Carbide tip chainsaw chain pros and cons ???

[cessna]

Have you ever used carbide tipped chainsaw chain for cutting dry hardwood e.g dried out horn beam ? 

Pros and cons of using it  if you have  , many thanks

Can it be sharpended??????     

[Macpherson]

1 hour ago, cessna said:

Can it be sharpended??????   

I've not owned a carbide tooth chain but I've sharpened one....a rotary diamond burr or file will do the job... but as these are usually rescue chains or used in frozen or dirty wood even although they're tungsten carbide they can still be wrecked easily and in certain situations they basically are sacrifised to do a one off job.

 

I have milled very dry / hard oak which I trickled water into the kerf  with a garden hose and this seemed to help the chain ....whether lubricating or cooling the cutters or perhaps both I'm not sure but it helped for sure ....although the very dry timber got very wet?

I don't think there's anything wrong in using water in this way as fresh lumber's at least 30% h2o and it must play a part in lubricating / cooling the cutters, cheers.

 

[tree_beard]

Carbide tipped chain was designed for cutting into burning buildings, and American buildings at that. Good for cutting cladding (with the odd nail), plasterboard, and roof felt... Shit for wood. It doesn't hold as sharp a cutting edge as regular chain, and is much more brittle. Hit anything really hard (stone or old gate hangings) and the teeth are likely to strip off

[Stubby]

48 minutes ago, tree_beard said:

Carbide tipped chain was designed for cutting into burning buildings, and American buildings at that. Good for cutting cladding (with the odd nail), plasterboard, and roof felt... Shit for wood. It doesn't hold as sharp a cutting edge as regular chain, and is much more brittle. Hit anything really hard (stone or old gate hangings) and the teeth are likely to strip off

This .

[peatff]

Never tied it, I cut wood that's been dumped down at the farm by a local tree surgeon and some of it has been stood for years but normal chains work fine on it. There has been Hornbeam in with it but I think the hardest wood I come across is some biggish Hawthorn. The worst thing for the chains is going into the ground or sometimes you get a stone in the actual wood. I've been using the Northern Arb Rotatech chains because they are cheap and they work well for the job.

[wyk]

You are better off using semi chisel or micro chisel chain. It is far easier to sharpen, and it will still last a long time in dirty and seasoned hard woods, even encountering a bit of metal, and cost much less(especially since you will need a good electric chain sharpener for the carbide). Carbide chain is better for rescue saws and cutting sleepers or old powerline poles with loads of metal in them.

CSB are one of the few people that always stock semi chisel and micro:

 

CUSTOM CHAIN LOOP - Chainsawbars

WWW.CHAINSAWBARS.CO.UK

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  Select your pitch & gauge for results.

 

All of this had been sitting for a year in mud and dirt. Not a bother using semi chisel chain, even for the wire and the nails. You sharpen it much less and it wears much less in this sort of environment.

 

 

Edited June 9, 2020 by wyk

[Silverhooker]

Carbide chains, as said, are for cutting up buildings not timber, I had a go with one years ago and it was very poor in timber but torn thru a concrete lintel like butter, dirty wood needs cheap semi-chisel that you are prepared, and able, to sharpen quickly and can  be chucked when they get really knackered. Like others have said i keep a sacraficial cheap rotatech chain for such situations as I don't mind puttting them in the recycling bin.

[doobin]

14 minutes ago, Silverhooker said:

Carbide chains, as said, are for cutting up buildings not timber, I had a go with one years ago and it was very poor in timber but torn thru a concrete lintel like butter, dirty wood needs cheap semi-chisel that you are prepared, and able, to sharpen quickly and can  be chucked when they get really knackered. Like others have said i keep a sacraficial cheap rotatech chain for such situations as I don't mind puttting them in the recycling bin.

Blimey. Are you sure you're not confusing carbide with diamond chain?

[Silverhooker]

Maybe, it was from recollection a Stihl rescue saw. Had a funny guard thing on it too. Was a new bit of kit that the local firefighters had.