I'm going to show you how to make a basic chainsaw sharpen and what you're trying to achieve when doing that to get a well performing cut.

So to start off with we've got a chainsaw chain here. This is what they call a rapid super or a full chisel chain.

Which has the 90 degree angle on the top not rounded off on the side like a semi chisel.

The side plate. The depth gauge. The heel and the toe of the cutter.

And the gullet in here. But most importantly what we look at when we're looking at sharpening a chain is we're looking at the working corner.

We have a good look at this edge here and see how far back this is worn or blunted.

You know if that's rounded off and blunt back to here. That's how far we need to file it back to get it back to being square and sharp again.

So we're looking at the working corner of that. And then we're looking at the shape of the gullet.

What you're trying to achieve is that half mooned, nice half moon shape. Not too deep in the gullet and not too flat.

So we've got this one here where you can obviously see the file's been too low. And it's filing and giving it a very big, what they call a very low in the gullet.

If you do sharpen like this you will find it will cut well for a few rounds.

Other ones we see are when the file is either too big or held up too high. And you don't get much gullet at all.

But ideally what you're aiming for is that bottom one there. Where you've got that half moon sort of shape.

But not too skinny either. And it's got that nice half moon, half moon shape.

Just explain it like that. So what we're measuring is the distance between here and here is how much timber is actually being removed.

And like I say, your working corner, that is nice and square on the point. If it's rounded, you need to sharpen it back till it's square again.