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[chuck_brown14]

i hand sharpen also unless i hit concreate or metel in tree. then grinder

Same here

[bajonesy77]

I use a hand file and elbow grease, till I run out of elbow grease then a dremel with a grinder.

[chadley]

I just tried sharpening my first chain yesterday.  Never done it before.  How many times should I run the file across the tooth?  Should I only run the file one way.  What I mean is; if I pus the file to sharpen should i pull it back along the same angle or should I take the file off the tooth and bring it back to push it forward again?  Hope my questioin makes sense.

[gspren]

I just tried sharpening my first chain yesterday.  Never done it before.  How many times should I run the file across the tooth?  Should I only run the file one way.  What I mean is; if I pus the file to sharpen should i pull it back along the same angle or should I take the file off the tooth and bring it back to push it forward again?  Hope my questioin makes sense.

Never back drag the file! The file should only touch the metal while taking a cut, letting it touch while pulling back will dull the file. Keep practising, it would be good if you could watch someone experienced file a chain, its not that hard. 

[trz]

any tips for hand file sharpening?    Gauge or no gauge ?   I always seem to get a good bite going one direction then when i do the teeth on the other side seems like the file always wants to skim across without biting.   any help would be............well.... helpful.

[tree climber]

i like to put the saw in a bench vice to hold it so you can get more down presureon the file

[tbone]

I purchased a dremel with the sharpening kit last week and it works very well.  I have found at low rpms you can get the same results as hand filing in a fraction of the time...very sharp chains without removing a lot of metal or overheating your chain.

[yotehunter66]

TimberTuff bench grinder.

[MattyNH]

Best chain sharpener is the hand file...hands down..

[willieG]

best chain sharpener for my saws...anyone but me..lol

[rross]

A good Dremel and diamond stone.  Does not overheat the chain like regular stones.

[garz]

I looked at the sharpener from Harbor Freight & it looked like a cheap collection of plastic parts.  But, they had it on sale & I had a coupon so, I figured “What the hell, for $20 I’ll take a shot”.  That was 3 years & a couple of hundred sharpenings ago. Now I keep 4 saws of my own going & do chains for 4 or 5 of my neighbors. Got to be the best 20 bucks I ever spent. Out in the woods, I can easily flip a spare sharp chain on the saw in the time it would have taken to hand file the dull chain.

[ford tech]

I USE A BENCH MOUNTED SHARPENER FROM STIHL - THAT USES A ROUND HAND FILE WORKS GREAT

[lasor1]

I suggest learning hand file. Because if you use grinder style sharpeners u will always use one because it does heat the chain up no matter how little you use it and makes it hard to file chains and if you cut a lot you better keep a file with you in the field. With a grinder u cannot. Use unless u have power so I suggest a hand file or get you several chains to take with you if you go the grinder route. Which it's always a good ideal to have an extra chain and a backup saw with you anyways.

[netwerx-r-us]

best chain sharpener for my saws...anyone but me..lol

Amen and a second , i can do almost anything but hand sharpening a saw and laying brick are 2 things best  left to others