Chain pitch, gauge and file size: the figures three makers publish

This page reports what the named codes, regulators and makers say. It is not training and does not teach the work. Figures are given as each maker's page prints them, for the markets named. A different maker or edition can differ.

The courses that teach saw maintenance are covered in the guides on chainsaw tickets and the UK maintenance and crosscutting award. The words themselves are in the saws and cutting glossary.

What the makers say the terms mean

Oregon, a saw chain maker, says chain pitch is the size of the chain, worked out as the distance between any three consecutive rivets divided by two. It says the drive sprocket, and the bar nose sprocket where there is one, have the same pitch as the chain.
Oregon says chain gauge is the thickness of the drive link where it fits into the bar groove, and that it matches the gauge of the guide bar. Its page says a worn chain can be hard to measure for gauge and points to the number stamped on the drive link of the old chain.
STIHL's United Kingdom page on sharpening gives a way to work pitch out by measurement: the distance from the middle of one rivet to the middle of the next rivet but one, halved, then converted from millimetres to inches by multiplying by 0.039.
CCOHS, in its kickback fact sheet, lists matching chain and bar for exact pitch and gauge among the points that reduce the risk of kickback.

Pitch and file diameter on one maker's chart

STIHL's United Kingdom page on sharpening carries a chart that ties a code digit on the depth gauge of each cutting tooth to the chain pitch and to the diameter of the round file. The page says that if the digit is no longer legible, the pitch can be measured instead.

Code digit	Chain pitch	Round file diameter
1	1/4 inch	4.0 mm
2	.325 inch	4.8 mm
3	3/8 inch	5.2 mm
4	.404 inch	5.5 mm
6	3/8 inch Picco	4.0 mm
7	1/4 inch Picco	3.2 mm

Source: STIHL, how to sharpen a saw chain, United Kingdom, dated October 1, 2024, read October 9, 2026. The page says saw chain files have a special surface structure and are different from workshop files.

Pitch and gauge on three makers' pages

Makers are listed alphabetically. Husqvarna's United States chain pages print pitch, gauge and cutter profile for each chain. Oregon's page prints the gauges and pitches it offers. STIHL's United Kingdom guide bar and saw chain page prints gauge in millimetres in the listings of one saw chain and two guide bars.

Maker and page	Pitch	Gauge
Husqvarna, X-CUT C83 chain	3/8 inch	.050 inch
Husqvarna, X-CUT C85 chain	3/8 inch	.058 inch
Husqvarna, X-CUT S83G chain	3/8 inch	.050 inch
Husqvarna, X-CUT S35G chain	.325 inch	.058 inch
Husqvarna, X-CUT SP33G chain	.325 inch	.050 inch
Husqvarna, X-PRECISION SP21G chain	.325 inch mini	.043 inch
Oregon, saw chain identification page	1/4 inch is the smallest and 3/4 inch the largest it lists, with 3/8 inch between them	.043, .050, .058 and .063 inch
STIHL, guide bar and saw chain page	3/8 inch P for a Picco Super 3 Pro saw chain, and 3/8 inch for two Light guide bars	1.1 mm for the 3/8 inch P chain and 1.6 mm for each of the two 3/8 inch guide bars

Husqvarna's pages also list the bar lengths and drive link counts each chain is sold in.

How bars and chains are measured

Oregon says a guide bar's length is its cutting length, also called its called length: the distance from the front of the saw to the tip of the bar, rounded to the nearest inch. It says the chain's length is counted in drive links, that the count must suit the bar, and that the count appears in the chain's part number. It adds that drive link counts for one bar can differ between makers.

For what regulators say about choosing bar length, see the guide on sharpening, dull-chain signs and bar length.