I've had good success grinding Hexa. I've seen and proved it's a better cutter design. There's been little change in chainsaw chain sans lower kickback or safer chain. I've got to hand it to Stihl for thinking outside of the box. I do have an issue with the $10+ file. Same thing with C83, It's very fast out of the box, yet nearly impossible to recreate with a file after it's dull.
👍👍interesting, never messed with hexa(I’m too cheap). With a grinder, making the c83 profile is possible by actually letting the wheel wear in more. I found this out by accident. Hard to explain, but normally the wheel has a round edge and creates that crescent. When the grinding edge of the wheel is more worn and tapers and a roughly 60 degree angle is used and the stop is set correctly, it creates a c83 similar straighter tooth and that little hook right at the top. Just some of my useless experience when you get a grinder!
I had been wondering this same thing so I appreciate you making this video. Also, I also heard you mention the chain cut better longer which is a major thing for the average person. Also, with that tooth being longer, you also get a bit more time to run a chain. I run em till the teeth are gone! Thanks man
Great video Doug! Looking at the comparison of the teeth, having a narrower tooth on the hexa makes sense to me for speed. Think about it a two parts making one cut, each apposing tooth cuts 2/3 the kerf with a hexa, vs a standard chain cutting 7/8 or 100% of the kerf with each tooth! The hexa would clear the same amount of wood, but with less friction, thus prolonging the sharpness of the chain, this also would put less stress on the chainsaw and on the bar in theory. Plus the hexa profile would also give the cutting edge better support with a straight angled faced “gullet vs the standard concave gullet that a round file leaves behind. Again this is all just theory and my 2 cents!
@@IndianaDoug there is a way to test the theory, use a micrometer and measure the teeth of both chains, then measure the kerf left behind from each chain! If I am correct, the hexa chain should have a narrower kerf then the standard chain. My theory also includes that the space left between each tooth’s cutting face and the wood helps in clearing the chips with less friction on the surfaces of everything involved.
Really interesting, thanks doug. I really need to habe a play with Hexa. Getting close to a 500i for my channel now so maybe ill get hexa on that bad boy!
This is a great video! I was gonna try same thing. I finally found a Hexa chain and file myself. C83 is great chain also. Wonder if you could turn a round file RS chain into Hexa🤔 tooth profile may be closer. I haven't measured it though.
Square filing does cut way faster but doesn't stay sharp very long. I've got a few boxes of pferd v shape files for square filing, results are almost identical to what stihl calls hexa chain, square grinding has been around for generations. There's an old iron horse video where he goes into the details. In my experience it works great but does dull pretty quick in dry hard wood
My square filing is certainly faster. The thing is with square, the angles (45,45,45) are not very forgiving, where HEXA files straight across and is a lot easier to file. That’s the biggest difference
@IndianaDoug for sure, especially when you got a pile of 25 and 36 inch dull chains to do, getting the 45/45/45 done consistently is a challenge, and you have to keep going back and round filing thr gullet too. I kind of gave up on it after a while, now just use an electric chain grinder and round grind them all anyway. It would be pretty cool to see someone make a hexa or square grinder wheel though, that would be pretty slick
Hexa better than square? I asked John Riley about this, and him answered - him square chain will do cut better and faster then hexa chain. Fuck hexa - only square 🔥
Looks good!
I've had good success grinding Hexa. I've seen and proved it's a better cutter design. There's been little change in chainsaw chain sans lower kickback or safer chain. I've got to hand it to Stihl for thinking outside of the box. I do have an issue with the $10+ file. Same thing with C83, It's very fast out of the box, yet nearly impossible to recreate with a file after it's dull.
Yessir, HEXA whipped C83 in my tests, but Boedy’s tests were the opposite. Still hard to find for me too!
Great comment!
@@IndianaDougthat is interesting
👍👍interesting, never messed with hexa(I’m too cheap).
With a grinder, making the c83 profile is possible by actually letting the wheel wear in more. I found this out by accident. Hard to explain, but normally the wheel has a round edge and creates that crescent. When the grinding edge of the wheel is more worn and tapers and a roughly 60 degree angle is used and the stop is set correctly, it creates a c83 similar straighter tooth and that little hook right at the top.
Just some of my useless experience when you get a grinder!
Makes sense
I had been wondering this same thing so I appreciate you making this video. Also, I also heard you mention the chain cut better longer which is a major thing for the average person. Also, with that tooth being longer, you also get a bit more time to run a chain. I run em till the teeth are gone! Thanks man
Great video Doug! Looking at the comparison of the teeth, having a narrower tooth on the hexa makes sense to me for speed. Think about it a two parts making one cut, each apposing tooth cuts 2/3 the kerf with a hexa, vs a standard chain cutting 7/8 or 100% of the kerf with each tooth! The hexa would clear the same amount of wood, but with less friction, thus prolonging the sharpness of the chain, this also would put less stress on the chainsaw and on the bar in theory. Plus the hexa profile would also give the cutting edge better support with a straight angled faced “gullet vs the standard concave gullet that a round file leaves behind. Again this is all just theory and my 2 cents!
I bet you’re right about the Kerf bit
@@IndianaDoug there is a way to test the theory, use a micrometer and measure the teeth of both chains, then measure the kerf left behind from each chain! If I am correct, the hexa chain should have a narrower kerf then the standard chain. My theory also includes that the space left between each tooth’s cutting face and the wood helps in clearing the chips with less friction on the surfaces of everything involved.
Really interesting, thanks doug. I really need to habe a play with Hexa. Getting close to a 500i for my channel now so maybe ill get hexa on that bad boy!
I was curious if the hexa was a gimmick or worth it, glad to know that it keeps a cutting edge longer! Thank you for sharing!
This is a great video! I was gonna try same thing. I finally found a Hexa chain and file myself. C83 is great chain also. Wonder if you could turn a round file RS chain into Hexa🤔 tooth profile may be closer. I haven't measured it though.
Thx. You can try, I’ll bet the cutter width is wider
Great info brother❤❤
Thanks for the extra effort. That's interesting.
Just had someone commenting about this on the channel the other day and now this! Ok now I gotta try it!!!!
I like HEXA personally
@@IndianaDoug I have had a loop for months now haven’t run it yet hahah
My favorite chain hands down
@@IndianaDoug right on 👊🏻
You go looks good
Square filing does cut way faster but doesn't stay sharp very long. I've got a few boxes of pferd v shape files for square filing, results are almost identical to what stihl calls hexa chain, square grinding has been around for generations. There's an old iron horse video where he goes into the details. In my experience it works great but does dull pretty quick in dry hard wood
My square filing is certainly faster. The thing is with square, the angles (45,45,45) are not very forgiving, where HEXA files straight across and is a lot easier to file. That’s the biggest difference
@IndianaDoug for sure, especially when you got a pile of 25 and 36 inch dull chains to do, getting the 45/45/45 done consistently is a challenge, and you have to keep going back and round filing thr gullet too. I kind of gave up on it after a while, now just use an electric chain grinder and round grind them all anyway. It would be pretty cool to see someone make a hexa or square grinder wheel though, that would be pretty slick
How’s she cuttin?
Great
Interesting❤
Hexa better than square? I asked John Riley about this, and him answered - him square chain will do cut better and faster then hexa chain.
Fuck hexa - only square 🔥
Square chain is certainly faster if that’s what you’re asking.
Thank you so much for a great video and detailed explanation, Doug.
Glad it was helpful!