Skipchain On A 20 Inch Bar

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woodyman

woodyman

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Hi,I was thinking of getting a skipchain on my husky 359 with a 20 inch bar to go through 15 to 20 inch red oak.I have heard alot about them and they say a 24 inch or longer bar is what they are made for but I would sure like to try one and I was wondering if this is a good idea or should I try to sell my new 20 inch and get a 24 or 28.Will the skip cut that much faster?:givebeer:
 
husky362

husky362

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you shouldn't need skip on a 359 with a 20''bar

I've used a non skip 24" on the 359 i had cutting green oak as long as you use light pressure it will pull it..


I've never ran skip not shure if it's faster
i can see it working better on longer bars
 
papossefan

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Yea I can't tell if it is any faster than full comp or not. Some people say it is slower because of less cutters, but less cutters means less weight which means more speed. I like the skip-tooth cause it is more aggressive and quicker to sharpen.
 
rms61moparman

rms61moparman

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I could be wrong (it's happened before) but I don't think you will be impressed.
Skip does allow a smaller saw to use a longer B/C. But, having 1/2 the cutters it really isn't faster for me and seems to dull faster in the hardwoods like red oak.

Mike
 
COLD_IRON

COLD_IRON

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20 is the smallest I would use skip on.

I have used it on 16, and it is SLOW.

20 is OK for full depth bucking and allows better chip clearance.

BTW Skip has 2/3 the cutters not 1/2.

As far as dulling faster, if you sharpen after each tank (I do irregardless of chain) then its no biggie.
 
Philbert

Philbert

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Cheap Saws?

So on the smaller, cheap saws sold in the 'big box' stores I noticed that some of them were sold with skip tooth chain or alternate skip tooth - I always assumed that they did this to save a few pennies in manufacturing costs (fewer teeth to pay for).

From the earlier posts, it sounds like it might be because the saws are underpowered (fewer teeth in the cut = less power required)? I always thought of skip tooth in terms of chip clearance.

Philbert (still have all my teeth)
 
COLD_IRON

COLD_IRON

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Why would you want to use skip chain on a 20" bar. You've got enough saw to pull a 20" full comp chain. Why use a chain with only half the cutters. I would expect it to cut slower, considerably.

Because with skip chain...

If you don't like your neighbor 30 feet away...

You can rooster tail them...

Hence - better chip ejection.

And for the last time, skip has 2/3 the cutters of full comp NOT 1/2!
 
Patrick62

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Skip a chain

I found that in smaller stuff full comp is faster. When the little saw is cutting a full bar (18" in my case) then the skip is faster (still slow).

Careful when limbing with skip. It is a bit more "grabby".

All of my saws run full skip.

Fewer teeth to sharpen is quite a bonus!

-pat
 
Nailsbeats

Nailsbeats

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Don't sweat the skip, if you want to try it, go ahead. I have a 20" skip on my 272 right now and can't complain. Less to sharpen and she still cuts plenty fast in the hardwoods. Of course that saw is easily capable of sweet performance with a 24" full comp in hardwoods, muffler modded too. I love that saw.
 

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