Square chain, I ain't ever going back to round!

[watsonr]

Got my Silvey delivered today and did a little playing around with it, well about two hours worth and think it's dialed in pretty good. This is the evidence of the first attempt at doing square. I almost can't believe how fast it cut, like butter with a hot knife.

Made some nice chips

And a comparison between a fresh round chain and a fresh square chain.

 

[rwoods]

I assume your old grinder will now just do raker duty. Did you actually find this jewel east of the Mississippi, or did you have to import it from the west? Ron

 

[sawmandave]

square chain

i have a silvey round grinder and i love it had it for 10 or 12 years ... I square file by hand slow process.. which silvey grinder do u have,i would like to buy one :msp_thumbup:

 

[watsonr]

It will continue to do round. I have a few guys who bring there saws to me for tune-ups and repairs. I also have a bunch of semi-chisel I need to use up. But man is it fast, I almost couldn't tell I was cutting wood. I still need to play with it, didn't seem to self feed like I wanted it to....but it's close.

It's the swing arm.

 

[sawmandave]

make sure your top plate angle and side plate angle meet exactly and gullets are cleaned out

 

[indiansprings]

Nice rep sent. It is faster, tried our first loop last week, loved it, now I'm going to have to round file it the dealer doesn't even have a grinder for it nor can they file it . If the grinders just didn't cost a small fortune.

 

[watsonr]

make sure your top plate angle and side plate angle meet exactly and gullets are cleaned out

Thanks for the tip!

 

[paccity]

:msp_thumbsup:opcorn:

 

[mdavlee]

I figured you would like it. Keep playing with the angles and it will self feed pretty good. The wider the side plate also will make big fat chips. Just be careful when you do as it can cut into the tie straps too much and can break them.

When you get the angles where you really like them pick up a blue ceramic stone. It holds its edge better and makes a crisper corner. They're almost double the price of the other stones but worth it.

 

[paccity]

nice, been looking for one myself. the ones i see pop up they want allmost as much as new. been hand filing till i nail something then it goes on the 510. i'm suprized we havn't herd from the one's that don't think it's so good.

 

[super3]

Dropped and cut up 12 Sassafras today with hand filed square. Smiles all around.

 

[sps3172]

Is square grinding something that can be applied to semi-chisel chain or does this only apply to full chisel chain?

Thanks!

 

[Tzed250]

Only full chisel. Look at my sig pic and you will see why.

 

[pdqdl]

Is there any reason why you can't square grind with a more conventional chain grinder? It looks to me like all that is needed is the square-finished grind wheel.

I suspect that the closer positioning required for square grinding might punish you a little bit on the cheaper Oregon-style grinders.

 

[watsonr]

I assume your old grinder will now just do raker duty. Did you actually find this jewel east of the Mississippi, or did you have to import it from the west? Ron

It came out of the West. Got a pretty good deal on it, used very little. There were two other grinders for sale, both from the same seller and he wasn't asking very much for them either. PM me and I'll give you the information if you want.

I figured you would like it. Keep playing with the angles and it will self feed pretty good. The wider the side plate also will make big fat chips. Just be careful when you do as it can cut into the tie straps too much and can break them.

When you get the angles where you really like them pick up a blue ceramic stone. It holds its edge better and makes a crisper corner. They're almost double the price of the other stones but worth it.

My practice chain is toast, cut several of the straps! I'm calling Silvey today, the light was broken in transit and the arm being swung to the right doesn't match exactly, its off by about 1/16" requiring me to adjust the chain bar height. I think either the arm bolt needs tightened or worst case the arm is bent. I'm also needing stop pawls as the seller somehow ground them to a point and one of the diamond dressers is missing the wing nut on top.

It came with 3 Silvey grinding wheels an one Madens, who sells the blue one? I noticed they have a little bit of wobble to them, I'm guessing the blue stone is made to tighter tolerance's?

Dennis Cahoon in a post from long ago mentioned that the swing arm could be made to make better chain than most square grinders by slotting the chain bar to prevent it from slipping and allowing movement in only one direction. I'm going to ask him about it. The post mentions he knows a guy that can turn the swing arm into the most adjustable grinder out there or at least the best priced one with full adjust-ability.

I'm sure you and I will talk a few more times, thanks for helping!

Is square grinding something that can be applied to semi-chisel chain or does this only apply to full chisel chain?

Thanks!

I don't think you can square semi-chisel because there is no corner to the cutter.

 

[Trx250r180]

ive got the silvey grinder also ,nice setup ,ive been coverting my round chisel chains to square ,but you lose a couple sharpenings doing do due to material loss to makre round square ,i use my oregon round grinder to cut the gullets out

 

[watsonr]

Chisel chain with round grind converted to square, exactly why I got it.

 

[galde]

I check my wheels for my Tecomec by making a straight-down cut into a piece of thin flat stock clamped in the chain vise. If the width of the cut is greater than the thickness of the wheel, then I know how much wobble I have. I turn the wheel slowly by hand past a stationary piece of chalk to mark the wheel at the high spot. I apply as many layers of tape to the wheel under the clamping washers as needed to shim out the wobble.

 

[Fuzly]

I talked to a guy up here that tried square when he was out West and liked it so much he decided to run it when he got home.

I asked him if it was as bad to file as some of the stories make it out to be. He said, "Uhh, don't know, I bought the Silvey before I bought the chain."

I really think I should get a loop and see if I can figure it out.

 

[watsonr]

I check my wheels for my Tecomec by making a straight-down cut into a piece of thin flat stock clamped in the chain vise. If the width of the cut is greater than the thickness of the wheel, then I know how much wobble I have. I turn the wheel slowly by hand past a stationary piece of chalk to mark the wheel at the high spot. I apply as many layers of tape to the wheel under the clamping washers as needed to shim out the wobble.

That is a great idea, thank you!!