opinions on .404 vs. .375 chain

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3/8 pitch cuts faster. Not by a landslide, but it does cut faster. More life out of .404 though, much more cutter to file.

Both chains in pic are brand new. 3/8 was chisel and .404 was semi-chisel, the semi-chisel tooth looks shorter than the chisel with the lack of the point so a chisel vs. chisel would have been more of a fair comparison.

297A9F38-5C41-45C5-94E9-A89873700CE8-12858-0000084E8F3D611F.jpg
 
Here's a vid of .404 on my saw. Not the greatest comparisons cutting smaller pine but I made two vids on the same piece, one .404 and one 3/8.

[video=youtube;WddoWKwdMMo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WddoWKwdMMo[/video]
 
[video=youtube;T15xAScnu9o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T15xAScnu9o[/video]


The .404 vid I played with varying pressures whereas the 3/8 I already knew what cut the fastest and went with that.
 
3/8 pitch cuts faster. Not by a landslide, but it does cut faster. More life out of .404 though, much more cutter to file.

Both chains in pic are brand new. 3/8 was chisel and .404 was semi-chisel, the semi-chisel tooth looks shorter than the chisel with the lack of the point so a chisel vs. chisel would have been more of a fair comparison.

Very good point and one I would have brough up had you not done so... I cut some pretty dirty river wood this summer (logs from a jam up on a local bridge), and my 3/8 full chisel would get dull pretty quick. I ran through 3-4 chains in a short afternoon cutting enough to pile up 2-3 trailers full. Next weekend I ran some 404 full chisel and we got the same 2-3 loads full and I only used 2-3 chains but also did more cutting the second weekend with the 404.

Long story short I think the 404 keeps an edge longer and also you can see from TK's pic the overall length of the cutters allow for more sharpenings! My opinion is who cares if it cuts 5-10% faster? You'll just be using that time to sharpen, spin, or buy more chain!
 
No you wouldn't :D It sucks having to stop a cut half way through to change or sharpen your chain. I know this sounds stupid but I have even done some jobs with my grinder and generator on the tray of my ute as the chains get that wrecked that filing them is far too time consuming.


WOW, I know Bob in the milling section has reported gum is some hard wood, but to only get half way thru one cut is amazing, sounds like a real pain. Is there a lot of uses for the gum wood??? Or just to sell headache pills??
 
Baileys sells some .063 harvester chain, says NOT to use it on a hand held saw, so now you know someone HAS to try it!!!!

Could be because they lack kickback redusing features (which really is a good thing), or because the chassis is too wide to really fit on a .404 chain saw bar? In some cases it is possible to adapt harvester bars to chainsaws though (I understand it is some work).
 
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As far as I am aware .404" harvester chain only comes in .080" and no hand held saw bar mounts come in .080"?

I use Stihl RMH in .063, but Oregon and others make it too for now. Harvester bar mounts; Stihl 3080 and 3070, Oregon FL104 , FL114 and FM104 can very easily be adapted to Stihl 3002 and also to 3003 with a little more work.
 
WOW, I know Bob in the milling section has reported gum is some hard wood, but to only get half way thru one cut is amazing, sounds like a real pain. Is there a lot of uses for the gum wood??? Or just to sell headache pills??

Actually it's generally not the timber itself that dulls the chains, it's just that in the area I do most of my cutting our average rainfall is 11" a year so a lot of dirt and dust plus termites tend to love Eucalypts and drag a lot of dirt up the centre. With the odd domestic job you simply just have to keep cutting, even though you know you're wrecking your chain (and bar) as you're getting paid for it. Coming across the odd tree(s) like this has the potential to turn a quoted 1 hour job into a 3 hour job :(
Most Eucalypt species make excellent firewood and with the type of slow combustion fireplaces we run here you get get all night out of a piece around 10" square.

I use Stihl RMH in .063, but Oregon and others make it too for now. Harvester bar mounts; Stihl 3080 and 3070, Oregon FL104 , FL114 and FM104 can very easily be adapted to Stihl 3002 and also to 3003 with a little more work.

Yeah but Norway has always done things differently :D I should have checked my suppliers a bit more closerer. Oregon list a 16H harvester in .404" .063" but it is POA only. Carlton list a B3M although I don't think the Australian distributor stocks it, Stihl has (or had?) a 46HM, and Windsor had a HC listing.
In saying that though the harvester guys here have direct accounts with the distributors and don't have to go through a dealer for harvester gear.
 
I have access to lots of .404 .058 skip chain, the question I have is do I have to change the sprocket on my 372xpw to run it ? I run full house 3/8 .058 b/c on all my saws. Want to try it on my 20", 24", 28" bars. :help:
 

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