Stihl Chain vs. Oregon

[gallegosmike]

I don't notice much difference at all, in the green and clean birch I usually cut, and my touch-up habits......

Look back at post #27.

The cost advantage of woodland pro chains makes hard to justifie buying stihl chains. I have got about the same amount of usable life out of woodland pro chains as stihl chains.

I do not cut in clean conditions! For you guys that do cut in clean conditions. Oregon chains might be okay for you and hold a edge longer then for me.

I cut really dirty and nasty stuff that eats oregon chains for dinner. What ever oregon is making their chains out is just plain poor quality metal. I am not a fan of anything stihl. But they sure make some great chains, that FOR ME locally cost too much for what you get! Depending on the saw shop, there is a 40% to 50% price difference over woodland pro chain. There is only one local place that sells carlton chain (napa) and they cost more then stihl chains.

I am envious of you guys that have access to nice and clean trees! Either I am cutting green pinon pine or juniper. The pinon pine I cut is covered with coarse sandy grit and the juniper has silica impregnated bark with nice coarse sandy grit coating. That junk eats up soft chains and nose sprockets.

Take a brand new chain a place is on it's side. You'll notice that there is very little sag. After cutting UNDER MY conditions. I can see up to 1/2 inch sag(on a 20" chain)or more after 3/4 cord cut. The grit and silica gets between the tie strap, driver and pre-set. And wears down the metal on oregon chains really fast. Stihl and woodland pro chains being of a harder metal or finished with a harder coating. Those(Stihl & woodland pro) chains don't exhibit the kind of wear patterns. The sag on the chains when sides is minimal compared to oregon.

For me, oregon chain is a waste of money and time! I wish that they made better chain! I hope oregon buying out carlton doesn't hurt the quality of their chains!

My .02

Mike

 

[gallegosmike]

Just as a side note:

As of right now it costs $23.95(plus 7.0% tax) for a 20" 72 driver Stihl RSC chain.

A Woodland Pro 20" 72 driver RC chain cost $14.95 with no tax but shipping a charge.

Factor in the cost of me driving to town and that saves me on the shipping charges.

3x stihl RSC @ $23.95 = $71.85 + 7% tax
= $76.87

5x woodland pro RC @ $14.95 = $74.75

And yes, I do keep track of all my chainsaw related expenses down to the penny!

OCD / Anal Retentive Penny Pincher

My .02

Mike

 

[Bubbles Up]

Just as a side note:

<<snip>>

And yes, I do keep track of all my chainsaw related expenses down to the penny!

OCD / Anal Retentive Penny Pincher

My .02

Mike

Since you added your .02 I take it you added that to the tally! LOL!!!



rep sent!

 

[smilin possum]

We got 47 saws and they have Stihl chain on um or they'd stay to the house. We tried it all and the Stihl half skip last longer stays sharper longer and out cuts anything we ever ran before. So all of um from the picco .325 3/8 to 404 it's all Stihl here.

 

[Mad Professor]

Just as a side note:

As of right now it costs $23.95(plus 7.0% tax) for a 20" 72 driver Stihl RSC chain.

A Woodland Pro 20" 72 driver RC chain cost $14.95 with no tax but shipping a charge.

Factor in the cost of me driving to town and that saves me on the shipping charges.

3x stihl RSC @ $23.95 = $71.85 + 7% tax
= $76.87

5x woodland pro RC @ $14.95 = $74.75

And yes, I do keep track of all my chainsaw related expenses down to the penny!

OCD / Anal Retentive Penny Pincher

My .02

Mike

So is FIVE Stihl chains delived for $75 a better deal?

 

[epicklein22]

Nobody has a problem with Stihl chain having too much angle? It drives me nuts not being able to use the witness marks. Stihl chain is really nice once you get a good edge, but it takes a while to attain.

Oregon LGX has less angle, achieves an edge easily and is not hard to reattain if you hit something. So I feel Oregon is a better all around work chain, but if I had to pick one chain to run on my own personal saw, it is still Stihl.

 

[fields_mj]

Nobody has a problem with Stihl chain having too much angle? It drives me nuts not being able to use the witness marks. Stihl chain is really nice once you get a good edge, but it takes a while to attain.

Oregon LGX has less angle, achieves an edge easily and is not hard to reattain if you hit something. So I feel Oregon is a better all around work chain, but if I had to pick one chain to run on my own personal saw, it is still Stihl.

