best deals on ripping chain??

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gunnarfan

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not sure if this is best for the milling section or not but whos perfect??

looking for general opinions or links on this one. lots of road widening getting ready to happen up here.. i'd like to be ready for it.
 
IMO... your best bet is to get a high quality semi-chisel chain (like Stihl RM) and make your own in the "granberg" style. I'm not impressed with the cheaper "off-the-shelf" brands.

Lot's of info in the milling forum. Try a search there.
 
When plunge cutting end grain I usually use a square ground chisel (with a smaller angle toplate) - because the square grind is so much sharper than round. Works pretty well, although it is more brutal than normal side grain boring of course.

But my store bought ripping chains happen to be semi chisel. (I occasionally mill short runs with square ground chain just because that is what is usually on the saw and it works okay.)

So since end grain plunge cutting is quite similar to ripping on a Alaska Mill in terms of the cut, I wonder if in theory a conventional semi chisel (with alternating blunt angles) ripping chain might work better for end grain boring...Might give it a try sometime. Still a tradeoff for sharpness vs square, but since that is the traditional milling style chain maybe it has a mechanical advantage over square for severing the tube fibers (else why would millers use it?).

Any thoughts?

I now seem to recall that book on making lumber with a chainsaw mill (William something or other) talked about needing a lot of hook on a tooth to get an efficient cut with milling. But also as I think about it my Granberg ripping chains really don't have that much hook....
 
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Look at Baileys. They have a very good, affordable ripping chain. Seems to be working well for me so far. Granberg is also a good ripping chain but the price is about double of the Baileys. As lakeside said they arent very hard to make if you have the grinding tools but for the price at Baileys its almost not worth making your own, Good luck.
 
dustytools said:
Look at Baileys. They have a very good, affordable ripping chain. Seems to be working well for me so far. Granberg is also a good ripping chain but the price is about double of the Baileys. As lakeside said they arent very hard to make if you have the grinding tools but for the price at Baileys its almost not worth making your own, Good luck.

I've had good luck with Bailey's chain, although I do like the Stihl chain that I have converted better, keeps an edge longer. However, for the cost, the Bailey's chain is a good deal and has held up very well.

Mark
 

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