Semi chisel vs chisel on longer bars

[esshup]

We have dirty wood that is still standing. Sandy soil, the dang squirrels carry sand up the bark. Semi-chisel all the way here, full chisel gets dull just looking at the wood. I had my spool cryogenically treated, it seems to last a wee bit longer. I didn't see any difference in cutting speed on a 32" bar in Oak between a skip and a standard chain. This is on a Dolmar 7900

 

[cookies]

I cut a lot of dirty logs on the ground, archer is about as hard or a hair harder than oregon but oregon has shorter chisels to start so you get a shorter life span. Carlton on the other hand has very long chisels and archer seems a hair shorter, i havent run the carlton yet so i can not comment on chisel hardness. All are about 30ish bucks each for 28" full chisel skip

 

[dstrick]

Running Stihl chains on 36" bar, I'll use 33RSF in clean wood and 33RMF in dirty wood.

Yes! That’s the winning ticket.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

Tough to say how it will fare. I finally bought the stuff to make my own chains and have some roll ends I got an auction including semi chisel Oregon. So I'm going to make a loop of Semi for the big saw and see how it goes. Figured it would be a miserable dog and not worth even trying. Thanks for the discussion and encoragement everyone

 

[thenne1713]

I was quoted 56$ for the oregon micro chisle and 63$ for the stihl for 36" loop full skip. I guess big wallets for big bars

and yet, = not expensive compared to hiring that same service; most CS rentals, as example, put NEW chain for each customer and then resell old chains in bulk

 

[northmanlogging]

How would full comp semi chisel perform vs full skip chisel for working up bigger downed trees? 36" bar on a 390xp. Looking for a bit more debris resistance and would be less scared to use the bigger bar if I don't completely wreck the chain every time I use it

You will want full skip, a 36" has a whole lotta teef on it to try and drag through that much wood. In reality its not so much the teeth as a sharp chain will chew through most anything with ease, the chips start clogging every thing up as they got nowhere to go before exiting.

As for raker depth standard .030 or even .025 is fine, despite what the key board warriors are claiming, going deeper just slows the saw down and causes the chain to get grabby which is frustrating as all ****. It can also lead to more, and more aggressive kick backs. Skip chains are kick back prone already FYI.

As for .404 why? seriously wtf? its more expensive, heavy, has less teeth, harder to sharpen, .063 3/8 is plenty for a 90cc saw.

 

[Mike Kunte]

Although RM is more resistant to dulling from debris than is RS chain, it's never a good idea to cut through sand if it can be avoided. Standard procedure for this scenario is to remove a thin strip of bark from the site to be cut. Even if you can't remove it all, every bit helps. It takes a bit of time, but saves lots of sharpening/grinding and unnecessary wear on your chains.

 

[sandman2234]

Although RM is more resistant to dulling from debris than is RS chain, it's never a good idea to cut through sand if it can be avoided. Standard procedure for this scenario is to remove a thin strip of bark from the site to be cut. Even if you can't remove it all, every bit helps. It takes a bit of time, but saves lots of sharpening/grinding and unnecessary wear on your chains.

My question, is why can't the logs be pressure washed to remove most of the dirt?
Just a thought, but a youngster with a tractor and a pressure washer could have all kinds of fun with that!!
David from jax

 

[FlyingDutchman]

This never worked out because the long bar ended up being .058 and the the chain I have is .050. So I never made the loop. I COULD have had a chain made, but....

The guy I was helping inherited a shitload of money and became an ignoranter prick than he already was.

 

[heimannm]

"ignoranter" I will have to try and remember that...

I really only cut here in the Midwest, most everything is technically hardwood, and for my time and effort I much prefer a full compliment semi chisel chain on the bigger bars (over 28"). I am certain that a chisel skip would be faster for one or two cuts, but when you are bucking or noodling the big, old yard trees you have no idea what might be in there and the semi chisel chain keeps cutting in spite of the accumulated dirt, occasional nail, and furrows in the sod that can occur when bucking and noodling big rounds.



Big cottonwood trees are particularly notorious for having dirt and grit embedded in the bark.



I big city oak tree may have 100 years worth of accumulated grit, not to mention it is laying in the dirt.





I have chisel chains for the smaller saws and their O.K. for most limbing kind of work, but even there they don't hold an edge as long as the semi chisel.



Mark

 

[Lightning Performance]

"ignoranter" I will have to try and remember that...

Mark

Is that your 105 in the fat stick?

 

[heimannm]

This is a 105. Not a noticeable difference between the 105 and the 125 in the kind of stuff we have around here.



I used another 105 on this project. Above was across the alley in back of my house, this one was across the street in front of my house.



Mark

 

[JJT]

My new 395x with 32" bar and skip tooth chisel chain makes it a wood cutting light Sabre. You can push on it pretty hard and it just keeps eating. And it takes half as long time sharpen.

 

[Colonel428]

I've about had it with full chisel chains - I cut about two cords worth of ash today and went thru 7 full chisel 24" chains on a 372xp. It was ground cutting from logs and some of them were dirty. The full chisel just goes dull so quickly...

 

[camel2019]

Around here semi chisel is king lots of dirty hardwood that will dull full chisel in just a few cuts.
don’t know why but almost every vintage saw I buy has a full chisel chain on it.

 

[Squareground3691]

I've about had it with full chisel chains - I cut about two cords worth of ash today and went thru 7 full chisel 24" chains on a 372xp. It was ground cutting from logs and some of them were dirty. The full chisel just goes dull so quickly...

Here’s some ash that big piece was 40” plus at the stump was running full skip square ground chisel works well in clean wood but like ya say dirty gonna have a bad day

 

[JJT]

It depends on the cutting you do. For firewood that has a little dirt on it, semi chisel is definitely the way to go. The chisel are better for clean wood and if yotur cutting trees down. Chisel chains and skip chisel make bore cutting a tree easy. They both have their place

 

[singinwoodwackr]

I've about had it with full chisel chains - I cut about two cords worth of ash today and went thru 7 full chisel 24" chains on a 372xp. It was ground cutting from logs and some of them were dirty. The full chisel just goes dull so quickly...

So, touch it up every few cuts. Sometimes I have to do that in certain wood…not a big deal. I never expect to cut all day on one sharpening.

 

[Sierra_rider]

I'm almost exclusively running chisel chain. The only saw I have running semi-chisel is my Echo 2511t and only because I switched to a narrow kerf chain on it. The stock 12" bar wasn't cutting it, so I went with a 16" narrow kerf...the only non-safety chain I found was semi-chisel, but it works decently enough.

I've got full-comp chisel on my other climbing saw(201tcm) and my little 550xp, but my ms400 through 880 are all running skip-chisel chain...bar sizes 25" through 50".

If I'm doing a lot of dirty cutting, the cutter does dull somewhat, but it takes a lot of cutting to get to the point that I have to sharpen it.

 

[dstrick]

I have both types on hand. In the same wood, full chisel cuts quicker but semi chisel wins the race.

I suppose a climber would want full and a groundy semi. Neither handle nails or metal very well. And keep both off the dirt.