Carbide coated chain

[timeout]

 I ran across an ad for carbide coated chain. Ad said it could be sharpened with a regular chainsaw file. Anyone out there using it? Does it last long enough to be worth the extra cost? I have been running into some dirty wood and thought it might cut down on sharpening.

[beenthere]

to
I believe I read here on the FF that the coating will be filed off the first or second filing and then just a straight, regular chain. So if that is true, then the carbide might delay the need for the first sharpening but not after that.

[clww]

Sounds like an advertising gimmick to me. :

[JohnG28]

There was someone here who said they were using it with good results. Never tried one myself though, so no personal info on them. Try searching the topic, should bring up an old thread.

[sawguy21]

I have not used it but sold some. It didn't seem to last long enough to justify the cost.

[gspren]

  I've never used it but I was a machinist and took a bunch of metallurgy training and carbide is harder than a file so it just don't sound right.

[Ianab]

It's not solid carbide, it's only a thin layer impregnated into the outside of the cutter, in a similar way to the chrome layer on a normal chain. The actual cutting edge is formed by that tiny chrome (or carbide) layer, while other 99% of the cutter is normal steel.

So you can still sharpen the carbide coated chain with a normal file.

I would suspect that you will never get it quite as sharp as a standard cutter, just the properties of carbide (vs chrome), but whatever edge you did get on it should hold for longer. So it might be a viable option for dirty or sandy logs?

Ian

[bandmiller2]

Ian said it all,I have tried the spray coated chain and was not overly impressed.I don't think its worth the extra expence,mayby if you have real gritty logs.Frank C.

[boltbender]

I had a piece of large red and white oak that had to be drug thru an old sandstone quarry and I could not make three cuts on my landing so I got some chain that had a great percentage of carbide silver soldered onto the cutters.  I was able to cut 12 to 15 thousand feet into logs with this chain.  It was around $100.00 per chain and I had to have it sharpened at the shop where I bought it because a file would not scratch it, but it still paid for itself.

[HolmenTree]

I tried carbide coated once, hard on files and I couldn't get a good edge like chrome gives. I also noticed the coating chipped off the cutter in small chunks after cutting something other then wood by accident.

Trouble is everyone wants the fast cutting chisel chains but forget they don't hold a good edge like a semi chisel does. Most casual chainsaw users run a half dull chisel chain thinking it's sharp, where if they had a strong edge holding semi chisel they would get better production. Relate this to a progressive dulling chain to a progressive plugging air filter, the operator gets used to the condition without realizing something is wrong.

I found a life time [my life time anyways :D] supply of old school 3/8 chipper chain and I'm using it for my tree service removal business. Tough chain, might not cut all that fast for logging production but for arborist work in dirty conditions it works really well.

[sawguy21]

The carbide tipped chain is altogether different. It is, as boltbender mentioned, horribly expensive but is primarily used for demolition or rescue work. A properly sharpened semi chisel will cut rings around it.

[bandmiller2]

The carbide tipped chain we used on rescue saws was over $100.00 a loop and every time they would use it they would lunch out the carbides.If over three or four bits were broken it wouldn't be worth sending the chain out to be repaired.The pattern of carbide chain we used was almost useless for cutting trees.I convinced the fire chief that regular chain would cut faster and survive at a fraction of the price even if the chain was considered disposable.I ordered a 100' roll and made up loops as needed. Frank C.