The 7 Best Chainsaw Sharpeners of 2024

Best Overall

Oregon Compact Universal Chainsaw Sharpener

$220 At Amazon View On Walmart View On Northerntool.com

For a chainsaw sharpener to be worth using, it needs to be easy to set up and use, provide consistent results, and save you money compared to paying a professional. The Oregon Compact Universal Chainsaw sharpener is a bench-mounted model that satisfies all of those requirements and more. All the requisite mounting hardware is included right in the box, setup is quick and easy, and it will pay for itself after you’ve sharpened a couple dozen chains compared to taking it to a pro.

This sharpener is so robust that you’ll actually find it at work in some professional shops. The instructions are a little confusing for a first-time user, though—especially the angle selection directions—so it may take you a little time to achieve the high-quality results that this sharpener is capable of providing.

It helps to reset it when reversing direction, but finding and setting the correct angle for your chain is the biggest issue. Try a grinder angle of 30 degrees, head tilt of 60 degrees, and down angle of zero, or 30, 60, or 10 if you aren’t able to find the right angles. If you use an Oregon chainsaw chain, then their angle guide will work perfectly, and you shouldn’t have any issues. The grinder works on chains from all the top chainsaw brands, like Makita, Ryobi, Stihl, and Husqvarna, but the guide is much more useful for Oregon’s own chains.

Once you figure this grinder out, it works fast and provides excellent results. We like that it includes a built-in work light to help you see what you’re doing and a wear indicator to let you know when it’s almost time to replace your grinding wheel.

_{Type: Electric | Power Source: Corded | Maximum Speed: 3,150 rpm | Variable Speed: No | Pitches Sharpened: All common sizes | Sharpener Weight: 17 pounds}

Best Electric

Sharp Pebble Electric Chainsaw Sharpener Kit

$40 At Amazon

The Sharp Pebble Electric Chainsaw Sharpener Kit is our favorite electric chainsaw sharpener because it comes with everything you need to sharpen a variety of chainsaw sizes—including a rotary tool. It works fast with variable speeds and is really easy to use.

This kit includes a rotary tool, three different file sizes, and a chainsaw angle attachment that helps you guide the file at the correct angle for an optimum sharpening job. It is all freehand, so you may not achieve professional results the first time—especially if you have to deal with a wobbly collet—but the guide shows you exactly how to hold it in relation to the chainsaw chain. You’ll want to take a break between chains, though, as the rotary tool can get a little hot after extended use.

_{Type: Electric | Power Source: Corded | Maximum Speed: 33,000 rpm | Variable Speed: Yes | Pitches Sharpened: All common size | Sharpener Weight: 2 pounds}

Best Bar-Mounted

Granberg Bar-Mount Chainsaw Sharpener

$52 At Amazon $70 At Walmart View On Granberg.com

Bar-mounted chainsaw sharpeners need to provide more precision than handheld sharpening kits while saving you the trouble of removing the chain and allowing you to work quickly, which is why we recommend the File-N-Joint Bar Mounted File Guide from Granberg. It doesn’t include any files—you’ll need to buy those separately—but it takes all the guesswork out of the sharpening process and doesn’t require any experience or special knowledge to operate.

This bar-mounted sharpener clamps right onto your chainsaw bar with the chain still in place and guides you toward the exact right filing angle. It works with virtually any chainsaw and holds all file sizes, so all you need to do is look up the right file size for your chainsaw and then let this sharpener guide you.

Granberg builds these sharpeners to last, so you’re likely to get many years of use out of it. It’s made of cast aluminum and zinc-plated steel for precision and longevity, so you can take it out on the job site year after year, and it will always provide the exact same results.

_{Type: Bar-mount | Power Source: Manual | Maximum Speed: Not applicable | Variable Speed: Not applicable | Pitches Sharpened: All common sizes | Sharpener Weight: 2 pounds}

Best Bench-Mounted

Timber Tuff Benchtop Chainsaw Sharpener

$165 At Amazon View On Timbertufftools.com

Bench-mounted chainsaw sharpeners need to provide precision and flexibility to be worth it, which is why this Timber Tuff model is our favorite. It's designed for installation on most work surfaces, including tables, work benches, and walls. It’s built around a powerful 230-watt motor that runs at 3,600 RPM for fast and effective sharpening.

We love that this bench sharpener comes with a built-in work light, which makes it easy to see exactly what you’re doing as you line up each tooth on the chain and then bring down the grinding wheel with the large handle for precise sharpening.

