I mentioned I bought an electric chain saw sharpener back maybe a year ago and I will say it does great... I had 4 -16" chains I had gotten dull over the years plus the one on the saw and sharpening them with the round file is not the best of ways.

   It does take a while to get familiar with all the settings but once I sharpened all the dull blades I still didn't know how I did......Well after getting all the blades sharp I had to wait till this spring to give those blades a good trial....

   One of my biggest oak trees had to come down for there were boarers at the base of the tree and didn't know it till some of the bark fell off revealing lots of holes..This spring new leaves came out on all the branches but being too close to the garage I didn't want to leave it there not knowing how weak the tree had gotten....  Lots of sawing on that big tree but during the winter I got worried a big limb was jutting out over the garage so that part came down earlier than most of rest of what I cut down this past week....  

  One thing that worried me on setting the blade in to the holder was when I start the motor up and bring the sharpener across the blade there is a movement of the chain blade back away from the blade and was just guessing how to handle that... the blade moves back the same every time. It seems like maybe 1/16" back from my original setting.. So would it not sharpen the blade enough by that backwards movement or what...so before my first actual sharpening I did give the blade a slight adjustment towards me or forward just a hair to make up for that slack in the chain links is what is causing to back movement.... I didn't want to adjust the blade the whole distance the slack was moving only part of that distance and it was the right guess...

  I cheated a little bit for I had an older 14" blade from a chain saw that quit running years ago so I got to experiment some what with out ruining the 16" blades but no motor to put it on to see if it would be sharp enough to suit me.. So yes this 29.95 electric sharpener was and is well worth it...Oh yea, I was in a lumber yard during the winter and there that electric chain saw sharpener was sitting with a 169.95 price tag so that made me feel better...same red color, same chain holder and all the rest of the stuff. 

  Just don't throw the directions away before you learn how to set the blade in to the machine and what all will happen and how to repeat the grinding of each tooth....and do put a mark on the first tooth so you know when you have sharpened all of them before you turn the blade over to sharpen the other direction...….

  And by the way a person can not adjust anything to stop the chain from moving backwards when the grinder comes in to contact with the blade... Its the slack in the links that make it move...but once you see all the links are getting the same amount of grinding an no need to adjust the chain for all that movement..

Sounds like a great little sharpener. I never could get the hang of hand sharpening chainsaw blades.

A worn bar can make a sharp chain seem dull too.

I have always sharpened by hand and that can get off by a little and make the cut pull. Stihl makes this https://www.stihlusa.com/products/chain-saws/filing-tools/2in1file/.   It files the rakers with each stroke. Much easier to sharpen with this. I cut 4 nails in one log and this straightened it up.

I cut so much wood that most days I sharpen two saws twice a day.

I have two professional chain sharpeners. But I don't use them. I can put the saw in a vise and have it sharp with a dremel in less than 2 minuets. This is what I use.

 

  

Thanks Kevin, I can see where your way would be much faster by the blades still being in the saws.. I know I was not happy holding the long round file in my hand for my results was not worth the effort.

I guess I cheat then. Branch needs trimming that my little 14 in h electric can't handle I call neighbor. He whacks it and done.  In return I sharpened his lawn mower blades.

3 hours ago, Gunny said:

I guess I cheat then. Branch needs trimming that my little 14 in h electric can't handle I call neighbor. He whacks it and done.  In return I sharpened his lawn mower blades.

...So how does he lift the mower to trim the tree branch? 

Is this him?

John

This guy lives in the area.