Thread: How good is factory chain?

Well Tony, I am waiting for an answer.....................

Originally Posted by kdhotsaw2

hello doug,
the question you posted is a interesting one. i thought i'd run a little test. first I cut with a new carlton a-2 full comp square ground chain. then i sharpened it on my square grinder and removed the gullets and cut with it, then I sharpened it on my round grinder and cut with it. I made 3 cuts with each grind and averaged the times with all three grindings.. the results will suprise you.
I cut a 15 inch wet pine and used a completely stock 385 husky with a 7 pin sprocket. no mods to the engine. the results are as follows

new stock carlton a-2 8.44 seconds

fresh square ground a-2 5.59 seconds

round ground a-2 7.12 seconds

I didnt expect to see that much of a change, especially with the round grind but those are the cutting times. when you come out in march we will have to get art to help you with your filing. can't have you running down to home depot or lowes to get your chain sharpened. there is a fellow named gypo just north of toronto that is supposed to be fairly adept at both round and square grinding. his name is little leroy lambert, you might want to call him
ken
kdhotsaw@hotmail.com

I agree that is surprising. I mostly run square these days, but I have run alot of round ground. I run mostly Stihl square because it seems a bit tougher when hittings nails and such, and in my experience the 33 or 36RSLx (Stihl L or square) cuts much faster out of the box than even well sharpened round. I may not have the touch you do on sharpening the round, though. I did it by hand for years but now when I do sharpen round I use my 510.

I agree on the quicker time on the square ground of course. With a light touch and clean wheel on my pro sharp, the cutting speed of the chain is awesome. Anyone not tried fresh square is missing out. I oould never never go back to round anymore except when I run semi chisel on really dirty stuff.

I agree on the quicker time on the square ground of course. With a light touch and clean wheel on my pro sharp, the cutting speed of the chain is awesome. Anyone not tried fresh square is missing out. I oould never never go back to round anymore except when I run semi chisel on really dirty stuff.

Your times on the Oregon make me want to try some oregon square again and compare. I've heard that is is faster but hadn't really believed it. Plus unless you order duropro or whatever it is, the oregon cutters are shorter and narrower than the Stihl. But maybe there is a method to Oregon's madness. Too bad I ordered another reel of 36RSlFK yesterday.

I could do some timings of square stihls vs square oregon both out of the box and freshly sharpened. I would only touch them up, and would leave gullets and rakers the same. Should I post any results?

Ken, is that Oregon 72CL or 72CLX your were using? I may call Madsens this morning and have them throw in a couple loops on my current order to compare.

Okay I just added to my madsens order a loop of Oregon 72 CL and a loop of Oregon 72 CLX. The x is Oregons durapro style cutter which I am told is more the bigger size of the Sithl 33RSLK (square style) cutter, and Oregon claims more durable.

So when I get them and get a chance I will do some timings. I'll practice technique a bit first with other chains to try to give them an even chance. Probably use my new 7900 just because it is fun to run, with a 28 inch bar.

I'll go two cuts each, like Ken.

Fresh out of box stihl square and each style of oregon square, CL CLX

Then touch each one up as little as need to refresh edge, leave rakers and gullets and go again.

If anyone's interested I can post the times and my visual comparison of the actual cutters out of the box. I have been meaning to compare those 3 cutters anyway.

I may or may not regrind one round as ken did. I think he must do a better job than me on round, because for me out of box square beats my round every time (with odd exceptions, of course). Or maybe I should time the round just to see how bad I am.....

For those of you that have done timings before, any other advice to make it fair?

B Turner,

Did you realize you're responding to a post that is 3 years 9mos old?

Dunno why Fish resurrected it...but I must say he's quite patient!

Chaser

Thanks for pointing that out. No I didn't notice. I still haven't fully recovered from trying to catch up with the DaPrince thread after being away from it for a week.

I'll probably still do some timings for myself with the 3 squares now that the bee's under my bonnet. I just posted a question about best wheel for my 510 (Silvery) just to give mysefl the best shot at a good time for the round chain if I decide to do it.l

THanks for the headsup, I needed that. Bill

There is no recovery from DaPrince thread...it's like the Hotel California...

And I've BTDT on responding to old posts someone resurrected as well...but better done here than to an old 'For Sale' on the trading post! (Which is quite amusing!)

Chaser

Originally Posted by B_Turner

Thanks for pointing that out. No I didn't notice. I still haven't fully recovered from trying to catch up with the DaPrince thread after being away from it for a week.

THanks for the headsup, I needed that. Bill

Since the subject matter has been lacking here lately, I thought some of the
new boys should read some meaningless drivel from the "old guard", since most of them are gone, when this site "rocked". Before the "politically correct" crowd took over, then things here got a bit lame.

Originally Posted by wagonwheeler

B Turner,

Did you realize you're responding to a post that is 3 years 9mos old?

Dunno why Fish resurrected it...but I must say he's quite patient!

Chaser

Well, I glad he brought it up. I've got a long way to go learning about round and square filling and any info is good. Now back to my Art Martin thread from 2002..........................................