Full vs Skip chain

[rbtree]

Have you tried Madsen's? Last roll I got on sale was $209 and $15 shipping. Reg price was $249-$279 depending. http://www.madsens1.com/

Cool. A tad better than Bailey's. I missed getting some chain during their annual end of year sale. When I next drive south, I'll pick up what I'm low on, which is a reel of square full skip 3/8th, Stihl of course. Might have to break down and get a couple loops of .404 for the 42" 3120 bar. Don't use it very often. I have a newish loop for the 60" bar, which will come in handy for the 7 foot butt cut on a big western red cedar we're doing soon.

 

[Climbinfool.]

Chisel, full comp on all my saws except one moded 026 with a semi. and my 020.

 

[Burnham]

Beefy? Not our friend Greg. He's a big package in a little box.

 

[Tucker943]

A ported 346 would probably make me faint. Those little buggers never grow old in my hands. I can't imagine one that's been turned up.

 

[Climbinfool.]

Laughing ....Roger, you know me... Tree House Project ?

 

[rbtree]

Above ground I'll go from a 200t to the 361 with a 25" bar

Well, you do look kinda beefy. Note I did not say beefcake.....I don't swing dat way...har.

But, even though I'se a li'l wimp, I simply love my 346 with 18" bar....ported of course. It's the bee's knees for speed and alacrity (maybe agility is the right woid, but that one sounded sexy)

 

[rbtree]

Beefy? Not our friend Greg. He's a big package in a little box.

Oopsie...deleted/redid my post with quoted squishie (looks more like squasher!)

Yep, Greg's, you'se a little feller...faller even...but yer legs still reach the ground...or 40 feet out on that 48 foot redwood limb, as my non digital slide images prove.......

 

[rbtree]

A ported 346 would probably make me faint. Those little buggers never grow old in my hands. I can't imagine one that's been turned up.

I've had three, but the latest, the 50 cc version, was done by Tree-sling'r, out of northern Cali. It is a marvel. I may have him do another, and fit it with a 24" bar, as it would skip nary a beat and the added length would mean less double cutting aloft. It's prolly putting out a bit over 5 horsepower, so why would I want the new, heavier 562 at 4.7 hp, which admittedly is a great saw if it can prove to be reliable. However, I'll reserve judgment till I hear how it responds to wood porting. Not sure I'd ever spend a total of about $1000 to get one including porting.

 

[Al Smith]

Far far better. Try Bailey's at 259 to 279.....

That's high to me, as I've usually paid $200-220 for Stihl chain, from Madsen's. Prices are up, I've noted.

Prices are up on every brand of chain .I too need a 123 DL .404 for a 42" 084 mount .It wasn't that long ago it was 23 cents now it's 42 cents per drive link .--Baileys Oregon 68LX .

 

[stig]

I'm not getting this discussion at all.

Probably because I'm a wimpy short bar euro faller.


Why even consider running anything but full comp on a 20" bar?
Unless of course you are running said bar on a 30cc saw.

I wouldn't put a 20" bar on anything less than a 60cc saw, and they are plenty strong enough to pull a full comp chain, even in hardwood.

They run smoother, have less kickback possibility and IMO cut way faster than skip.

 

[brendonv]

Lazy, Stig. I just can't stand sharpening anything over 20" with full. And me being the guy who doesn't like things sitting on the shelf, I am curious to see how it would perform on a 20" so I can eliminate having two rolls of chain hanging around.

The smallest saw I run would be a 361 with a 20". 460 with a 20", 460 with a 25", and a 660 with whatever it decides.

200t's get 14" lightweights

 

[Al Smith]

As I've said before even on 36" bars I see very little diff between full and skip .This is in hardwoods though which chip fairly easy also on 100 plus size saws too .

Now I've had skip on a 32" which I managed to hit metal with the last go around .When I get around to it that stuff will be replaced with full comp. Although rare for a plunge cut it's damned near impossible with that thing bouncing hither and yon .

As far as filing it takes 5 minutes on a 20" loop and maybe 15 on a 36" .So what unless you're a feller how often does one file a 36" in the first place ?

 

[HolmenTree]

Well I guess I'll have to dig up and post these old pics of my 090 Stihl -60 incher with Stihl full comp .404 harvestor semi chisel chain. Best setup to hold an edge in these 54" diameter kraft paper rolls.

5 minutes to quickly touch up this chain back to a good edge with the 7/32 file.
Anyone who says full skip takes half as long to file over full comp is full of B.S. or they don't know what their talking about.

 

[stig]

I don't get that either.

On a bad day I file maybe 10 times, most days when the ground is frozen I'll have to touch up the edge twice.

On my 18" chain a touchup takes 2 minutes at most on the 24" a little longer.

Of course, the chain is severely rocked and case hardened by the snow, it is another story, but how often does that happen to a pro?

Twice or 3 times a week in peak season, maybe.

Since most poeople don't run their saws 2000 hrs a year like I do, I think the time saved by switching to semi or full skip is negligible.


