“Doggy boning” is a word coined by racing chain makers. In fact, in recent years there are those who claim to have invented it. Again, this is misinformation. “Doggy boning” is basically lowering the top center profile of a side strap. I use it to lighten the chain somewhat and I also like the appearance of it. I can’t claim for sure that it speeds up the actual cutting time, but every little bit helps. I was using “doggy boned” chains already in 1956. Since many of the chains in that era had the tie straps made that way at the factory. You could reverse the tie strap because both the top and bottom were identical. There were many chain companies in the ‘50’s that had that feature. The Blue Jet chain, that I used, had the notch on the top of the tie strap that matched the notch on the bottom. There was a lot of breakage on those tie straps probably because of the hammering with hard-faced round tipped bars as they were going into the wood in these big trees and not reaching through. The saws were all gear driven and had very slow chain speed. Probably metal fatigue set in from the constant pounding. I would often notice hairline cracks on either side while filing the chain and would replace those tie straps. Some of the companies making saw chains during the ‘50’s were: Atkins, Oregon, McCulloch, Mall, Sabre, Gouger, Delman, Stihl, Blue Jet, Beaver. Wolf, Reed Prentice, Standahl, Titan, Jamieson, Diston, Dyna-link, Remington, Burns, Zip-Penn, and Winsor and possibly more. Most of the companies changed their tie straps by just having the notch on the bottom where they fit on the sprocket. Using direct drive saws doesn’t seem to cause breaking in chains that are “doggy boned” at least I haven’t had any problems.
Art Martin