Oregon quality down the pooper?

[firmwood]

I've been buying Oregon for quite some time. Maybe 15 years.

This past couple years, in my opinion, has gotten garbage lately.

Chain doesn't keep an edge after like 3 trees., and sharpens ridiculously fast on the dremel.

I pieced together some stuff from the 60s I had laying around just to get by this last week, and all I do is grind grind grind to get an edge and center hole to match next pin size. Super hard steel. Out I went and made days without sharpening.

Anyone else have this soft issue with Oregon? Alternatives?

I'm scared to buy a roll......afraid I'll get 25ft of copper or brass. Well. Not literally, but may as well be.

Sent from my s-off'ed m7 with CM11

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Nope. All we use and it works just fine. I have over 800 hrs on the Oregon bar on my processor.

Go through maybe 15-20 rolls of chain a year, never had trouble. Stihl chain I think is a bit better, but at over $400 a roll it's too rich for my wallet! We get Oregon chain for around $300 a roll.

 

[firmwood]

Well Oregon on 3 of my saws will not hold and edge.

This stihl keeps on peeling.... Maybe it was just a bad melt and cast...

Sent from my s-off'ed m7 with CM11

 

[Conquistador3]

A bad spool can always happen. It's rare, but it can happen.
Try buying a loop from another vendor, perhaps outside of your area (or locally, if you bought online) and give it a try.

 

[wde_1978]

I am using OEM Dolmar, aka. Oregon, loops almost exclusively and I am very satisfied with them.
Throughout the years I didn't notice them becoming softer.
But mine all claim Made in Canada (I think), ones made in other factories might behave different.

Example, 72DL Dolmar/Oregon round filed chisel chain, way past its half-life, powered by a Dolmar PS-7900, ate through a steel jacketed steel core 7.9mm bullet and lived to tell about it:


Didn't look to bad afterwards either.

I have 115DL Carlton loops for my 36" setup, seem softer then Oregon (just my observation, not scientifically backed).

I guess quality variations can be expected with Oregon now that Blount is in charge trying to maximize profit.

 

[firmwood]

I hope it's a bad batch of iron.

Within 3 months this Oregon I've sharpened to nothing and stone looks like new.

This old school chain makes no sparks and eats grooves in my stones!

It's possible just a batch of chain.



Sent from my s-off'ed m7 with CM11

 

[sawfun]

Oregon is pretty careful on chain quality and will pull any pallets of new chain suspected of defects before they can be shipped. Their bars however, ain't so great anymore. In 2013 I bought a new 42" Oregon bar for my 2100 Husky and it came with quite a bit of slag on the rails I had to file off.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

You can notice by hand filing that an Oregon chain is a bit softer than Stihl. It's a bit easier to sharpen an Oregon.