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View Full Version : Rip v Crosscut Chainsaw chain



Cliff Rohrabacher
06-05-2010, 6:31 PM
Does it matter?
I mean does ripping go faster with a rip tooth geomerty?
Or is it just how much work you want the power head to do?

Dennis Peacock
06-05-2010, 6:34 PM
Rip chain is easier on the saw and the sawyer. :D
Rip chain is a different design as it's only purpose is to cut end-grain, where a standard chain is designed to cut across the grain.

You can rip cut with a standard chain. Just be patient with it and you may have to sharpen it a tad bit more frequent.

Ken Fitzgerald
06-05-2010, 7:27 PM
Cliff,

I wasn't a believer until a friend showed up with 2 saws for the reasons Dennis gave.

Rip blade on one saw and standard blade on the other. They work as advertised!

Cliff Rohrabacher
06-06-2010, 8:42 PM
So to see, I ground one of my chains to a rip.
It does produce a more manageable chip not the long streaming slices that tend to bind in the drive sprocket.
I had the sharpen the same chain three times in a four hour period.
I can't say that it's any easier - physically - on the operator.

But there's two kinds of rip cutting. The kind where you are at 90 degrees to the end grain like when cutting dovetail pins and the kind where you are laying the saw blade lengthwise along the grain.

When I rip long logs I will end up using both positions
When I'm ripping up firewood it's just the long slicing along the grain.

Seems to me that a carbide tipped chain saw chain would be real nice to have.