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Chain saw baldes

3

37chief

Well-known Member
Location
California
Do any of the saw brands make a chain for extra hard wood? I am cutting dry eucalyptus wood. It's about the best wood we have to burn around here in S. Calif. It's very hard when dried. Since I waited so long to get wood, all I find now is dry wood, and it's all cut in longer lengths, than will not fit in my stove. So I end up cutting it again. Unless you're from Australia, I doubt many have these trees back east. Stan
 
Hello 37chief,

Other then a sharp tooth and a properly set rake, all you can do now is cut a bit slower, and lots of oil,

Guido.
 
All you need is a chain with properly filed cutters and rakers cut down to proper height. I prefer less than standard 30* angle on the cutters and use full chisel chains.------------------------------Loren
 
Search for "carbide chainsaw chain" on epay or amezon. They last much better for cutting very hard dry wood. Keep it oiled plenty or it will stretch. They do cost more.
 
I believe there are carbide saw chains but they are very expensive. Other wise Adirondack Case guy gave you good advice. The full chisel chain is way better than the standard low kickback chains that come new on most small to midsize saws. Keep it sharp and give it plenty of oil. We don?t have eucalyptus trees here but we do have ironwood which is very hard to cut if dead and dried out when you cut it. Locust wood is another tough one when dry.
 
No we do not have eucalyptus but we do have Oak, red or white. If the oak is dried you drill it before you can drive nails, it will cut but it dulls the chain. Creosote treat wood is another chain or circular blade dulling wood.
When I built the boat I used iron wood for the windshield frame. I ended up using an sander to shape it, could finish a cut, Why did I use that? because of it's resistance to rot and it's strength. I didn't want the windshield to crack.
 
Stan, ACG what he said + I use Stihl yellow chain, and have ran other brands, I like this chain the best in the conditions you describe. I cut a lot of dead wood, not so much live wood, elm especially the tops are dry and very hard. This chain when new and or with properly sharpened cutters and depth gauge height, will last a good long while. I have used these until finally dulled by wood, not hitting metal, soil, rock etc.
 
I've used alot of different chains over the years and have found the sharpest tooth and longest lasting chain is a Stihl full chisel. I use the yellow no anti kickback chain. I use as is out of the box and resharpen once or twice then take the rakers down some extra. It cuts faster and pulls bigger chips.
 
I burn mostly osage orange ("hedge" here in Kansas) which is pretty hard when dry. I've always had good service from the standard Stihl yellow-tagged chain. I typically can go several hours between touch-ups with the file. If the logs have been laying in the dirt it of course makes life much more difficult for the chain.
 
I tried to burn some eucalyptus once in a fireplace with a gas lighter.

It would burn as long as the gas lighter was lit, and when you turned the lighter off the fire would go out. I gave up on it.
 
Sounds about like dry Black Locust or osage Orange,a whole lot tougher than any OAK or Hickory.I use full chisel Carlton chains do pretty good.I'm going to try
a Carbide tipped chain by Plasmadyn,cost about $60 for a 66 drive tooth chain.
 
(quoted from post at 16:22:17 12/04/19) We don?t have eucalyptus trees here but we do have ironwood which is very hard to cut if dead and dried out when you cut it.
Click to expand...

Ironwood isn't actually a species of tree. Rather, it's the hardest wood for any given area.
 

What type chains are you running? If you use a 3/8 pitch low or anti-kick back chain it will be less aggressive than regular skip tooth chains, like the Stihl yellow the fellows are using. The type of cutter will make a difference. Low profile, round cutter, semi-chisel and full chisel will all cut different, full chisel is most aggressive of these. like many here, I run a standard full chisel chain (Stihl yellow).
 
You are correct. I looked it up and WOW there are a lot of
trees around the world known as ironwood. The correct name
for what we upstate New Yorkers call ironwood is hop
hornbeam. I have also heard it called muscle wood.
 
Iron Wood IS a Species of trees. They are an understory tree with oval leaves shaped
like birch and beach trees. The bark is thin and scaley. The center core is dark in
color and has a very thin cambium layer. They tend to branch out at low levels and
don't age well. It is rare to see one over 30' tall and over a foot in diameter.------
----------Loren
 
I run semi-chisel full 3/8. Chipper is hard to find in my area. I sharpen my own on Oregon grinder. Keep eye on depth gauges,make big pile of chips. Have dirt filled Mesquite for most of the wood I burn.
 
