Chain for black locust

[Philbert]

What angesl do you use. 30/60 ?

Try 25/60 for harder wood.

I have a couple LGX loops in my chain stash, as well as Vanguard which I like

Nice little ‘stash’!

Philbert

 

[Deets066]

This is what I use for most of my bucking, regardless of wood type.
Some worked over 404 square.

 

[Wilhelm]

Nice little ‘stash’!

Philbert

It's OK, mostly 3/8" full chisel, but there are some oddballs in there.

A good portion of those chains came from the US to me.
A big THANK YOU to all the members that gifted me some chains, mostly Vanguard.
An extra big thank You to Sondre @SOS Ridgerider for taking care of shipping!

 

[Muad]

No help for the OP, but am happy to see I'm not the only one that likes Vanguard chain. It files nice, and throws great chips for me. I recently got some loops of EXL from @PA Dan , which I'm very happy with. Highly recommend him OP if you want to try EXL.

At some point I'll do a side-by-side comparison of a freshly filed Vanguard vs EXL. I also only run full chisel chain, but I'm just making firewood

 

[exSW]

Square ground Stihl chisel. I've cut quite a bit of locust over the years. Your chain's going to go away no matter what. Round goes away slower. Square is all at once.

 

[pbillyi69]

this is what I use for it all oregon semi skip .063 cut real nice soft or hard wood

 

[chipper1]

H565. Just firewood.

I'd run exl if it's clean wood, best have good files to sharpen it though, it's not your grandpa's Oregon chain lol.
A slower saw(low RPM) does a nice job in locust, and the chain will last longer with more cutting in compared to a faster(high RPM) saw has been my experience. But a fast saw can be more fun, the fun just doesn't last as long.

Black locust.... I cut a small stand of black locust last year. It was frozen in the wintertime and was filing every tank of gas just to keep an edge with full chisel chain. It seemed like the wood has a high silica content or something. Semi chisel if I was to do it again. Semi just doesn’t bore cut very well (slower than full chisel), so that’s something to keep in mind. If your just cutting firewood that shouldn’t really matter. I like stihl RM for a semi chisel chain. It’s expensive but it cuts better than other brands of semi chisel in my experiences. No safety bumper links. Full chisel I like the good old Oregon LGX. Yes there are others that cut better out of the box... but I seem to get the best results from handfiled LGX. Experiment and find what works for you.

Once tuned semi does just fine. RM is good chain.
Here's a semi-chisel green chain with the safety humps ground off in frozen locust, for what the saw is it's doing great to me.

 

[Motorka]

What low RPM saw will do the job. Something H61 ?

 

[chipper1]

What low RPM saw will do the job. Something H61 ?

Many of the older saws were beasts at lower rpm, I've never owned a 61, and I'm not real familiar with it. The 565 may do well at lower rpm, never ran one or even seen the specs. I like the husky 353 and many of the other "xp lite" saws(the husky saws built on magnesium cases not designated as xp's), not sure if you guys have many of them there, but they have good power down low and don't need to be at a higher rpm to make a cut like many of the xp's do.

 

[Motorka]

Grinding angles for husqvarna c 85 30/60 for hand file and 30/55 for grinder?

 

[chipper1]

30/60 for filing with a 7/32 file.
Grinding it will depend on the grinder you have, just put a new chain on your grinder and see where it comes out at.

 

[Motorka]

Today in really dry locus 22 cutters gone... never happened before. Chain c 85 angles 30/55/10 chainsaw h565.
What is the reason , rakers set too low ?

 

[cuinrearview]

Today in really dry locus 22 cutters gone... never happened before. Chain c 85 angles 30/55/10 chainsaw h565.
What is the reason , rakers set too low ?

Chain at the end of it's life.

 

[huskihl]

Today in really dry locus 22 cutters gone... never happened before. Chain c 85 angles 30/55/10 chainsaw h565.
What is the reason , rakers set too low ?

Keep your file a little bit higher so that you have a C shape in the cutter, and not an angled J shape. Even more so as your cutters get worn out like that. You have a lot of cutter left at the top without much meat left holding it onto the chain

 

[Philbert]

Not much metal behind those cutters. Really hard wood.

If I was going to sharpen speicifially for that wood, I would start with 25° / 60° / 0° and high depth gauge settings: take them down slowly as you see how the chain cuts. You might still get a lot of powder in that kind of wood. Could be a good excuse to try some of the carbide chains.

Philbert

EDIT: Ooops! Looks like I already said the same thing above waaaay back in November. At least I am consistent!

 

[Motorka]

Keep your file a little bit higher so that you have a C shape in the cutter, and not an angled J shape. Even more so as your cutters get worn out like that. You have a lot of cutter left at the top without much meat left holding it onto the chain

Thx. Im using electric grinder. My first try with it.

 

[huskihl]

Thx. Im using electric grinder. My first try with it.

Try sharpening with only the bottom rounded portion of the wheel, not the side. And then when you’re done, back off the chain stop and make additional passes to get your gullet. Or file the gullet by hand. That’ll leave the base of the tooth longer and stronger

 

[Lightning Performance]

Not much metal behind those cutters. Really hard wood.

If I was going to sharpen speicifially for that wood, I would start with 25° / 60° / 0° and high depth gauge settings: take them down slowly as you see how the chain cuts. You might still get a lot of powder in that kind of wood. Could be a good excuse to try some of the carbide chains.

Philbert

EDIT: Ooops! Looks like I already said the same thing above waaaay back in November. At least I am consistent!

He is cutting to deep for sure but 20/55/0 will last longer or 20/50/5 for self feed. Consistent is good on the drags. Less is better in this nasty chit! Square it up with a file after the first tank. The grinding gets it right first.

 

[Lightning Performance]

View attachment 268291 View attachment 268292

This is what I use for most of my bucking, regardless of wood type.
Some worked over 404 square.

Was running this round filed yesterday in the dirt slowly with a 28" 7 pin. It does last and last even round cutter 404 RS 25/55/5. Cut off ten big stumps below grade and touched up with a file. Got a reel of 68lx for the mill. I can chop that up some. That RS squared is mean but mostly use round for easy of grinding. It is easy to convert to square imo with a file. Never switching back to 3/8 on my bigger saws. Anything over 28" will be 404 most times now.

 

[Motorka]

Only use one tank one chain. No problem with that. So if i understand problem is that i grind cutters to deep ?