Saw Chain for Hardwoods

[psuiewalsh]

This is carbide coated to so it does have a regular shape and its fileable http://leftcoastsupplies.com/product/stay-sharp-carbide-coated-saw-chain/

 

[Locust Cutter]

I know it isn't fast but hope it lasts more than about 1/2 -1 tank before being near destroyed. The last chisel chain I took to that pile took me near 30 minutes of filing on a 16" chain to get back into shape. FUnny thing was it only took about 10 minutes to get INTO that bad shape.

 

[heimannm]

Hedgerow made the best observation, in summary: what goes fast won't last as long and the vice versa, what lasts a long time won't be as fast.

I try to keep a few loops of chisel for cutting clean wood and showing off, but for an all day saw I like to have semi-chisel or even old school chipper chain. Most of my saws with longer bars 32"+ will be semi chisel or chipper as they will be use to cut the trees down (generally an easier task) and butcher the trunks and stumps. Many of the trees I cut will have some generous crotches that collect all kinds of dirt and trash and I generally try to leave the stump as low a possible so a durable chain beats a fast chain in those conditions.

I generally don't get too concerned about angles and tend to get less aggressive in my sharpening in favor of a longer lasting edge the more chains I sharpen.

P.S. Matt brought a dried out hedge log to one of the spring GTG at Hoskys, that log humbled many a would be sawyer and seriously bruised some chisel chains...

Mark

 

[Crzybowhntr]

Chisel Is only for play here, if I only cut down chisel would work but bucking on the yard it's not a option. When it's muddy and it always is you'd be lucky to get a couple cuts from a chisel chain.

This made my day. I decided lastnight that I will no longer be buying chisel and staying with semi for 95% of my cutting

 

[Wilhelm]

I mostly cut oak and beech, with oak being the tougher wood to buck as fresh beech is very soft.

I use exclusively Dolmar/Oregon chisel chains on my big saws and they serve me very well.
I have two loops of Carlton chisel chains, but I haven't tried them yet.
The other day I also decided to follow my curiosity and invest in carbide tipped chains, so I now own a 3/8" 72DL and a 3/8" LowProfile 52DL loop.
They seem to be Stihl DURO3, with a somewhat semi chisel carbide insert geometry.
I haven't had the chance of trying the carbide tipped chains, but I am eager to do so!

I have never used semi chisel chains even though I might benefit from them as my firewood are dragged logs from the Croatian forestry and their bark tends to be infested with dirt and rocks.

I am also ready to give PowerSharp a try (I got a kit for my 40cc saws), although according to Oregon/Blount that chain type is only available for small saws.

 

[jakethesnake]

I mostly cut oak and beech, with oak being the tougher wood to buck as fresh beech is very soft.

I use exclusively Dolmar/Oregon chisel chains on my big saws and they serve me very well.
I have two loops of Carlton chisel chains, but I haven't tried them yet.
The other day I also decided to follow my curiosity and invest in carbide tipped chains, so I now own a 3/8" 72DL and a 3/8" LowProfile 52DL loop.
They seem to be Stihl DURO3, with a somewhat semi chisel carbide insert geometry.
I haven't had the chance of trying the carbide tipped chains, but I am eager to do so!

I have never used semi chisel chains even though I might benefit from them as my firewood are dragged logs from the Croatian forestry and their bark tends to be infested with dirt and rocks.

I am also ready to give PowerSharp a try (I got a kit for my 40cc saws), although according to Oregon/Blount that chain type is only available for small saws.

I have cut lots of skidded oak as well I'd have to recommend you give the semi a try I like it pretty well I've always used the oregon with fair results considering what I try to cut w it. Recently got some carlton I like carlton chisel but I can't give an honest report on thier semi yet seems pretty hard so may hold an edge a tad longer?

 

[Wilhelm]

I have cut lots of skidded oak as well I'd have to recommend you give the semi a try I like it pretty well I've always used the oregon with fair results considering what I try to cut w it. Recently got some carlton I like carlton chisel but I can't give an honest report on thier semi yet seems pretty hard so may hold an edge a tad longer?

There are a lot of recommendations to use semi in dirty wood, I might add a loop of semi chisel to my cart on a future purchase and give it a try!

 

[jakethesnake]

There are a lot of recommendations to use semi in dirty wood, I might add a loop of semi chisel to my cart on a future purchase and give it a try!

I like chisel the best but my go to saw stays with semi. That makes no sense but it is very forgiving . I think if I had to make a recommendation I'd get carlton semi yellow tag but I've only just began to use it.... It's honestly not much slower and stays sharp long enough I justify keeping it on my main saw . I'm running 50cc saws so not sure what you run but the higher rpms on my 346 doesn't seem to make much diffrence in the stay sharp . Grab a loop n give it a go. Obviously dirt in the bark still dulls it up but it certainly holds an edge considerably longer

 

[Wilhelm]

I like chisel the best but my go to saw stays with semi. That makes no sense but it is very forgiving . I think if I had to make a recommendation I'd get carlton semi yellow tag but I've only just began to use it.... It's honestly not much slower and stays sharp long enough I justify keeping it on my main saw . I'm running 50cc saws so not sure what you run but the higher rpms on my 346 doesn't seem to make much diffrence in the stay sharp . Grab a loop n give it a go. Obviously dirt in the bark still dulls it up but it certainly holds an edge considerably longer

I have two small 40cc saws that mostly sit waiting to be used - they run Dolmar/Oregon round tooth 3/8" LowProfile.
These two will get the chance to run Oregon's PowerSharp kit that I have purchased.

My main go-to-saw is my Dolmar PS-6400 running 20" 3/8" B&C setup, I like this saw very much with chisel chain round filed!

My fun-saw is my Dolmar PS-7900!
She too runs a main 20" B&C setup, but also has a secondary 36" B&C.
All loops for this saw are chisel round filed too.

As I have mentioned, I now have a carbide loop to try - which is more curiosity than need.

I will add semi chisel loops to my disposal and see how they hold up and behave for my needs!