Chain saw chain: I ran full chisel against semi chisel on the same 30 inch oak and it was no contest
Had a big oak come down in a client's yard in Naperville last month, so I figured I'd settle this for myself. Ran full chisel on one side of the trunk and semi chisel on the other, same saw, same bar, same sharpening angle.
The full chisel cut way faster in the clean wood. No surprise there. But the second I hit the dirty bark and a couple small knots near the base, the semi chisel just kept pulling while the full chisel was grabbing and bucking on me. I burned two extra tanks of gas fighting that thing.
My take, and I know some of you will argue it: if there's any chance you're cutting dirty wood or storm debris, semi chisel wins. The speed you lose in clean rounds isn't worth the fight in the crud. Full chisel is for guys bucking clean logs all day and nothing else.
What are you all running when you can't tell how dirty the wood is going to be? I'm curious if anyone's gotten better life out of full chisel in storm cleanup than I did.