Cheaper Chain

[Guydreads]

I have also tried Forester chain and found it to hold an edge quite well, or maybe I'm just good at keeping it out of dirt??? I don't know, but it seems decent out of the box, with not a lot of vibration. I like it a lot for what it is, but still prefer Oregon.

[Al_Smith]

From my perspective Stihl RS Is a better choice for chains .It costs more but it seems to last longer .Actually it's very seldom I need to replace a chain due to the fact I must have 40-50 loops hanging on nails ready to go .I recently bought two 16" loops of .325 for the little 3 cube  saws .One Stihl one and one Oregon both from E-bay .Price $28 and $26 respectfully but those will last me 3-4 years or more .
I cut alot of little stuff like 6-8 inch wind blown dead ash .Doesn't need split but often has dirt on the bottom which will dull a chain .So it's a file every tank full which takes 5 minutes .Some say I should use semi chisel and some suggest carbide but I'll keep my chisel and just use the file more often .

[Al_Smith]

I won't mention the name but a number of years ago a one time sponsor of this forum sold a "house chain " which I think was rebranded Carlton .$10 for a 72 driver .375 chisel .You get what you paid for and it was not a bargain .I think that chain was recycled paint cans and rusty nails .The deal  right there plus they started back ordering  things and they stopped sponsoring this forum I no longer do business with them .

[barbender]

 Yeah I tried one of those chains once too Al, they were so soft I thought maybe they were copper or something😬

 I like the Stihl chain, too. It definitely holds an edge better.

 Al, educate me on a thought I've been having. The standard chain construction is an unhardened cutter, with a chrome plating. My understanding is that this is so it is soft enough to file, and the chrome forms the cutting edge. Has anyone ever made a hardened cutter, like hard enough a file can't cut it? 

 What gets me wondering this is going from sawchain to band blades. Band saw blades are hardened so the teeth are too hard to cut with a file- they need to be machine ground. Being I machine grind most of my sawchain as well, why not some hardened teeth. 

 I ask this realizing that I am prone to ideas that sound great but are actually terrible😂

[sawguy21]

How would you sharpen it in the field, it would likely require a grinder with a pricey diamond wheel. Stihl and Oregon make good chain, with frequent touch ups with a file they will last a long time and they are not expensive.

[Al_Smith]

I've found this .On Stihl chain that at least to  me is harder a less aggresive file  works better than a fast cut .I have some I bought years ago from that company I no longer purchase from but I forgot exactly what that was .Could be "save edge " ?Like a standard Oregon file it doesn't take long to get the file so clogged up and bent teeth it will not hardly cut .Who ever makes the files for Stihl seem to do better than Oregon .
Now chrome ! I have some older Oregon chain that has no chrome just blued cutters .It holds up okay So I think it has more to do with the steel alloy is used to make the chain .Carbide would be okay if you are cutting through roofing but not as well cutting standard old firewood .Besides that even if you had diamond files of some form it would take you longer to file just one cutter than an entire loop of a standard chain .
Now as usual a story .Trotted into the one Stihl dealer I use of about 5 or 6 in the area to buy a 14" loop of 3/8" pico RS for a Stihl 200T .The counter lady,a teenager tried to sell me a loop of carbide .The owner over  heard the conversation and broke out in laughter .He said in quiet conversation ,hon that guy can file a chain faster than we could grind one , he knows me very well .

[Old Greenhorn]

I'll weigh in here just to say this" All (reputable) saw chain teeth are heat treated. It's something manufacturers don't talk about because they keep their processes close to the vest on that technique. Almost for certain there are two different heat treats on each cutter tooth, one for the top plate and one for the link section.
 When I work in industrial fasteners we have plants that made millions of pop rivets. Most folks don't know that a (quality) pop rivet has two or three different heat treat values in the pin itself. The end that gets gripped is pretty hard, as it the opposite ends, while the section that is intended to be the break point has a very different hardness so it always breaks in the spot spot and under the right load.
 The pins were dumped in a shaker hopper that  lined them all up and dropped them in a hanging conveyor by the head, they would traveled at a fairly good speed and each heat treating element, either inductive or pinpoint torch tip would hit each pin at the right spot as it went by. This system would do more pins in a minute than I could count. I would imagine they do something similar with saw chain teeth.
 Steel alloy selection for such teeth would also likely be considered proprietary by most. It's complicated. Softer malleable steel is required to do the stamping process without forming cracks, but that material state is much too soft for a cutting edge, so they need to be annealed to remove stamping stresses, then heat treated at at least to tooth area to hold an edge. How much to do each is always the question and when a compnay figures it out, they are unlikely to share it.

