What about carbide coated chains?

[BlueBeast]

So I really thought I was buying a carbide tooth chain at first. After talking to the guy about making a 52" I decided why not try it. I'm old enough to remember having a choice between regular and carbide tipped circular saw blades in the 80s, obviously no contest, but what about a carbide tipped chain for the surprises the nail fairy leaves for me. The carbide coated chain is something that hadn't occurred to me. I don't see any added resilience to the occasional nail, but would it hold up better to continued hardwood milling? It just arrived today and I can try for a couple more days. Any guesses, any opinions, any one want to place their bets? For what its worth, the regular holzforma full chisel skip tooth is $40 on a slow boat from China or $50 from us supply. This silver bad boy is $80 from the other side of the country.

 

[Wonkydonkey]

I think that carbide chain ( not that I’ve used one milling or crosscutting) will cut fine, untill it don’t then there’s the sharpening?.


I think it will be way better than the farmatec, but I think when those nail fairy’s pop up it will be the same shît hitting the fan

Edit: I reread your post. “Carbide coated chain ?” If I’m thinking correct it it will be like toffee coated chocolate

well… I’d be interested in your review of said chain…

 

[blades]

not the same as a full chunk of carbide, would be similar to the various coatings on machine tool cutters. great until it wears off or you sharpen same. Then its not there anymore where it counts. that is why some of the tooling shops offer a recoat service. The carbide tip chains I have seen are small chunk brazed in place just like saw blades. hit something hard enough and they will break or get removed. Another thing due to the brittlness of carbide( a sinterd product) is you cannot grind it to fine feather edge. There are many formulations for carbide cutters- so with out any pertenantt data it's just so much sales hype.

 

[Loony661]

Any pics of this chain? I’m interested to see what the cutters look like.

 

[Wilhelm]

Carbide "coated" chainsaw chain is supposed to be more resilient in abrasive conditions, similar to a chain "with extra thick chrome layer".
Supposedly a carbide coated chain can be both ground and/or filed, from the teeth's inside out.

I am guessing You might get more cuts between sharpening the chain, but slower cutting performance since You won't get a perfect edge on the cutters due to the carbide coating.

 

[Al Smith]

I think carbide ,solid or coated was designed for rescue saws .Once a young sales lady at my Stihl dealer tried to sell me one. The owner was in the back and came out laughing .He said very kindly to her,hon that guy knows how to file a chain .I just smiled .

 

[calcutta250]

I think carbide ,solid or coated was designed for rescue saws .Once a young sales lady at my Stihl dealer tried to sell me one. The owner was in the back and came out laughing .He said very kindly to her,hon that guy knows how to file a chain .I just smiled .

Just the bullet type or all carbide tipped chain? Sharpening is the issue for most people.

A carbide coated chain sounds sort of sketchy. I mean steel has “carbides” already in it, does that make it a carbide chain. Coatings only take you so far then you file or grind part of it away.

 

[Elkhunter]

It may ruin a good file in a hurry.

 

[Wilhelm]

Stihl Rapid/Picco Duro 3 are carbide tipped chains made for cutting wood, and they work really good.
The cleaner the wood You are cutting the longer You will enjoy Your Duro 3 chain.
Just saying.

 

[BlueBeast]

The pictures are best I can get right now using my tablet. Cheap camera on it. I agree it'll probably cut slower, has a grit finish.Ill try to get logged it on my phone tomorrow for a better picture of the cutters. I think it looks pretty much like you'd expect. Kind of stove up right now. Had to move some of that pecan out to the property. Nothing like doing it the hard way, but its done except for chunk. Might be the weekend before I get to try it in that oak, I have the first 8' and the 2nd 8' up. Think ill go high and hope to save the nails for last. Guaranteed to have my own opinion of it by then.

 

[Wilhelm]

The top of the "coated" cutters should look and feel similar to anything diamond coated.
I am curious to see better pictures of that loop.

You do not want to use a carbide TIPPED chain if You KNOW You will encounter foreign objects in the wood You are cutting.
Chipped carbide tipped cutters are duller than a regular dull steel cutter, and grinding carbide cutters in hopes to revive them is more tedious too.

 

[Al Smith]

A carbide coated chain sounds sort of sketchy. I mean steel has “carbides” already in it, does that make it a carbide chain.

Every so often back in the days of cast iron engine blocks the foundries got a batch of "white iron " ,high carbide .So hard it could not be machined using conventional methods .I've seen thousands in rail road gondola cars sent back to the foundries for remelt .
Regarding chainsaw chain the hardest I know of is that sold by Stihl .It will peel the teeth right off a lesser quality file in short order .Not hard to file with a better quality file that is lesss aggresive .With actual carbide I'd about think it would take a grinder with a diamond wheel thus require a special method most could not afford to use unless they were a dealer .IMO for a rescue saw use the carbide other wise better quality chain for normal use which is cutting wood not roofing and metal siding .

 

[super3]

I have a couple of loops of that type chain from many yrs back. It has carbide grit on the top and rolling slightly on the outside of the tooth. Sharpens with a file or grinder fine. Does stay sharper for quite a bit longer than regular. That was Carlton, NLA. Several yrs ago I wanted a few different lengths for other saws and all I could find was Oregon Diamonized, ( made the same way) not near as good as the Carlton for keeping the grit on the tooth until worn out. These were both semi chisel.

 

[blades]

I have a customer that makes carbide pipes which are then placed inside a steel pipe. ( the steel pipe provides protection for the brittle carbide ) For the oil industry as crude is very caustic. It is then heated to x temperature causing the carbide tube to become fused to the steel tube with the 2 materials becoming one unit . I can't see this process being used for chain teeth, I suppose it is possible though. Baco carbide tip bandsaws use some type of fusing procees to make their bandsaw blades unlike most others where it is a small chunk on the end of a tooth. Like carbide tipped chains quite pricey. Baco is a Swiss co.

 

[BlueBeast]

Clearer pictures of the cutters

 

[Al Smith]

More--Thery say Burt Munro famous for having the worlds fastest Indian motorcyle used cast iron sewer pipes to make engine cylinders .That stuff is so hard it will knock the teeth right off of a metal saw blade .It takes an abrasive blade in most cases or multiple toothed blades .I'll bet good ole Burt spent more time sharpening his tooling than he did machining the parts .

 

[jakethesnake]

^was a fast Indian. Watched the movie in school

 

[Al Smith]

I first became aware of this plucky New Zealand guy in the 60's in Popular Mechanics magazine .Proving once again to never judge a book by it's cover nor is the genus of a mechanical wizard detained by lack of tools .

 

[gurwald]

Cast iron is brittle but not very hard, no idea what kind of magic stuff they use in new zeeland.
But if you weld it the carbon will form carbides around the welds wich are hard as diamonds.
Happened to an abused flywheel I tries to true up, the carbide inserts chipped as soon as they touched those heated spots.

 

[Al Smith]

Cast iron with its alloys and types are more numerious than the fish in the ocean .The same could be said about carbide tooling ,they aren't all exactly the same .Then you get into ceramics and diamond tooling to more confuse the whole thing .
I once made an adapter to use a face plate from a South Bend lathe in a Monarch 10 EE lathe .I used the flywheel end of a Ford crankshaft to fit into a 3 jaw chuck ,threaded 4 TPI for the SB face plate .I had thought the crankshaft was made of nodular iron but it must have been a hard alloy because it was like turning tool steel .