Stihl Carbide chain speed in dead/hard/dry wood....

[Mike Kunte]

Hi all you chainsaw warriors!

I'm currently helping my brother-in-law out on his farm where previous owners had cut and left bluegum (Eucalyuptus) stumps lying all around many years ago. We are now clearing them up by bucking them into disks for firewood. There are two main types - those which lie half-buried in the ground (the bottom rots and is covered in mud/sand) and those which lie above ground, and have semi-petrified. My BIL went through 3 chains in 20 minutes on the hardened wood, after which I suggested he try the carbide chains. Bear in mind, this wood has almost petrified! It's really, really hard!

We are collecting the chains this week from our local Stihl dealer, but he gave us some telephonic advice regarding cutting speed which I'd like to run by you for verification. He suggested that very dry/hard/brittle wood should be cut at a very low speed (i.e. slow chain speed; as slow as possible). All the instructional videos I have seen (obviously for green wood) require the chainsaw to be running at full speed before engaging the wood. Reading up on carbide chains I am now careful of running them fast/hot. Obviously, this very hard, dry wood is a special case.

Do you concur with this approach? I would really appreciate your insights on this one.

Regards,

Mike

 

[Ando81]

I have used 3/8 Stihl Duro chain at full speed and slower speed on very dry Greybox wood and I don’t see any difference between the 2 speeds. I too was told that excessive chain speed on hard dry wood is more likely to break tungsten tips off the chain. I highly recommend the tungsten chain for dirty wood, it lasts a very long time cutting wood that would ruin a normal chain.

 

[Mike Kunte]

I have used 3/8 Stihl Duro chain at full speed and slower speed on very dry Greybox wood and I don’t see any difference between the 2 speeds. I too was told that excessive chain speed on hard dry wood is more likely to break tungsten tips off the chain. I highly recommend the tungsten chain for dirty wood, it lasts a very long time cutting wood that would ruin a normal chain.

Thanks, Ando81!

 

[Franny K]

It would seem a common chainsaw would have clutch issues if not run at a relatively high rpm. Hydraulic would be a way to get useable slow speed. I doubt electric stuff is of the power needed for your application but those often are variable speed.

I bought a loop of Stihl Picco duro chain. Once a cutter chips then the next one on the same side chipped. For the price buying rolls of normal chain and making loops seemed more sensible. I am sure results vary, try and plunge in and pull chips out, don't recall how the carbide tipped Stihl chain plunge cut.

I believe petrified involves substituting silica for the cell parts of the once living organism.

 

[Mike Kunte]

It would seem a common chainsaw would have clutch issues if not run at a relatively high rpm. Hydraulic would be a way to get useable slow speed. I doubt electric stuff is of the power needed for your application but those often are variable speed.

I bought a loop of Stihl Picco duro chain. Once a cutter chips then the next one on the same side chipped. For the price buying rolls of normal chain and making loops seemed more sensible. I am sure results vary, try and plunge in and pull chips out, don't recall how the carbide tipped Stihl chain plunge cut.

I believe petrified involves substituting silica for the cell parts of the once living organism.

Hi FrannyK,

Thanks for your input! Yeah, perhaps I used the term petrified too loosely there.... although the wood does look like rock, I think it's just really hard.

Mike

 

[Ando81]

To add further to my previous comments. I got my tungsten chain sharpened at a shop and they really took the takers down low which concerned me as it was the first time the chain was sharpened. It really made the chain cut well and throw out bigger chips. I tried to do a fair comparison between a tungsten chain and normal chain. I cut 3 blocks off a log that had a hollow in it and dirt before the normal chain was blunt. I put the tungsten chain on and cut another 9 pieces off before the tungsten was getting blunt. I’m really happy with the tungsten chain.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

3/8 pico non chisel and an aggressively oiling saw or one with the oiler tuned up to max will be your best friend in high debris wood or dirty wood. Easy to sharpen, doesn't cut a wide kerf so less exposure to the abrasive, cheap to replace, and just seems to be less sensitive to debris in general.

I am not a believer in carbide chain, it's a huge investment and I can sharpen or replace a lot of rocked or nailed chain because my time is worth less than carbide. If you were on a hurry and just needed the job done, carbide would be great as this is the environment it was designed for.

 

[rogue60]

As far as I know there is no saw chain that can cut dirt and rocks tungsten is for clean wood same as any chain is it's purpose is it will hold it's eage longer in clean timber.
It's just a marketing and money making con telling people they can cut anything with tungsten that is until they hit a little stone and shatter half the teeth.
There is such a thing as timber to dirty to cut and you walk away from it but many will try with tungsten saw chain only to find that it was little more than an expensive experiment.
If a log is not to full of sand/dirt/grit and you can get say 4 cuts with a normal chain and it's cutters ain't smashed means you just sharpen the chain after 4 cuts and repeat getting 9 cuts out of tungsten in the same log before its smoked as well is not really cost effective IMHO.

 

[Mike Kunte]

Ok, feedback time!

My BIL ran the new Rapid Duro carbide-tipped chains this weekend in the hard, dry, brittle wood on the farm. His experience seems to be consistent with that of most people in that the chains cut perfectly, whether at half throttle or full throttle, and came away as good as new.
As he noted, however, the chain performed poorly on the greenwood trees he cleared out of the way before tackling the dry stuff. So it goes to show - used for its intended purpose, a carbide chain performs very well indeed!

I have attached the pic of the hard, dry wood he loaded onto the truck. Again, the chains are not cheap but for our application they were definitely worth it!

Hope this helps!

 

[Ando81]

Great to hear that you were happy with it. Good looking firewood too [emoji1303]

 

[stihl86]

Ok, feedback time!

My BIL ran the new Rapid Duro carbide-tipped chains this weekend in the hard, dry, brittle wood on the farm. His experience seems to be consistent with that of most people in that the chains cut perfectly, whether at half throttle or full throttle, and came away as good as new.
As he noted, however, the chain performed poorly on the greenwood trees he cleared out of the way before tackling the dry stuff. So it goes to show - used for its intended purpose, a carbide chain performs very well indeed!

I have attached the pic of the hard, dry wood he loaded onto the truck. Again, the chains are not cheap but for our application they were definitely worth it!

Hope this helps!

Most look at the price and can’t see the value. They dont take into account the non cutting time that’s lost changing chains or sharpening. You’ll be home, feet up, sucking on you third brew and they’ll still be at it.
But hey, they saved 30.00 dollars.