# milling chain gauge



## wi50 (Jan 20, 2010)

I had a .050 gauge, 3/8 pitch 36" bar for my 066 and 660 powerheads. I sold a powerhead and the fella really wanted that bar so I let it go for an additional fee and am going to replace it. 

I do not currently do any milling but plan to get a mill in the future as a hobby, all of my saws and my friends saws, bars, are set up on .050 gauge with intentions of one of these days buying a roll of chain and tools to make loops.

I'm going to replace my 36" bar with another, it doesn't get used much but is handy at times. Stihl offers one in .050 but would it be better, or more common for milling purposes, or getting ripping chain to get one in .058 or .063?


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## BobL (Jan 20, 2010)

wi50 said:


> I had a .050 gauge, 3/8 pitch 36" bar for my 066 and 660 powerheads. I sold a powerhead and the fella really wanted that bar so I let it go for an additional fee and am going to replace it.
> 
> I do not currently do any milling but plan to get a mill in the future as a hobby, all of my saws and my friends saws, bars, are set up on .050 gauge with intentions of one of these days buying a roll of chain and tools to make loops.
> 
> I'm going to replace my 36" bar with another, it doesn't get used much but is handy at times. Stihl offers one in .050 but would it be better, or more common for milling purposes, or getting ripping chain to get one in .058 or .063?



050 is good if you want to use lopro chain


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## wi50 (Jan 20, 2010)

I just don't know squat about milling chain and want to get a bar that is most compatible with most common or best chain.


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## mtngun (Jan 20, 2010)

BobL said:


> 050 is good if you want to use lopro chain


+1

No disadvantage to 0.050"_* IF*_ you can find a bar. 0.050" has more chain options than other gages.


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## MR4WD (Jan 20, 2010)

mtngun said:


> +1
> 
> No disadvantage to 0.050"_* IF*_ you can find a bar. 0.050" has more chain options than other gages.



.063 is roughly 25% stonger than .050, in 3/8 for example. I run almost strictly .058, since that's what's most common around here and stihl happens to make their drivers in .063, but mills them down to .058. I personally don't run .050 due to strength issues on big powerheads, but I've never heard of anyone breaking a .050 chain either. 

I reckon the smaller gauge would stretch more though.


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## maccall (Jan 21, 2010)

MR4WD said:


> .063 is roughly 25% stonger than .050, in 3/8 for example. I run almost strictly .058, since that's what's most common around here and stihl happens to make their drivers in .063, but mills them down to .058. I personally don't run .050 due to strength issues on big powerheads, but I've never heard of anyone breaking a .050 chain either.
> 
> I reckon the smaller gauge would stretch more though.



No, no, forget that, gauge only applies to the thickness of the drive tang, so the chassie and everything else is identical between the same chain in different gauges. Thus, a chain that would break easlily in .050 will break just as easy in .063. As you said yourself, the drive tang is just milled down to the needed gauge. Same thing with stretching, no differences.

Gauge is only marketing and old habits, so just use what gauge is easy to find in your area.


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## BlueRider (Jan 21, 2010)

MR4WD said:


> .063 is roughly 25% stonger than .050, in 3/8 for example. I run almost strictly .058, since that's what's most common around here and stihl happens to make their drivers in .063, but mills them down to .058. I personally don't run .050 due to strength issues on big powerheads, but I've never heard of anyone breaking a .050 chain either.
> 
> I reckon the smaller gauge would stretch more though.



Just before Christmas I was milling a red elm and broke a 3/8" 050 guage chian on my 038M. I had taken the cap cut off of the log and hit two 1/2" bolts with my 404 pith .063 guage milling chain in my 075. the bolts broke off two teeth but other than that the chain was fine. I was then using my smaller saw to try and cut out a chunk of the log with the offending bolts and when I hit them it broke the chain instantly. That is why I will always use .404 .063 for milling.


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## MR4WD (Jan 21, 2010)

maccall said:


> No, no, forget that, gauge only applies to the thickness of the drive tang, so the chassie and everything else is identical between the same chain in different gauges. Thus, a chain that would break easlily in .050 will break just as easy in .063. As you said yourself, the drive tang is just milled down to the needed gauge. Same thing with stretching, no differences.
> 
> Gauge is only marketing and old habits, so just use what gauge is easy to find in your area.



Yes, yes, the gauge applies to the drive tang and chassis, on more chains than not. Stihl .050 is a .050 chassis, but .058 and .063 are a .063 chassis while .058 is a .058 tang milled (from .063) 

My Oregon and Husqvarna (Oregon) chains measure both .058 at the chassis and drive tang. I would reckon the same for .050.

I do agree with more importantly than anything else, running whatever chain is most common in your particular area.


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## Brmorgan (Jan 21, 2010)

wi50 said:


> I had a .050 gauge, 3/8 pitch 36" bar for my 066 and 660 powerheads. I sold a powerhead and the fella really wanted that bar so I let it go for an additional fee and am going to replace it.
> 
> I do not currently do any milling but plan to get a mill in the future as a hobby, all of my saws and my friends saws, bars, are set up on .050 gauge with intentions of one of these days buying a roll of chain and tools to make loops.
> 
> I'm going to replace my 36" bar with another, it doesn't get used much but is handy at times. Stihl offers one in .050 but would it be better, or more common for milling purposes, or getting ripping chain to get one in .058 or .063?



I'd avoid .058 at all costs if you can. It's pretty much a Husky-only gauge and I've never really seen the point to its existence except to make it a royal pain in my arse when I want to swap bars/chains between saws - I have four or five 24" bars and a number of chains to go with them, but my options are still limited. I'd like to run the 3/8 low-profile chain from my 660 on my big Huskies, but can't (without a bar adaptor) because all my Husky bars are .058.


