others some of our money making and business sawmill techniques. This video is another example of sawmilling for our business, Hobby Hardwood, Alabama. We show how we mill logs, dry them and other things on our outdoor farm.
#sawmillprofessor, #woodyoda , #Stihl, #chainsaw, #chainsaw sharpener, #sawmill, #planer, #woodworking,#lumberkiln, #Hobby Hardwood, #hobbyhardwood
Joe Maine [phone] makes my bands for me, using WM Turbo Silvertip stock, 0.055" x 1.5". He is in Georgia but can ship anywhere. The best I have used.
Go check us out on our other pages! Mail Address: 237 Shady Trail, New Market, Al, 35761 Email for Business Inquires: [e-mail] OUR WEBSITE: www.hobbyhardwoodalabama.com PRODUCTS WE USE: www.hobbyhardwoodalabama.com/st FACEBOOK:

[@KPVFarmer]

Another great video by Prof Melton. Thank you good sir! 🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸

[@HobbyHardwoodAlabama]

Thank you kindly

[@ajkolodziejski118]

My first “real” job was as a logger so I did a lot of hand filing. Still file all my chains, even on my 5 foot Alaska mill ( rarely used these days) I think you mentioned you also sharpen your sawmill blades, I’d be interested to see your solution for that also.

[@HobbyHardwoodAlabama]

Yes, I hand file a good bit, and use this grinder a good bit. Done correctly, both will sharpen a chain better than out of the box new. I also have used several bandsaw sharpeners, and have found one that works real well. I do need to do a video on it, thanks for the idea.

[@jonathanclobes1876]

Mr. Milton, I purchased an LT40 a few months ago and I appreciate the information you provide. I'll certainly benefit from your willingness to share what you've learned. Thank you! I bought an old Foley Belsaw chainsaw chain sharpener on a stand ten years ago. It has all the adjustments of your Stihl sharpener, but it also has a spring loaded foot pedal to clamp the chain. It took me awhile to figure it out, but, once I knew what to do, it's real easy to sharpen chains.

[@HobbyHardwoodAlabama]

Thanks! Forty builds really nice stuff, it;s funny, whenever I go to a circle blade sharpening place, if they have Belsaw equipment, they know what they are doing. I looked at the foot pedal, but just never got around to getting one.

[@rwinktown]

west coast saw has some fun goodies for the 500, if your going to be spending a lot of time behind that grinder you may want to look into a diamond wheel for that badboy.

[@HobbyHardwoodAlabama]

I actually bought a 48 bar for my 661 for West Coast saw several years ago, you are right, they are a good company.. Believe it or not, I have tried both an expensive CBN and also a diamond wheel for this grinder, and neither did a good job, although I didn't get them form West Coast.. I may have not got the good ones, but I got the ones people recommended and all it cost me was a couple hundred bucks. Ouch! So I switched back to these. Maybe someone will send me a better wheel, but I've already spent enough on trying different ones. I was even at the dealer asking him a few years ago about which ones he used and he said the CBN or diamond they got from Stihl as dealers weren't any good anymore and he asked me as soon as I found a good one, tell him because he's looking also! I never did and no telling what he's using now, I need to ask him.

[@garyeaton5719]

Handy tool!

[@HobbyHardwoodAlabama]

Yes, it does well.

[@johnwoody4905]

good video and job fricknjeep has a older one looks like that. i am cheap and do mine by hand yes they are not all the same like yours. take care, be safe and well.

[@HobbyHardwoodAlabama]

Thank you!

[@JohnWinsemius]

Robert you r just a young man hitting your prime

[@HobbyHardwoodAlabama]

Sometimes I wonder!

[@A..n..d..y]

Great video, I would add to remind people to wear eye protection. I personal made the mistake once of not using eye protection and ended up with a trip to the eye doctor.

[@HobbyHardwoodAlabama]

It's odd you should mention that, I had a segment in this video about wearing eye protection and I deleted it in the last edit because it figured nobody would care! I was wrong. I wish I had left it in now. I know you watch a good many of my videos and the only thing I wear as much as my hat is my safety glasses, especially because they have readers in them, as well. Great comment!

