I've tried a lot of different sharpeners over the years and this is hands down the best I have ever used.

Zim

Drawing the angle on top the vise jaws may help some.
Sharpie and speed square.

Raker gauges are cheap. Progressive raker gauge is better imo.
I do rakers only when they need it, not every time.

Lot of ways to skin this cat.

Edit, saw maintenance would be a great demo.

I file rakers every 3 or 4 sharpenings. I take it down pretty good,more so than one would think.

Gotta go with this guy, only thing I know. Long range, power line transmission lines through state forests and farmers woods. But I'm in Indiana, most days were at most 5. Hrs. On a saw.

Another vote for Stihl

X2 all I would add is you need a flat file also for the rakers.

Same here, but I do dremel at night on stoned chains. I was good enough to get it sharp enough but I knew a couple guys that had the magic touch. If they were in the right mood and it was possible, I would get them to sharpen my saw. They did better than me, but they took longer too. I noticed some files were garbage, some seemed to cut forever.

Round file and a Swedish roller guide and then hit the rakers with a flat file is all I have ever used...

Showed guys how to use a Stihl 2 in 1 easy file at a training class. They bought everyone the dealer had in stock. I have an $300 Oregon chain sharpener I haven't used in years. You can use the stihl tool in the woods and don't have to change chains. Takes less time to sharpen a chain than change it out.

Me too

file the rakers when the chip isn't what you want , chip too small , file rakers

going to be working in soft wood a while file rakers to take bigger chip

I agree, after 40 years I’m pretty good at it , but like you say, some guys had the magic touch and could really file a saw to cut like heck.

I have a bench mounted sharpener. But, it only sharpens. The Stihl sounds great. Where did you get it and what's the cost?

Thanks for all the suggestions. I ended up driving out to Harbor Freight today and picking up their electric saw sharpener. The reviews were mixed. Half the reviews said it sharpened pretty good. Half said it was junk and made of all plastic. Both were true. It's cheaply made but I only paid $30 for it so I guess I can't complain but when I say cheap, I mean Fisher Price cheap. I've never seen so much plastic in a power tool. I had to add some washers as shims to get the clamp to work and had to tweak the clamp handle to get it to stop flopping around - pretty typical for HF tools.

There's a stop that indexes the tooth at the proper position for the grind stone. I had to keep my thumb holding that stop down to keep things from moving but once I figured out that trick, it went smoothly.

But, once I got it dialed in and set up, it really did a pretty good job of sharpening and it did it in 1/3 the time I could have done it by hand. I took off a bit more metal than I would have with a file - which means I'll go through chains faster. I think that's fixable by making some adjustments.

If you heat all winter with firewood and cut several cords a year, this is not the tool for you. If you clean up around the yard and cut a little firewood for the occasional back yard bonfire, I think it's worth taking the chance.

The 2n1 is about 38$ at the dealers. 2n1 works great but I also like the husky roller guide with the proggressive depth gauge.

As far as rakers go, like GreenecountyPete said, I lower them to take a bigger chip in soft wood. If running in hardwoods, I place a straightedge across cutters and shoot for about .020-.025" gap.

I cut 10 to 30 cord of wood a year (depending on if I'm wanting to sell some for some extra money or not). And I use that Harbor Freight grinder like you have. Works pretty good and fast and easy. Has held up for four years, had a Northern brand one before that that lasted that long mounted outside to a post in the woodshed with rain and snow blowing on it. The new one I take inside and expect to last longer. I was never great with a round file (I could make them cut, but if I filed a chain repeatedly they tended not to cut straight when bucking stuff 30" or larger in diameter). Got pretty dang good with a chisel bit file before I bought a cheap grinder, and you can use the same file to cut the rakers. If you are going to be working in clean wood chisel bit ground or filed chains will cut faster than round ground or filed chains. But if you get in any dirty wood, like logs that have been skidded and have dirt in the bark, they dull faster and when that tip is dull they don't cut. Nothing beats a Silva chisel bit grinder, they are what all the fallers use, but they cost a fortune and haven't been made in quite a few years, plus they aren't what you want for cutting dirty wood. Personally I run a chisel bit chain, but round grind it, cuts faster than a round chain, and holds up better than a chisel ground chain, kind of a happy medium.