Carbide Chainsaw Chain

Anyone use those carbide tooth chainsaw chains? They are a lot more expensive than regular chains worth the cost?

I run them on the smaller saw and will not use anything else. Cutting cedar trees they last 3-4 times as long. You do have to keep plenty of lube on them or they overheat and stretch. They can be resharpened one time

we use them in fire dept--great for ventilating a structure

Well worth the cost. I use nothing but

Thanks for asking the question.....I've wondered the same thing. Waiting for the replies. I welded carbide rods on my bush hog yrs. ago & it has held up great.

We have one on our fire dept vent saw, but swap the bar and chain when clearing downed trees.
A good sharp standard chain cuts faster and the carbide chain cost to much.

Carbide rods on brushing, never heard of this thought they would shatter on the first rock hit

Read everyone else. Yes they are VERY hard and do really work. They are also very hard to sharpen. The regular stone a saw shop has will get chewed up. Think you need a diamond wheel. Rescue saws for fire department use they will rip right through a roof. Personally I would stick with a high quality chisel chain.

Not sure what you are cutting that requires it, and the expense. One example would be hedge row or fence line trees that have been long established. What is it that you are cutting that needs this kind of chain ?

I've used Stihl RS (Yellow) chain for many years for dead and dried out hardwood, and or softer wood. It performs quite well and it's not often I need to send these to the saw shop, even if I hit a nail, or rock. I've hand filed for years and lately use the hand tool that Stihl now offers that does both the depth gauge and the cutter. From my perspective, it's those darned depth gauges that need to be a the correct height that makes all the difference. When cutting silver maple, the chains I sharpen throw some larger chips, ribbons and the saw pulls into the cut like it should. Loren (ACG) had posted about one of these tools, so I tried one and it's handier than my clamp on file guide, which is very accurate but leaves you to do the depth gauges. All you need is a steady hand and good eye to keep the hand tool orientated correctly, it works and works well. You can effectively field sharpen a chain in 10 minutes. I'm not one for gimmicks either, this tool works well. I do have an older Stihl chain grinder, have not needed to use it in awhile.

Also the cost here for my chain is $56 for carbide. And $35 for regular. I can cut about 2 years of wood on 1 chain 12-15 cords. Oak, maple, poplar some dry some wet. I can burn up 2 regular chains in the same time as 1 carbide. I have never got it resharpened as they charge almost the same as new.

(quoted from post at 11:09:31 11/25/19) Anyone use those carbide tooth chainsaw chains? They are a lot more expensive than regular chains worth the cost?

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Unless you have a specific need because of very dirty, stone carrying wood, I'd stick with the standard chain. Co-worker bought a loop thinking he'd never have to sharpen it. Nope, first rock he hit took out several teeth. Had to have it ground at the shop on a diamond wheel for half the cost of the very expensive chain. For fire/rescue work on nails and roofing it makes sense, otherwise it's a specialty chain for special cases.

I wouldn't pay the price. All blades stretch out to where you need to remove a link but I toss them when they get to that point. By then there is enough wear on the drive link it doesn't track well and probably does more damage to the bar than it's worth.

lots of opinions pro and con tempted to try one just to see.I don't run my chains in rocks or dirt,keep the tension on the chain right etc.I hate to sharpen chains so for $50
it'd be worth trying maybe.

(quoted from post at 22:18:04 11/25/19) I wouldn't pay the price. All blades stretch out to where you need to remove a link but I toss them when they get to that point. By then there is enough wear on the drive link it doesn't track well and probably does more damage to the bar than it's worth.

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A chainsaw doesn't have a "blade", it has a bar and a chain. In 40 some years of using and wrenching on chainsaws, I've yet to see a chainsaw bar (blade?) stretch. As far as a chainsaw chain goes, I have yet to see a properly sized chain stretch to the point a link needs to be removed. If you are actually stretching your chains that far, you need to take some tension off and work on your oiler.

In 50 years of running saws, I have never had to remove a link or have a chain stretch to where it was unusable. I throw my chains away when there isn't enough tooth left to sharpen. Before I got natural gas, I was cutting and burning 10 to 12 full cord a year for heat.