chain

[kardar2]

HELLO ALL,
I am new to this site and a re born wood cutter (I it has been about 25the yrs) I bought a Husk.353 . I really like it. I did a search on this topic but I did not find any. Any ways is Husqvarna make a good chain? I cut oak and pine for my fireplace. I need to buy another chain. What do you suggest? Thanks. KARL

[Ohio_Bill]

Welcome to the forum Kardar2, I think husky's chain is a rebranded Oregon. I would suggest for your cutting conditions a semi chisel. I imagine your saw has a thin kef 325 pitch. Baileys which is one of the forum sponsors sells several brands of chain that will meet your needs. There own chain which is made by Carlton is 20NK and is thin kef 325 pitch.  You can look on there web site. I have used both and had good luck with both. Don't forget to buy some safety gear.

[Ohio_Bill]

I see the correct name Is narrow kef   O well
:D
Oregon   part number  95VPX

Husky         H30


Woodland Pro AKA  Carlton     20NK

I am assuming  you saw has narrow kef , I think that what comes on them .

Happy Sawing

[kardar2]

Thanks for the reply, yeah it has. 325 narrow kerf.

[John Mc]

I have a Jonsered 2152, which is the twin sister saw to the Husky 353. It came with the regular .325 pitch on it, not the narrow kerf version. I've been happy with the performance with regular .325 pitch chisel chain. I tried a friend's 353 with the narrow kerf, and didn't like it as much

The Husky chain is just rebadged Oregon chain. I use .058 gauge, so the part numbers are: Oregon - 21LPX, Husky - H21, or Woodland Pro - 28RC  (all available at Bailey's).

I occasionally use a semi-chisel chain if I'm going to be cutting a lot of dirty wood or stumps (Oregon 21BPX). If I recall correctly, most of the narrow kerf chains are also semi-chisel.

I did have a problem with my 2152 getting too hot in repeated bucking cuts in hardwoods. Baileys sold a non-catalytic muffler for the 2152 / 353 that solved that problem, and gave a little bit of boost in power as well. (If you go this route, you do need to retune your saw after the swap.)  I never have tried a muffler mod on this... it works well enough for me as-is, and if I need more power, I switch to my 357XP.

[kardar2]

Thanks John for your input but now you threw me a curve ball LOL. A full chisel chain is a chain you sharpen with a chisel right what is a "semi chisel chain" mean. Yeah I am a green horn! :)

[John Mc]

A chisel chain refers to the square edge that the side plate of the chain makes where it meets the top plate. A "semi-chisel" or "micro-chisel" chain has either a rounded or a chamfered corner at this meeting place. Unfortunately, I don't have good pictures to show what I mean, but you might be able to see the difference on some of the pictures on the Bailey's web site.

Generally, Chisel chain cuts a bit faster than semi-chisel, but semi-chisel will hold up better when cutting in dirty conditions (for example, if the log you are cutting was dragged through the mud, or if you are cutting stumps down low). Semi chisel can be a bit more "forgiving" when sharpening, but neither are particularly difficult to learn to hand sharpen, especially with the right guides (I never did learn to "free-hand" sharpen with just the bare round file, but frankly, don't see the need to. What I'm doing works for me.)

Another thing that can be confusing: there are two types of chisel chain. "square chisel" and "round chisel". This does not refer to the corner I mentioned above, but rather to whether you use a round file to sharpen it, or a square file (actually a "double bevel" or a triangular file). The gullet of the tooth has a different shape. Square chisel chain has a bit of a performance edge over regular chisel chain (that is "round chisel" files). But they dull quicly in dirty conditions. They can be tricky to sharpen correctly (kind of the opposite end of the sharpening spectrum from semi-chisel). They are generally used by folks making a living cutting wood (though many of the pros use round chisel as well).

Hope this helps.

John Mc
(time for me to quit mucking about on the computer and get back to work)

[Clam77]

To help John out.. from the Madsen's site...

http://www.madsens1.com/bnc_teeth_types.htm

Madsen's site has a huge amount of knowledge that can be read up on if you're looking to learn - just poke around on it and you'll find plenty.    ;)

[kardar2]

Thanks