Cheap Chain Sharpener / Grinder First Chain , Worth The Money?

[@modarkthemauler]

Got the same vevor grinder last year after wearing out a even cheaper chinesium grinder I got for 20 bucks. File most of the time but after hitting metal or rocks with a chain a grinder is so nice to have.

[@davidtipton7234]

I do the same. I hand file most of the time. Only grind when I hit something or my son borrows one of my saws. Just to get the chain back straight. Heck I even run a file over the chain after grinding em.

[@dennisconstantine624]

I bought one many years ago before my hand sharpening skills were perfected and it worked ok, just don’t be aggressive or the teeth will burn. With hand filing my chains are like razors but it take a long time to perfect. Cheers from NZ

[@tomsteinmetz1215]

Old Dealer here with 45 yrs of sharpening experience, 25 to 30 thousands you will want to keep the rakers lower than the tooth you liking to hard or soft woods .. Yes buy another grinder 1 for sharpening 1 for rakers . Also important when sharpening work the wheel through not to over heat the tooth and clean the grinding wheel occasionally .... Good luck

[@petehendry4756]

Ive had one for about 10 years , got it from northern catalog , think i paid 140 for it , it looks about the same as yours , it's got meny meny hours on it and its held up just fine, like you i thought i would eventually up grade to a more expensive one but honestly i really couldn't think of a reason too as its perfectly adequate as is . I do residential removals as a sideline on the weekends so it sees more use than the average fire wood guy but not as much as a professional.

[@johnclarke6647]

I have the same chain grinder. I sharpened the chain for my 024 the other day. The chain had been rocked and I needed to straighten out the angles on the cutters. It did a pretty good job cleaning up the cutters and gullets. I hand filed the chain, afterwards, and hand filed the rakers. It looks pretty good, but have not cut anything with it yet. I won’t use it very much because I like to hand file my chains. I will defer to your judgement how good a job it does on a chain.

[@John-logistics]

I bought the tecomec model and love it I had a bucket of chains so I figured the timing was good the balance between aggressive and safe is fun to experiment with, yourapproach was perfect.

[@Smittyschainsaws]

I switched nearly two years ago to the grinder. I have a million little reasons why I prefer a grinder but can’t really come up with anything that makes me prefer the file.

[@AndyH-13]

I’ve been thinking of buying a grinder for a while, may be time to give it a go.

[@evojigger]

Can highly recommend a CBN wheel if you stick with grinding, I think my one is a Diamond wheels inc. And Stihls new progressive depth gauges FL4

[@wayneanderson991]

I agree the CBN wheels are the way to go, no blued teeth and cuts very fast. The new Stihl progressive depth gauges are also great, highly recommend!

[@davidwyby]

I have a USG but like the super jolly with the auto hydro clamp, fast.

[@Andyshine77]

Houdy Walt! In my experience, most of the indicated angles on those grinders are off, like 10° sometimes more, and this was on a higher dollar grinder. So check on that to see where things are.✌️

[@johnclarke6647]

I always set my rakers a little hungry, probably about .020. It looks like the grinder did a pretty good job on a rocked chain.

[@afleetcommand]

"Hungry" for me 1s .030" usually mine sit between .028" to .030" on the big older saws

[@johnclarke6647]

@@afleetcommand that’s a little hungry. I set mine about spark plug gap below the top of the cutters. I scan the chain on the bar with my eyes and look for tall rakers. If I find one, I hit a few licks with my raker file. I do not use my raker gauge to set them. I use a FileOPlate on my 3/8LP chains because I have one in that sizebut I do not have one for standard 3/8 or .325 chain. I could use my chain grinder to set the rakers but that means I have to grind the chain, again. If a chain starts cutting crooked I spend more time getting the rakers set identical, but my chains cut straight, usually, sometimes a little grabby but after another filing that goes away. I spend more time on my low profile chains, because they can get grabby more so than a 3/8 full chisel chain.

[@Ketis1985]

I bought Tecomec jolly evo chain grinder at winter but havent even messed with yet since i have not wrecked chain real bad for while 😇

[@MrBucidart]

Don't laugh, but I watched so many HF youtube vides I bought one. With the right aftermarket adjustments, it works better than my sore hands and wrist.

[@localcrew]

I have a few vids on my channel of the original Efco version of this sharpener. They’re also available in a rebranded “Oregon” version. I bought mine almost 25 years ago from a rental place that was going to start renting chainsaws until their insurance carrier said “Nuh-Uhh”. I got the rivet spinner and chain breaker too. My homeboy Larry has the Oregon unit and he had a tree service for decades so you can imagine the use that thing had. Could the Chinese knockoff survive in that environment? Nope. BUT for the average firewood guy or gal I would say that the knockoff would be a great unit. Get the concave grinding wheel for dressing the rakers and you’re in business. BTW, that’s an impressive stack of chains. Makes my stash of old chains seem puny by comparison.

[@afleetcommand]

Yup lots of chains over the years. That was the 28inch pile. I have a 5 gal bucket full of 18, 20, and 24's from the last 15 plus years to dig thru. Done a lot of saw work for an old fart farmer I guess. If the "knock off" pays for itself.. I'll prolly deep dive into a real setup. It's interesting for me to see if it survives a year. And how much longer I'm interested in using both the resultant chains and that grinder before heading into the grinding weeds. Point is it's available to anyone on any budget. And at 40 bucks a chain it's ROI will be Three chainsaw brought back from the dead.

[@AndyH-13]

Can’t complain about the ROI if it only has to return 3 chains back into service.

[@camrynrhodes798]

That looks just like my forster grinder

[@afleetcommand]

Prolly one of those "reboxed & rebranded" generics from across the pond :)

[@leonardvirtue5753]

Nice 😊 🤠👌👌🤙🤙👍🥳

[@ToddAdams1234]

Looks good to me Walt. Have you ever SERIOUSLY thought about a square grinder setup? I know that they are over 1K, but I’m wondering if it’s really worth it. The reason that I’m asking you is because I know that you would give empirical data and an objective assessment of what it is and how it compared. Anyway, carry on sir 🫡

[@afleetcommand]

I have. Put my "toe" in the water first is what this is about and salvage that box of chains too I guess

[@davidwyby]

I have a USG but like the super jolly with the auto hydro clamp, fast.