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Skip tooth chain ?

Started by Timberwerks, July 29, 2004, 07:26:54 PM

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Timberwerks

Can anyone tell me the pro's and con's of using skip tooth chain? Does it cut faster?

Dale

incognitive

I've never used it, but I'll be glad to regurgitate stuff I've heard.  First is, it's only faster if you're running such a long bar in a long cut that you have to spend too much time clearing the chips by pulling out a little.  It's a lot harder on the output side of the saw motor when used for smaller cuts due to the roughness of the cut.

So it really depends.  What's your intended use?

Ianab

As Incog says, skip chain comes into it's own with loong bars and chainsaw milling. Running normal chain in this situation can cause 2 things to happen. One, the chain wont be able to drag out the chips fast enough to keep the cut clear.. or two, you wont have enough power to keep all the teeth cutting efficiently. It's better to have 5 or 10 teeth in the cut working properly, than to have 20 teeth all just scraping dust and getting hot.

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

Ed

Yup, it's an absolute must on long bars, had regular chain on the 60" bar for the 084 when my father bought it. Not a good thing, didn't work very well, almost dangerous. Went to skip tooth & life is good.

DanManofStihl

I run .404 skip tooth on my 066 and that thing flys with the 36 inch bar on it I use regular chain when I have a 20 inch bar on it all it does is make it easier to get wood chips out if you have a long bar. What size are ou going to be running 28 and up skip tooth. everything else in my opinion regular or semi skip Just my opinion
Two Things in life to be proud of a good wife and a good saw.

Timberwerks

Thanks Guy's

This all makes sense now. I mainly run three bar lengths 24",32",36". The 24" is on a 372 and the 32" is on a 385. The 36" is for my 3120. The 3120 mainly is for sawmill use and the 36" bar hasn't been used yet. I mainly use the other saws for bucking large trees that get dropped off here for firewood. Every once in a while I have to rip cut a crotch and this is where I notice the cut clogging up. Maybe I'll keep a skip tooth on the 32" for just this type of cutting. Since fast cut's are what I'm after will a notice a difference if I went with skip tooth all around? Some of the wood is only 8" to 12" in diameter.

Dale

Dale

Rocky_J

In 8"-12" wood, and probably in anything up to 24" wood, a skip chain will be slower. It HAS to be slower since you only have half the cutting teeth to make the cut.

The ONLY time skip may be a little bit faster is in big wood where a full comp chain can get overloaded and clogged up from cutting too much at one time. But a big part of this is the operator, not just the chain.

The other reason skip tooth chain is so popular is because it has half the teeth to sharpen and most sawyers can't/ won't/ don't like sharpening the chain.


Ed

I use regular chain on the 36" bar for the 084. I don't think skiptooth will have an advantage when ripping because of the long stringy chips. My saw port might plug up on a ripcut, but the chips still find a way out.
All your saws are newer/high hp, if you want to cut faster go to a shorter bar, put an 18" on the 372 & hang on!
Also what chain are you using? If it's "safety" chain, that will slow you down. Are your saws running the correct rpm?
Ed

Timberwerks

Hi Ed

Actually the saws run great and I'm not using safety chain. I'm just curious about the skip tooth chain and it's use. I think I may give it a try. I like the fact of less teeth to sharpen.

Dale

MemphisLogger

Dale,

The only crosscut chain we use is on the 36" bar on our 372XP--then only on big logs cuz it's too rough on smaller stuff.

When we rip, we use a chain with a 0 deg.-left, 0 deg.-right, no-top-plate-left, no-top-plate-right configuration. This configuration does improve speed and smoothness of cut.

- Scott  
Scott Banbury, Urban logger since 2002--Custom Woodworker since 1990. Running a Woodmizer LT-30, a flock of Huskies and a herd of Toy 4x4s Midtown Logging and Lumber Company at www.scottbanbury.com

Oregon_Rob

I was cross cutting some >24" fir this weekend with a 24" bar and full comp chain. Had big problems with chip clearance. The chips were plugging the cut pretty bad. I switched to the 32" bar and skip chain and it was all good! I have heard it mentioned before that softwood fiber is more likely to cause problems than hardwood, but don't have any first hand knowledge of this.
Chainsaw Nerd

Larry

There is another alternative.



Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

Striker

Our 066 came to life when I put  36 inch bar and Carlton round ground semi-skip chain on it. As long as the chain is sharp, I don't notice any difference in how it cuts from small saplings up to bar buried trees. The only difference I see is species.

Jeff

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