I've been very happy with my Woodland Pro/Carlton chain but thought I would pick up a loop of Stihl today and see what all the fuss is about. $24 for a 20" loop compared to $15 for Woodland Pro. I think I'll stick with WP. 
opcorn:
opcorn:
Stihl is certainly proud of their chain
- Thread starter wendell
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I've been very happy with my Woodland Pro/Carlton chain but thought I would pick up a loop of Stihl today and see what all the fuss is about. $24 for a 20" loop compared to $15 for Woodland Pro. I think I'll stick with WP.
thats a helluva deal thats below MSRP
opcorn:
biggenius29
Addicted to ArboristSite
Wait till you start pricing out rolls of chain.
My dealers are asking $500 for a 100' roll of 3/8. I can get a 100' roll from Baileys for $150 of WP. Guess what chain I have in a roll.... Yea, Stihl chain is good, but not 2x better than anything else.
My dealers are asking $500 for a 100' roll of 3/8. I can get a 100' roll from Baileys for $150 of WP. Guess what chain I have in a roll.... Yea, Stihl chain is good, but not 2x better than anything else.
TommySaw
ArboristSite Guru
I hear ya but try it out anyway cuz it is really good and does last, less stretching for sure.
Could be worse. I didn't know any better the first chain I bought. $0.50 per link. 18" 0.325 Stihl RSC chain for $37 +tax!!!
SpaayDawg
ArboristSite Operative
Loops of Stihl chain around here are alittle over $1/bar in. $24 sounds reasonable. I've got all Stihl chain, but a couple loops of Carlton that I picked up from a rummage sale with one of my saws. Maybe it's just in my head when I put that Carlton on but it sure seems to stretch alot, and it seems to get dull faster too. I'll tell ya what though, that Carlton is the first chain I put on when I see barbed-wire anywhere near the tree I'm cutting down!
I like the woodland pro...
The Woodland Pro is a good decent chain for the price...I mill alot and I bought a few premade loops frm Baileys to change out in the woods when one gets dull,,or if I hit something in the cut,,and instead of havin to stop and sharpen, I just change it out to save time and sharpen after the days end,,,but with a Stihl chain...For the money they are worth it to me to just use it for felling and buckin and limbing...I can tell the diffrence when you trow a file into it to sharpen ...Just a harder chain....
I've been very happy with my Woodland Pro/Carlton chain but thought I would pick up a loop of Stihl today and see what all the fuss is about. $24 for a 20" loop compared to $15 for Woodland Pro. I think I'll stick with WP.
The Woodland Pro is a good decent chain for the price...I mill alot and I bought a few premade loops frm Baileys to change out in the woods when one gets dull,,or if I hit something in the cut,,and instead of havin to stop and sharpen, I just change it out to save time and sharpen after the days end,,,but with a Stihl chain...For the money they are worth it to me to just use it for felling and buckin and limbing...I can tell the diffrence when you trow a file into it to sharpen ...Just a harder chain....
2000ssm6
Stihl User
Might be high to ya but don't ever try one or you will going back to pick up a few loops.
2000ssm6
Stihl User
It's not in your head, that is what makes the Stihl chain superior to others.
I see a little bit of stretch in the first few minutes but nothing after that. For 80% less, that doesn't seem to be too much of an inconvenience.
oldsaw
"Been There, Milled That"
80% of the chain I have is Carlton/WP I have a couple loops of Oregon, the rest Stihl. Yes, the Stihl chain is less prone to stretching and may stay sharp a bit longer, but I can't really justify the price. And the stretching thing really only covers the first couple of sharpenings.
SpaayDawg
ArboristSite Operative
Convenience
I don't know where you're getting the your chain, but the box stores around me don't have the lengths I need in the pitch/gauge I need either. So convenience for me is being able to run to my dealer that I know will have loops on the shelf or waiting just a few minutes for him to cut one from a reel. Yeah, it does cost more up front.
I have been eying up those bar/chain combos at Bailey's for awhile though, maybe the 041"magnum" I'm currently creating could use a 24" b/c combo. Then I'd definitely entertain the idea of some WP chain.
I don't know where you're getting the your chain, but the box stores around me don't have the lengths I need in the pitch/gauge I need either. So convenience for me is being able to run to my dealer that I know will have loops on the shelf or waiting just a few minutes for him to cut one from a reel. Yeah, it does cost more up front.
