Chainsaw Repair

Looking to  learn to file square chain. Are the atop filing jigs all that they are **** up to be. I also hear they have a racing one and a regular one. Have ran some out of the box square chain and was not real impressed,to my round filed chains, see and hear they are faster so I would like to give it a shot.

I wondering if its worth the 200 for the atop, or to just save a little more and find a used grinder. I have some 72 CL, and hoped that with the atop I can begin to learn how to hold the file correctly, so that I can free hand after I get the hang of it from the atop.

it'll hold up in clean wood.
regardless of hard or soft.
what I found with the atop was it's a great learning tool. expensive yes. but if you have a couple friends chip in on one, it'll pay for itself. it shows you what a square chain needs to look like to cut properly, gives you the basic idea of the angles and it does do a very good job at making the chain faster. it's a very good (but expensive) starting point.
as for 'out of the box' square. what I've found is the gullet needs to be opened up right from the getgo. square is a little more prone to blocking up if that gullet isn't taken out.
i use a 5/32" round file to clean it up before using. makes a big difference.

I have square chain on my GTG saws.

I have used it at times on local firewood cutting. It is really fast when sharpened properly.

Bailey's usually has the Atops