I started my journey toward hand-filing chainsaws when I was in high school. I watched arborists run a chainsaw through wood like it was butter. I wanted to sharpen a chainsaw like that.
My journey started before the internet, before YouTube. The only way to learn to hand-file a chainsaw was to know someone or read the manual. I didn’t know anyone who knew how to hand-file. I remember reading the manual talking about top plate angle and side plate angle and frankly, it didn’t make sense.
It wasn’t until YouTube that I got better at hand-filing chainsaws. I could finally watch masters showing how it’s done.
Each time you hand file a chainsaw you’ll get better at it. Along the way, you’ll make some mistakes.
Practice makes better.
You may file the teeth too low creating a hook on your cutters causing them to dull quickly, almost immediately. You may file the teeth too high and they will stay sharp longer but not slice into the wood.
You may neglect the depth gauges causing the cutters to glide over the log without biting. You may file the depth gauges so low the saw forcefully pulls you into the log or worse, kicks back at you. Be careful not to file depth gauges lower than the manufacturer recommends, depth gauges filed too low increases the chance of kickback exponentially.
Each mistake you make is a mistake you’ll make again, but next time you’ll know how to fix it.
Below I’m using a Husqvarna T535i chainsaw. According to the Husqvarna, the saw weighs 5.3 lbs and the BLI200 battery weighs 2.9 lbs. We’ll add 1.5 lbs for the chain, bar and oil making this battery-powered saw weigh around 9.5 lbs. That’s a little heavier than the saw feels. Let’s say it’s featherlight and laser-sharp.
You can do it!