Anybody use semi chisel anymore

[Huskybill]

I keep chain rolls and chain loops in stock with extra bars, clutch rims and drums. Buy on sale. If you do this for a living cutting costs is good.

My two new saws 575/385 came with semi chisel skip chain. I never used semi chisel chain. Cutting at the saw mill with shoulder high tree trunks laying down the semi skip chisel chain impressed me. I just purchased a 100’ roll of semi chisel chain to stock up on it. The only difference I noticed was the cutting speed between the two different powerheads. The 385/32” has more muscle over the 575/28”.

The biggest difference I notice is a dull chain on a 2100 will still cut not as fast as a good sharp chain but that last cut at the end of the day your happy it cut.

Safety tip, do you ever check the wear and play in the rivets in the saw chain.? They do wear.
A snapping, flying chain isn’t good.

 

[Philbert]

[QUOTE="atpchas, post: 7060849, member: 21290"I like that idea. Keeping them safe in bags rather than loose in separate compartments is also smart. Knowing me, I'd knock the box off the bench while it was open. [/QUOTE]
I have spent a few hours at the kitchen table sorting presets and tie straps:
- Start with one 'known' preset and see which tie straps will fit that.
- Then work backwards to see which of the other presets fit those tie straps. That takes care of 'pitch' (*note that .325 pitch from one brand may not fit .325 pitch from another brand, etc.).
- Then work the 'pitch piles' with a few drive links of known gauge (easy to measure with a micrometer or caliper), and sort by 'gauge'.
- Then label things well and put them into zip-lock bags to keep it from happening again.

I also try to keep larger zip-lock bags of short chain pieces by size and type. For example, if I spin an 81 drive link loop (20" bar) down to 74 drive links (18" bar), I keep the chain piece, along with any loose cutters and drive links for repair parts, in case some get buggered up. This is where you have to be a bit more careful with the differences between semi-chisel / full chisel, low-kickback chains, skip sequences, narrow kerf, etc.so that you don't end up with a 'Frankenchain' or a(?) 'Booyachain' (little bit of everything thrown in!.

Philbert

 

[Huskybill]

At onetime it was easy the .050” ga came in .404”, 3/8”, 325”. No .050” in 404”. Now I’m all over the place .325/.058”, im trying to keep the .404” ga limited to .063” ga. And the 3/8” /.058”.

 

[Jethro 2t sniffer]

I keep chain rolls and chain loops in stock with extra bars, clutch rims and drums. Buy on sale.

My two new saws 575/385 came with semi chisel skip chain. I never used semi chisel chain. Cutting at the saw mill with shoulder high tree trunks laying down the semi skip chisel chain impressed me. I just purchased a 100’ roll of semi chisel chain to stock up on it. The only difference I noticed was the cutting speed between the two different powerheads. The 385 has more muscle over the 575.

The biggest difference I notice is a dull chain on a 2100 will still cut not as fast as a good sharp chain but that last cut at the end of the day your happy it cut.

Safety tip, do you ever check the wear and play in the rivets in the saw chain.? They do wear.
A snapping, flying chain isn’t good.

Yes I check. I've got some chain at 1st glance thought aww that's got heaps of life and in the keep/resurrection pile it goes only to look at it later and see its been ran very dull or not enough oil or both and warn right to the rivets. Its interesting examining other people's chains I have 1 that has half the cutter left and on the cutters and ties they are badly warn but the in between links are not so obviously ran very dull and has been dogging in hard. That same chain every cutter is identical so obviously a take to the shop sharpen kind of guy.

The other trick with joining odd chain you need to match the wear of the straps or it'll go tight loose tight loose. This is especially important on hard nose bars.

Also (nearly done lol) I match the wear with the new presets so they roll nicely without tightening up just a quick buzz with a cut off disc

 

[farmguywithasaw]

Safety tip, do you ever check the wear and play in the rivets in the saw chain.? They do wear.
A snapping, flying chain isn’t good.

I have never had that happen. I always keep my chains good and sharp, use good bar oil and don’t over tighten. But thank for the tip!

 

[Jethro 2t sniffer]

I have never had that happen. I always keep my chains good and sharp, use good bar oil and don’t over tighten. But thank for the tip!

For those of us who look after our gear then yeah a chain from new will be fine. It's the used chains by Jonny Johnson up the valley with used engine oil on his bar and sharpens when he absolutely has too. Those are the chains that are dodgy and for us vintage saw freaks you get a steady supply of these chains some are saved some are not.

I have a heap of hard nose bars from 40 years ago that have been saved too but that's for another thread

 

[svk]

I’ve only had a chain break after it received trauma and was straightened. It fails at the point where it was straightened.

 

[Jethro 2t sniffer]

I’ve only had a chain break after it received trauma and was straightened. It fails at the point where it was straightened.

There's a good lesson for us then. Was it event free? Other than the obvious

 

[svk]

There's a good lesson for us then. Was it event free? Other than the obvious

Yeah. It ended up stuck in a limb so that worked out. It was on a rented polesaw

 

[Jethro 2t sniffer]

Yeah. It ended up stuck in a limb so that worked out. It was on a rented polesaw

Ah right well all was well then. Ya hear all kinds of horror stories of busted chains

 

[svk]

Ah right well all was well then. Ya hear all kinds of horror stories of busted chains

Just for discussion, say a chain lets go when it’s not in wood....Does it sling off the nose?

