Thread: Tell me how to sharpen a chainsaw

So my mom has a chainsaw and she's complaining that it gets dull pretty quickly. She sharpens it herself and then occasionally takes it to a professional, who usually tells her that it's sharpened all wrong. He doesn't go into detail, obviously, because then he'd be out of a job.

Anyway, the saw is a Husqvarna one. We have a round file for sharpening and this little guide thing you put on the chain, to get the right angle. However, the whole angle deal is pretty much the problem. We have some diagrams in a manual that show us the right angles, but we don't really understand them at all. If anybody has some really good sharpening tips, that would be appreciated

I use a mototool and simply hand sharpen it. One does not have to get very technical with it.

She was talking about a powertool that could get the job done, but she said she didn't want to pay that much for it. Do you use that tool at any special angle, or do you just jam it into the grooves and run it for a few seconds?

Just eyeball it, follow the preexisting angle. And be careful not to grind finger parts away.
Dremel. I just leave the chain on the saw--just tighen it up a bit to hold the teeth firmer.