Let's talk race chain

[old guy]

I just bought a new square stihl chain, it has beak like that from the factory.

 

[RI Chevy]

Pics please

 

[Armbru84]

Keep them rakers high, that would be a power suckin chain right there

Agree. It’s for the big saws. It moves some serious chips.

 

[old guy]

Pics please

Here ya go.

 

[Armbru84]

Here ya go.View attachment 166368 View attachment 166369

I have seen that in some new chains as well. Surprisingly.

 

[Cut4fun]

I just bought a new square stihl chain, it has beak like that from the factory.

Here ya go.View attachment 166368 View attachment 166369

RS isnt square though. RS is round. RSL square

https://www.stihlusa.com/products/chain-saws/saw-chains/rslk/

 

[Willard]

Yep Stihl and Oregon have been factory grinding their round ground chisel with some pretty aggressive side plates for years now.

Here's some pics of some old semi full house race chain done up by the elusive legend Art Martin.
David Smith from FB Chainsaw Repair made a trip out to the west coast and brought back a haul of race bars and chains and saws.

 

[old guy]

I wondered about that # on the box, but this is square ground,it's hard to get a good pic but this one shows the corner. +0

 

[Deets066]

Yep Stihl and Oregon have been factory grinding their round ground chisel with some pretty aggressive side plates for years now.

Here's some pics of some old semi full house race chain done up by the elusive legend Art Martin.
David Smith from FB Chainsaw Repair made a trip out to the west coast and brought back a haul of race bars and chains and saws.
View attachment 166402 View attachment 166403

@Definitive Dave is here also

 

[RI Chevy]

I am surprised at that Stihl square ground RSL chain. Maybe the grinder disk needed to be dressed?
Odd looking box chain.

 

[Wolverine]

I am surprised at that Stihl square ground RSL chain. Maybe the grinder disk needed to be dressed?
Odd looking box chain.

Their round has always had that "beak" as long as I've been using it. (I took this pic in '13)

 

[Willard]

@Definitive Dave is here also

Cool, I didn't know Definitive Dave was David Smith. Great guy!

 

[RI Chevy]

Yes Jason. Their round does have a big curve. I never noticed it on their square.

 

[ManiacalMark]

I noticed on the oregon square chain I just got their grinder at the factory needed a tweak. Top plate looked like a a crescent moon, wasn't happy taking 3-4 strokes off every tooth.

 

[Mkinslow]

I noticed on the oregon square chain I just got their grinder at the factory needed a tweak. Top plate looked like a a crescent moon, wasn't happy taking 3-4 strokes off every tooth.

I bought my first square chain about a month ago and it was that way also. It was about every other cutter. Kinda aggravating when I bought it to learn on.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[old guy]

I recently bought 2 oregon squares, I thought they looked pretty good. Put one on a 372 and it cut very well.
I'll go out to the shop & get the other one to see what it looks like later, it is some kind a snowin out there rite now.

 

[ChipsFlyin]

Yep Stihl and Oregon have been factory grinding their round ground chisel with some pretty aggressive side plates for years now.

Here's some pics of some old semi full house race chain done up by the elusive legend Art Martin.
David Smith from FB Chainsaw Repair made a trip out to the west coast and brought back a haul of race bars and chains and saws.
View attachment 166402 View attachment 166403

Is it me or does the first chain have a back lean on the side plate?

 

[ChipsFlyin]

Is it me or does the first chain have a back lean on the side plate?

If it is - Possible rational? - crank up the chain speed with a huge rim, decrease raker depth

Is it me or does the first chain have a back lean on the side plate?

I was just thinking - 3 cube saw - the saw is only going to develop so much HP and torque with mods - some guys will build great saws - others will build great saws but maybe just a tad less than the other and vise versa so the major difference is in the chain. Don't get me wrong there will be a built saw that is a rocket ship out there also and the not so fast saw.

Hypothetically - What if you have a saw that you kinda feel and know where you are getting the most torque and HP at a certain RPM and it just happens to be in a higher RPM. Or - just shooting for a higher RPM willing to compromise on some torque.

??? Cut back the aggressiveness of the chain- less forward lean, less aggressive rakers, maybe increase to plate angle for a different cut, change the ?
Use a larger rim for increase chain speed in the RPM sweet spot making more cutter cuts than an aggressive chain at lower RPM but overall with the right raker setting might/will (don't know) actually take more wood faster and smoother ?

Is it a dance tring to get optimized efficiency of the saw and chain?

When I'm learning I like to know the how and why so I know what to do so I can replicate. My thoughts or questions may be way off so correct me.

 

[Definitive Dave]

It is a dance for sure of trying to get all the components dialed in to work together to produce the quickest path through the wood.
I have a pretty decent collection of race chains from a lot of different guys, I will try to post up a few pics of some of the most drastic chains and maybe the guys here will chime in about what makes different features of a chain more suitable for different sizes of saws, types of wood, etc.
I need to do more testing as well, I have plenty of chains I have never even run yet LOL

 

[Wolverine]

Is it a dance tring to get optimized efficiency of the saw and chain?.

And a fun one at that...