I have been eying up those bar/chain combos at Bailey's for awhile though, maybe the 041"magnum" I'm currently creating could use a 24" b/c combo. Then I'd definitely entertain the idea of some WP chain.
tdi-rick
Addicted to ArboristSite
If you read my "report" it said there was very little between oregon/stihl/carlton, and for all practical purposes they were the same. Based on what I measured so far I would have to increase the measurement sample size considerably to try to differentiate between all 3. These are the realities of measuring real materials. (but also see problem below)
It was done with a bog standard Vickers Hardness indenter. Diamond Point - RC hardness range. the instrument was calibrated using an NIST standard so these are pretty reliable results.
That is a definite problem. I tested both the chromed and unchromed sufraces and there is no difference between them. But as the diamond indenter is bigger than the thickness of the chrome, it is almost certainly just measuring the hardness of the steel and not the chrome so there could be small differences in the chrome that I have not picked up. Measuring this is a lot trickier and would actually require a bigger more solid piece of chrome from the chain manufacturers.
Besides we don't really care about hardness, what we care about is;
a) How sharp an edge can be generated (carbon steels form very sharpest edges but lose sharpness quickly because they are brittle)
b) How long that edge holds up (that's related more to short and long term toughness which is different from hardness)
c) How easily that edge is reformed (how easily is it to sharpen, eg carbide chains are very hard to resharpen)
These are not something that can be "tested" with a specific machine(s) but is best done by timed cuts in real wood. I have 3 Stihl and 6 Carlton chains that I use on my mill and cannot differentiate between the initial cutting speeds obtained with freshly sharpened stihl or carlton chain. I mill slabs in biggish (30"+) aussie (ie very) hardwood and if I get an 8"/minute initial cutting speed with my 076, I figure that I'm doing well. The limiting step in initial cutting speed is not the brand of chain but how carefully and consistently I can sharpen. This is as good as one can probably measure a)
b) can be assessed by comparing the initial cutting speed with the final cutting speed, ie speed towards the end of cutting +8' long slab, since it will indirectly tell you how much of the edge has worn off during the cutting. If I start with an initial 8"/min and get 6"/min as a final speed I consider that very good going, but sometimes I get final speeds as low as 4" or even 3"/min. On softer hardwoods I cannot tell the difference between the initial and final speeds for the two brands of chains since I reckon the final cutting speed is influenced more by how careful and consistently I can sharpen and set rakers to begin with. However, on really hard wood the final cutting speeds are generally higher when using the Carlton chains. I now rarely let my cutting speeds drop below 4"/min even on the widest slabs. On wider and longer slabs ( eg 45" wide 12' long) sometimes the wood is so hard, I pull the saw out and touch up half way through a slab. Somewhere I read where someone was cutting 5ft wide x 16 ft long Aussie hardwood slabs and they were sharpening up 3 times during one slab.
c) is somewhat irrelevant since I don't find either brand of chain hard to sharpen
from here http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=97921&highlight=hardness&page=2
I've been very happy with my Woodland Pro/Carlton chain but thought I would pick up a loop of Stihl today and see what all the fuss is about. $24 for a 20" loop compared to $15 for Woodland Pro. I think I'll stick with WP.
I hate wood land slow chain.
HorseShoeInFork
ArboristSite Operative
$24 sounds about right around here.
wigglesworth
Booned
The only place I buy stihl chain is on the Ebay. I can get two 24" loops usually for under $40.
amateur cutter
ArboristSite Operative
I have had similar exp. to most, I like the Stihl chain as well. I bought 2 20" loops of 3/8 .50 from my dealer this week for $ 33.67. First one is full price, 2nd is 1/2 off. That's been his standard for a few years now. A decent deal I think.
Headed out cuttin now. Have a good day.
garyischofield
ArboristSite Operative
stihl chain for professionals?
In the37 years of being in the logging/landclearing business,I've seen very little stihl chain used.Most good cutters I know sharpen every other tank of gas or more often depending on conditions.Having production as first priority,a less than optimal cutting chain isn't tolerated for long unless conditions are so bad that sharpening is a waste of time.It's surprising to see how much every other expense has increased by multiples while saw chain has gone up very little since I started cutting in 1973.Used a lot of brands that are long since gone.Oregons my brand .
In the37 years of being in the logging/landclearing business,I've seen very little stihl chain used.Most good cutters I know sharpen every other tank of gas or more often depending on conditions.Having production as first priority,a less than optimal cutting chain isn't tolerated for long unless conditions are so bad that sharpening is a waste of time.It's surprising to see how much every other expense has increased by multiples while saw chain has gone up very little since I started cutting in 1973.Used a lot of brands that are long since gone.Oregons my brand .
