What chain

[Buffhunter]

Hey guys just wondering what would be the best chain to run on dead hard oak 20in plus sticks??? I am running a husky 385xp with a 28in bar and a 372xp with a 24in bar. Full comp, semi skip, or full skip? Currently I am running full comp 3/8ths .063.

Thanks

Dom

 

[troythetreeman]

your saw pulls your chain thats on there ok? if it does, use that, i find oak is actually on of the easier woods to cut
if your saw isnt pulling the chain thats on there then switch to something with fewer teeth

 

[Buffhunter]

ok

They pull fine just herd you can keep your saw at higher rpm and be more efficient with a skip or semi skip. I always figured the more teeth the more chawgg the faster you will go through the wood.

 

[wooddog 066]

me personally like the oregon full chisel IMO!!1

 

[komatsuvarna]

Them saws should be fine with chisel full comp IMO. I run it on every thing, Even my 395 with a 36'' has full comp chisel.

If your in dirty wood and want to sacrafice a little speed, semi chisel chain will last a little longer between sharpenings. Im not a fan of any skip chain myself, but alot of people like it.

 

[Buffhunter]

Thanks

Cool thanks guys. Thats all I run is oregon full comp just wondered if there were any other advantages to running skip. I always thought that was more for green wood and so you could pull bigger bars. Be safe out there guys and drop some bigguns for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ch woodchuck]

Hard seasoned oak?24in bar,full comp semi-chisel.I've been cutting plenty of live oak tru the yrs.The dead stuff,if not punky is a beach!Didn't do well with square ground,goes well in green and clean though.

cheers

 

[BigGthetree]

Cut lots of Oregon Black Oak with full skip. It's a little bouncey when you first hit the bark, but it really grabs and cuts amazingly fast with a nice sharp chain. If some of the oaks are especially hard, it's also easy to touch up the chain cutters really fast since there are about half the amount with full skip.

 

[Buffhunter]

??????

Man now im even more confuse. LOL I guess I will just buy a skip tooth and try it out and see how it goes. But man I have been cutting some of this old dead oak that is already checked and it is like some damn concrete maybe the skip will help dig in a little more. IDK but sometimes I gotta sharpen after a half tank of gas because this chit is so hard

 

[dingeryote]

Buff,

Chisel and semi chisel both will skitter on weather hardened Oak and Hickory. No way around it.
Skip will do the same thing, and just cut slower.

Semi-chisel does have an advantage, in that it dosn't have the sharp beak at the corner to get rounded off or chipped from skittering, and then go dead dull. Just Dawg in and give it a bit of encouragement to eat, and accept that it's gonna cut slow and rough without throwing nice chips.

That hard as a rock dried Oak burns REAL nice though..it's worth it.
Call me jealous.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[Buffhunter]

Buff,

Chisel and semi chisel both will skitter on weather hardened Oak and Hickory. No way around it.
Skip will do the same thing, and just cut slower.

Semi-chisel does have an advantage, in that it dosn't have the sharp beak at the corner to get rounded off or chipped from skittering, and then go dead dull. Just Dawg in and give it a bit of encouragement to eat, and accept that it's gonna cut slow and rough without throwing nice chips.

That hard as a rock dried Oak burns REAL nice though..it's worth it.
Call me jealous.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

It sure does burn nice sometimes has a hard time to get going. But once it does man its stupid hot and those Cole's last till noon the next day.

 

[DangerTree]

The big thing in hard wood is keeping sharp and not taking off too much raker as that can cause binding. The chain not only needs to cut but it needs to clear the chip out of the kerf if the chips are too big they pile up in the gullet and bind the chain. It really isn't the power of the saw not being able to pull the chain it's a bad set. This is one reason that a skip tooth chain appears to cut better because there is greater room between the gullet and the chips don't pile up. But a full house with a good set will easily out perform a skip tooth given the right balance of bar length to HP.

