low kickback vs full chisel chain

[Treemonkey1000]

Just a little off topic. I don't know how many times I have fixed saws for other people that don't maintain them. Clogged air filters is a real power hog. Then dull chains and the oiler is clogged with stuff. The bar gets hot from lack of lubrication and then the saw works harder still.

[coolhl7]

I appreciate all the responses. I do believe in taking apart my saws after two gas tanks worth of work, clean it off with air compressor (of couse inside out for filter), cleaning the bar, filing the chain...etc etc....BTW, how long between chaining sparkplugs and gas filters????thanks

[Treemonkey1000]

As far as changing plugs and filters it depends on a few things. I use really good gas mix called Opti-2. Most of my saws I haven't changed the plug in several years. If you look at the plug and it's all black around the ceramic at the electrode then change it. The fuel filter in the tanks I change every couple of years. Or more often if you get a load of bad fuel. That has caused me more problems than anything. Clogged fuel filters in the tank and in the carb screen. Another good thing to have is a filter in the gas can. Air filters if they are the non washable type then replace them when you see they are discolored and you can't use an air hose to get the small particles out. Washable ones can go several years if you don't let them get too saturated. That's great that you clean the saw and bar after a couple of uses. I wish more homeowners would do that. They wouldn't complain about Brand X saws being a piece of junk as often if they maintained them.. Ok I will get off my soapbox.. Being hooked into climbing spurs way up in a tree and having the saw foul out half way through a cut can add some stress to my life that I don't need.

[BigE_]

I just talked to an arborist about my Stihl 036 that wasn't running properly. He said he changes his spark plug every month, and at $3 each, it is the cheapest tune-up you can get. Mind that he works his saw 20 days a month, 3-4 hours (run time) per day. He has a hopped up Stihl 046 with fancy carbs, exhaust, etc. He could easily get 2-3 cuts per my 1 on the same tree. I sure he was also running non-safety chain.

He did air filter clean-out at the end of every work day, along with flipping the blade and sharpening the chain.

Another small engine repair guy I bought my Shindaiwa from recommended I change out the fuel filter every 6 months, and never let the saw sit full. At a buck or two a piece, that's pretty cheap maintenance.

For the average user (less than 10 cords of wood per year), I'd guess that changing out the plug happens once per year.

By the way, my Stihl that wasn't running right? I was using it last Sunday, and all of a sudden the pitch got higher and it didn't sound like it was lugging anymore. Lots of power, now, too. I must've had some blockage in the carb or something. I did let it sit over Christmas time with gas in it....

[wvtechs]

I prefer chisel chains myself but they are not for beginners. Otherwise a low-kickback chain is best although the amount of kickback depends greatly on how you use the saw and what you are cutting.

The tip of the bar and under cutting will likely produce the most likelyhood kickback.

[gordon21]

You can find a mid point between low kickback and full chisel by grinding down the height of the rakers which will give you the same effect. It improves performance but does not eliminate the rakers completely.

Also, if you sharpen a chain for the 7-8th time and it looks great, but doesn't cut good, you will wonder why. By now the rakers will have to be cut down in height. They are too tall. Your newly filed chain teeth are too short to reach the wood to cut properly in relation to the rakers. Look at the teeth from the side. Your tooth leading edge is not higher and that is where the cutting gets done.

[SkyPup]

Oregon LG 72 3/8" SuperGuard Saw Chain





GO MAN GO!!

[Farmerford]

I am with Kessler Farms. There have been improvements in anti-kickback chain, but it still doesn't cut as well as plain chain.

We may have a terminology problem. The actual cutter is typically one of three shapes: chisel, semi-chisel, or round (also called chipper). A chisel cutter has a right angle between the top plate and side plate, so that when it is sharpened there is a sharp point at the intersection. SkyPup's attachment shows a chisel cutter. A semi-chisel cutter has a mitered or slightly rounded corner between the top plate and the side plate. Instead of the sharp point of SkyPup's chain, the corner is flatter (blunter). The corner between the top plate and side plate of round chain (chipper chain) is truly a quarter circle.

