I’m 51 and i cannot sharpen a chainsaw chain. I own 3 chainsaws. I have purchased numerous sharpening tools and jigs. I end up just buying new chains.
What skill can you not seem to master?
r/AskMen
I’m 51 and i cannot sharpen a chainsaw chain. I own 3 chainsaws. I have purchased numerous sharpening tools and jigs. I end up just buying new chains.
Comments
You can get them sharpened at the hardware store for the low
I’ve gotten better but generally as mechanically inclined as blob fish out of water.
I’m pretty shit at following instructions
Dancing. The only time I move comfortably to music is when I’m just headbanging/nodding, or by myself
Juggling. I’m a pretty dexterous person and do a lot of work with my hands, but I just cannot get the knack. I tried pretty hard to get it down when I was a kid, and have made half-hearted attempts as an adult, but whatever I’m juggling just runs away from me.
Crochet.
My daughter tried so hard to teach me. The plan was to have an Etsy store to sell monster crochet toys/figures. That plan has been abandoned.
I’m a terrible speller.
I have the Stihl 2-in-1 sharpening jig and it’s practically fool proof. I also have a lot of trouble sharpening chainsaw chains.
I also own 3 chainsaws, and I just buy new chains. They’re so cheap and sharpening chains is so tedious, worth it.
i am 43 and never learned how to do an ollie.
Clipping and filing my nails. They always grow back in kinda wonky. One day I’ll get it right, one day…
Wrapping presents
I am 35, and no matter how many times people show me, I cannot snap my fingers.
I can’t seem to master staying focused when answer… hey anybody see the cool clouds today?
If you haven’t, watch a few of the videos on sharpening. I couldn’t do it to save my life then I finally felt it working after watching a couple that explain it as they go.
Guitar. I took lessons, watched DVDs, practiced a lot. My fingers are just clumsy, I give up after a while and forget chords. However I’ve just committed to practice an hour every morning,5 days a week. We’ll see how it goes
Joinery generally. Any time I try to make something out of wood it looks like a well-meaning but ham-fisted child’s first attempt to use grown up tools.
Backhand dinks.
I can’t snap my fingers, and it’s not for lack of trying.
Anything. I seem to be about average at everything I attempt which is very frustrating to me. I just want to be considered good at one thing
Skateboarding, I always tried tl get good at it but never could
it’s funny because i feel that i am just alright at about anything i try my hand at. cooking, played instruments as a kid in school, house chores + repairs, driving, my general hobbies like reef keeping or fishing. i can do everything just good enough but i feel i haven’t truly mastered anything ever. i could play a tune or cook a meal or keep some fish and corals alive or fix some shit around my house good enough but i don’t think there’s anything ever that i’ve tried where i can say yeah, 10 times out of 10 times i’ll fuckin nail that. i’m just ok with being just ok.
To finish one task before beginning another. Just cleaning my studio is usually a several day long affair.
Get a file that matches the gap, hold it at 45 from the chain, and spin / twist it between you’re 2 fingers
Tying knots. I can tie my boots, but anything besides that and I just say fuckit and use duct tape.
Learning Spanish .
My wife and her entire family are
from Mexico , I work with nothing but Hispanics ,all that speak it but I cannot pick it up . I know some phrases and words but I just cannot manage to remember certain words and phrases .
Oh great I am just about to start trying to sharpen my chains.
Sharpening chisels, plane blades and knives. Lots of stones, jigs and patience. My stuff is NOT razor sharp.
Force choke
Carpentry Trim. Doors, windows, cabinets, flooring…. That trim is all like kryptonite… I get the measurements right, but every 3-4 cuts, I get the angle wrong. I’ve built houses, barns, cabins, barndominiums… I have to buy 1/4 to 1/2 more trim than I actually should need. At any given time, if I’m doing it, there’s at least 10 sticks of trim standing on some random wall next to my saw to be cut down and used somewhere else. Used to have an old man from Mexico, he’d bring his son and nephews up to trim a house for me. They could do a 2k sqft house in 2-3 days or less. I’d watch him work and think I could do it… but no. He always said I overthought everything. Poked fun at me, in good spirit.
It hasn’t mattered one bit since I graduated college, but composing essays and other formal literary bullshitteries. I had to get by in English courses on my spelling and grammar alone.
I can not consistently pull off a bechamel much to my embarrassment
Drawing, man. God dammit, that shit is ridiculously hard to do, even when you intellectually understand how to break things down into their basic shapes and build up from there. Some of you out there make it look so easy.
Fly fishing. I go and get to the streams kinda often but more often than not I leave without so much as a nibble.
I still love to go and take in the serenity and I’m trying to get better at least.
Baiting. Can never seem to time it right before the little critters take off with the seed and I’m left empty-handed
New chainsaw chains for the win.
