Customer Reviews

Northern Industrial Bench- or Wall-Mount Chain Grinder

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For the price this is the best chain saw sharpener that I have found. I have tried the others that are the same price or cheaper, and believe me when I say that they belong in the trash. You would be better off hand sharpening if you choose something less. Item# 193020 from Northertool has the features that you see from the spendy models but not the cost. It comes with 3 grinding stones to allow many different types of chains to be sharpened. Angle #'s are on the base for consistent transfer from one side of your chain to the other. Overall this model is not made cheep, it is made to last and that is what I needed.

This grinder is a Chinese knock-off of a Oregon 511AX, while it is well made mechanically & capable of sharpening chains fairly well, there're several major flaws to the unit that needs to be remedied before it can even hold a candle next to a 511AX, or any grinders w/ equal quality for that fact.

First of all, who ever at Northern Tools that's responsible for writing User Manual deserves a severe spanking ! User Manual is not only worthless it is also misleading in few areas, out of 11 pages only 7 were contents pertaining to operation & assembly & they are very sketchy. Upon opening the box you'll find quite a bit of machining dust, I suggest you clean off all threads before starting assembly. Word to the wise" read the manual & set it aside. Yes, it is that worthless !! You're better off using the picture of the assembled grinder in the box cover & use that as a reference on which part goes where.

Secondly, Northern Tool's User Manual made no illustration on how to properly "dress" the grinding wheel which is "critical" to any proper chain sharpening. I end up down loading Oregon 511AX User Manual which has detailed step by step instruction on how to properly "dress" a grinding wheel.

I also suggest that you down loading Stihl USG grinder's manual, in it there's illustration on how to locate the "master cutter" on a saw chain because the master cutter is needs to be sharpened first & all other cutters need to match it's dimensions.

Worst of all is the vise angle illustration! User Manual only tells you about "tilt", that's it. It makes no mentioning on which way to tilt and for which side of cutters. Do I tilt up or down for left or right cutters ???

Consequently, I resort to 511AX's manual for help & found a clean & concise diagram for how to set-up the tilt. For example, Stihl RSF chains required a 10 degree tilt while the RMF & RM series requires no tilt.

Lastly, vise angle clamp wasn't tight enough on my unit. I noticed a couple degrees of "free play", if I set my vise angle at 25, it'll shift to almost 28 degrees on me once I tighten the chain. I later discovered the "jaw compression spring" was too weak & doesn't have enough compression to hold the vise angle plate tight. Northern Tool tells me they have a bunch on back order so I'll get a replacement sometime in the near future.

In conclusion, this unit has the potential to be a good reliable grinder but you'll need to get thru the lousy manual & know how to set-up all 3 cutting angles: 1) top plate angle (2) vise angle (3) tilt. Remember, all 3 angles must be accounted for otherwise your effort will be futile.

Also don't hesitate to call Northern Tool if you feel any parts are defective on your unit, I had a defective jaw compression spring right out of the box.

The Northern Industrial Bench or Wall Mount Saw Chain Sharpener is a great way to sharpen chains It is well build and reliable very happy with unit so far it is very easy to use after a little practice you will enjoy razor sharp chains everytime.

I have read about the cheap sharpeners out there and decided to get the better one. I went with this northern tool one due to the feedback from others. It is not by no means a cheaply made product. It setup quickly and sharpens very nice. Instaed of mounting it to a bench or wall I mounted it to a 4 x 4 and then I hold the 4 x 4 in my vise. Easy to mount and dismount and I can store it away from the needed bench area. It also is at a perfect height higher in the vise. I would recomend this to others and stay away from any other sharpeners under $120. Great product Northern!! Thanks.

very happpy with the sharpener it works great and now I have the sharpest chain saws in town thanks

Received the chainsaw sharpener in good condition beleive it to be a very good product. Only negatives 1) manual is worthless 2) Amazon state order over $100 ship free yet $25 shipping was charged to my credit card. 3) There doesn't appear to any way to contact Amazon.com --no customer service. I've ordered previously from Amazon and was satisfied with the products and service.
J MacD.

Solid, effective - will last for years. Very well built and does the job extremely well.

Do you own a chainsaw?

Do you use it more than once per year?

Then you need this tool. I put off buying a sharpener for 15 years. I have fought with dull chains because the chainsaw guy is closed today, or he hasn't gotten to my chains yet. This tool solves those problems. It is well built, easy to use, sharpens a chain in 5 minutes once you get used to the settings for your chains. The best part is no more dull chains. I expect this sharpener to pay for itself just by the amount of aggravation it saves me in one year, never mind the actual cost of sharpening chains.

I use my chainsaw daily, cut 15-20 cords of wood per year and I'm kicking myself for not buying this sooner.

If you need better directions, peruse the directions for the stihl chainsaw sharpener usg. It is not exactly the same but the idea is the same [...]

I have a Northern Tool near so I went to look at this item. There is no comparison between this all metal tool and the much more expensive Oregon models I also looked at. This sharpener is the best by far. Luckily this item was on sale in the store and I have been using it for about a month. The instructions are sketchy but once you figure out the machine it is fairly simple. Use the right wheel, and seting the two angle/s is simple. The offset table is a little difficult as it is not marked with degrees and the instructions don't clarify it. Basicly the center notch is 0 and either side is 10 degrees. It seems most (of my) blades use the 10 degree offset. You have to rock the table to get the setting. I really like this tool but better instructions would make getting started easier.

I bought this as a Christmas present for my brother up in New Hampshire. It works well but has alot of vibration to it when the handle is in the up postition. It seems to be in the blade. We tried a new blade but it still vibrates. When the handle is pulled down the vibration stops. It does not seem to affect the quality of the sharpening of the chain.