I'm new here, so sorry if this is common sense to most of you. BTW, this is an awesome site, my son the hobby sawmiller is going to love this. Anyway, to get to the point, he recently purchased a Stihl MS390 and has a ripchain he's already worn down. Had it sharpened today. We were thinking of buying a couple more chains but have learned on here about rolls of chain. Is that the better way to go in the long haul, and if so, is there somewhere online to buy it that way? We are running a RSLFK 84 skip chain. Thanks all!
chain by the foot?
- Thread starter dnyelator
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Try Bailey's: http://www.baileysonline.com
Unless you go through a lot of chain, it might be cheaper to have them make you some loops, it usually only costs 20 some cents per drive link. Buying by the reel is probably cheaper in the long run, but for me at least, it would be a really long run before I used one up. I think there is something like 1640 drive links in a 250' reel of .375 chain. That's a lot of smaller loops.
Have fun!
--lionrider
Unless you go through a lot of chain, it might be cheaper to have them make you some loops, it usually only costs 20 some cents per drive link. Buying by the reel is probably cheaper in the long run, but for me at least, it would be a really long run before I used one up. I think there is something like 1640 drive links in a 250' reel of .375 chain. That's a lot of smaller loops.
Have fun!
--lionrider
100' roll makes around 15-16 32" chains. If you run longer bars by the roll is the way to go if you cut a lot. 32" chains come out to $15 dollars a pop for stihl chain unless your dealer takes ya to the cleaners on roll price.
MCW
Somebody's talking crap here & it ain't the tree!
I think you may have meant 100' not 250'.
Buying in bulk is definately cheaper but then you need breakers, spinners etc (unless you go the small field units).
You also need to use a lot of chain - its OK for me, I sell the stuff
biggenius29
Addicted to ArboristSite
You are on the West Coast. My dealer wants $500 for a roll of Stihl chain. I talked to Maddisons and they want around $260 (or $360, I forgot, I thought 260.) The only problem they cant ship Stihl stuff.
Great info, thanks everyone for the replies. So do most of you sharpen your own? I've sharpened my crosscut a few times with a dremel, but don't want to mess up the skip chain, so I paid $10 to have it sharpened yesterday. If I knew I could do it myself without messing it up, I'd give it a shot.
You have a PM.
Hi again,
don't know why I was thinking 250' when I've never seen anything but a 100' reel of saw chain.
Sharpening your own chain is quite straightforward. Get the appropriate sized round file, a depth gage and flat file to keep the rakers at the right depth, and go for it. I learned to sharpen by hand in the woods working for the forest service, and I tended to sharpen one side of the chain to a different cutter angle than the other side. Still seemed to cut pretty good, though. You won't regret learning to do it yourself.
Good luck,
--lionrider
don't know why I was thinking 250' when I've never seen anything but a 100' reel of saw chain.
Sharpening your own chain is quite straightforward. Get the appropriate sized round file, a depth gage and flat file to keep the rakers at the right depth, and go for it. I learned to sharpen by hand in the woods working for the forest service, and I tended to sharpen one side of the chain to a different cutter angle than the other side. Still seemed to cut pretty good, though. You won't regret learning to do it yourself.
Good luck,
--lionrider
That would be 260 wich is 22 bucks more than last year.
You can't go wrong with Madsen's. I buy spools of full skip, never tried rip but I might when I get back.
biggenius29
Addicted to ArboristSite
How close do you live to them???? :bringit:
An hour was just there tuesday.