Not sure what you're referring too by more or less angle. I sharpen all of my chains to 30 degrees. I use the Stihl file guide that clamps onto your file to help me keep the depth of the file correct, and it has 30 degree witness lines. Just started useing that this summer, and it has helped me do a lot better job touching up the chain. Prior to that, I did it free hand and tried to use the angles on my handle as a gauge. Did pretty good with that, but I found that I wasn't always pushing on the file in the same way causing the depth of the file to change.

On the two bigger saws, I generally knock the drag links down a little too. Makes it hard to do any limbing with those chains becasue they really like to grab a hold of the wood, especially on small stuff. I keep a chipper chain in the tool box to use in those cases. Since the saws generally have a lot of power for their bar length, I think it helps them take bigger bites out of the wood. Never timed it though.

 

[SawTroll]

Nobody has a problem with Stihl chain having too much angle? It drives me nuts not being able to use the witness marks. Stihl chain is really nice once you get a good edge, but it takes a while to attain.

Oregon LGX has less angle, achieves an edge easily and is not hard to reattain if you hit something. So I feel Oregon is a better all around work chain, but if I had to pick one chain to run on my own personal saw, it is still Stihl.

No, just use a file handle with an angle indicator, or use some "kentucky windage" related to the indicator line - it is precise enough for everyday filing!

I prefere my chain to have that line, but often file Oregon chain at 30 degrees.....

 

[MCW]

I won't get into a "which chain" is better argument as to be honest, many experienced people have varying opinions. I do have some objection to people saying "Stihl is the best, you can't buy better" or "Carlton is awesome" etc etc.

I will say this (this is in my experience with mainly dirty, abrasive wood)...

In Full Chisel I will rate RSC slightly ahead of LGX but only a slight wear advantage to the Stihl. I do not rate Carlton/Windsor very well in Full Chisel although both can be made to cut well however it takes a bit of work.

In semi chisel however (which I mainly use) I rate Windsor and Carlton basically equal in 3/8" with Carlton edging out Windsor in .404"

Stihl in 3/8" semi chisel is OK and can be made to cut as fast as the others however I have never found it to wear as well as the Carlton or Windsor. Due to it's far higher pricing in Australia (apart from the odd Stihl dealer - thanks Stihlman441 ) I find it too far out of the price loop to consider. For me to buy Stihl semi chisel it would have to be cheaper than Carlton.

I don't use .325" chain and sell very little of it.

In 3/8"LP Carlton is the best and this is also supported by a few of the pruning contractors I supply after their switch from Stihl 3/8"LP.

 

[bsheldon]

Forgive my ignorance

but... I see many guys lump carlton and windsor chain together in their comparisons. Are they made by the same company? They appear totally seperate by their websites. Is one superior to the other. My dealer swears by Windsor.

Also, On carlton's website I do not see an LP listed--there is a EP and an LM. Am I missing something?

 

[fields_mj]

I do not rate Carlton/Windsor very well in Full Chisel although both can be made to cut well however it takes a bit of work.

I'm curious what it is that you do to a chain to make it cut well? There are a few things that I generally do, but I don't cut near as much as a lot of the guys on here. So it's good to get some information from guys who cut a lot and have more hands on experience.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[SawTroll]

but... I see many guys lump carlton and windsor chain together in their comparisons. Are they made by the same company? They appear totally seperate by their websites. Is one superior to the other. My dealer swears by Windsor.

Also, On carlton's website I do not see an LP listed--there is a EP and an LM. Am I missing something?

Probably because they are the "off-brands". :biggrinbounce2:

They sure aren't "the same", but may be in the future (Oregon or Blount owns both by now).

 

[bsheldon]

Probably because they are the "off-brands". :biggrinbounce2:

They sure aren't "the same", but may be in the future (Oregon or Blount owns both by now).

Gotcha--They are both the "others." kind of like saying there is Ford, Chevy, Chrysler and then the "imports" lumping all of them together. Thanks.

