Tungsten Carbide Tipped Chain.

[Dean Lofthouse]

There's a lot of different grades of Tungsten, you will not get tungsten sharp unless it is a micrograin tungsten

 

Course grain under a micro scope is a jagged chipped edge when sharpened, micro grain obviously less jaggy

[theyeti]

The stihl chain is RDR Chain but good luck buying it in the UK. Its only available to the Fire Service according to my local dealer

[Al Smith]

Carbide is costly no matter where you buy it.It's a lot slower also than standard chain and needs machine sharpened .

 

The average decent filer can file sharpen a 20" loop in less than 10 minutes .I can do one in about 5 .A majority of us on this side of the pond use either round filed chisel chain or square ground. Mostly the western states on the later for the large soft wood trees .

 

The best thing you can use for stumping is old fashion chipper chain but I don't know if it can be found on that side of the Atlantic .Second best would be semi chisel .

 

Do as you wish on the carbide but the general opinion is it's best left for rescue work and not timber cutting .

[desired_affect]

do chainsaw trousers offer the same protection against these types of chain???? will it cut the Kevlar stopping the sprocket from jamming??

[Mesterh]

do chainsaw trousers offer the same protection against these types of chain???? will it cut the Kevlar stopping the sprocket from jamming??

 

I would imagine it should be the same since it doesnt state that you should use anything different other than standard chainsaw pants.

 

Plus TC isnt usually as sharp as the steel chains so I cant see it cutting the ballistic material any better.Which even if it did it shouldnt matter anyway.

[big fell!]

I'd read all the forums and debated with other members the pros and cons but still I had to try some myself! Spent around £400-00 on rapco tungsten tipped chains for both milling and cross cutting. Got them in a range of different hardnesses so I could put an end to the debate in my head 'is there any place for carbide on a chainsaw'.

 

The answer was an emphatic no!

 

If you hit a stone or a nail you have pretty much written off the chain. They still wear (but perhaps slower than normal chain), you can sharpen with a dremel style tool and diamond file, but it is a physical impossibility to get it as sharp as a steel chain. They cost 5 times as much as a normal chain.

 

I'd even question using them for stump work and gritty wood as you would still have a chance of hitting a larger stone and writing the whole thing off and/or I found they still needed regular sharpening.

 

Better options are Oregon multicut chain (used this a lot but very hard to tell if it lasts longer than normal steel chain... still needs regular sharpening) which has thicker industrial chrome top plate and also Baileys diamonised chain (which I'll be trying next week and selling if the results are good) which is impregnated with tungsten carbide chips.

 

Don't waste your money buying (or your time thinking) about dedicated carbide chains IMO there is no place for them for 99.99% everyday hand held treework!

 

Im with you on this Rob... Used them a few times and i dont rate them... Excellent for the Emergency servies though.

[alistairmagee]

the threads and info is great to hear, does any one have any experience on cuting up heavy sleepers and such like?

I have a job to quote for a civil defence contrtactor who wants 100 or so 1 ft square posts cut off 2ft below sand level on a beach... does any one have any ideas?

I thought about using a big stump grinder instead?

 

would appreciate some feed back, thanks. Alistair Magee 07886028830

[pike]

Weve sold quite a few of these,the feedback im getting,is good on cleanish timber,but hit anything nails etc,and your chain is wrecked

[wisewood]

the threads and info is great to hear, does any one have any experience on cuting up heavy sleepers and such like?

I have a job to quote for a civil defence contrtactor who wants 100 or so 1 ft square posts cut off 2ft below sand level on a beach... does any one have any ideas?

I thought about using a big stump grinder instead?

 

would appreciate some feed back, thanks. Alistair Magee 07886028830

 

Hi Alistair,

Sorry for the derail everyone.

Would you be able to get a jcb or crane out there and see if you can pull them straight out. I realise suction would be an issue.

Where is it and what is their fate once removed? Sounds like a lot of usable wood going for grabs.

[wisewood]

Recently seen this chain in person, the guy using it is a wooden bridge engineer/builder. He really rates it as he is always cutting very dense tropical hardwoods. The main sections on the site I was on were from a wood called "ecki" not sure on spelling.

He said normal chain will blunt in minutes, as said earlier they can be sharpened with the green grit wheels.

He's hit the odd nail and lost a couple of cutters but just had them removed and replaced instead of buying a new loop.