Skateboard 🛹 roller blades I was GREAT!
… pause what does that mean?? 🤔
Golf
Life seems to be pretty difficult for me lately. Just like all of it.
Cutting straight. Always jagged edges.
Socializing. Idk I’m just like, really weird. Doesn’t help that I’m autistic.
Trust me I’ve tried too. I know what I’m doing wrong, but for some reason my dumb a$$ brain is like “nope, we’re staying true to our authentic self!!” And while I appreciate that I am who I am, it also makes socializing complicated…
Juggling. When we had juggling/cup stacking in school, I never got far. My pattern scrambles embarrassingly early.
Bro same, I suck at filing chains. I’ve never even tried square filing, that seems like witchcraft to me.
I don’t have any talent for drawing or painting. I’ve tried but it doesn’t work. Yet I can make almost anything out of wood or metal.
In that same vain knife sharpening. I suck at it. I can eventually get my knives sharp but god does it take me forever. I just suck at it royally, even with guided sharpeners.
Talking to and interacting with women in a way that makes them want to be more than friends.
Playing guitar. My right wrist is kinda fubar’d and since it’s an old injury and it’s my dominant hand, my left hand loses grip strength also. Can’t do any barre chords anymore, plus after 5 minutes my hands are giving up.
Sharpening anything freehand. I must have a jig or tool that is specific to the implement.
Chisels and plane knives – sharpening shed. Chainsaw – commercial sharpening tool. Knives – warthog sharpener.
Using a can opener
3 things: taking questions seriously and completing lists.
A Professional Career. For whatever reason, I just can’t seem to get it going. Not sure if its bad juju, or God has a plan. Either way, I just don’t know.
I recently lost a job I absolutely loved and am not taking the loss well. It was totally my fault. I’m an expert self-saboteur. And now I’m face-to-face with the worst employment market since 2008.
Took me a few chainsaw chains to realize that they were directional! Thought I did a terrible job sharpening or replacing chains…turns out I just can’t read or pay attention to minute details on the sides of the chain that have directional arrows pointing in the direction the chain goes…fml
The flippy part of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama’s 2nd solo.
I’ve been playing 40yrs.
Whistling. With or without fingers in mouth. I couldn’t learn it for the life of me.
I don’t know how to snap or whistle. Never have never will. I have made peace with that.
Dancing and playing bass guitar. I have zero natural talent for it. But I want to learn so badly
Harbor freight has a chainsaw chain sharpener. Its a grinding wheel on a machine that is the right thickness. I used it often, then i couldn’t understand why, after sharpening the chain it wouldn’t cut, so I went to a Stihl dealer and asked why. It was because I wasn’t grinding down the raised metal between the blades, the thing that moves the saw dust back towards the saw. If that stays the same height it’s taller than the blade as you sharpen it. That made all the difference. They also would sharpen my blades for me for $10 each. Not bad, certainly cheaper than buying new. You can also get replacement carbide cutting links, no sharpening required, just cleaning. Or get a very expensive carbide blade where all cutters are carbide, then you just have to clean the cutting heads.
So my suggestion would be to go to a dealer for Stihl and have them educate you on blade sharpening.
Sharpening chains was break time. Sit down on the log, slug some water. Enjoy nature, the peace and quiet.
Oh, and don’t file the metal thing between the cutters too far, as they also reduce kick back. Learned that the hard way. Saw kicked back and hit my thigh. Luckily, it only cut through skin and fat, no muscle or bone. Used some safety pins to close the cut, as i was deep in the woods at the time. And due to the shock, I didn’t feel it.
the only tool you need is the proper sized round file they usually come with the chainsaw but if yours didn’t you will need to purchase the correctly size file for your chains then you just file one tooth at a time you just match the angle that’s already on the chain doesn’t have to be perfect and you file on the push stroke and let off on the back stroke keeping the angle the same with each stroke then I was taught to take a little bit off the rake but not to much or it makes your chain too aggressive if you don’t want your chain to be more aggressive on the cut then just leave the rakes alone and focus on the teeth. it’s easier and faster to do all the left hand teeth on the chain and then switch to the right hand teeth so you will be filing every other tooth and then switch sides. also I should have put this first but you will want to wear a pair of leather gloves that fit well so you don’t cut up your nuckles and fingers.
I learned from a Canadian lumberjack/feller so I’m pretty sure it’s the right way to do it also this method leaves your chain sharp as shit once you master the technic don’t expect to be quick the first time around and if you are just a homeowner that uses the chain saw like once a year there is a good chance you never get fast at sharpening cause it takes a lot of repetition we were felling trees for 12 hours a day and having to sharpen our saws multiple times a day so you tend to get pretty good at it also FYI I was 10 years old at the time.