I also use stihl oilamatic yellow chain. Here?s an example.
cvphoto43714.jpg


cvphoto43715.jpg

I know I spelled Shindaiwa! Lol
 
We use chainsaws here in drought fodder provision using mulga
We use chainsaws as one means of utilising mulga for drought fodder

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-09-15/how-cattle-farmers-survive-world-s-worst-drought

It is a very hard and dirty timber. The terrmites have to carry fang files for about the first 100 years. The chain recommended to me by then our local dealer was Oregon Microchisel, which seems to work. I can use it down to the angle mark on the teeth - the Stihl equivalent is shedding teeth before that.
 
Many years ago we had several very long dead black walnut trees and branches come down the stream. What an incredible mess. My dad and me finnaly got chains on the mess and dragged them up to the shop one at a time. Used chisel chain but needed to dribble a garden hose into the kerf the whole time. One big sloppy mess but was the only way to cut the stuff. Would just burn a chain up if you tried cutting regular ways. Stuff was rock hard.
 
(quoted from post at 01:27:10 12/05/19) You are correct. I looked it up and WOW there are a lot of
trees around the world known as ironwood. The correct name
for what we upstate New Yorkers call ironwood is hop
hornbeam. I have also heard it called muscle wood.
Click to expand...

___________________________________________________

There is a difference between hop hornbeam (ironwood) and American hornbeam (musclewood).

Hop Hornbean is the real ironwood; it's blossoms look almost identical to those of hops.

Hornbean has smooth gray bark that is twisted like muscle and is often called musclewood. It is also sometimes called blue beech or swamp beech. Having said that, my Dad always called it ironwood.

I burn as much hop hornbean (ironwood) as I can get my hands on as it is excellent firewood, second only to hickory according to the N. Y. S. Conservation Dept.

Ironwood dies young, usually before getting to be more than 6 inches in diameter although I did cut one last year that was 15".
After it dies and stands for a year it is seasoned and ready to burn. Furthermore, it can stand dead for several years without
getting the least bit punky.

In my opinion, Musclewood is nearly as good a firewood as Ironwood but around here it never gets bigger than 4 or 5 inches.
Unlike, Ironwood, after it dies Musclewood will get punky in a very short time much like American Beech or White Birch does, so it must be cut green and allowed to season or be cut shortly after it dies.
In my part of N.Y. State, there is always a good supply of dead ironwood and some years I burn it almost exclusively.

In my experience, any hardwood is readily cut with a well sharpened chain and although it may cut a little slower than softwoods, it doesn't cause any undue wear.
 
Locally "ironwood" is Acacia excelsa. A botanist of old recounted that in one district it was known as "F234-axe"
 
I also cut and burn a lot of ironwood. Last couple years I cut a
lot of ash as the county and town have both cut most of the
ash trees in the road right of ways so I cleaned up along my
property and a couple neighbors as the town didn?t remove
the trees they cut unless it was in a yard. Unfortunately the
ash trees that Onondaga County had cut were ran through a
huge chipper, they would not leave them unless you were the
property owner. I tried to either have them leave some or buy
a load of the ash when they were nearby last year but their
contract with the county forbid it. Seems like a lot of good
firewood wasted.
 
When I started using the shop stove I was burning some punky poplar that fell on the
trail in the woods and had to be cleaned up anyway. Over Thanksgiving 2 sons cut a
bunch of dead ironwood & stacked it in the shop. Boy, what a difference!
 
(quoted from post at 14:45:12 12/05/19) When I started using the shop stove I was burning some punky poplar
Click to expand...

Boy, that is about the worst stuff you will ever burn. LOL
Changing to ironwood has to be a big, big step forward.
 
Eucalyptus is about all I have to burn for free. It burns hot, and leaves little ash. Unless I want to buy oak over 400 a cord. Stan
 
I have ran carbide chain saw on my stihl.. Lasts longer and holds up.. believe I paid about 65 bucks for it though. AND AND you cant sharpen them like normal chains..
 
Not trying to sound smart alecky here, but no matter what chain you use and how sharp it is, a Rancher 55 is a pretty small saw for working with tough stuff like that wood. You need something in the 70cc to 85cc range for that kind of wood, and 70cc is none too big if there is any size to it. My son has a Rancher 55 and he really likes it, but anytime he gets into the tough stuff, or anything with any size to it he borrows my 385XP.
 


Don makes some good points. On a little saw like that about all you can do is keep the chain really sharp and don't take the depth gauges down below factory.
 
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