Nails and TC chains

[Arob]

Just wondering how you chaps deal with nails, we found some late on, on Friday night, put an old chain on but it was destroyed, probably needed an angle grinder looking at all the sparks.

Talking about it again today has made me wonder whether tungsten carbide chains would do any better. I've never even seen one, let alone used one, and know very little about them, other than they cost twice as much as an ordinary chain.

 

So how do you deal with nails and have you, or do you, use tc chains?

 

Thanks.

[educated arborist]

i take it you havent looked at the price of them? a friend of mine uses them in the construction industry £500 + Vat per chain allthough i don't know what length that'll b. the saws they use have been specially modified but, as he understands it this is extra air filtration due to the concrete/stone dust etc, it also has a mist sprayer thinger to help keep the dust down. Cut around it then get them trusty spliting wedges out is my best advice

[Arob]

As I said, I have looked at the price of them. I don't know what your friend is referring to but I mean a tc chain for a standard chainsaw for cutting contaminated wood, they're not as expensive as you suggest - its what stihl put on the rescue saws - i don't think they're designed to cut the kind of stuff it seems your friend is cutting.

[skyhuck]

The TC chains I've seen would be no use for nails, all the teeth would just ripped off.

 

They are for dirty wood, contaminated with grit or mud, after winching etc.

 

This is how I avoid hitting nails

[Arob]

Thanks Huck, looks like an expensive job!

Have you ever used a tc chain? Was wondering how you sharpen them - do you need a special type of file?

[Chris Sheppard]

we had one at Birdsall for crosscutting with (everything was skidded out) and we had to use a bench grinder to sharpen it. Don't know if it had to have special discs or not - sure someone else will know though

[Dean Lofthouse]

You have to use a specail green grit disc or diamond disc to sharpen

[arbaholic]

I use a normal chain and if you hit any metal then cut somewhere else close to it, as long as you dont gaff the saw hard into the nail for too long you can sharpen out any damage done fairly quickly

 

Also if you hit a nail carve a little x across the cut as its so easy to stick the saw back in there and do the same thing again!

[mixedangased]

i take it you havent looked at the price of them? a friend of mine uses them in the construction industry £500 + Vat per chain allthough i don't know what length that'll b. the saws they use have been specially modified but, as he understands it this is extra air filtration due to the concrete/stone dust etc, it also has a mist sprayer thinger to help keep the dust down. Cut around it then get them trusty spliting wedges out is my best advice

 

think you might be getting confused with the diamond tipped saw chain they use for cutting concrete and stone,not the tc for frozen wood etc

[Mesterh]

I would rather hit a nail buried in a tree than a piece of stone any day!

 

Never used a tc chain but as others have said I think the tc would just shatter when hitting steel, you can buy diamond files to sharpen them with iirc although I wouldnt want to sharpen one by hand.

 

Theres not an awfull lot you can do (but someone please correct me if there is!) apart from trying to cut it into big chunks ie dont ring it up into ting slices then cut the slabs into 4's 6's etc lets you have a little bit of a better look inside the wood for staining caused by the nails.

 

Can turn a nice job into a nightmare, oh and have plenty of old chains handy.