semi or full chisel in tropical hardwood

[Cruiser_79]

What will be better for felling and bucking tropical hardwood like Basralocus, Greenheart, Mandioqueira etc. , full or semi chisel?
Density of these species exceeds 1100 kg/m3, so it is quite hard and tough. The logs are all fresh sawn, when older and dryer it's getting even harder and more abrasive.
Personally I prefer full chisel, but most wood we saw here is softwood. Not much experience in the tropical hardwoods unfortunately, not yet...

[mredden]

My only experience with wood near this hardness category is live oak.

semi needs less frequent sharpening. Thus, if I'm cutting big live oak trunks with a long chain, I prefer semi. If I'm cutting with a 24 inch chain on clean live oak limbs I will use the better cutting full chisel. Unfortunately, the limbs are frequently covered with nasty, fern/dirt - which dulls the full chisel faster than the hardness.

So, basically I use semichisel on liveoak because it requires less frequent sharpening. Your woods might not be as nasty as live oak limbs so I might use full chisel on smaller chains.

But I am no where near the most experienced cutter on this board.

[nativewolf]

What will be better for felling and bucking tropical hardwood like Basralocus, Greenheart, Mandioqueira etc. , full or semi chisel?
Density of these species exceeds 1100 kg/m3, so it is quite hard and tough. The logs are all fresh sawn, when older and dryer it's getting even harder and more abrasive.
Personally I prefer full chisel, but most wood we saw here is softwood. Not much experience in the tropical hardwoods unfortunately, not yet...

I don't think you will not want full chisel in hardwoods.  In fact..the other way around.  However, some of the real chain sharpening guys may weigh in here.

[lxskllr]

I believe @teakwood uses semichisel for everything on the teak plantations he manages. I use semichisel for pretty much everything too, but that's because much of the stuff I end up cutting is filthy.

[ladylake]

 I don't even buy full chisel any more.  Steve

[teakwood]

definitively semi chisel for tropical hard wood, i have tried full chisel and don't even bother anymore.


another tip you already mentioned: the greener the wood the better! 

[Cruiser_79]

Okay then I have to order Some other chains. Bought new chainsaws for that project in south america and didn't think about other chains than full chisel. But last week I was there and checked the logs laying near the roads and realized that it is incredible hard! 

[barbender]

I like semi-chisel. I have a bad habit of touching the ground with the chain, so...😊

[lxskllr]

Full chisel chain has an almost cult like following, at least on the internet. If you're lucky enough to solely cut pristine wood, the added performance might be worth it, but I think most people not in logging would be better served using semichisel chain. Even my mostly clean black oak I took apart put a hurting on the full chisel chain I used. Theoretical gains don't always stand up to real world conditions. If I get the right opportunity, I might run a comparison between them, and see how it shakes out. For now though, I'll use semichisel as my default chain.

[Air Lad]

Semi..Especially if dirty

[teakwood]

also lots of tropical wood that are special abrasive on tools, including saw chains.

[HolmenTree]

I'll see if I can find the article. I remember reading a chainsaw age magazine dated around about 1973 when Oregon introduced the 72 LP chisel chain.
They were showing how tough the chain cut in sand, even some concrete at dusk time of the day with sparks flying.

[longtime lurker]

Two kinds of tropical hardwood: stuff thats full of silica, and stuff thats not.

If it's all loaded with silica you might want to look at running tungsten chain. It cuts slower which can be a complicating factor in a mixed forest with higher value timbers that you want to chase to the ground with the saw to help reduce butt splitting, but if its mostly silica laden species it will hold up longer.  Problem being theres no sharpening it in the bush with a file, so you need to carry enough extra chains to get you through the day.
I personally won't use it because around here at least I'll get a couple silica laden species but the bulk isn't.

I run .404 semi, 35° top plate angle and 10° down: 404 stands up better in denser species: holds an edge longer, doesnt stretch as much. Sadly there's not a lot of saws left that can really swing it in the harder stuff but with a bit of thought about bar length to sprocket teeth you can get by... you need torque more than chain speed in bigger hard logs. 
Some guys around here will run skip tooth on bars over about the 32" mark, me I just see-saw so I rarely have the full bar engaged: both work