BTW, regarding sharpening.

When I get a new apprentice, I show them a calculation of the price of an 18" chain ( imported from the US, or it won't work) and an hourly wage for a timberfaller ( not that we get paid by the hour, I'll die before I'll be falling at a fixed houly rate!)

That calculation shows that if they spend more than 15 minutes on sharpening, it is cheaper to toss the chain and mount a fresh one.

Then I procede to my how to freshen up an 18" chain in 30 seconds showoff.

One stroke per cutter and the saw set up in a Scandinavian filing stand, and that is all it takes.

Combined with the message they get when they start, that we won't tolerate a saw that doesn't cut optimally being run, means that a couple of months into their first logging season, they can and do sharpen like pros!

 

[Al Smith]

Well a couple of things .Nobody can tell me a feller makes more cuts per day than a tree man .I just won't buy that .In addition as a rule most open woods cutting is on clean green wood not old dead nasty hard as rock standing dead the trimmers have to deal with .

They get into some nasty stuff now .Rocks ,wire insulators ,nails ,dirt all kinds of surprises .

Now yes you can probabley do a 2 minute tickle on a short chain but most take about 5 minutes on a standard 36 cutter 20" loop .I suppose if a guy were real good you could file one in each hand .Guys like me though can't even pee left handed without hitting their shoe so I'm out of the loop on that one .

 

[HolmenTree]

Fallers in most parts spend the most time limbing and topping their felled timber. Alot of little and big cuts over a large piece of ground.

Alot of arborist cuts are on one tree every few hours or so, most times might be only one tree a day. Cutting rhythm and momentum is never usually achieved.

 

[wiley_p]

Well a couple of things .Nobody can tell me a feller makes more cuts per day than a tree man .I just won't buy that .l:

Al you come out West, I'll take you out and watch a strip getting worked. A Faller makes more cuts in and hour than most tree guys do all day. It is only on occasion that a treeguy goes thru two gallons of saw gas in 6 hours, with one saw.

 

[Al Smith]

I can't argue that because most trimmers aloft are running smaller saws like 200T's .

Okay out yonder on the ocean the sun sets on it's different .Here abouts it's a fall cut two maybe three logs .Maybe one above the crotch if it's a big one .The tops just lay where they fall .

A trimmer is dissecting that thing two feet at a time from the top down as a rule .Big azzed oak it could take all day .Now granted they normally don't go through two gallons a day but on a big one they can easily do that .Ha I suck down three gallons if I'm bucking with one of the big Macs .Then again it takes me two days to recover from such punishment too .

 

[Al Smith]

I got to thinking about the amount of limbing the west coasters must do .In boom times of house building or a "natural disaster " such as a hurricane ,lumber prices goes up and the quality goes down .

When you get a 2 by 4 with bark on all 4 corners you know they aren't wasting any of it . That I can maybe understand .I just don't understand why they seem to want to ship it all to Ohio .

 

[stig]

Sorry, Al, but you were way offline with that comment.
Come on over and visit, and I'll take you to the woods and show you just how many hours we put on the saws every day.
I'd say about 6½ hrs of straight cutting, every day in logging season.

Now show me an urban treeguy who can match that.

 

[squisher]

Well, you do look kinda beefy. Note I did not say beefcake.....I don't swing dat way...har.

But, even though I'se a li'l wimp, I simply love my 346 with 18" bar....ported of course. It's the bee's knees for speed and alacrity (maybe agility is the right woid, but that one sounded sexy)

Well I run a 16" bar on my 200's so moving to a 18" would be a waste I think. Maybe I'll try a shorter bar on the 361 when I next need one.

As for the beefy comment, yah I've never been described as skinny.

 

[squisher]

That's part of why I do urban treework for the most part now. Urban treework is way less cutting.

 

[stig]

As for the beefy comment, yah I've never been described as skinny.

Hey, fat boy.

When do we get to see some more pictures of your little scrawny Paris Hilton type doggies, please?

I miss keeping up on those two.

 

[brendonv]

I make as little cuts as possible. Outsiders think running a chainsaw is "cool". Ha!

 

[Al Smith]

Sorry, Al, but you were way offline with that comment.
Come on over and visit, and I'll take you to the woods and show you just how many hours we put on the saws every day.
I'd say about 6½ hrs of straight cutting, every day in logging season.

Now show me an urban treeguy who can match that.

Well again a difference of opinion prevails .Although I don't do it for a living like many here I have spent a good 6 plus hours bucking big trees into firewood size on take downs on more than one occasion .

To add more to this bone of contention in my youth or rather when I wore a younger mans clothes I could easily burn up 2 gallons of fuel in a days time with a 60 cc saw .Cutting firewood no less ,16" long stuff .Now that isn't sitting on your butt watching the birds fly .I mean one tank right after another .Now disect a tree into 16" pieces and just tell me that's not a lot of cuts .Do that for 6-7 hours and then tell me how you slave away .