Stihl 26RS Full Chisel Chain

[Vernon Tull]

Thanks to you fellows introducing me to the addictive nature of endless chainsaw tinkering, I've gotten myself a new chain on the Stihl. Being only an occasional user of saws, I've always just used the average, non-agressive, green-link, safety chain that comes standard on the smaller Stihl saws. I went this week and had my dealer set me up with a new bar and a yellow-link 26RS chain that I think is called the full chisel.

What a BEAST of a chain that is! It eats into wood like a starving dog after a pork chop. The difference makes me aware that I need to be super careful with that thing now. I already feel that it is much more prone to violent kickback.

 

[Blowdown1]

As others have pointed out, don't be lulled into a false sense of security w/ a green (safety) chain. A safety chain can injure or kill you as easily as a full chisel chain. While chisel may exacerbate the kickback, it is the act that contributed to the kickback that is really the issue. Don't use the saw in a manner that will cause kickback and it doesn't matter what you have on there for a chain.

The only time I have had a real kickback was w/ a Wild Thing at the end of a long day of clearing hurricane blowdowns off my driveway. Tired and getting sloppy I touched the nose to another limb while cutting a trunk. Small saw, small radius nose on the bar, safety chain. Kicked hard enough to engage the brake and woke my a$$ up fast.

Running a much bigger 359 w/ full chisel since then in a lot of wood and I haven't had one instance of kickback because I have been much more aware and quit cutting when I got tired.

 

[Lobo]

That 26RS chain is about as agressive in it's .325 pitch as any full chisel 3/8 chain and you can run it on any saw up to 60-65 cc's. Past that you should be running 33RS 3/8'' pitch chain or equivalent brands. I like Stihl chain have had good luck with the product, find it's steel a bit harder than other brands of chain making it a little longer to file but stays sharp longer also.

 

[Crofter]

I think you guys are referring to chisel chain and semi chisel chain. I think those are the proper terms to avoid confusion though I have seen the term full chisel used and confused because chisel chain can be round ground or square ground. Chisel chain has cutters with a top/side intersection shaped like the figure 7. Semi chisel has the shape more described by the figure 2. Slightly rounded at the corner. If the two chains have the same anti kickback devices on each, I dont think the shape of the corner affects kickback potential to any degree. The chisel cutters will be slightly faster cutting though than the semi-chisel.

 

[Lobo]

Frank not really sure what your saying here but to avoid confusion and clarify my post in Stihl I consider RM to be semi or rounded chisel and 26 RS & 33 RS are square chisel. Both being round filed not square filed.

 

[Crofter]

Just saying that "Full" is redundant. It is either chisel or semi chisel. Chisel is refered to as round chisel if it is round ground (filed) or square if it is square ground (filed). Semi chisel is always round ground and filed. This is how it is referred to in manufacturers literature. I have seen the corrupt term full chisel in adds that were generated by some clerk or salesperson.
7 chisel; 2 semi chisel

 

[Vernon Tull]

I could be in error in my original description, but here's a clarification. My new chain is the RS type, which is referred to on the Stihl website as [direct quote] "full chisel chain . . . extremely fast-cutting." To further clarify, the shape of the cutters is square and looks like a 7 rather than a 2.

Crofter -- Your point about redundancy is clear upon a second reading. Thanks.

 

[Crofter]

Vernon; Is Stihl really doing that now too? I will have to go back over Oregon and Carlton sites to see what they are doing now. It creates confusion over round ground chisel and square ground chisel, (which is the same chain sharpened differently) and semi chisel.

 

[Blowdown1]

Crofter, amen to your post. I thought I had it all clear (and did), but when I was looking at Madsen's site I got confused again until they clarified what they were saying had to do with square vs. round filed, not whether it was chisel or semi-chisel.

You'd think for something so basic it wouldn't be so hard to get everyone on the same page. Sheeeesh!

 

[SawTroll]

Vernon; Is Stihl really doing that now too?.......

It seems like some sort of inflation................... :umpkin:

Just in case you haven't noticed, Stihl has now as good as copied the drive-link design of the Oregon LP and VP chain, and introduced a "low-kickback" RS chain - I think they named it RSC3. Last year they also copied the Oregon "low-wib" feature on the RSC and RMC. RSC3 closely resembles 7XLP......
It seems like some patents have run out, or is there another reason?????
:blob5:

 

[Fish]

I used to date a wild thing back in college, now she could kick back!
OOOps, wrong page..................