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Carbide Chainsaw Blade

Started by Victor, April 23, 2008, 10:12:15 PM

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Victor

I ordered a RAPCO carbide chainsaw blade with chisel tooth profile today for my Husqvarna 359. I will use it to cut firewood. Is this going to save me a lot of time?
Will it cut as fast? Any other comments? Thanks.

Victor

Danny Dimm

How are you going to sharpen it?

Dale Hatfield

I believe that it will cut slower. Pending at what tooth profile and thickness of carbide. it will have more metal to pull through the wood.
I have a few carbide coated chains that i use in gritty conditions on the landing. They are slower than a non carbide chain. They are a semi chisel cutter. For whatever reason the style that i have wont bore cut at all.
Dale
Game Of Logging trainer,  College instructor of logging/Tree Care
Chainsaw Carver

sawguy21

I have found the carbide tipped to be slower in wood, it is designed for rescue saws. Can buy a lot of regular chain for the price of the stuff.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

bandmiller2

Hi guys just stepped over from the sawmill section.Those rapco carbide tipped chains are close to worthless for wood ,very slow.As stated their for rescue work and are almost a disposible for that purpose.I'am the mechanic for a fair sized fire dept. and have handled alot of them.In fact one of our saws I put regular chain in place of the carbide and considered it desposible it cut faster and even ripped through nails and shingles better than carbide.What I'am saying they taint no silver bullet. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

Victor

RAPCO sells three different profiles of carbide chain: chisel, chamfer and 'The Terminator' which is used for Fire Dept. rescue. I ordered the chisel profile since I will be cutting up fire wood. From looking at the pictures of the profiles, I think that if you tried to cut fire wood with the fire rescue profile it would be slow going.

If you have two chains with the exact same profile and one is made of steel and the other is made of solid carbide, it stands to reason that the speed at which they cut will be the same. However, the carbide blade should last longer between sharpenings since it is harder, right?

Victor

timberfaller390

I echo bandmillers comment. As I said in zackman's thread about uinvent saws my department uses johnny saws branded as cutters edge with carbide chains they are good for cutting through shingles and the like but I tried to fell a 6" DBH tree on a car wreck one night and had to get the Husky with the chisel chain off the truck to finish the job.
L.M. Reese Co. Land Management Contractors
Stihl MS390
John Deere 50G excavator
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Greg

What were hoping to accomplish by going to the carbide tipped chain to cut firewood?

These chains are designed for specialty use, not general purpose, I believe.

I had considered these awhile back to do some chainsaw resawing of some very old, very hard oak and beech beams.

Pricetag was pretty steep, like 3x the cost of even a normal chain.

Still wondering if this is worth bothering with, thinking I might be better going through the chains and just plan on doing alot of resharpening... Look forward to more responses.

Greg

mike_van

Victor, you'll have to let us know how you make out - There are different grades of carbide, some will take a real sharp edge like on a router bit or tablesaw blade,  and some will stand up to granite on a rock drill. But, the kind that takes the sharp edge won't stand up to dirt or rocks.  There has to be a trade off somewhere, if you get a chain that'll cut 10 cord of 24" wood without sharpening, it's going to cut slower than a HSS one.  I don't think you'll get that razor edge on the carbide chain tooth that you do on a HSS chain.  And, like someone said, you'll need a diamond grit wheel on a bench mounted grinder to sharpen it. The wheel is over 100.00, last I knew.
I was the smartest 16 year old I ever knew.

Victor

Mike_Van,

RAPCO shipped my chain today. They emailed me a UPS tracking number and it looks like I will receive it on April 30, 2008. I am looking forward to trying it.

The timber I have is very clean and stacked on an asphalt parking lot. I want to be able to buck continuosly without having to sharpen every 20 minutes like I do now. That is why I ordered the carbide chain. It cost $162.00 plus shipping so it better be an improvement.

Again, this is a full chisel tooth chain designed to cut wood and not the Fire Dept. rescue chain that others here have used and didn't like. Google 'Rapco Industries' for more info.

After I receive the new chain and have had a chance to use it I will post my results. In the meantime please keep the comments coming.

Victor

scsmith42

Victor, I've had one of those chains for several years.  Here are my findings:

1 - you can go about 10 times longer between sharpenings.
2 - it does not cut as fast as a good skip tooth chisel steel chain - probably 25% - 33% slower.
3 - you will lose some of the carbide teeth over time, especially if you it a rock, nail, etc.  They are not easily replaced.
4 - the chains will stretch significantly before the carbide wears out; you will probably need to remove some links over time.
5 - It requires special equipment to sharpen, and it usually costs more to have sharpened.

I only purchased the one chain several years ago - all subsequent chains have been steel.

Hope this helps.

