Carbide Saw Chains For Extra Durability

Chainsaws with carbide saw chains are generally purchased by professional construction workers, industrial workers, and by those working in emergency response teams such as firemen, and those in the forestry service. These workers generally know that many of their common tasks would render a normal saw chain useless before the job was done.

Carbide blade chainsaws can handle a variety of oppressive environments that many homeowners cannot even imagine. These power machines can handle almost any type of logs of any thickness and in any state. This includes those that have been frozen into place. The carbide chains bite through the ice as quickly as through the wood. These chains can also deal with cutting jobs in sandy areas. The sand resides in the bark of trees forming a sand-paper like surface that runs normal steel blade chains quickly to dullness. Carbide steel is harder than the sand, and will not dull under these circumstances. Although many trees in a homeowners yard are relatively free from particles and other contaminants, at least in the area not close to the ground, most wild trees are full of pebbles, knots, and sometimes metal such as nails and spikes, that could cause danger to the operator of a chainsaw with a normal blade. Carbide saw chains can deal with most of these difficult circumstances.

Carbide saw chains are manufactured differently for a variety of jobs. Saw chains that are designed specifically for cutting wood can often do so while leaving a reasonably clean cut. For other blades, the goal is to remove the material as quickly as possible, and the blades are designed to perform more of a ripping action which cuts quickly, but not as cleanly. This is even truer when comparing carbide chains to standard steel chains. They simply are not designed for superior sharpness, and will usually not give as smooth a cut as standard steel, but the tradeoff is in their durability which is astounding.

Experts understand that even chainsaws fitted with carbide saw chains are not invincible. Although the cutting edge of a carbide blade is much more durable than a standard blade, their resistance to shock is not. Compared to standard steel, carbide is a very brittle material which can shatter if impacted on another hard surface such as metal or rock. In addition, the weakest point of the tips is the material used to anchor them to the standard chain, usually silver solder or brazing, and these are often the breaking points of the chain assembly.