If you were to walk into a chainsaw shop and ask for a 3/8, 050 chain with 72 drive links that is all that is required. Incidentally, that chain would fit a 20 inch bar on most common makes of chainsaw.
When you are buying chain, the primary criteria that is required for a shop to cut the proper chain for you or for you to find the proper pre-cut chain loop are:
Driver or drive link – the small piece of steel that rides in the guide bar and guides the chain around the bar. The number of drivers is determined by the length of the guide bar.
Gauge – the width of the drive link. Common gauges are .043, .050, .058 and .063. Again, this is obviously determined by the guide bar.
Pitch – the size of each piece of the chain. Pitch is arrived at by measuring the distance between three rivets and dividing that by half. Common pitches are .375 (commonly called 3/8), .325 and .404. This is determined by what sprockets you have on both your chainsaw and your guide bar.
A common problem that we have when a customer walks in to order chain is that they do not know what their bar and sprocket requirements are. If you are going to go into a shop looking for chain, you must make sure that you have at least the pitch and the gauge that the chainsaw requires. The shop will likely know the number of drive links that are required if you know the length of your bar but even that is not a certainty especially if you have an older saw.
Most bars do indicate what their parameters are although some can be rather arcane. If you look at your bar though, you should be able to find some indication of the three parameters that you want. Those again are number of drive links, pitch and gauge. If you have any doubt, do not hesitate to take your saw (or at least your bar) with you when you go to purchase new chain. It is much better to get what you want the first time rather than having to go back and exchange chain.
Having said all that, there is one more thing that you might be asked. Do you want full complement, semi-skip or skip chain but that is for another blog.
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