# The Best Chains??



## BikeMedic2709 (Sep 24, 2006)

OK. Is there a brand of chain you prefer?


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## suematteva (Sep 24, 2006)

Bike,

we talking saw chain?  Either Oregon or Carlton..do not think I have had a carlton in the last couple...


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## BikeMedic2709 (Sep 24, 2006)

Yes. Chainsaw chain. 
I've always had Oregon, but have looked at Carolton and others. Just curious as to wether anyone has one they swear by. I know Bailys carries several brands.


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## Roospike (Sep 24, 2006)

Stihl . I like the extra hardness of Stihl chain. I'm a full chisel , hard chain kinda guy .


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## ourhouse (Sep 25, 2006)

Oregon or Sthil are the best hands down. And I have run them all. But thats my opinion.


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## BikeMedic2709 (Sep 25, 2006)

Looks like I will stick with the Oregon chain or the Husqvarna. (I know they make it for Husky anyway.) It is really what is the cheapest when I need it. I've been curious about the chains that Baileys is marketing as the best chain. It is alot cheaper. Has anyone had any experience with this saw chain?


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## ourhouse (Sep 25, 2006)

If it's the woodsman pro brand you'r talking about, It works pretty good. It's close to Oregon.JMO.


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## BikeMedic2709 (Sep 25, 2006)

Yeah! Thats it. Woodsman Pro. It seems to be less expensive than Oregon, per loop. But I have always worried about the quaility. I think I might try it.


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## ourhouse (Sep 26, 2006)

We tried a couple hundred feet of it at work. It worked good. You'll be alright with it.


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## wg_bent (Sep 26, 2006)

I replaced the original Oregon chain from my Husky 136 with an Stihl.  Stihl cuts a lot faster and the saw struggles less.  Important for a saw that small.


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## Sandor (Sep 27, 2006)

I use a Stihl full Chisel. 

(Can't forget the MaxiPad in the sawcase!)


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## Roospike (Sep 27, 2006)

Sandor said:
			
		

> I use a Stihl full Chisel.
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> (Can't forget the MaxiPad in the sawcase!)


 ;-) and Duck tape.


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## NWfuel (Sep 27, 2006)

Stihl full chisel skip tooth lowered rakes.
Thomas


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## Roospike (Sep 27, 2006)

NW Fuels said:
			
		

> Stihl full chisel skip tooth lowered rakes.
> Thomas


Skip tooth ? how big a wood ya cutting there ? I normally dount use a skip tooth until i whip out a 36" - 42" bar in real hard wood.


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## NWfuel (Sep 27, 2006)

Alot of our Maple is 2-3 foot across. 28" bars. We have been ordering rolls of it for 29 years now. Never thought of changing.
Thomas


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## Roospike (Sep 27, 2006)

NW Fuels said:
			
		

> Alot of our Maple is 2-3 foot across. 28" bars. We have been ordering rolls of it for 29 years now. Never thought of changing.
> Thomas


Yeah ........ Thats a good call.


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## Yogi (Sep 27, 2006)

I just get what is available at Walmart, use my chians until they are dull, then just buy a new one, my wild thing runs just fine that way for me.


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## Roospike (Sep 27, 2006)

He said "wild thing"  The king of saws ! 42cc The prince ! 40cc


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## Yogi (Sep 27, 2006)

I love my wild thing, that is the best saw ever made I have no idea why you would ever need a saw bigger than this beast of a saw


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## Roospike (Sep 27, 2006)

Yogi said:
			
		

> I love my wild thing, that is the best saw ever made I have no idea why you would ever need a saw bigger than this beast of a saw


Well there ya go ......My gift to you ! You can have my picture for your Avatar . Welcome to the tribe.


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## DonCT (Sep 27, 2006)

Roo, you have a new job. Official Forum Avitar Makerupper


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## Roospike (Sep 27, 2006)

DonCT said:
			
		

> Roo, you have a new job. Official Forum Avitar Makerupper


LOL  :cheese:


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## Yogi (Sep 27, 2006)

Well thank you for the warm welcome Roo, and the avatar I will use it proudly!!


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## Roospike (Sep 27, 2006)

Yogi said:
			
		

> Well thank you for the warm welcome Roo, and the avatar I will use it proudly!!


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## bobo (Sep 27, 2006)

Yogi said:
			
		

> Well thank you for the warm welcome Roo, and the avatar I will use it proudly!!



Nice avatar there Yogi.


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## Yogi (Sep 27, 2006)

bobo said:
			
		

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Wel thank you, thank you very much ther bobo, get out in the wood there much bobo?


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## Yogi (Sep 27, 2006)

BTW there bobo: 3120xp, what is that? is that some fancy Canadian motor cycle?