 

[Jethro 2t sniffer]

Just for discussion, say a chain lets go when it’s not in wood....Does it sling off the nose?

Yeah it has my curiosity also let's say it broke as it went around the drive sprocket the bottom will bunch up around the clutch cover a small amount but with no tension on the chain it would stop pretty fast. Im trying to think of a heap of scenarios and all I can see it doing most of the time is making a mess of the sprocket and clutch area perhaps.

I spose if one was cutting on top of the bar and it let go as it rounded the tip then yeah g force would wip it out and way down the length of the bar and possibly come up from behind the saw. Perhaps getting your leg or maybe in a tricky spot a face or hate to think really

To me it seems if in wood and the tension is gone off the drive its going to stop pretty fast

 

[Wood Doctor]

I got a couple big oaks this year that we had to drag out of the woods. I got a couple loops of semi chisel, DPX, from Nate and my hassles went away. The full chisel, LGX, dulled quick when it lost the corner in the dirty bark.

Today I used 3/8" semi-chisel with a 28" bar to buck cut pin oak with my Echo CS-670. The saw loved it and so did I. The tree was 40 years old and the bar was just the right size. I had to quarter the rounds in order to haul away the chunks to the splitter. I used my Stihl 036 for noodle cutting, again with the same semi-chisel and a 20" bar. My back appreciated it. Dang, even the quarters were heavy puppies. That's the way pin oak is.

 

[Huskybill]

Safety saw chain awareness, I seen all kinds of stuff come into the repair shop. Even split rims cracked in half from wear. Be safe, simple when you pull the bar to square it and clean out the bar groove inspect the chain.

I had a chain loop come off the bar once when the tip got pinched and it brushed the inside of my pants leg thank god for the chain stop. If your chain stop is worn replace it.

 

[NSEric]

I have spare chains and switch depending on what im cutting.
I use semi chisel clearing atv trail, the atv's splash mud onto the trees so the bark is full of dirt, full chisel doesn't last long at all cutting down those trees, trees by dirt roads are full of dirt too.
I use full chisel cutting up my wood pile, it doesn't get skidded through mud where I buy it and cutting down trees that aren't full of dirt. It is quite a bit faster in clean wood.

 

[2broke2ride]

I guess I will be the odd man out here and voice my opinion. I HATE semi chisel!! Maybe it's just me, but it doesnt self feed like it should IMO and I dont see a bit of difference in durability at least in the stuff I cut.
I dont know where this notion of having to sharpen every tank comes from unless you are running it into the dirt or cutting wood that is literally mud packed (in which case you can find someone else's saw to do that with because it wont be mine). I can easily cut 6 cords of firewood (real cords, none of this face cord garbage) and never touch the chain as long as there's no hidden metal.

 

[Jethro 2t sniffer]

I guess I will be the odd man out here and voice my opinion. I HATE semi chisel!! Maybe it's just me, but it doesnt self feed like it should IMO and I dont see a bit of difference in durability at least in the stuff I cut.
I dont know where this notion of having to sharpen every tank comes from unless you are running it into the dirt or cutting wood that is literally mud packed (in which case you can find someone else's saw to do that with because it wont be mine). I can easily cut 6 cords of firewood (real cords, none of this face cord garbage) and never touch the chain as long as there's no hidden metal.

What brand semi you used Kevin? I remember having a yarn to ya about carlton I found it not good on my long bar. Just wouldn't feed nicely no matter what I did to it. I had Oregon semi on a 24 and it was great but haven't tried it on the 32..

Here is Oregon semi in cypress

 

[2broke2ride]

You've got a good memory. I have used Carlton and Oregon. I will say, Oregon is definitely better than the Carlton, I still dont prefer it.
That Carlton stuff is terrible, I have used safety chain that performs better than Carlton semi chisel.

 

[Jethro 2t sniffer]

You've got a good memory. I have used Carlton and Oregon. I will say, Oregon is definitely better than the Carlton, I still dont prefer it.
That Carlton stuff is terrible, I have used safety chain that performs better than Carlton semi chisel.

Haha I remember cos I thought I was going bananas trying get it to cut well enough and you had the same issue's.

Its good to hear the Oregon is better I might give it ago next time. I always thought as of the modern times they were basically same chain but obviously not.

 

[rwoods]

Just for discussion, say a chain lets go when it’s not in wood....Does it sling off the nose?

Yeah it has my curiosity also let's say it broke as it went around the drive sprocket the bottom will bunch up around the clutch cover a small amount but with no tension on the chain it would stop pretty fast. Im trying to think of a heap of scenarios and all I can see it doing most of the time is making a mess of the sprocket and clutch area perhaps.

I spose if one was cutting on top of the bar and it let go as it rounded the tip then yeah g force would wip it out and way down the length of the bar and possibly come up from behind the saw. Perhaps getting your leg or maybe in a tricky spot a face or hate to think really

To me it seems if in wood and the tension is gone off the drive its going to stop pretty fast

I have never experienced this, but physics would say it will come towards the operator if it breaks on the top side as it is being pulled in that direction. Hence modern saws have both a chain stop and a hand guard. Ron