To sharpen or not to Sharpen Tungsten. Plus how Tungsten is different to steel chains.

I recently had a customer leave the following comment in a review and realised others may have the same expectation.

Customer comment - "hopefully it will keep going well all winter".

So we need to clarify around that expectation a bit.

Typically you should get the equivalent of 10 sharpenings of a steel chain.  But you could get in the range of 5-15 sharpenings out of a Tungsten Chain, it totally depends on how abrasive the wood is you are cutting.  
Factors in the material cut, how clean it really is? 

• Is it roadside, or edge of forest which can have hidden abrasive material in it.  This has been seen when cutting at dusk that sparks are coming off timber that appears clean. 
• Does it have known contaminents such as railway sleepers? 

People who have not used Tungsten Chains may have unrealistic expectations about what the material can do.   According to Google, Tungsten is a very hard material, the second hardest natural element on earth - Diamond is in fact the hardest.
Tungsten also generates less heat as it doesn't conduct heat as much as Steel.

Typically the Tungsten tips require a little more power to push through the wood than a steel chain.  Also we mainly supply Semi-Chisel chains as they are safer to use and hold their edge for much longer.  That's why professionals cutting hardwood use round edged chains.  Yes you can request Full Chisel chains from us.

When the chain becomes blunt it will continue to cut without generating much heat - that's Tungsten. Then (sorry to alarm you, but) what will happen is that cutters will start breaking off the chain - often at the steel below the Tungsten Tip.  This is not a fault, this is reality.   

Ways to deal with this reality.

No sharpen method:
We started this company to promote this method so that those that choose to never have to sharpen a chain again!  Thanks ToughMax :-D 

I personally just use the chain till failure of 1/3 of the cutters.  At this point the chain starts to generate heat with the steel remaining conducting it through friction.  When the chain get's hot, and you examine it and a number of cutters are missing, it's time to replace the chain.
The cost of replacing the chain by my calculation is less than half the cost of the time you would have spent sharpening chains. 

Example: Cost of Tungsten Chain - $120.   Cost of decent Steel chain $35
Cost of sharpening steel chain is $15 or more. 10x sharpenings is $150.
Cost of Tungsten Chain $120, cost of Steel chain after sharpenings $185.
Note: Tungsten will typically cut equivalent of 10 sharpenings of a steel chain without sharpening.

Sharpen method:
This is useful for extreme scenarios such as consistently cutting Ironbark, or railway sleepers, or any other wood impregnated with abrasive material such as sand or silica dust, but takes time and requires equiptment and some skill.
Using a diamond Disc and a bench sharpener, just skim the edge of the tungsten tips.

For sharpening it's recomended to decrease the vertical angle slightly, a couple of degrees, as that will improve how long the new edge holds.  For Ironbark, thats going to be after 2-3 tankfulls of cutting.  
If you leave it too long, you will start to loose cutters.
The chain will still cut and you can grind off the cutter below the depth gauge to reduce friction.

Anyway, hope you found that helpful.

John Asnath - Founder ToughMAX.

PS.  

As the founder, I have cut aged firewood for a number of years and was sick of the wasted time and frustration of sharpening chainsaw chains.  This business was started to help wood cutters by giving them the opportunity to never have to sharpen a chain again. I personally have not sharpened a chain in 7 years.  :-D (Very happy)

As a company we work hard to develop our products to be the longest lasting, and believe in only selling the best product we can produce.  Quality is our primary concern hence the name ToughMAX.  Second best is not acceptable for us.  We only want to have the best chains and bars possible!