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## Roospike (Sep 27, 2006)

I think when bobo walks out in the woods ..ALL THE TREES JUST GIVE UP AND FALL DOWN !


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## bobo (Sep 27, 2006)

Roospike said:
			
		

> I think when bobo walks out in the woodS ..ALL THE TREES JUST GIVE UP AND FALL DOWN !



Wish it were that easy.


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## BrotherBart (Sep 27, 2006)

Whoa! Another Poulan man. Old Yaller the 405+ Poulan Pro and his little brother the Woodshark 1975 say welcome to Huskey and Stihl land!

And by the way, my favorite chain is the sharp one.


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## bobo (Sep 27, 2006)

I use 3/8 and  404 chain


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## BrotherBart (Sep 27, 2006)

bobo said:
			
		

> I use 3/8 and  404 chain



Heck Bobo, if ya wanted a Stihl chain, they come on Stihl saws as standard equipment.


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## Yogi (Sep 27, 2006)

BrotherBart said:
			
		

> Whoa! Another Poulan man. Old Yaller the 405+ Poulan Pro and his little brother the Woodshark 1975 say welcome to Huskey and Stihl land!
> 
> And by the way, my favorite chain is the sharp one.




Well, again, thank you all again for the warm welcome to the site, been reading about stoves for a while now, just ai'nt played with the saws to much, my wild thing rocks! Expecially after my little Homelite Ranger died.


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## Yogi (Sep 27, 2006)

404, what kinda saw is that bobo?


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## bobo (Sep 27, 2006)

BrotherBart said:
			
		

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I use Stihl chain on my Huskys and my Stihl's.


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## BrotherBart (Sep 27, 2006)

bobo said:
			
		

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From what I am hearing here I am going to have to try one. This last couple of redesigned Oregon chains have been a PITA.


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## bobo (Sep 27, 2006)

Yogi said:
			
		

> 404, what kinda saw is that bobo?



Its big saw chain.


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## Yogi (Sep 27, 2006)

I didn't know they made anything bigger than the wild thing What kinda saw do you really need?


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## ourhouse (Sep 27, 2006)

NW Fuels said:
			
		

> Alot of our Maple is 2-3 foot across. 28" bars. We have been ordering rolls of it for 29 years now. Never thought of changing.
> Thomas


I run the same skip tooth chain also even on shorter bars to. Cuts fast and fast to fix if you hit something.


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## BikeMedic2709 (Sep 27, 2006)

I run a narrow kerf skip-tooth on my HomeLite Super XL. It doesn't bogg down as much running that type. I really like skip tooth, but I have never tried it on my larger saws.


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## Jags (Sep 27, 2006)

Yogi said:
			
		

> I didn't know they made anything bigger than the wild thing What kinda saw do you really need?



Not trying to hijack the thread or anything, but Yogi's high ratings of the "wild thing" made me take a little interest at sniffin' at the specs.  I CAN'T find any!  Even the Poulan website doesn't state hp ratings.  The only thing I found is that at the BEGINING of the manual is states "For occasional use only".  I can find cc's oil/gas ratio and stuff like that, but nothing for the motor head in me.


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## BikeMedic2709 (Sep 27, 2006)

jags,

I found this.
 Poulan Wild Thing- 40 cc,  18" bar.  50:1  12, 600 max rpm.  11.2 lbs  It did say for "occasional use."
I also found a site that listed a Poulan Pro Wild thing. & it was listed at 2.6 CI/42cc, and also one that was listed at 34 cc w/ a 14" bar. But nothing else.


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## BrotherBart (Sep 27, 2006)

Jags said:
			
		

> Yogi said:
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I don't know what all ya need to know but most saw manufacturers don't publish HP numbers. Just CC's. Here is pretty much every thing you will ever find out about the Wild Thing:

MANUFACTURED BY:  POULAN (ELECTROLUX) 
 NASHVILLE, ARKANSAS U.S.A. 
ENGINE DISPLACEMENT:  2.5 cu. in. (40 cc) 
NUMBER OF CYLINDERS:  1 
CYLINDER TYPE:  Aluminum with chrome plated piston 
INTAKE METHOD:  Piston ported 
WEIGHT :  10.5 lbs. (4.7 kg) powerhead only 
OPERATOR CONFIGURATION:  One Man operation 
HANDLEBAR SYSTEM:  Rigid 
CHAIN BRAKE:  Inertia activated 
CLUTCH:  Centrifugal 
DRIVE TYPE:  Direct 
CONSTRUCTION:  Injection molded plastic 
MAGNETO TYPE:  Phelon electronic 
CARBURETOR:  Walbro WA 
AIR FILTER SYSTEM:  Cellulose fiber element 
STARTER TYPE:  Automatic rewind 
OIL PUMP:  Automatic, gear driven 
IGNITION TIMING:  fixed 
BREAKER POINT SETTING:  none 
CRANKSHAFT MAIN BEARINGS:  Ball 
FUEL OIL RATIO:  40:1 
RECOMMENDED FUEL OCTANE:  Minimum 90 
MIX OIL SPECIFICATION:  Poulan two-stroke chain saw mix oil 
CHAIN PITCH:  3/8 in. low profile 
CHAIN TYPE:  Oregon 91VJ 
SHORTEST GUIDE BAR SUPPLIED:  18 in. (45 cm) 
COLOR SCHEME:  Poulan Lime Green and Purple


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## bobo (Sep 27, 2006)

The purple must be the selling point of that monster.


