It's a good thing it's a lot of work picking up firewood

[TonyM]

Otherwise I'd never stop cutting

I'm getting the square filing very good now. This last chain was sweet. Took the Dolmar 115i out and completely filled my pickup with just over a tank of fuel, CUTTING ALL LOCUST!

Talk about smooth, fast, and efficient. The saw hardly grunts and the chips just FLY. I can't beleive how the 115i handles an 8 tooth .325 pitch drive sprocket in full 16" bar length cuts with this square chisel chain. I feel like a surgeon with a scalpel with this setup. I may not ever file a chain with a round file again.

 

[Butch(OH)]

Tony, I used to play with my sharpening angles with round files and had a couple good ones that would realy zing through soft woods and straight grained hardwood but knots or just a bit of dirt would kill them quick. Seemed they either cut real fast, or stopped cutting. No half quick to them. Your results make me want to play with my chains again. How 'bout some angles, techiques and photos when you get a chance?

 

[TonyM]

I started with a well used Stihl 23RS chain. I have been filing with a bevel edged flat file so that the top plate angle is coming out around 20 degrees, and the side hook at 0. I set the rakers at .025 or a hair more. This seems to give me a chain that cuts very fast, but is not grabby at all. I really like it for clearing all the brush and garbage to get to the wood. I can reach out to little limbs and slice right through them and they just drop right where they're at. The hardly get pushed around by the chain at all. I feel like I'm wielding a light saber. I'll try to get some photos, but I'll have to see if the digital camera has a Macro feature, as my last photos really aren't clear enough to discern any information.

 

[Tree Machine]

Square-ground virgin

Hi chainsaw dudes. We're working over the art of hand-filing chains with round files in the climbing forum, http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=20869 . I'm about ready to buy a new stock of 3/8 .058 for the big saw. Usually I buy a hundred foot reel from Bailey's and have them bang it into loops for me. I'm on my last loop as of today.

I have never used square ground chain, but Tony sounds pretty convincing. I feel the same 'light-saber' feeling when I cut as I'm pretty serious about having my round ground full chisel chain performing to it's full potential. As well, my small saw is a Husky 346XP, power ported by Dave Neiger and together with the razor-sharp .325 .058 round-ground, it's a joy and a half.

Are square-ground chains really the cat's meow? I'd love to go from a joy and a half, to two full joys, the maximum joyfulness allowed by law.

 

[TonyM]

Tree Machine, I was in your shoes a few weeks ago. Yes, it is harder to sharpen than with a round file, but it is getting easier with practice. I don't think it will ever be as easy, but I don't mind. The difference, to me, is night and day. I think if you ran a loop on your 346XP, you'd be sold. I suggest you just try it. That's what I did, and I'm hooked.

 

[Bill G]

.............CUTTING ALL LOCUST!..................

Tony,

I am glad to see someone else understands how good locust is for firewood. It is all I burn and I give away all other wood. I have a neighbor that thinks Elm is the greatest thing in his Central Boiler. We provided him quite a bit last year and I will have a ton more this year.

Bill

 

[DirtTroll]

Locust is the 4th highest BTU per pound wood available. Unfortunately it's hell on your chains.

 

[TonyM]

Splits nice, lots of BTU per pound, hold fires for a long time, clean (because the bark falls off). Not real easy to light, though. I keep spme cherry, elm, or poplar around for giving the fire a little boost when the locust doesn't burn fast enough.

 

[turnkey4099]

I have never used square ground chain, but Tony sounds pretty convincing. I feel the same 'light-saber' feeling when I cut as I'm pretty serious about having my round ground full chisel chain performing to it's full potential. As well, my small saw is a Husky 346XP, power ported by Dave Neiger and together with the razor-sharp .325 .058 round-ground, it's a joy and a half.

Are square-ground chains really the cat's meow? I'd love to go from a joy and a half, to two full joys, the maximum joyfulness allowed by law.

Yes they are but I don't (can't) use em. I bought two new loops from the local shop several years ago. Wow!. I would use nothing but except...when it came time to sharp em, the shop didn't have the equipment to grind em, and didn't want to invest in it. Sharp 'em myself? Love to, unfortunately, my close range eyesight is down to the point that I have a hard time even getting a decent job with round files.

As for locust firewood. I want every stick I can get. Here, the opportunity comes rarely and the serious woodburners keep their sources well hidden. I currently have about 8 cord on my 'retirement' pile, i.e., to be burned only when I can no longer cut my own wood. I got most of that out of a wind storm that layed down an entire grove.

Harry K

 

[TonyM]

I've been cutting in the same conditions. We had a big windstorm 4 yeas ago, and it nearly leveled 8 acres of locust and cherry. Nice thing about the locust is most if it is still alive and growing, even though the trees are horizontal. I can cut it as I get to it and don't have to worry about it rotting. Makes me curious what a woods like that would look like in 50 years if nothing was ever cut out of there. That locust must be pretty hardy.

 

[Tree Machine]

I just took down about a dozen decent-sized locust, and one particularly intense one over some transmission wires. I tried to post it here as a time-lapse video., but two meg is the limit, and the video is just over three meg. I'm unsure how to approach that.