[barbender]

 I didn't mean to suggest that the chains aren't heat treated. Like OG says, there is probably a lot of different heat treating values in play. 

 We accept without much fuss that we can't hand file a bandsaw blade because the teeth are hardened to beyond what a file can cut. I'd just like a saw chain that the teeth are heat treated to the same hardness. I don't care if I can touch them up in the field, I can just swap another chain on.

 I guess I could just get heavy handed with the grinder and blue the teeth on a whole chain and try it out😁

[Greenhighlander]

I will throw my un professional 2 cents in .   Most of my life Stihl was known as the superior chain. I have now used Stihl , Oregon , and husky xcut.    
IMHO the Husky X cut is the best bang for your buck. They aren't that much different then Stihl chains and almost half the price. 
As for Oregon , after trying several of their chains , I have nothing good to say about them. They shouldn't even be considered cheap seeing as how you go through a chain way faster. Soft garbage is the best way I can think of summing their chains up.   
  

[esteadle]

Stihls website has a chain guide and if you dig far enough, you can find Duro branded chains that are hardened as you describe. Needs diamond grinding to sharpen. Will resist wear and hitting dirt, etc. example

OILOMATIC® STIHL PICCO™ Duro 3 (PD3)

Your dealer may not have them, so ask them to order them for you. Be prepared with higher denomination bills because these things are expensive.

Having run this chain, it will do as it says and last longer than a regular chain. 3x? maybe. 4x? Not really. 

But, I'm not sure if it really ends up saving time, because cutting with a slightly dull chain is still cutting with a dull chain. One gets the itch to file.

Again they are expensive. If you are laying down the cash, maybe consider buying into a bulk roll and making your own loops? The trick is counting drive links. ;-)

[Magicman]

I knew q guy that bought one.  He said no, never again.  Too expensive plus as was just mentioned, slightly dull is still dull and sharpening was not an easy task.

[Hilltop366]

I just bought a Stihl chain for my MS261 e/w an 18" bar and it was ~$37.00.

I pay around $20 cdn for a Stihl chain for my 261 / 16" bar.

The dealer is a 40 min drive away but I enjoy the drive and get to have a short visit with a old friend/ classmate.

So last weekend I was near his cottage and he always says to stop by so I did, we were talking about business stuff so I asked him why he gives people such a good deal on chain. He said " I could charge more for chain and sell less chain and make the same amount of money on chain OR give a good deal on chain and sell more chain make the same amount of money on chain but have a lot more traffic in the shop and while people are in the shop they buy other stuff like mix oil, chain oil, files, safety gear, saws.... so I end up making more money and now I sell enough chain that I probably make more money on chain too.

He was naming off places that people come from to get chain some were an hour and a half drive away so it seems to work.

[Magicman]

That is a good business strategy. 

[lxskllr]

That's more or less what I do. I drive a long distance and pass many stihl dealers on the way to the dealer I like. His prices are great, it's a real sawshop and not a lawn and garden center, and he's a nice knowledgeable guy. Also, though it's a long drive, it's pleasant. The locals would have to step up their game faaar above what they're doing now(not gonna happen) to get me to shop around here.

[barbender]

All of the Stihl Duro chain I looked at, is carbide.

[Greenhighlander]

I just bought a Stihl chain for my MS261 e/w an 18" bar and it was ~$37.00.

I pay around $20 cdn for a Stihl chain for my 261 / 16" bar.

The dealer is a 40 min drive away but I enjoy the drive and get to have a short visit with a old friend/ classmate.

So last weekend I was near his cottage and he always says to stop by so I did, we were talking about business stuff so I asked him why he gives people such a good deal on chain. He said " I could charge more for chain and sell less chain and make the same amount of money on chain OR give a good deal on chain and sell more chain make the same amount of money on chain but have a lot more traffic in the shop and while people are in the shop they buy other stuff like mix oil, chain oil, files, safety gear, saws.... so I end up making more money and now I sell enough chain that I probably make more money on chain too.

He was naming off places that people come from to get chain some were an hour and a half drive away so it seems to work.

Holy cow that is a great price.   Last time I bought two 18" stihl chains it came to $52 cdn for each one. 

[thecfarm]

Yes it is a good price.
I pay about $32 each for a sthil chain.