Saw chain or "cutting chain" is a key component of a chainsaw. It consists of steel links held together by rivets, and superficially resembles bicycle style roller chain, although it is closer in design to leaf chain. Its key differences are sharp cutting teeth on the outside of the chain loop, and flat drive links on the inside, to retain the chain on the saw's bar and allow propulsion by the engine or motor.

Saw chain (and chainsaws generally) are used for cutting wood. This may be for harvesting trees for pulp or timber, for tree surgery, or for processing firewood.

Whether for handheld chainsaws, mechanical timber harvesters or chain routers, has undergone dramatic development since its invention. Modern chains designed for high power, high speed sawing applications will vastly outperform older designs, while allowing a far greater degree of safety and reliability in use.

=Principles of saw chain operation

Saw chains operate by being propelled around a guide bar, removing material from the kerf by cutting chips from the side and bottom. In order to operate properly, the depth to which each tooth cuts must be limited to avoid it binding in the wood. Scratcher chain, like the teeth on a hand saw, simply uses a multitude of teeth to prevent individual teeth from sinking too far in without undue pressure on the bar. Chipper chain, and all subsequent designs, incorporate a depth guage on each cutter link to limit depth of cut on each tooth. This has two distinct advantages over scratcher chain - it enables the use of fewer cutters per unit length of chain, which allows for shorter downtime for sharpening, and produces a more "open" chain layout, allowing far better clearance of chips and debris fro the kerf. individual depth guages on each tooth also enable the use of skip chain. Skip or semi-skip chain has a further reduced number of teeth, for applications where much debris is produced, such as ripping or cross-cutting very large sections of wood. Skip chain also absorbs less power from the motor per unit length of chain than full-compliment chain, allowing the use of a longer bar/chain combination on any given motor.

Early saw chain designs

A section of "scratcher" chain on a bar nose, showing the tooth layout.

A section of "scratcher" chain showing the large number of teeth compared to modern chain.

Very early chainsaws used tooth configurations very similar to conventional hand saws. These were very simple saw teeth following a wave pattern (left, centre, right, centre) with no depth gauges as such, relying purely on bar pressure to limit the cutting rate. They were inefficient and slow in use, and were soon superceded by chipper chain. they required great skill and a lot of time to sharpen in the field, leading to extended downtime between sessions.

Chipper chain

Chipper chain improved dramatically on the performance of scratcher chain. Chipper used a tooth that was curled over the top of the chain, with alternate teeth pointing left and right. Ahead of the tooth was a depth gauge, which allowed for good clearance around the tooth for chip clearing while limiting the depth of cut and preventing grabbing or overloading. Chipper chains are still available from Carlton and are sometimes used for dirty work, since their very large working corner allows the cutter to retain its effective sharpness for a long time in abraisive conditions.

Modern chain designs

For general use in forestry, tree surgery and firewood cutting, two basic configurations exist. Full chisel chain has a square cornered tooth, splitting wood fibres easily in the cut for fast, efficient cutting in clean softwood. Semi-chisel chain has a rounded working corner. While slightly slower than full chisel, it retains an acceptable cutting sharpness for longer, making it the preferred choice for dirtier wood, hard or dry wood, frozen wood or stump work, all of which would rapidly degrade a full chisel chain.

Chain specifications and dimensioning

Cutting chain comes in a bewildering variety of configurations, but these come down to a few key dimensions for replacement or specification purposes.

gauge: the gauge of the chain is the thickness of the drive links, and is dictated by the gauge of the bar it must be run on. Usual gauges are .050" (1.3 mm) - .058" (1.5 mm) and .063" (1.6 mm). Chain and bar gauge must match; a chain that is too large will not fit, one that is too small will fall sideways and cut poorly.

Pitch: the pitch of the chain is the average distance between two rivets. As the distance between rivets varies, the pitch can be measured by measuring between three rivets and dividing this distance by two. Usual pitches are 0.325", 3/8" and 0.404". 3/4" is used for harvester applications, and very rarely for handheld cutting. the pitch of the chain must match the drive sprocket, and the nose sprocket (if fitted).

length: a chain loop must be of an appropriate length in order to run safely. This is described by the number of drive links. This number is determined by the length and type of bar, the sprocket size and the overall configuration of the saw. For replacement purposes, simply count the drive links on the old chain.

Specialised chains

A number of very specialised chain types have emerged over recent years. These include chains made of specilised steel alloys for cutting in extremely cold conditions, chains with tungsten carbide teeth for very dirty conditions and rescue work, ripping chains with altered blade geometry for making ripping cuts, and milling chains for Alaskan mills.

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