This bench-top grinder includes three grinding wheels, from 1/4 to 1/8 inch, to handle a wide variety of chainsaw chains. It’s suitable for sharpening your entire collection at once. If you happen to overwork it, the motor includes thermal-overload protection to shut it off until it cools down.

The initial setup is a little complicated, and you need to source your own mounting hardware, but that isn’t a huge issue because you’ll only have to mount and set it up once.

_{Type: Electric | Power Source: Corded | Maximum Speed: 3,600 rpm | Variable Speed: No | Pitches Sharpened: All common sizes | Sharpener Weight: 17 pounds}

Best for Dremels

Dremel Chainsaw Sharpening Kit

$30 At Amazon

If you own a Dremel rotary tool, you’ll be delighted at how effective this kit is at turning your multi-tool into a chainsaw sharpener. It’s about $10 less than a standalone handheld chainsaw sharpening tool and $200 less than our best overall pick, the Oregon Compact Universal Chainsaw Sharpener, so it adds a lot of extra value to your Dremel and provides really high-quality results as well.

The instructions for this kit are a little unclear, but the sharpening process is easy after you figure it out. The kit includes four grinding burrs to fit a variety of chainsaw blade sizes, and you use it with the chain still on the chainsaw. It also comes with an adjustment gauge, two spacers, and a small wrench, which is everything you need to bring your chainsaw back to a like-new level of sharpness.

This kit is designed for Dremel multi-tools, and specifically for the 3000, 4000, and 8000 series, and it works well with all of those models. It may work with your non-Dremel rotary tool if you have one that uses the same threads as Dremel, but that isn’t guaranteed.

_{Type: Electric | Power Source: Corded | Maximum Speed: Variable | Variable Speed: Yes | Pitches Sharpened: All common sizes | Sharpener Weight: 3.5 ounces}

Best Manual

Oregon Chainsaw Field Sharpening Kit

$19 At Amazon

Manual chainsaw sharpening kits can come in very handy out in the field, but only if they have all the right guide and gauge components and include high-quality files. The Oregon Chainsaw Field Sharpening Kit is our favorite manual option because it includes four high-quality Swiss files, a depth gauge, a file guide, and a single handle to save space, all in a convenient carrying case that’s easy to pull out whenever your chain needs a quick sharpening.

This field sharpening kit is easy to use and turns in good results, but it can be confusing if you’ve never sharpened a chainsaw before. The instructions are clear if you already know how to do the job, but you may may want to check out a tutorial before you pack this set up and head out on the job if you’re new to this type of sharpening.

We like that this set is built around a single interchangeable handle because it saves space, but the handle could be better. It’s a basic wooden handle instead of a twist and lock, which would be easier to use and more reliable. It’s still a solid kit though, and you can always swap in a twist and lock handle later if you feel the need.

^{Type: Manual | Power Source: N/A | Maximum Speed: N/A | Variable Speed: No | Pitches Sharpened: All common sizes | Sharpener Weight: 0.81 pounds}

Best Speed

Garrett Wade Quick-Feed Chain Sharpener

View On Garrettwade.com

This bench-mounted sharpener is our favorite in terms of speed because it turns in exceptionally fast results without compromising on quality. It takes about 5 minutes to set the unit up, and then you can sharpen an entire 20-inch chain in about 4 minutes, which is about a minute less per chain than the Oregon Compact Universal Chainsaw Sharpener (our best overall pick), and substantially less effort thanks to the auto-feeding mechanism.

Electric chain sharpeners make it easy to sharpen a lot of chains at once or to zip one off quickly, but they’re often time-consuming to set up. The Garrett Wade Quick-Feed Sharpener takes care of that with a simplified setup procedure and an auto-feeding mechanism that takes all the hard work out of the process.

The settings are intuitive, and the instructions are clear, so it’s easy to achieve high-quality results the very first time. A lot of the components are plastic, though, which allows for some excessive flex. It doesn’t prevent this sharpener from turning in great results, but there is a lack of precision that wouldn’t be acceptable in a professional shop.

This grinder comes with a 4.5 mm grinding wheel that’s good for a lot of chains, but Garrett Wade sells a smaller 3.5 mm wheel for 18 bar and smaller (the standard wheel works on 18 bar chains, but it’s really close.) If you have a smaller chainsaw, check to see if they have the 3.5 mm wheel in stock before you buy.

_{Type: Electric | Power Source: Corded | Maximum Speed: Not stated | Variable Speed: Not stated | Pitches Sharpened: All common sizes | Sharpener Weight: Not stated}