stihl ripping chain

[davidb]

I now file the granberg all at 10 degrees and this works well and there's less fiddling about.

 

 

 

 

Now that would be easier the thought of sharpening two different angles on 36" chain on site has always put me off. l may give the granberg a try when l need some new chains as all at 10 deg sounds better

[wisewood]

I'll be trying out some granberg chain in the next few days. Supplied by no other than RobD, good to know it can all be sharpened to 10 degrees.

 

It may be a myth but I heard years back that ripping chain will cut through chainsaw pants:scared1: Have there been any tests regarding stopping ripping chain?

Not heard about the increased risk of kickback though, and I've freehand ripped quite a lot and had more kickbacks off normal chain

[davidb]

There will be an increased risk of kick back with ripping chain as there are no links that help reduce this. Other than that the structure of the chain is the same

[Rhob the Log]

There's definitely more vibration risk with ripping chain due to the steeper cutter angle. It's designed to be paring and clearing wood WITH the grain - long xylem tubes up the stem therefore fewer walls to get in the way. This means you're cutting through lower numbers of hard, recalcitrant cell walls every few nm as you do when you're cutting through centuries of xylem vessel creation crossways. That's why axes don't go crosscutting...

 

I also suspect there is a greater risk of kickback if using ripping chains for cross cutting as it will be easier for the chain to 'catch' on the denser wood in the kickback zone, due to it's blunter angle - will have less paring ability than 25-35 deg.

Edited March 1, 2013 by Rhob the Log
Addition

[Rob D]

There's definitely more vibration risk with ripping chain due to the steeper cutter angle. It's designed to be paring and clearing wood WITH the grain - long xylem tubes up the stem therefore fewer walls to get in the way. This means you're cutting through lower numbers of hard, recalcitrant cell walls every few nm as you do when you're cutting through centuries of xylem vessel creation crossways. That's why axes don't go crosscutting...

 

I also suspect there is a greater risk of kickback if using ripping chains for cross cutting as it will be easier for the chain to 'catch' on the denser wood in the kickback zone, due to it's blunter angle - will have less paring ability than 25-35 deg.

 

 

Good post Rhob - nice to see some theory applied.