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## BrotherBart (Sep 27, 2006)

bobo said:
			
		

> The purple must be the selling point of that monster.



The bore on the Wild Thing is about the size of the bore of the carb on the 3120XP.


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## suematteva (Sep 27, 2006)

That 3120 is a bear..

Have you done any modifications to it?


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## ourhouse (Sep 27, 2006)

bobo that is some big hardwear. What do you do for a living?


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## bobo (Sep 27, 2006)

Make firewood.


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## ourhouse (Sep 27, 2006)

NNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCEEEEE. How many cord a year do you do.


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## bobo (Sep 27, 2006)

Every year it is different. We remove top's after the loggers are done. We also clean up windfalls that can make for alot of firewood.


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## Yogi (Sep 27, 2006)

I still don't get it, what is a 3120???????? Who cares how much power the wild thing has, it's too much for most people to handle, that thing is wicked powerful!! It cuts my wood just great!


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## BrotherBart (Sep 27, 2006)

Yogi said:
			
		

> I still don't get it, what is a 3120???????? Who cares how much power the wild thing has, it's too much for most people to handle, that thing is wicked powerful!! It cuts my wood just great!



Then it is the perfect chainsaw for you.


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## suematteva (Sep 27, 2006)

bobo said:
			
		

> Every year it is different. We remove top's after the loggers are done. We also clean up windfalls that can make for alot of firewood.



Bobo,

Cleaning tops with a 3120?  You must have a set a pipes that would make Arnold go to the womens room!


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## Yogi (Sep 27, 2006)

Someone please, what the heck is this 3120 yo are talking about??? What does a motorcyle have to do with trimming trees???


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## bobo (Sep 27, 2006)

I have many saws.The 3120 and my 084 are for bucking windfalls. I like my 361 for limbing.


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## suematteva (Sep 27, 2006)

Yogi said:
			
		

> Someone please, what the heck is this 3120 yo are talking about??? What does a motorcyle have to do with trimming trees???



It is the largest chainsaw that Husky makes.. off the top of my head believe it is around 120cc's...


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## ourhouse (Sep 27, 2006)

A 3120 is the biggest saw Husky makes. It's not for anyone with limited chainsaw skills.


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## Yogi (Sep 27, 2006)

Who is husky? do they sell them at WalMart?


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## ourhouse (Sep 27, 2006)

Vintage 181 said:
			
		

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 You beat me to it.


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## bobo (Sep 27, 2006)

3120 is 119cc


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## BrotherBart (Sep 27, 2006)

Vintage 181 said:
			
		

> Bobo,
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> Cleaning tops with a 3120?  You must have a set a pipes that would make Arnold go to the womens room!



He would have gotten a Wild Thing but he didn't want to be accused of showing off by the loggers.


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## Yogi (Sep 27, 2006)

119cc's? WOW that is big I just thought they made motorcyles that large I had no idea they had anything, or needed anything bigger than a wild thing That is nuts Do you have to have special license to purchase one?


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## ourhouse (Sep 27, 2006)

Husky is shortfor Husqvarna. one of the biggest chain saw markers in the world.


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## Sandor (Sep 27, 2006)

Vintage 181 said:
			
		

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120CC's? Whoa! My KTM125 race bike made 34hp at 11,500 in race trim.

I may be man enough to operate that saw, but I assure you I do not have the skill. And thats important.


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## ourhouse (Sep 27, 2006)

We use a couple of 3120s at work. Most of us prefer 395s. Thire a little easier to toss around.


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## Yogi (Sep 27, 2006)

earthharvester said:
			
		

> Husky is shortfor Husqvarna. one of the biggest chain saw markers in the world.



I may to search to see if I have dealer like that around here Do they sell anything smaller than the 3120 that isn't that large? The wood I cut has a stringy bark that comes of in buig chunks and the wood is real stringy when I split it. I thought about taking some of the larger trees, around 48" across, but never knew I could find a bigger saw I may have to look for something bigger! Are there any other saws out there I might want to look at?


