The ripping chain myth!
Your trying to find a ripping chain for your chainsaw mill and you realize they are hard to find, well let me tell you that you dont need to go out and look for a special chain. Ripping chains are over rated, just a way to get some extra money out of the average joe.Ive have run chainsaws as a hand faller on a helicopter logging operation for many years of my life, ive split logs in 2 in the bush many times because the helicopter couldn't lift a full size log, in all that time I have never needed a ripping chain to do the job, I file my saw 3 times a day and it cuts like cheese weather I cut against the grain or with the grain, some times the long string like slivers of sawdust get piled up in the dogs of the saw but its never been a problem.
I say ripping chain is a scam to get more money out of everyone who thinks they need one,"hey are you an idiot, trying to cut that log with regular chain" tell them they are idiots to pay extra for a ripping chain. all you need to do is file the chan with less angle on the tooth
Normal chain
Ripping chain
And keep the raker as high as possible to prevent the chain from cutting too fast and stalling the saw
Just my two cents
26 Comments:
I hate to tell you, but if you are truely cross cutting,
you will not get strings, you will get powder. If you are splitting a 42" log with a 48" bar, you couldn't get any angle other than 90 degrees, and thats how chainsaw mills cut.
I am about to re-grind my first chain for ripping. The original grinding is about 30 degrees. If I file it to les than 10 degrees (other literatures suggest 0 to 5 degrees) the top leeding edge will be level with the depth gauge. I belive it has to be filed down to.030 below the top cutting edge. Am I right or what?
Jeno
built my own mill and file my own chain its not to hard to teach yourself just have to be patient
I have used ripping chain on various setups. The chain indeed has a different angle for the cut tooth but every second tooth there is a raker tooth that is ground almost flat that cuts a path for the 10 degree teeth.
The purpose of the ripping chain is to allow the saw to run with less power saving the saw. Also when using a chain saw mill the boards come off with no chain marks like a standard chain. As for costs the rip chains are the same price if not a couple bucks more. If you use a chain saw mill and want your saw to last and your cut to be clean with less planning afterwards you have to use a rip chain.
Try cutting a 36 inch wide cut on a standard chain and your saw will not last very long.
Why do table saws have rip blades and cross cut blades? You can rip with crosscut blade but it will bind and stall the motor more than if you used a rip blade if cutting deep cuts.
get a carbide tip blade and spend mor tim cutting than fileing
Hey,
After reading you post, I took my old chain to the Tractor store where I usually get my chains sharpened. I described your method and they made a rip chain out of my old chain. Thank you so much for saving me hundreds of dollars. It only cost 5.00 to get it made. Thanks Again
SanMan
You loved her most of all but ceases after the first year or so, she eventually finish looking like the great pussy you married, and if she ditches out with your best friend, she obtains at least half of your belongins. She is the baby of the 6 and she still do like it. I saw Andrea across the room actually looking like someone who had been to a disco, so I walked over and took her picture along with a book about affordable seo . Cassandra had almost as fine a time, playing tennis between Ian and Alex, but
had a panicky moment when she removed her mask to clean it, and started drumming the water with both arms in that way that frightened people do.
Bye
Hey,
What is it with girls fighting?
BigMike
gross-videos.com
Sometimes it's hard to find the original chain. To re-grind 30 degrees chain - is just the way. I've tried it and my saw cut faster and works not so hard.
comment to the original poster. what kind of logger rips a log in half to reduce the weight large logs bucked into shorter pieces are worth more at the mill than a log that had some yayhoo haphazardly rips down a log. I'm truly baffled what woods boss would let you get away with that and secondly just because something works doesn't mean its the right way. and to the second poster why don't you go out pick up a saw and run it for a while before you tell someone what kind of dust you get from ripping especially when in theory that person has more hours on a saw working for psycho woods bosses the lets him rip logs in half some chains do put out long strings when ripping so until you go out and cut all species with all chain options don't be such a know it all or everyone reading this will be as dumb and the dumbest person writing this stuff.
You would rip the log in half when it is bucked to the shortest length, I would only rip logs in half if they were 8 foot and still weigh more than the helicopter could lift
Getting strings means that you are not truely ripping, but you are probably gravity feeding the saw vertically through the log while standing at one end, then.. standind at the other end you can do the same again while trying to line up the bar nose with the first cut. The bar needs to be half the length of the log so only short logs can be done reasonably accurately, and wedges can be used to finish by splitting any remainder.
Anonymous I hate being the one to tell you you are wrong. Japanese, Chinese, and Korean sorts call for 13'10" logs. Logs such as Sitka Spruce have to be ripped for helicopter weight. They'd rather have halved or quartered 13'10"s than a friggin 8 footer they can't use.
