Better, but not best, for occasional use chain saw

[Crowbob]

For me, the best occasional-use chainsaw is my neighbor's.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by KC911

Glad it's working out for ya Steve! Usually if I hit a nail or something hard, it's time to swap chains and put that one on my bench sharpener to true it up. I don't keep spare bars... they last a long time unless they get bent. Take a look at the pic I posted earlier .... notice the top saw has Stihl upside down ... occassionally I flip the bar so it wears evenly. You do have the yellow coded chain and not the green one .... right?

Make chips and not sawdust ...

I've got two chains, but they are the stock green chains. Unfortunately they don't make it easy to be sure that you're buying the right one of the yellows. Do they not put more load on the motor?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

For me, the best occasional-use chainsaw is my neighbor's.

LOL. I think we've got three homes close enough to call neighbors. I've met the folks in one of the homes once this summer. I'd probably drive to go to visit any of them, but I could walk.

[rusnak]

Yellow chain is simply not the green "safety chain". Yeah, KC is right - the yellow chain cuts a lot faster. But with your propensity to hit nails, I don't think that matters as much.

Stihl "Moto Mix" is what you want to put in your occasional use saw. Pour the gas out of the saw if you're going to store it. You can put a shorter bar on if you have a Farm Boss or some other heavy chain and just want to cut little trees. Otherwise I don't see any need to mess with changing a bar on a occastional use saw.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by masraum

I've got two chains, but they are the stock green chains. Unfortunately they don't make it easy to be sure that you're buying the right one of the yellows. Do they not put more load on the motor?

You can thank Stihl lawyers for them only recomending their green coded "safety', or semi-chisel'd chains. Go back and read my post where I show a pic of 4 saws.... the bottom baby Echo's chain didn't come in a package ... the Stihl (and Echo) dealer "made it" from their big roll of chains .... you can see the yellow coded link on the full chisel chain. You ain't never gonna hurt your Stihl by chain choice .... prolly the inverse tho' .... full chisel just cuts better .... matters more on small displacement saws imo. Be safe with your technique, I don't cut with the tip and have never had a kick-back fwiw.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by rusnak

Yellow chain is simply not the green "safety chain". Yeah, KC is right - the yellow chain cuts a lot faster. But with your propensity to hit nails, I don't think that matters as much.

Stihl "Moto Mix" is what you want to put in your occasional use saw. Pour the gas out of the saw if you're going to store it. You can put a shorter bar on if you have a Farm Boss or some other heavy chain and just want to cut little trees. Otherwise I don't see any need to mess with changing a bar on a occastional use saw.

Normally, I don't hit nails, but the cutting that I was doing was in a tree that appeared to have been used for a treehouse.

Yes, that's the fuel that I am using. It's expensive, but it's not like I'm going through 5 gallons a week.

I wasn't thinking about changing to a different sized bar. I was just going to have an extra. They aren't expensive, and spare parts are nice to have.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by KC911

You can thank Stihl lawyers for them only recomending their green coded "safety', or semi-chisel'd chains. Go back and read my post where I show a pic of 4 saws.... the bottom baby Echo's chain didn't come in a package ... the Stihl (and Echo) dealer "made it" from their big roll of chains .... you can see the yellow coded link on the full chisel chain. You ain't never gonna hurt your Stihl by chain choice .... prolly the inverse tho' .... full chisel just cuts better .... matters more on small displacement saws imo. Be safe with your technique, I don't cut with the tip and have never had a kick-back fwiw.

Nice, OK, will do. yellow chain cuts faster and better for smaller displacement.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by masraum

Nice, OK, will do. yellow chain cuts faster and better for smaller displacement.

It does on all of them. Stihl will sell their small displacement saws (non-pro) with itty-bitty green coded chains with smaller teeth.... and some "dealers" will tell ya they can't accomodate "big boy" yellow chains with larger teeth .... they are wrong. I'm very careful, but trees in yards, and even on rural land (fences nailed to trees) can hold nails you can't see that were put there decades ago. It's rare, but it happens ....

edited: Pre-mix is absolutely the way for you to go....

But my latest Stihl back pack blower is a gas hog .... I used a gal. last Saturday

[flatbutt]

Yellow vs green is full chisel vs semi-chisel?

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Yellow vs green is full chisel vs semi-chisel?

Yep .... Oregon (makes fine stuff) doesn't usually have color codes, and sometimes calls the semi-chisel ones "camphored" .... the full chisel has a 90 degree angle on the teeth bend .... you can see the difference in the profile. It's those chains with itty-bitty teeth that you really don't want ... that's what came on my pro level 13' Stihl pole saw (10" bar) .... wasn't worth a damn.
The replacement bar wasn't cheap ... around $75 and another bit for the chain. Transformed the saw into a beast from a disappointment .

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by KC911

Yep .... Oregon (makes fine stuff) doesn't usually have color codes, and sometimes calls the semi-chisel ones "camphored" .... the full chisel has a 90 degree angle on the teeth bend .... you can see the difference in the profile. It's those chains with itty-bitty teeth that you really don't want ... that's what came on my pro level 13' Stihl pole saw (10" bar) .... wasn't worth a damn.
The replacement bar wasn't cheap ... around $75 and another bit for the chain. Transformed the saw into a beast from a disappointment .

My EGO pole saw has a 10" chain and is a very rough cut. It rips the wood rather than cuts it. It makes a kerf that looks like a bomb went off.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

My EGO pole saw has a 10" chain and is a very rough cut. It rips the wood rather than cuts it. It makes a kerf that looks like a bomb went off.

Stihl's lawyers suck . Why a "safety chain" on a 13' saw .... makes no sense whatsoever...

[lindbhr]

I’ve started using my Milwaukee 18V reciprocating saw for trimming tree limbs up to about 5” diameter with a long blade. I use the Stihl for the larger jobs. Works surprisingly well for me.