Chain experiment

I decided to make a "semi-race" chain a while back. Nothing fancy, just what I could do on a belt grinder in about 20 minutes. I have been using it in my chain rotation and it is the fastest chain by far, every time. I'm not talking about "I think it's faster", I am talking about "holy crap that's fast" noticeable difference.

I used off-the-shelf .325 oregon chain. I clipped the back of the cutters, ground the rivets a little, and thinned the rakers. That's it. No tunneling or dog-boning. Just simple stuff most guys can do easily, and it made a world of difference. A friend tried it and said "it's like a light saber through butter".

I only use that chain in clean wood. It gets the same grind as my other chains.

 

Pics?

 

^what Sirchopsalot said.

 

Sounds interesting and easy to do. Any pics would be great, especially of the clipping part.

 

If you look at the left-hand cutter in his picture, you can see how the heel of the cutter has been trimmed and has a forward lean to it….not hard to do at all…just kinda putzy

 

Not very putzy at all. Each one takes a few seconds on a belt grinder. The same for the rakers and safety humps. This whole process takes less than 20 minutes. What takes me the most time is letting it cool between each go-around. Grind the safety humps if there are any, then the heels, then the rakers, then the rivets, etc... I could lower the driver links a little.

 

Thanks. Didnt realize he had posted pics when i replied.

 

Probably hard to do by hand as i dont own a belt grinder.

 

Doing what you have done to your chain will also make it much smoother in the cut. You can feel the difference.

 

Makes sense as there's less metal to drag making chip expulsion better.

 

Less friction is much gooder!

 

That's interesting. Did you ever notice also, that sometimes, a mostly wore out chain, but sharpened good, will be faster cutting then a new or newer chain? I was cutting up a large dead and fallen post oak, a couple of days ago, and had four saws with me, all sharp to begin with, when I finally picked the worst saw that I have, with the absolutely most worn-out chain on it, but the chain was sharp and the rakers were right, however, this chain had several teeth that were worn down to a nub, but I knew I was going to be cutting some dirty wood and didn't want to replace the chain yet, and that cut like crazy. It was noticeably faster, and the chain looks terrible, but cuts like the dickens.

 

I'm trying this. Plus it gives me the excuse to go buy a stationary belt sander.

 

Harbor Freight special?

 

Probably. Even though the thought makes me kinda I'll. But, most are probably Chicom made from any store.

 

Mine was a hf unit. I replaced the crap motor with a 3600 rpm motor and it does great on metal. I used it to grind/deburr about 300,000 stainless rod ends. It took a long time. I have a PILE of worn out belts....

 

Clipping the heels works really well for bore cutting also. Very smooth

 

If you look straight down at a chain, you can see that the cutters are pointed out a little bit. As the chain wears down, the kerf is narrower