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## wi50 (Jan 21, 2010)

Thank's,

I'm simply going to order myself a new 36" .050, .375 bar then in the morning, my local Stihl dealer is verry good and it's usually next day pickup, we're close to Midwest Stihl distribution center. I need to put in an order to Baileys for some parts and chain..... now I just need to build myself a nice little mill. I've got a good line of machining equipment, tooling and welding equipment in the shop.


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## Brmorgan (Jan 21, 2010)

BlueRider said:


> Just before Christmas I was milling a red elm and broke a 3/8" 050 guage chian on my 038M. I had taken the cap cut off of the log and hit two 1/2" bolts with my 404 pith .063 guage milling chain in my 075. the bolts broke off two teeth but other than that the chain was fine. I was then using my smaller saw to try and cut out a chunk of the log with the offending bolts and when I hit them it broke the chain instantly. That is why I will always use .404 .063 for milling.



Yeah that .404 semi-chisel chain sure can take some abuse. I cut clean through a 3/8" lag bolt once (my fault, not the log's!) and it hardly nicked up the chain at all; the biggest problem was that it friction-welded a bunch of shards of the bolt to a few of the teeth. Once I got those broken off, it only took a few minutes to file a nice edge on the chain again.

I'd never resort to SOLELY using .404 for all milling though. Maybe for the outer slab cuts on a questionable or dirty log, but I wouldn't want to cut boards from cants with it, just because it wastes a LOT more wood. I've hit my share of bolts/nails with 3/8 .063 milling chain, and while it didn't fare as well as the .404, it didn't break either. Just a few FUBAR cutters.


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## DRB (Jan 21, 2010)

Brmorgan said:


> I'd never resort to SOLELY using .404 for all milling though. Maybe for the outer slab cuts on a questionable or dirty log, but I wouldn't want to cut boards from cants with it, just because it wastes a LOT more wood. I've hit my share of bolts/nails with 3/8 .063 milling chain, and while it didn't fare as well as the .404, it didn't break either. Just a few FUBAR cutters.



I agree with the cant cutting part. :agree2:


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## Kupreanof (Jan 21, 2010)

How does bar thickness vary with the gauge? The groove is obviously fit to the gauge, so the center piece matches the gauge, but on laminated bars is the center piece the only thing different or is a heavier gauge used for all 3 layers?


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## MR4WD (Jan 21, 2010)

Brmorgan said:


> I'd avoid .058 at all costs if you can. It's pretty much a Husky-only gauge and I've never really seen the point to its existence except to make it a royal pain in my arse when I want to swap bars/chains between saws - I have four or five 24" bars and a number of chains to go with them, but my options are still limited. I'd like to run the 3/8 low-profile chain from my 660 on my big Huskies, but can't (without a bar adaptor) because all my Husky bars are .058.



Surely some of your husky bars are worn to the point that they'll take some .063? Can't you just get a bar adapter and run 1 bar between both husky and stihl?


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## Brmorgan (Jan 21, 2010)

MR4WD said:


> Surely some of your husky bars are worn to the point that they'll take some .063? Can't you just get a bar adapter and run 1 bar between both husky and stihl?



Yes, a couple probably are getting to that point, however I'd rather run .050 on everything except really long chains or stumper/utility chains, just so I have the flexibility of throwing low-profile milling chain on any bar or saw if I needed to. I just don't have the cash to do a full swap on everything, so it's an as-I-get-to-it sort of thing.

Also, yes, I'm planning on making a couple bar adapters out of some hard saw steel I have. I want to make one from Stihl large mount (090) down to Husky large. I have a 25" .050 roller-nose bar that would work really nicely for milling smaller logs with my 395. And I have NO plans of throwing .050 chain on the 090 anytime soon, so the bar hangs on a nail unused for now.


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## maccall (Jan 22, 2010)

MR4WD said:


> Yes, yes, the gauge applies to the drive tang and chassis, on more chains than not. Stihl .050 is a .050 chassis, but .058 and .063 are a .063 chassis while .058 is a .058 tang milled (from .063)
> 
> My Oregon and Husqvarna (Oregon) chains measure both .058 at the chassis and drive tang. I would reckon the same for .050.



I'm still not with you. I went out to the shed and measured Stihl 23/25/26 RMC, which is the only kind I have in all 3 gauges (thank goodness for that...), and they are all .063 at the top of the drive tang. Measuring across the chassis also gives the same number for all three chains, so I can only say that they are identical except from the part of the drive tang that actually goes inte the bar grove.

Your saying also doesn't make sense in another way. Above is how the Stihl chain I checked was done, and this way makes it possible to have the bars for different gauges to be of the same thickness. But if an Oregon chain, fe, was done the way you describe then that chain would also create a narrower kerf (although a very small difference), and might be needing a slightly narrover bar. Oregon might possibly make their own bars thinner to handle this, but their chains would probably get the bar stuck more often if the Oregon chain were put on a Stihl bar. And I just don't buy that Oregon chains would be incompatible with Stihl bars in this way.

Have you measured the chains you're referring to so you really know they are done the way you say?


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## MR4WD (Jan 24, 2010)

Just measured a .058 and a .063 Cannon bar: Same width.

I don't have any Stihl .050, but I went with what I'd heard.

In any capacity, I just measured some Oregon LG: .058 was same at the chassis and tang, and .063 was same at the chassis and tang.


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