Chisel chain cuts best because the sharp point at the corner pierces the wood more easily than the mitered corner of semi-chisel or the round corner of chipper chain. However, the sharp point also dulls much quicker, particularly if the wood is dirty, or if you let the moving chain touch the ground (to say nothing of a rock). Chipper chain requires more power to cut than either chisel chain or semi-chisel chain, but it also stays sharp longest because the rounded corner has no "points". Chipper chain is most often seen on the "Beaver Blades" used on brush cutters since it spends much of its life cutting dirty wood close to the ground or in the ground itself.

In addition to the shape of the cutters (chisel, semi-chisel, chipper), the shape of the ground cutting edge can also vary. All three cutter shapes can be sharpened with a round file or stone. SkyPup's chain was sharpened with a round file/stone and you can see the circular profile on the cutting edge of the side plate. Semi-chisel and chipper cutters can only be sharpened with a round tool. Chisel cutters can be sharpened with a round tool or a flat file. Chisel cutters sharpened with a round file or stone are usually referred to as round chisel (meaning chisel cutters, with a square corner, sharpened with a round file). Chisel cutters sharpened with a flat file (actually an angled file) are called flat chisel cutters. Flat chisel cutters have the sharpest point of all, and cut fastest of all cutters, but the sharp point dulls so quickly that flat chisel chain is not commonly used in the woods. It is also very difficult to sharpen a chisel cutter flat with a file, and electric sharpeners for flat chisel chain are very expensive.

Chain can be anti-kickback whether its cutters are chisel, semi-chisel, or chipper. Chain is made anti-kickback by either raising the side links to shadow the raker and cutter edges so they will not hang on vines or the tree if the top of the cutter nose touches, or by putting a projection on the bumper link that shadows the raker and cutter. Anti-kickback is most handicapped when boring into a tree with the nose of the bar, since the heightened side links keep the cutter from digging into the tree as it goes around the nose. Anti-kickback is also handicapped in deep cuts because the heightened side links fill the slot that the chips normally occupy as they are being pulled through the cut.

Oregon has recently introduced an anti-kickback chain that relies soley on the shape of the rakers to reduce kickback. If it works it will virtually eliminate the disadvantages of normal anti-kickback chain.

Gordon 21 is right about keeping the rakers at the proper length. But be sure to use a guide rather than just guessing. Most rakers are set at 0.025-0.300" below the top of the cutting edge on the top plate, and as little as 0.005 error can greatly effect how will the chain cuts and how smoothly it runs.

I attached a copy of SkyPup's picture of round chisel chain with a few notes relating to the above.

PS: I understand the dangers in bore cuts, but they are sometimes safer that regular cuts, for example to avoid barber-chairing on large trees with substantial lean. And they are the only way to cut a tree whose diameter exceeds the bar length.

[Egon]

Thanks for all the information.

[ampsucker]

thanks for the info, farmerford! and skypup beat me to it on the rakers. i had several chains that wouldn't cut worth a darn when freshly sharpened by the shop where it take my stuff. they looked sharp and felt sharp and i couldn't figure it out. a welder machinist friend of mine asked if i'd had the depth rakers checked. what??? i took it back to the shapening shop and asked them to check them. the were indeed too high.

night and day difference. i was doing some landscaping and cutting railroad ties which i know is really hard on a saw due to imbedded rocks and creosote. we also get a lot of rock entrainment in the bark of a tree as it grows so you can hit little rocks hidden in the bark several feet up a tree trunk. now i can run my chains probably 5 times as long in these difficult cutting situations because the full cutting edge is available when the rakers are set correctly.

saw and chain manufacturers and indeed some sharpening shops are very afraid of liability. people get hurt. that's why they come with safety chains and some shops won't attempt the raker adjustment due to the fine machining involved. find a good shop that will do what you need and you'll be very surprised at how good the chain will cut.