If you’re looking to buy a new chainsaw, it’s important to know which chainsaw chains are best suited for your purposes. Low-grade chainsaw chains are notorious for having crooked, blunt teeth that can really hurt you if you accidentally hit something with them. Also, a blunt chainsaw’s chain exposes you to serious risk of bodily injuries resulting from improper kickback of the metal chain.
Unfortunately, this isn’t an all-day or end-all occurrence. In fact, buying a new chainaw chain that has blunt teeth and a side plate that can’t cutting through wood properly may cause you some major injury problems if you’re not careful. First off, when you’re cutting a new chain, you have to get both bar ends to the same angle. When you don’t, you run the risk of “stippling” or “chipping.” Stippling is when the bar of a saw blade slips on the wood as you’re cutting. Chipping happens when the teeth of a saw blade to scrape the wood.
The problem lies in buying guides that aren’t designed with your specific needs in mind. There are two kinds of guides, you should look for. First, there are top-rated, universal chainsaws guides. The second kind is specialized, user-specific chainsaws guides. So, how do you know what the best chainsaw chains is for you? Here’s a look:
Your chainsaw chains should be able to clear thick hardwood trees with no difficulty. Your chainsaw chains should be able to cut through medium-hard wood, such as cedar, quite easily, but not well at all through thinner woods like pine or spruce. You should be able to angle your chainsaw chains according to your situation, and your target wood. How does this work? Simple…
The design of modern chainsaws has made it possible to take out a lot more “toughness” from the teeth. Most brands now feature teeth with a fine grit surface. This makes it much easier to sharpen your chainsaw chains due to the increased biting pressure. Unfortunately, many chainsaw manufacturers don’t bother to tell you that the teeth need to be sharpened or to let you know how often they need to be sharpened since their teeth are not fine enough to catch every bit of splinters off small limbs of wood. I would say this is an oversight on their part rather than a design flaw.
Most chainsaw chains are either made from steel, aluminum, or carbon fiber. Although they are all excellent materials, none of them offer the same level of shock absorption as carbon fiber, which absorbs much more shock and vibration. Carbon fiber chains are also much more flexible and long lasting, but because of their shock absorption ability, they are more prone to kickback, especially if you happen to accidentally run into something solid while chopping wood.
With the exception of Homelite, chainsaw parts for the other brands are very similar. A chainsaw chains replacement piece is basically a spring loaded steel rod with a small rubber slice at the end that fits over the sharpening stone. When you place the slice into the sharpener, it quickly grinds away at the nail and gets the saw motor started. It’s that easy.
Some final tips: Chainsaw sharpening and maintenance should be done by someone who’s familiar with using them, and who’s familiar with what type of sharpening material (soft steel or aluminum oxide on some full chisel cutters) is best suited for each particular chain saw. A good general rule of thumb is that if you’re a beginner you want a heavier gauge steel chain, if you’re experienced you want a softer steel chain. For proper cutting efficiency, always use the proper cutting angle in relation to your preferred path. Also, use the appropriate tool for the job!