Scott
Peterson 10" WPF with 65' of track
Smith - Gallagher dedicated slabber
Tom's 3638D Baker band mill
and a mix of log handling heavy equipment.

cuttingman423

i bought a carbide chain for 110.00 $ and the same guy only charges 5.00 a carbide tip to be replaced  my firewood business partner talked me into it for cutting hard woods like oak and such  and so far i havent  even used it .... i   was also told you cant cut from the bottom of a log only down from the top  not sure if this is true so if anyone with more knowledge could give me a  answer to that i'd appreciate it.   

Danny Dimm

If you can file really good, and have a good feel with a saw, you can cut around the inside of the bark without breaking through. Takes a lot of experience. I really don't think carbide is the answer.

bandmiller2

Vic didn't mean to come down too hard on your carbide.It has its uses,I wish it was eversharp.I ,now are using some of the chain with the sprayon carbide coating can't see any real advantage over regular chain.If you can solder on teeth or can find someone to do it reasonable well and good they get broken with regularity.Rescue chain they told us more than five teeth missing get a new chain.Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

brazesaw

I work with a lot of different types of carbide knives, The carbide cutting surfaces used on carbide chainsaw chains are not designed for superior sharpness, but for durability. Carbide is an incredibly hard and durable material that is better suited for longevity. But if you can find carbide with 10% cobalt or better to modify the carbide, you can start to make the carbide hold its edge a lot better.
Standard chainsaw teeth are designed for cutting green or felled timber. I think carbide is a superior cutting tool but needs more research to modify the edge holding ability. It can be done?

                 Your thoughts are welcome
sharper saw teeth cut better

Al_Smith

All carbide is not created equal for sure .

As has been already stated the fact that carbide chains are  built for a specific usage and that generally speaking is for use on rescue saws or in rare cases a special concrete saw .

The types used for machining metal for example come in several grades,C2,C5 etc .The type cutting faces they use are entirely different than high speed steel . Even carbide tipped tablesaw blades use a different cutting geometry than  regular steel blades .

Much ado has been discussed about the usage of carbide on chainsaw "blades " which by the way is properly called a chain .The general conclussion is it would be much better for the saw user to learn to file a regular old chain than waste ones money buying a carbide version of same .

nhlogga

don't waste your money. they don't cut as fast and you can't sharpen them unless you have a machine to do it or send them to someone to sharpen them. i tried the carlton inject a sharp chains and was not impressed. the inject a sharp chains are less expensive than full carbide chains but still won't buy them again.
Jonsered 2260
Husky 562xp

brazesaw

Yes a good high speed steel chainsaw teeth will sharpen to a razors edge and cost less, A good HSS will have a small amount of tungsten, chrome,& moly, in the steel.
sharper saw teeth cut better

olyman

i hear the comments. and i say this, i was trying to cut used railroad ties. with a regular chainsaw chain. carlton. took about one hit on those,DULL. so, i bought a 10 inch milwaukee circular saw, and bought some carbide 30 tooth blades for it. i can cut those railroad ties now. sure they do dull. but a guy i know resharpens them for 8.00 a blade. no contest for me----------i cut about 8 or 9 ties till need resharpen. thats five cuts per tie, on both sides.

brazesaw

Nice, you must have a lot of power in that saw.
sharper saw teeth cut better

beenthere

What may I ask are you cutting railroad ties into?  ::) ::)
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Al_Smith

Say,on those ties you need good old fashion chipper chain . I'm not talking semi chisel but the real McCoy round nosed chipper like was used 30 years ago .

That stuff will take the abuse .Of course it won't cut nails or rocks but it will go through those creosote soaked oak ties .

Kind of odd with ties .Even a 30 year old soaked sleeper smells just like red oak when you are pulling chips from it .

olyman

problem is al, those dang ties have lots of the rocks used on the bed in them. i have some of the chain you speak of. stillllllll doesnt work!! decorative use, and heat-

brazesaw

Maybe a build up of tar on the chainsaw teeth prevented the saw from cutting through those railroad ties ?
When i seen railroad ties , they always look black like coated in tar.

And second thought , the cutting pitch on the circular saw maybe better for that job,

Because I think that carbide chainsaw should of flew right through those ties?

Or the wood could be to hard and dry for a chainsaw????? smiley_whacko
sharper saw teeth cut better

Al_Smith

Creosote soaked oak isn't hard like a rock or anything .

I know what he's talking about with regards to the rocks which would be regional .

Around here they use #4 balite which is hard as granite limestone for ballast .It won't powder up and break like soft stone and as such normally the ties are clean of imbeded rock shards .

Actually I've cut quit a few ties and it does dull the chains but not like some people experiance . Danged creosote gets in your eyes though ,yuck .

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