Get those saws ported by a good builder , and laugh at the low rakersInteresting. Must be a structural wood fiber and composition thing. I set the rakers too low in conifer and it puts an abnormal load on the saw, and our Sitka Spruce (dispite being one of the toughest and strogest species of wood pound for pound in the world) is a soft wood.
Ever work with any Apitong? Hardest wood I've ever come across! Oak ain't got s**t on Apitong as far as density.
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The locust especially the honey and black is the stuff Pete calls, "the **** that wins"
I tend to agree but old yellow pine will put a load on your saw in the summer when it's wet like nothing else when you go at it with chain setups for dry hardwoods. It might go at first but that bark does its damage here in the South. To the north has different terrain and soils. Mostly rock and clay up in Warren County. South of Lakehurst and the pines is all sand like beaches, powder fine. It's the worst in wind row black oak. The chain looks like your cutting metal constantly. You see it clearly near dusk bright while sparks coming out of the cut.