Anytime Tools 5/32" Diamond Chainsaw Sharpener Burr 1/8" Shank, 4 Pack

I have a dremel-type sharpener whose stone is too big for any saw I’ve used since the 1980s. I bought these burrs to sharpen my new saw. The new chain wasn’t so sharp that I needed gloves, but it would cut half a cord of wood quickly. I waited a month to try a diamond burr. Then I cut through a 12” log several times. The teeth were still sharper than new. I would have needed gloves to handle the chain safely. My stone burr would sometimes produce sparks. A yellow spark meant 1000 C. A white spark meant 1200 C. Either would have ruined a diamond burr because the point of a diamond burns away at 850 C. A diamond burr requires a light touch. A light touch didn’t work with my stone burr because it was always clogged. Metal particles will clog a hone. On top of that, the burr picked up oil from the saw chain. I’ve found that a slurry of baking soda and water will unclog a manual hone. I rubbed my old stone burr with a mix of baking soda and water and rinsed. It looked cleaner and felt more aggressive than it had since it was new. I’ll try that if my diamond burr clogs. A dremel-type sharpener needs to be positioned precisely, with the guide plate on the top plate of the tooth and the axis of the burr 60 degrees from the axis of the bar. Nicking a tooth during positioning would damage the tooth and probably the diamond burr. Sharpening wasn’t fun. I wired a momentary foot switch into an extension cord so I could spin the burr only when it was in position. I checked the chain, tooth by tooth. All were sharp enough to scratch a fingernail, but my angle must have been a little off on some because I’d missed some side plates. I got them this time. Now that I wasn’t worried about nicking a tooth, sharpening was so easy it was fun. Update: To test a chain, I slide the back of a fingernail along the chain against the edges. I slide it along the top, then each side. If it slides smoothly, that cutter is dull. After a year of intermittent use, I checked the cutters in preparation for cutting down and cutting up a hardwood that was 19" in diameter at breast height. They still felt sharp. The job included cutting the stump nearly flush with the ground, where there is bound to be grit and the heartwood is very hard; yet it still cut aggressively. I raked up enough sawdust to fill a 42-gallon barrel, and I'm sure that was less than half the sawdust I'd generated. The cutters still felt sharp, but I touched them up. Testing with my nail, I could feel a difference, but it was subtle. I've never before had a chain hold an edge like this. I think when I've sharpened with files, I've left a sort of burr, a weak edge that wore off quickly. I think maybe when I've used a stone hone at 20,000 rpm or so, I've heated the edge enough to destroy its temper. With a diamond burr, I used a foot switch and a very light touch to preserve diamonds. I think it also preserved the temper of the edge.

I started sharpening my chain saw blades a few years back with a Dremel tool and grind stone type burrs. The Anytime Tools burrs are much better than the stone type, since they do not change size due to wearing. I get a much more even sharpening. I keep the Dremel tool on about number 2 speed to keep the bits from over heating. This seems to work very well. Compared with my old method of sharpening with a round file, by hand, this is a pleasure. It only takes me about 5-6 minutes to sharpen a 16 inch chain. These bits come in individual re-close-able plastic cylinders which makes it easy to keep track of them and keep them in good shape. This is a good product.

I don't consider these in the same quality league as the EZE-LAP ones I have used in the past, but they work well enough for what I paid for them. They don't last quite as long, or cut quite as aggressively, but they are less than half price, as well. I do like that each bit comes packaged in its own little plastic holder, to prevent them from scratching up anything that they may be in a toolbox or drawer with. I doubt you could harm these easily, as it consists of diamond grit bonded to a steel core, but I could see them scratching the finish of other tools they could be rattling around with. They fit a standard 1/8 collet, and work best with a rotary tool. I have a variable-speed one, with 1 the slowest, 5 the fastest (I think 25,000 RPMs top speed) and these work the best around or just above the '3'. If you use something with lower RPMs, like a hand drill, get the EZE-LAP brand, as they cut much faster at low speeds. 4 stars for value.

I have used these tools many times already. They do a good job sharpening my chain. Just get the angle right and don't over cut. Each time I get thru I clean up my saw with compressed air and touch up the chain using the tool in my Dremel. Before getting these bits, I had always used a file. This is much quicker. Don't forget to touch up the depth ears on the chain if you are getting a lot of fine dust. This will allow a bigger bite of the chain. These tools come in different sizes, so know what chain you have before ordering. Mine is a 14 inch Craftsman and 16" Poulan.

I am used to sharpening/filing by hand. Not a bad method but I found files wear out, and I don't seem to file the left vs. right hand teeth at the same angle. Once I used the diamond bits in my dremel, I sharpened the blade in about 1/2 or 1/3 the time I did by hand and I found at the first sharpening by using the bits, I had the hand sharpened angles all over the place on the 'inside' of the blade. The bits work well and seem to last OK, they do a good job quickly. All in all seem to be a good addition to the chain saw tool kit

I had been using stone sharpeners prior to getting this diamond type and so far, this outperforms the stone by a large margin. I’ve sharpened 3 chains so far (20in) and the file has very little wear on it. I have not had any failures in the material unlike the stone type and it seems like these 4 may be the last ones that I need to buy.

I purchased these to specifically sharpen the hollow cores of a lawn aerator and so should not be taken as a representative negative because of my findings. The cores are of what looks like galvanized metal and have had the edge taken off by use in a stony lawn. I used the Burr to try to regain the edge on one side of each core but found that the Burr rather quickly became quite smooth. I wouldn't have thought that the core metal was much harder than a chain from a chainsaw, but they haven't performed quite as well as I had expected.

These burs work well. I had long used the rotary sharpening stones and these are better. I used the first bur in a small pneumatic die grinder and it did not hold up under the high speed. I read another review which talked about keeping the speed down on a rotary tool. This is neccesary and should be part of the package instructions. Another vendor of a similar bur with an angle guide suggests using it with a power drill. The drill is a bit clumsy but is handy for field use. I am now using one saw with a carbide chain for cutting railroad ties and these diamond burs are probably the only inexpensive way to sharpen the carbide inserts.

Good.