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## bobo (Sep 27, 2006)

I never had good luck with the 395 I had. Had bearing trouble and switched over to the MS 660 and never looked back.


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## Yogi (Sep 27, 2006)

Ok, I am seeing there is a lot of info here, so bobo, what is MS 660?


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## bobo (Sep 27, 2006)

It is A Stihl chainsaw.


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## Yogi (Sep 27, 2006)

Stihl? I think I have heard of them, they have the tv show with the saws and stuff? I didn't know they actually sold them to real people, I thought that was just for companies, do they acually have dealers that will sell this stuff to individuals?


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## BrotherBart (Sep 28, 2006)

Yogi said:
			
		

> Stihl? I think I have heard of them, they have the tv show with the saws and stuff? I didn't know they actually sold them to real people, I thought that was just for companies, do they acually have dealers that will sell this stuff to individuals?



ACE Hardware carries Stihl's consumer saws like you would be looking for.


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## Yogi (Sep 28, 2006)

BrotherBart said:
			
		

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Is that going to be like the timber saws I see on tv, or something else? Will that let me take down a tree 48" across? Do you have a better recomantation for me than the wild thing?


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## ourhouse (Sep 28, 2006)

bobo said:
			
		

> I never had good luck with the 395 I had. Had bearing trouble and switched over to the MS 660 and never looked back.


 The only trouble we have with our 394s and395s is with the mufflers. the ms660 is a great saw, I have used them before.


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## bobo (Sep 28, 2006)

I like both brands . The inboard clutch is nice if you run a long bar. Never had the chance to pilot a wildthing.I might have to buy one for fun.


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## ourhouse (Sep 28, 2006)

bobo said:
			
		

> I like both brands . The inboard clutch is nice if you run a long bar. Never had the chance to pilot a wildthing.I might have to buy one for fun.



 I'm all set with the wild thing. I'll stick with my Huskys and Sthils.


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## Yogi (Sep 28, 2006)

inboard clutch? What are you talking about with clutches? Cars have clutches, not saws, right? Long bars? You mean a 20" bar right? They don't can't make them much bigger than that, they would flex to much I tell you, the wild thing is a beast


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## suematteva (Sep 28, 2006)

Earth,

Wouldn't you have to get the spiked hair do like Charlie Sheen had in that movie where he played the pitcher on the baseball team...... "wild thing"  you make my wood sing!


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## ourhouse (Sep 28, 2006)

I would but I cut my hair too short.


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## Yogi (Sep 28, 2006)

Huh? What does have a haircut have to do with a chainsaw?


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## Jags (Sep 28, 2006)

Yogi, I might suggest these couple of websites to review, if you are interested in some of the models that you will hear about in the wonderful world of hearth.com.  And welcome to the forum.

http://www.usa.husqvarna.com/
http://www.stihlusa.com/chainsaws/

Oh, and BB the reason I was asking about HP was to do a fair comparison of the Wild Thing to the different models of husky and stihl saws (both websites list HP for all of their models).  I have a friend that has a Wild thing, and lets just say.... he wouldn't leave my MS290 alone.

hh: .....step away from my MS290, and no one will get hurt....  %-P  (done in my best Clint Eastwood voice).


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## Yogi (Sep 29, 2006)

earthharvester said:
			
		

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Ok, I hear about this, what is this skip chain? What do you mean, does it skip off the bar all the time?


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## BikeMedic2709 (Sep 30, 2006)

Ok...Ok... YOGI...
Are you being serious? Or are you yanking our "Chains"...Really?


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## Eric Johnson (Oct 2, 2006)

Vintage 181 said:
			
		

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The guy in my avatar (not me) is using a 3120xp to fell that 44-inch black cherry veneer log. I did take the picture. They told me that the 23-foot log was worth $4,000 on the stump, and had the potential to yield more than twice that amount once sliced into veneer. They didn't take any chances. They hired a guy to top the tree before felling, to minimize the risk of it splitting when it hit the ground. It didn't.

As for chain, Oregon's new 325 50-gauge works great on my 346xp.


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## carpniels (Oct 3, 2006)

Hi YOgi,

I guess you are a little of a newbie on saws. Check both the Husqvarna (husky) and stihl website. You will learn anything you need to know. skip chains is something for the more pro oriented wood cutters.

I would stick with some nice homeowner or semipro model that you can handle with easy. Get sharp chains, protective gear, files, wood vise, timberjack, pulp hook, and the proper bar oil and mixed fuel. The rest is easy. 

AND READ YOU MANUAL A LOT!

Carpniels

PS> I got a wood cutting manual that explains how to use a chain saw properly and how to cut, buck and limb safely. That is the most reread book in my house. It is essential for me to re read so I remember all the important details about safety. I cannot afford to make a mistake with a chainsaw!! neither can you. Ask Brotherbart.


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