Saw chain basics

[Phil T]

Hello everyone,

Newbie here and posting my first thread. I have some questions about saw chain and haven't come across any clear answers in my searches through this excellent forum.

Let me give some background on my chainsaw use and future needs.

We have a 7 acre lot, fully wooded and are getting close to starting construction of our new house there. So far we have cleared for the driveway and the home site using a track hoe to push trees over. The driveway is graveled and we have a lot of trees on the ground in several areas waiting to be dealt with. Most of the stumps are already removed but there are a few more. I'd estimate that the area we actually cleared is about 1.5 to 1.75 acres. (1000+ foot drive and house site).

So far I am not felling anything, just limbing and bucking trees that have been down for up to 6 months. Once we are in the house however, I will begin thinning the trees and dealing with a few that were already blown over when we bought the lot but were not in the way of progress.

We have quite a pile of cut rounds and are renting a splitter this weekend. I think we'll have easily 6-8 cords with more on the way over time. I plan to sell the bulk of this to try and recover some of the cost on saws and rentals but will keep what we cut later for heating. (look for me over in the home heating forum later on) There are also two large piles of smaller trees and limbs that we will chip for the mulch (we need LOTS of mulch).

I am actually a little late in asking these questions since we are almost done with the trees we cleared. But having just found this site about a week ago and the fact that I am learning more about the saws all the time I guess I didn't know enough to know what I didn't know. Heh.

We have a husky 350 w/18" bar and a stihl 290 w/20" bar. I mostly use the stihl for the reach of that longer bar but the husky comes in quite handy and I love the higer rpms it creates. It's a great saw for my needs, as is the 290. They are both .325 pitch. The husky is .050 and the stihl is .063 guage. In looking around online for deals on chain I don't see a lot of the .063/.325 but I see a lot of the .050.325. I assume I can run the .050 on the stihl if I get a bar that matches. What I'd like to understand is what are the benefits of one vs the other. If I have better luck finding .050 could I just convert to using that on the stihl? Should I stick to using the .063? It also seems like if both saws matched in guage I could just buy a length of chain and make my own loops for both saws from the same stock. What advice does anyone have for this? I will most likely go to a shorter bar on the stihl after this heavy work is done and keep a 16 or 18 inch bar on it. I understand the performance will improve in doing so.

I also have question about the teeth. What type is best for hardwood on these saws. I don't mind a more aggresive chain, I actually prefer it. The low kick chains just don't seem to get the job done or maybe they just can't handle the harder wood. We have read and white oak, hickory, an occaisional dogwood and then some softer types like yellow poplar. Very little white pine and some sweetgum. In the years to come I will be thinning like I mentioned and I figure I will cut all the types we have on the property.

I am tired of taking the chains in for sharpening every week (we work on the weekends) so I bought a sharpening kit. I am reading through this forum on anything about sharpening I can find. So, I'll save my questions regarding that for later.

Thanks for any input you may have and for all the information I have already read in here. This is a great resource.

Regards,
Phil

 

[mini kahuna]

if you only plan on working on your own land,I would just have a couple of loops for both saws and go from there.
sharpening chains is a great skill to have,saves money and saves trips to the shop.
investing in changing bars,chains isn't worth it on the scale your working at.
good luck and work safe.

 

[computeruser]

Welcome to AS!

If you anticipate making your own loops, I think that standardizing your chain gauge is a great idea. If you are not, I don't see any benefit to doing so since the small-mount Husqvarna bars require fewer drive links than their Stihl counterparts at a given bar length. If this was not the case, you could use the loops interchangeably between saws, which would be nice. But since you can't and most places stock both .050 and .063, there's no harm in keeping the bars the way they are now. EDIT: come to think of it, and someone else might know for sure, you might be able to fudge some on the 16", since they're only 1 DL different and you might be able to find a length that works on both saws' 16" bars.

Bar length is largely a matter of personal choice, with regional differences in preferred lengths for a particular powerhead. I'm inclined to go the larger motor/smaller bar route when possible, especially if you're going to be carrying the saw around a fair bit. A 290 will be a bit happier with a 16" bar over the 20"; just don't expect it to morph into a 440 with the smaller bar.

As for the choice of chain cutter type, it really comes down to whether you are cutting dirty wood (i.e. downed, sandy, thick nasty bark, etc.) or clean, standing timber. If you're cutting a lot of downed wood, a semi-chisel chain such as Stihl's RM would be a better choice than a round chisel (not to be confused with "true" chisel chain, sharpened with a square file) chain like Stihl's RS. A good non-safety semi-chisel will cut quite respectably and last a LOT longer between sharpenings, so don't feel like semi-chisel is inferior to its round chisel cousin. If you don't mind sharpening more often, feel free to run round chisel (or, heck, square) in everything. The best solution, though, is to have a few loops of semi- and round chisel for both of your saws and use whichever type is most appropriate for the cutting you're doing at that time. In any case, don't bother buying the triple-hump tie strap safety stuff.

Lastly, you made the right choice in getting your own sharpening gear. Over the years I've only known two shops that could competently sharpen a chain. Most of them do a mediocre job and others just straight-up butcher the cutters. Doing it yourself, whether by hand or with a file guide (bench- or bar-mount) or a grinder, will produce better results.

Happy cutting! And be safe!!