What is the best chain for cutting slabwood?

[Billy Bee]

A 272 with a 36" bar???? Don't you mean a 372??

SR

Just looked it up, they were made from 93 to discontinued in 97. By the way I love your pictures of your firewood processing and BSM.

 

[MossRoad]

It gets complicated -- assuming the sprocket RPM and chain speed is the same, and all else equal (ie, same cutters, same cutters per inch, same size wood) the longer bar/chain combo will last longer -- the longer chain makes fewer revolutions than the short chain. It becomes like a gearing issue of sorts. If you start comparing different cutters, skip versus standard, etc, then it's harder to make sense of it.

If you're cutting a 4' bundle with a 36" chain, the chain is going through 36" of wood. A 20" chain in a 4' bundle, it's going through 20" of wood. (well, not exactly, but you get the idea). At the same RPM's, torque, HP, bite, etc..... the cutters are all touching the same amount of wood each, aren't they? Because they are each going the same speed.

I could see the longer chain/bar combo staying sharp longer on short pieces of wood, but if the bars are both buried all the time, they'd each be cutting the same amount of wood per tooth, wouldn't they?

 

[RandyT]

Yep, Randy nailed it. I use both types of chain but historically have preferred semi-chisel for production cutting since it requires far fewer breaks for sharpening, and when you're cutting all day long that adds up to a chunk of time.

Right now I am running some full chisel on my 562XP since it's what I had new in the box when I needed to grab another chain, but boy does it dull a lot quicker than my normal semi-chisel. I'm just cutting firewood so no big deal, but if I was clearing land all this sharpening would get old real quick.

I will say this, the full chisel reminds me of a lithium-ion battery in a power tool -- gives you near-100% performance and then just dies. Goes from cutting great and throwing chips to cutting poorly and throwing dust. Semi-chisel takes a lot longer to go between those extremes and you get a lot more feedback that it's starting to dull before it's time to sharpen.

With full chisel chain knocking the square point off of the cutter, and you loose most of the cutting ability of the chain. At my shop the only semi-chisel chain I stock is the 3/8 low profile. All my big 3/8 is full skip. Just what customers prefer. If I could get the small 3/8 in full chisel, that is what they would be running.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Just looked it up, they were made from 93 to discontinued in 97. By the way I love your pictures of your firewood processing and BSM.

Thanks, and thanks for answering...

I've never had a 272 in my hands, but I have a 372, so that's why I asked

BTW, I use semi-chisel chain...

SR

 

[ericm979]

If I could get the small 3/8 in full chisel, that is what they would be running.

Stihl 63 PS3 is full chisel 3/8 low profile. It cuts very well and stays sharp a long time for chisel chain. I'm really impressed by it. You can also get Bailey's (Carlton) 63RC chisel chain in 3/8 LP. I've used that too and it's fine but not as good as the Stihl.

I only use skip chain for bars over 25". Full complement cuts faster on short bars but on long bars it's a lot of teeth to pull through the wood.