Grinding Wheel Thickness for Sharpening

[eweingarden]

I have an Oregon 410-120 chain sharpener which I use for chains on a Stihl MS 250. I recently bought a second chain saw (Stihl MS 311). The chains for the saws have different specs with respect to pitch and gauge. The Oregon Sharpener manual indicates using a 3/16" stone for some chains, and a 1/8" stone for other chains. I would prefer not having to change the stone each time I'm sharpening the chains from the different saws. In addition, the Oregon manual indicates using a different thickness stone for different model chains, even though the chains have the same specs. I'm not a professional; I use my saws for harvesting wood to turn on a lathe. With all that said, I'm confused about whether or not I can use the same stone for the different chains. TIA for any and all feedback.

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

Yes, generally speaking- 3/8 LP and .325 chain use the thinner stone and standard 3/8 or .404 use the next size up.
The reasoning being, the larger stone would cut into the side plates of the smaller chain and the smaller stone on the larger chain would not cut the correct profile gullet.
Not that I have tried it- but perhaps with some clever angle setting, or multiple pass cutting- you perhaps could get a correct profile on the larger chains with the smaller wheel.
Maybe its just easier to have a few chains for the 311 and wait until all need to visit the grinder- swap wheels and do the lot in one sitting.
Another solution is a second grinder- one set up with the smaller wheel, other for the larger wheel.
But, then you need to buy a third grinder for the 6mm wheel- set up to do depth gauges.