What is a chisel chain?

[GLOBOTREE]

What is a full chisel chain? What are the half skip chains?
Which type chains are best for which conditions?

 

[Lawn Masters]

Full chisel chain, has a cutter shaped like a square, which enables it to cut faster than semi chisel, or chipper which have a rounded corner on them, and hold up better to dirty conditions than full chisel does. semi chisel, has a flat side, and top, with a rounded corner, and cuts slower than chisel chain, but faster than chipper. chipper chain, has a totally rounded side, no flat edge at all, and is very slow, but holds an edge like NOTHING else I know of.

half skip, or better known, as semi skip chain, goes in this sequence, cutter, tie strap, cutter, tie strap tie strap, cutter. full comp, goes cutter, tie strap, cutter. full skip, is cutter, tie strap tie strap cutter, tie strap tie strap cutter.

I hope this helps you some.

 

[Billy_Bob]

Well I have an 18" bar chainsaw which I use for smaller stuff and it is sharpened with a round file and has a "normal spacing of cutting teeth" on the chain. Your basic normal chainsaw.

I have another chainsaw which has a 32" bar and more power of course. I use this for cutting larger diameter wood. And when cutting larger diameter wood, you have the problem of getting all those wood chips out of the cut and power to drive such a large chain without carrying around a very heavy saw. And you want to cut the wood in a reasonable amount of time (not take half the day to make one cut).

I use a full chisel chain which I sharpen with a "double bevel flat file". The full chisel will cut a bit faster than a regular chain. Also my chain is full skip. This means the cutters are spaced further apart. This keeps the saw from bogging down and keeps the speed up. When keeping the speed up, you cut faster. Also the space between cutters allows more room for cut shavings in-between cutters.

So say you have a 30" log which you are cutting. One cutter on the chain will start cutting at one end of the log and will continue cutting for the entire 30 inches. So that is a lot of shavings between the cutters by the time it gets to the other end of the log.

The first link below is various chains (I use the RSLFK). The second link is how to sharpen a square ground chain...

Chains...
http://www.stihlusa.com/chainsaws/types.html

Square ground sharpening (with flat file)...
http://www.oregonchain.com/tech/ms_manual/ms_06.pdf

 

[Diesel JD]

It's also worth pointing out that when one says chisel or full chisel, they mean round ground or square chisel... the sqaure is faster but won't hold an edge in abrasive or dirty conditions. If you cut semi clean timber that isn't covered in dirt or mud and want to be efficient the chisel chain is for you...semi chisel or chipper is best in very gritty or dirty cutting conditions which would quickly dull chisel chain.

 

[Blowdown1]

Madsen's has a page that describes chains:

http://www.madsens1.com/chateeth.htm

Chisel has a cutter profile like a 7, chipper or semi-chisel has a profile like a 2.

Take note that chisel can be square or round filed, which is a point that is often misinterpreted.

 

[SawTroll]

Full chisel.....

....is a designation that should be avoided, as it is used by some to distinguish chisel from semi-chisel, and by others to distinguish square ground chisel from round ground.

 

[SawTroll]

Compliment/Skip

"Full house" chain has a cutter on every drive link; about twice as many as regular comp chain.

Regular chain (also called full comp) has a cutter on every second drive link.

Full skip leaves out every second cutter compared to regular, but they are not replaced by a "blank" driver. It has about 2/3 as many cutters as regular.

Semi-skip leaves out every forth cutter in a similar way, and has about 4/5 as many as regular.

The exact relationships depend on the drive-link count of the chain.

Lawn Masters; Tie straps has nothing to do with the sequences, they just connect the drivers, regardless of sequence.

 

[GLOBOTREE]

Thanks All.
I was warned against the Husky Anti-kickback chain, you have to push hard to get it to cut.

 

[Billy_Bob]

Thanks All.
I was warned against the Husky Anti-kickback chain, you have to push hard to get it to cut.

If a chain is properly sharpened (sharpen after each tank of gas), you should not have to "push" to get it to cut. It will "draw" itself into the wood. Another part of sharpening which some people do not know about is filing the depth gauges (rakers) and using a depth gauge tool...

Here are chain sharpening instructions including how to file the depth
gauges (Beginning on page 15)...
(Also has instructions for inspecting your chain)
http://www.oregonchain.com/tech/ms_manual/ms_02.pdf

 

[SawTroll]

Except for the H36 (3/8" lo-pro), there is no reason to warn against the anti-kickback Husky labled Oregon chain.
They have ramped depth gauges (which does not seem to slow cutting notisably down), but not bumper tie straps (which does).

If you have to puch hard, either the chain is dull, or the rakers too high.

 

[Blowdown1]

Which chain?

Thanks All.
I was warned against the Husky Anti-kickback chain, you have to push hard to get it to cut.

If you are referring to their full chisel chain which is Oregon Vanguard, that is not the case, it cuts very well. The only thing I would mention is that the rakers are not the typical design and filing them is kind of a PITA due to the shape.

 

[SawTroll]

I forgot about the Vanguard, as I have never seen one over here - but Blowdown now has corrected that.

 

[pinus]

If the sharpness of the chain is in some reason not clear inspecting its cutters then it can be useful to check the surface of cutting. If it is "shaggy" then chain is certainly dull. In old times axes and the quality of their steel was tested in similar way. If the surface of sharpened axe chop inclined to wood fibres was slick then the axe was from good steel

 

[GLOBOTREE]

So Husky chains are really Oregon chains? Is that a good thing or bad?

 

[Diesel JD]

It's a good thing....Oregon makes excellent chain I think. I've never run the 72V but it is supposedly a great chain. Most manufacturers will use Oregon as OEM chain unless we mean Stihl which uses its own chain of course. I have run pro saw chain for a long time and have no use for low kickback stuff of any type except for maybe the vanguard.
J.D.

 

[trimmmed]

Full comp has a cutter on every drive link; about twice as many as regular comp chain.

Regular comp chain has a cutter on every second drive link.

.

Full comp is a regular chain, a cutter every other link. I have heard of full house which has a cutter on every link, but never seen it, personally.

The Vangard chain cuts good but I don't like filing it much, I like the LP better, which Husky used before they switched to Vangard.

 

[SawTroll]

The Vangard chain cuts good but I don't like filing it much, I like the LP better, which Husky used before they switched to Vangard.

Do you know what they call the 73V, which probably is the one in question?

Over here it is still all about H42 = 73LP = S42 (Jred) in 3/8".

 

[SawTroll]

Full comp is a regular chain, a cutter every other link. I have heard of full house which has a cutter on every link, but never seen it, personally.

You are probably right, so I will adjust my post accordingly.
I forgot about the "full house" part of the picture.

I have seen "full house" in picture, but not in the real world.

 

[SawTroll]

So Husky chains are really Oregon chains? Is that a good thing or bad?

Yes, and so are Jonsered and Partner chain (I think Partner labelled chain onlo exist in 3/8" lo-pro and .325 by now).

I think it is a good thing generally, but I prefer the Stihl RSC to Oregon LP or LG in 3/8" when I have the choise.

 

[trimmmed]

Do you know what they call the 73V, which probably is the one in question?

Over here it is still all about H42 = 73LP = S42 (Jred) in 3/8".

If you mean what the husky badging is for that chain, I don't know.