I bought a wet stone to sharpen my kitchen knives a few months back, and I still haven’t figured it out- definitely a good deal of technique to it.
i cannot for the life of me play the drums
Tying my shoes
Keeping meter as a musician. Playing alone my tempo is all over the place
Flirting with women.
Juggling, have tried learning many times, also whistling
Not giving a fck
Never tackled a chainsaw, but I picked up freehand knife sharpening. It initially seemed impossible. But it’s enjoyable once you get a feel for it.
Spanish, my mom and grandma speak it fluent/are from Spain and 30 years later I’m maybe at a B2 level
Guessing what I did wrong when the Mrs is upset
ironing
Remembering the correct things my partner says.
Seriously I listen intently, my brain just seems to select all the wrong stuff to remember.
I can’t remember what her favourite flowers are, but I do remember the Mini she had years ago was an R53 Cooper S which interestingly was spec’d with the very rare chilli pack factory option.
I can never remember her sisters name and stand in the doorway like an idiot calling her ‘mate’, but seem to have lodged permanently in my mind that when they were kids she was terrified of ducks.
It’s genuinely bizarre.
I am terrible at golf. I’ve spent a lot of time at driving ranges, still can’t hit the ball straight to save my life.
Subtly
I used to skateboard a lot. I could heel flip and varial but never once landed a kickflip.
I can’t tie anything together. Like rope and stuff.
Shoe laces is as far as it goes
Snowboarding. I’ve been doing it for 3 years now and I can’t do a full blue run without going very slowly and falling over. I’ve had lessons every autumn in preparation and still have no idea how to feel natural on a toe edge; it’s very frustrating!
Lasting in bed for more than 5min
Golf
I’m 27 and I haven’t driven a car but would love to try, and riding a bicycle lol
Working on computers and electronics in general kinda. I’ve been trying to teach myself but damn is it tough for me. If I can’t articulate and manipulate with my hands it gets very difficult to understand.
I have two chains. When one gets dull, I swap it out and take it to the dealer for a proper sharpening. I’m trying to learn to do a touch up with file and guide but will still take chains to the dealer every few times to get the angles and depth set properly
Guitar. Dancing.
Soldering electronic parts like on microcontrollers. I have a pretty good iron with temperature control but usually end up with a big glob that sometimes shorts out two pins until I manage to remove some. Doesn’t help that my hands are getting less steady and my eyes worse as I age.
Wrapping presents. I’ve given up, I just buy bag’s with tissue paper
How is this difficult? Also they need to generally be sharpened every few hours of use.
Music. I’ve been a student of music for 35 of my 43 years, and I’m still a mediocre composer at best
I cannot see autostereograms.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autostereogram
Reading sheet music, or really understanding the way notes are supposed to sound at all. I’m not tone deaf, and I am pretty good at keeping rhythm, but no matter how much I try to learn it I cant seem to associate “Do Re Mi” with their accompanying notes, and I cant look at sheet music and hear what its supposed to sound like in my head.
I have been able to learn a small amount of guitar just by following tabs, but that seems to be as close as I can get. If anyone knows any good youtube channels or something for this I’m willing to keep trying since I have other instruments I’d like to learn eventually, it seems to just be the ability to read music that I can’t wrap my brain around.
Damn, I guess that I take for granted that a chainsaw chain is super simple to sharpen by hand with just a round file. No jig needed. I grew up on a farm though and learned when I was 8 or 9.
As others have mentioned here, I can’t dance to save my ass. I am actually a musician that has absolutely no natural body rhythm. I was in a band in the 70s and the rest of the band was always so cool and groovin on stage. I was the odd man out that just swayed back an forth.
Being not awkward
Juggling.
gaming controllers. I was ok back in the d pad a/b button days, but I just can’t get proficient enough to enjoy games due to my inability to become even average at gaming.
whistling. I’m 38 years old and can’t whistle to save my life.
Same here, bro. However, if we’re making confessions, I can not caprentry… I can weld, do plumbing, and residential electrical. I can drop a 70-foot tree inside 2 safety cones 12 feet apart because I just have a sense about things, I guess. But I couldn’t build a shoe rack if my life depended on it. I milled these beautiful boards last year and planned them down, epoxied them to perfection, but thats as far as I go. I wanted to build an elaborate bench but just screwed up 3 boards. I ended up just getting a couple of basic square legs off Amazon and mounting them to a single plank. It’s a nice bench, but not what I had envisioned. I can not make two pieces of wood touch without looking like it was done by a 4 year old.
According to my wife, running the dishwasher. I tied a halter on her and everything.
Ride a wheelie for any real distance. That balance point always eludes me. In my 40’s I finally accepted I will have to remain on 2 wheels.
I bet you need a new guide, or your chain is installed backwards.
Emotional intelligence.
Life.