[@falfas55bgas]

I saw the 2n1 stihl on your bench, but you didn't say anything about it. I use it exclusively. So fast and easy and sharp like new. Glad to see your hair. Jealous, and I'm 52 and thinning on top. Brad_bb

[@HobbyHardwoodAlabama]

I use the 2 in 1, did an entire video on it, and had a few sentences about it in this one but cut them out, but was simply showing another way I sharpen chains. When a chain gets out of whack or rocked up, this grinder will bring it back good as new extremely quickly. Each has its place, and the 2 in 1 is why I didn't worry about dropping the rakers using the grinder, I'll drop them when I next sharpen with the files.

[@patwright6317]

Hey hairy😂 , have an Oregon sharpener , love it .

[@HobbyHardwoodAlabama]

Cool 👍. Haircuts aren't high on my list of things to do these days. I figured I'd be bald by now anyway, so I enjoy looking like a shaggy dog.

[@billbezzant3033]

Hi Robert, Thanks so much for your sawing videos and especially for this chain sharpening video. Can you tell me what kind of grinding wheel you're using with the Stihl USG grinder, and where you get your grinding wheels? And how do you dress the grinding wheel? If the wheel is made of a non-traditional (i.e. non-Oregon style) material, do you use any special tool or unusual profile for dressing the grinding wheel?

[@HobbyHardwoodAlabama]

Surprisingly, the best wheel for this is the one that Stihl sells with it. I've tried Ruby, CBM, and diamond, and still haven't found one better that cuts fast and doesn't burn, including all the Oregon, Norten and others. I wear it out and just get new ones from may local dealer. I'm sure Stihl doesn;t make it, but although I have found some that look like it, they don't work like it. I dress it with a hand held grinder dresser, but in reality, if it set in the gullet/face corner correctly, it will maintain its shape for quite a few sharpenings. One issue I had with CBN wheels is that the grunge on the chains needed to be removed or the abrasive clogs up, which means I needed to clean the chains before sharpening, which I don't want to wast time doing. This wheel just burns through the sap and oil residue on the chain.

[@James.......]

Are you running a CBN wheel on there? That's what I run on my Oregon grinder and I love it.

[@HobbyHardwoodAlabama]

I've tried the and haven't found a good one that lasts. What brand are you using?

[@James.......]

@@HobbyHardwoodAlabama Diamond Wheel Inc

[@peterh.holmander565]

Does the motor on that sharpener have a fwd/rev function? The single position grinders put a small burr on the tooth if you can't reverse the direction of the wheel.

[@HobbyHardwoodAlabama]

It has a single direction, but due to the quality of the wheel and the grinder, the burr is very small, if at all, not anything like what happens on lower quality grinders where the burr is big enough to grab a fingernail or break off and result in a dull edge. That is one reason I hated the box store grinders.

[@peterh.holmander565]

@@HobbyHardwoodAlabama Thanks for getting back to me. I appreciate it.

[@larasea741]

Do you use the same angles on Full chisel and simi chisel? Super and Micro chains if you will. 40/30/15?

[@HobbyHardwoodAlabama]

Yes, the only time I will change an angle is when I'm ripping logs with a chainsaw freehand, I will put a slightly shallower angle on it, say about 20 degree. The flatter angle seems to shear better and not causes as much saw hop.

[@GibClark]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@HobbyHardwoodAlabama]

Thanks!

[@csgameover]

what about the rakers?

[@HobbyHardwoodAlabama]

I was wondering if anyone was going to ask. I use a Stihl 2 in 1 that automatically sets the rakers, so the next time I touch up the chain (fairly often), the rakers will be dropped also. So I typically don't do the rakers on the electric grinder because of that.

[@csgameover]

@@HobbyHardwoodAlabama great answer. i love the 2 in 1... best sharpening tool every

[@rwinktown]

that works well but i find if its full skip it takes to much off and makes it bite to hard depending on the saw, just keep an eye on it @@HobbyHardwoodAlabama

[@hpw59]

So what is stupidly expensive?

[@HobbyHardwoodAlabama]

About $700 ten years ago. However, I wasted that much on the several garbage sharpeners I had bought previously, and I've sharpened uncounted chains with this one and it still looks brand new.