I had never used Windsor before--I always bought Oregon for my old saw as that is what my dealer carried and never really had any complaints. I have used Stihl on several saws--including my own and I did feel it stayed sharper longer. Again, my local dealer swears by Windsor and gave me two loops with my new 5105. It was vastly superior to the Dolmar chain that came with it, but that is all I have run on my new saw and I didn't know much about it. Honestly, I had never seen a loop of it until he handed them to me. It doesn't seem to get mentioned much and a search in here didn't return a whole lot. So, I really still don't know how it stacks up. I don't need a 4th chain for my new saw--I have survived the last 5 or so years with 3 on my old saw, but I may just break down and buck up for a loop of RSC just to see.

 

[SawTroll]

Gotcha--They are both the "others." kind of like saying there is Ford, Chevy, Chrysler and then the "imports" lumping all of them together. Thanks. .....

...or like bringing Dolmar and Solo, or Shinny and Echo, into a thread about Husky and Stihl.......:biggrinbounce2:

 

[gallegosmike]

So is FIVE Stihl chains delived for $75 a better deal?

If you could find a dealer that would sell five stihl chains that cheap. It would be on hell of a deal! Right now baileys has the best price for chains hands down.

Mike

 

[NBailey]

but... I see many guys lump carlton and windsor chain together in their comparisons. Are they made by the same company? They appear totally seperate by their websites. Is one superior to the other. My dealer swears by Windsor.

Also, On carlton's website I do not see an LP listed--there is a EP and an LM. Am I missing something?

As of very recently, all Windsor is made in the old Carlton factory, except the low profile, which is made in the Oregon factory. So going forward, all Windsor branded chain and Carlton branded chain (except 3/8" lo pro) will be essentially the same.

 

[MCW]

I'm curious what it is that you do to a chain to make it cut well? There are a few things that I generally do, but I don't cut near as much as a lot of the guys on here. So it's good to get some information from guys who cut a lot and have more hands on experience.

Thanks,
Mark

Well to be honest there isn't much in it. It does depend on how powerful your saw is too. On more powerful saws (like most of mine) simply dropping the rakers further than a File-O-Plate says they should be helps. A few things I do when sharpening chains is simply to make them wear better and actually won't help speed - such as less cutter angle and less hook.

 

[SawTroll]

these Stihl/Oregon chain threads all end up the same anyways: buy some Carlton! (WoodlandPro).

From my admittedly limited experience with Carlton, I wouldn't buy another one, even if they were cheap!

The 3/8" chisel one I have cuts decently, but it still is somewhat lacking in other respects - the .325 semi-chisel one I got are is very slow.

 

[MCW]

but... I see many guys lump carlton and windsor chain together in their comparisons. Are they made by the same company? They appear totally seperate by their websites. Is one superior to the other. My dealer swears by Windsor.

Also, On carlton's website I do not see an LP listed--there is a EP and an LM. Am I missing something?

The reason I lumped Carlton and Windsor together is not only because of their association now with Blount, but because not many people use it - in all the time I've spent on this site I only really know of little old me that has used any great amount of it and I've given it a fair workout in dirty timber and it's held up well. Windsor chain had an excellent reputation 20-30 years ago amongst firewood cutters in this area - the concern being that with Blount buying them out that they may lose their individuality and just become one of the crowd. Their semi chisel is excellent chain and in 3/8" I rate it "slightly" above Carlton but there really is nothing in it.
The 3/8"LP I referred to is 3/8" Low Profile like that used on the smaller saws.

 

[Brushwacker]

15 - 20 years ago I used a fair amount of Windsor. Back then it was soft but it held an edge pretty good I thought. You could tell it was soft because it sharpened very easy and was significantly easiar to break with a chain breaker. Even Oregon felt harder. I bought a 25' roll labled Sandvik-Windsor about 6 years ago that seemed harder and held an edge very good. Not sure what to expect from the newest generation of Windsor.
I like Stihl chain the best and a majority of the tree services I am familiar with usually don't care to buy anything else because they feel it holds an edge significantly better. I don't feel it always is a lot better holding an edge but some. It is sharp out of the box and stretches less then Oregon. I would like Carlton a lot better if it had the line for a file guide. I also think 20 years ago Oregon chain may have been harder then it is presently as it does definately seem to break easiar with a breaker then it used to and it feels softer sharpening then I remember.
If you would see my chain stockpile , it is mixed. I look for good prices where ever I can find them on any good chain. I don't mind paying 10 to 20% more for Stihl chain with the exception of the 3/8 lp. Carlton does have some good 3/8 lp chain.