 

[Buffhunter]

The big thing in hard wood is keeping sharp and not taking off too much raker as that can cause binding. The chain not only needs to cut but it needs to clear the chip out of the kerf if the chips are too big they pile up in the gullet and bind the chain. It really isn't the power of the saw not being able to pull the chain it's a bad set. This is one reason that a skip tooth chain appears to cut better because there is greater room between the gullet and the chips don't pile up. But a full house with a good set will easily out perform a skip tooth given the right balance of bar length to HP.

Well im getting pretty good at keeping my chain damn sharp and I use a .025 raker guage. Is that too much? Should I go to .020?

 

[DangerTree]

Well im getting pretty good at keeping my chain damn sharp and I use a .025 raker guage. Is that too much? Should I go to .020?

Likely wouldn't hurt but in hard stuff the tooth height is more important. What I mean to say is a new chain cuts well because no single tooth is taller than it's neighbor and that will cause a chain to hop. In softer wood the tall tooth merely penetrates.

 

[Buffhunter]

---

Likely wouldn't hurt but in hard stuff the tooth height is more important. What I mean to say is a new chain cuts well because no single tooth is taller than it's neighbor and that will cause a chain to hop. In softer wood the tall tooth merely penetrates.

Ah ha

 

[Greener]

The full-comp versus skip decision should be more driven by the length of the bar and how big the wood is that you're getting into. Yes, skip chains will bounce a bit, especially the small the circumference of the wood in relation to the bar. But, in my humble experience, the most important factor in terms of the speed of the chain through the wood is the type of cutter (chisel will penetrate fastest), then the number of cutters, etc. Many here will disagree with me. But I did cut exclusively with full comp chains for years but I have found that a new chisel chain will outperform a full comp. However, most chains have wear, and once there is wear, the number of cutters becomes more important, and the chain is more forgiving of imperfection. I use full skip chisel (Oregon, would use Stihl but I'm cheap) because I keep them razor sharp. If you want to keep a chain on for a while, stay with comps. Also, I guess I am mostly in softwood up here, with an alder or maple here and there. If you cut mostly hardwood, full comps would probably be your best bet.

 

[BigGthetree]

. . . Yes, skip chains will bounce a bit, especially the small the circumference of the wood in relation to the bar. But, in my humble experience, the most important factor in terms of the speed of the chain through the wood is the type of cutter (chisel will penetrate fastest), then the number of cutters, etc. Many here will disagree with me. But I did cut exclusively with full comp chains for years but I have found that a new chisel chain will outperform a full comp. However, most chains have wear, and once there is wear, the number of cutters becomes more important, and the chain is more forgiving of imperfection. I use full skip chisel (Oregon, would use Stihl but I'm cheap) because I keep them razor sharp.

I agree with Greener. When using full skip, the cutter must be extremely sharp and the depth of bite on the cutter must be kept consistent, otherwise you get lots of bounce as he mentioned, especially on smaller diameter trees. Use that flat file and keep your cutting depth consistent and deeper on softwoods (unless the trees are frozen).

 

[Greener]

I have recently been testing full comps with skip chains and the skips won the race every time, in both hard and soft wood. With full chisel chain, the skip will get through the wood faster every time, both in hard and soft wood. Many will claim a full comp chain is faster, but never in my experience. In hardwood, though, the full skip chisel can dull a lot quicker if your pushing through the wood because they bore deeper and put more wear on the cutters, which there are less of to spare. Also, as mentioned above, longer bars with skip chains in bigger wood will cause the chips to build up in the cut. If you periodically sweep the bar and clean out the kerf/gullet, it will get through most efficiently. So, full comps are good for endurance but don't get through each cut as quickly-they WILL keep their edge longer, and are safer in terms of kicking. In small wood, branches, etc, full comp is your best choice. With bigger wood and longer bars stay with the half or full skip. But, ultimately, it is personal preference. Test out a few and compare. Personally, once I experienced the speed of the skip, it has been hard to go back to full comp chains.