Personally, I think it’s just a marketing gimmick. A way to put another product on the shelves and stir interest. I don’t believe the < in the middle of the tooth is as efficient as a (. Therefore I don’t believe that a hexa filed chain will be any faster, (probably slower) then a properly filed or ground round chain. But if the hexa is user-friendly, I have no doubt that it would be faster than a poorly sharpened round chain
It may or may not be any faster, but until I get my hands on a few loops I won't pass judgment. Probably marketing more than anything, but you never know, sometimes new is good.
It could be a great thing. Much of the fb crowd has been “square filing” something similar to that for years because they don’t know the difference. But because of the post layout it’s impossible to show and teach an example of a proper square chain without it getting lost in the archives forever.
It does look similar to xcut, but after several filings the overextended top plate disappears on the xcut. The hexa chain and file may just be a way to simplify filing for the avg joe. If the hexa file is riding flat on the bottom, folks will only have to focus on the angle.
That beak is what makes it cut so aggro. Husky doesn't have a way to file it like it's ground so yes, It'll loose that factory feel. Have you ever noticed the grind on RS? It's not perfectly round. I always felt it cut very grabby out of the box. Fast yes, but grabby. I have yet to try XCut. I've hoarded LGX and some EXL so not sure I'll get to anytime soon.
While taking with a buddy about the plethora of fishing lures available… he said, “it doesn’t have to catch fish, just the fisherman, for it to be a success to the company selling it!” this seems like it falls into the same category to me
Interesting marketing idea maybe. I wonder how that edge holds up compared to a good round grind? Looks to me like they're trying to bring a version of square filing to the masses maybe? Or somebody accidentally mis made a chitpile of files they need to sell. I'll wait for a bit yet. Good old fashioned well sharpened round ground will come back in style eventually.
What if you lowered the round file a little bit? Wouldn’t be much different than the Hexa grind that had a couple swipes out of the gullet. More “hook”, if you will. Normally it won’t last as long before getting dull, so they use higher quality steel so it does. I figure that’s why RS was always regarded as fast cutting out of the box. It had better steel so it could be filed with more hook without sacrificing longevity as compared to LGX. I’ll definitely pick up a Hexa file and compare it to round ground with a similar hook to see if there’s something to it
I did that with the Timberline jig and created quite a bit of hook. All it did for me was loose durability. So the hexa file creates the hook with the more durable square type edge (plus the better steel). This is like a hybrid way to get the better square edge without the ability to learn true square filing (in my guess). Could be really beneficial to round filers not wanting $10+ files to learn square.
Square is definitely more durable than round IME. Just skip the middle man and go straight to the square side. You won’t regret it.