Maybe you should get some experience with big timber, then make your comments on this board.
Ouch...
some of you need a bit of humble pie. Everyone has different experiences - it looks like we can safely say "if you don't want to buy a new chain, regrind an old one" - period. done.
If your getting long strings, then you are cutting almost with the grain, if you are cutting across, you will get powder with a standard crosscut 30 degree chain. And across I mean lay the bar straight across a stump and cut straight down. If your bar tip is pointing at the ground maybe 30 degrees from verticle then you will spit out some long strips. I proved it this weekend cutting some chairs into Pine stumps for my kids in my yard with my Husky 288.
i use use the alaskan saw mill on my husky and do alot of milling still trying to find the perfect angle to mill with thow- i was told i need a 5 degree angle but i find it doesn't work so great is 5 degrees right? or should i trying 10degrees ? what is the right angles so i can get long strings and the saw will pull itself threw -- info appriciated
on second thoughts my racks were to high and dry cedar is hard to mill-- easier when is wet
My portable mill uses high pressure water (60,000psi) and leaves no dust. The water jet is only .004 wide and virtually wastes nothing while slicing through the tree. It works like a piano wire through cheese whiz! The tip only needs to be changed once it's opening enlarges to .008, as it becomes a little less effective. I make tips out of special ceramic polymer and the high pressure pump is made out of a modified kubota diesel fuel injection pump. It works great! You people are living in the dark ages!
If you have a large log that is already at min length (14' for export lumber to Japan)and cut it any shorter your reduce the total value immensely. It is way better to rip it and have to proper length pieces that two bastard lengths. I've been a log scaler and quality control supervisor for over 25 years.
It is true, lots of logs are (or rather used to be) ripped in two out in the woods. I have seen a number of different lengths ripped in two, depending on the ship that was flying and the custom cut specifications from the customer at the mill. C is right, you typically don't cut below a 10 meter log for the asian markets...although very few of those are ever made.
Having said that, it has been about 15 years since I've seen wood big enough to require splitting...and about as long since we've seen J/K/C sort prices that would pay for helicopter logging!
i spent a day on the net looking at ripping chains and the different styles, i then went out to the shed and made one, i cut my teeth to 0 degrees and every 3rd tooth was cut to make a scorer, i put it on my saw and it worked beautifully, but it was slowing the saw, so i removed another tooth. now i have 2 scorers and 1 full tooth cut to 5 degrees, the saw cuts twice as fast and hardly ever stalls. working by my self i converted a 40ft by 3ft oak into 2inch boards in one day, you cant do that with a bought chain, i know cos i bought one with the proceeds from the oak. oh yeah it was this site that inspired me to make that first chain, from that i built my own business.
thanks to all who post:)
I have been ripping logs with chainsaw for a few years now and grind my own rip chain so that every other cutter is only as wide as the tooth is thick . That I use for Maple and oak . Ash doesn't seem to matter if I am using stock or cross cut chain or not , you just get powder . But the most important and I stress this , is that no mater how you sharpen your chain , is that every tooth should be as close to the same length as posible . I use a caliper to do this . Also use a professional bar , preferably a non riveted one or spot welded one . Also make sure that your bar has its chain guide square with the side of the bar . All of this will help the cutting from drifting up or down . Also if you use a grinder to sharpen your chain , a little blueing will harden the tip and it will stay sharper a little longer , but then a file wont really touch it . Oh and make sure you have a straight board or whatever to have your mill attachment ride on for the first cut .
I mill White Oak, Sugar Maple, Hickory, Cherry and Walnut with a chainsaw mill... I do buy ripping chains I resharpen a chain from 30 or 35 degrees too 10 degrees. I then file down the raker tooth down two times as much as it was once made. Remember you are looking to get a huge rip out of each tooth and it can do this with more beef to each cut. Your cutting with the grain, like a ripping blade has 24 teeth and a crosscut blade has 40 or many more. thats how you got to think, make those cutters pop out and bite. less power more cut less time less sharpening. Stripping the bark makes all the difference too!
I must saw that this guy and his powder needs some help with his chainsaw. I can saw that with my saw i can cut down the length of a log and get strings of sawdust and crosscutting i get chips, if i have dust i must be using a table saw.
What kind of a helicopter cannot lift an 8 foot log? Get a real helicopter
if you want to use a standard issue blade to rip, approach the cut with the blade closer to parallel to the log and therefor the axis of the wood cells. this makes the blade yank out long strings because the wood cells don't have the same cell to cell strength. If you try to rip from the top of the log so that the cell axis is perpendicular to the blade, it's like the blade is sanding the length of the cell so it only makes dust and it takes for ever to cut. you don't need a ripping chain but you need to ensure that your dust chute stay clear or the chain will bog down.
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