Baileys still has .325 skip, Oregon seemed to stop being available a few years ago. It is kind of an interesting comparison as the Oregon one has bumper drive links on all drive links and the Woodland pro has none. The anti reduced risk crowd could do this comparison. Plunge cuts smooth, both of them. Then there is the new NK .325 that may or may not be recommended up to 60ccNot sure .325 skip is still available, or if it ever was. But to me, it doesn’t make sense to speed up a chain with a bigger sprocket and then only run 1/2 or 2/3 the cutters. 3/8 is just better for the size of wood you’d cut with 60cc
Is 3/8 sorer on the saw than .325 would be in harder wood.Not sure .325 skip is still available, or if it ever was. But to me, it doesn’t make sense to speed up a chain with a bigger sprocket and then only run 1/2 or 2/3 the cutters. 3/8 is just better for the size of wood you’d cut with 60cc
On both my Stihl 036 and my ms290 I run 3/8 full comp full chisel on 20 inch bars for firewood to heat my home and to keep my timber trails clear. I'm not sure how many teeth my sprockets are. Even on my Homelite XL 925 (82cc) with a 31 inch bar I run the same chain, but some say I should run skip or semi-skip on that saw. I'm happy with what I've got. OWith the 60 cc saws would you run 325” or 3/8” chain. Some saws vary on chain size.
Options?
325” with a 9 pin rim full skip chisel chain?
3/8” with a 8 pin rim full skip chisel chain?
Potentially. But not if it’s filed and the depth gauges set accordingly. Sharp .325 with the rakers ground way down would be much more aggressive than sharp 3/8 with .020” rakersIs 3/8 sorer on the saw than .325 would be in harder wood.
100 cord, that makes for a lot of file strokes in a year, I can see why you prefer semi chise.Some basic guidelines that I follow here derived from over 4 decades of experience.
30-40cc use 3/8" LP and 12-16" bars.
45-55cc use .325" and 16-18" bars.
60-75cc use 3/8" full comp and 18-24" bars.
I've also moved away from full chisel and have grown to like semi-chisel/round tooth cutters unless we happen to be in really clean wood.
Typically what I've found here to work best, others may have done well with other combinations. We cut upwards of 100 cords a year, mostly tops left over from logging operations and I'm too old these days to piss around, so power to weight and cutting speed is important. This does assume you re using real saws with good power to weight and not some pathetically underpowered hunk of bovine excrement from a "box" store.
The only saw I've ever ran skip tooth chain on is my 480CD when I move up to 28-30". It handles that deal with great authority in big wood even though some dub those saws a little "obsolete" and underpowered for the CC's........
This ^^^ exactly. And it's 7 pin.I run full-chisel 3/8" on my 361 with 20" bar. Seems to be a sweet spot. Not sure about drive sprocket size...whatever it came with.
Skip chain requires sharpening more often in hardwood IME. This negates the time saved by filing less teeth.100 cord, that makes for a lot of file strokes in a year, I can see why you prefer semi chise.
The numbers will go down this year as we're just about done with the Ash.
When I say "we" my brother, son and nephew cut together as we supply boilers for three homes. I burn year round here.
I used to laugh at "little" saws or anything that didn't run at least a 20" bar and full chisel. These days I've grown to appreciate smaller fast cutting saws and round cutters. You don't loose nearly as much cutting speed as you'd think, and if the material isn't really clean you'll can go a lot further with less effort with the semi-chisel chains.
I've exploited bar length and pitch quite a bit. A strong running 50-55cc saw is just a home-run with an 18" bar in .325". They cut fast and I don't look for a bigger saw till we get into material past about 15" or so. Since we cut a lot of tops, the smaller saws get a lot of work around here.
We do get into some big wood on occasion and it's fun to get the big saws out and give em a workout..........View attachment 920991View attachment 920992View attachment 920993
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