Stihl chainsaw which chain?

[Prashun Patel]

I just got a stihl ms250. I need a new chain for it and would like the mose aggressive one that will fit. Any recommendations?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Prashun,

I'd suggest contacting a professional saw shop and ask their advice.

What are you cutting? There are blades made for ripping and blades made for crosscutting. I have a friend who owns two chainsaws. Each one is fitted with a different type blade so that he can use the correct blade for a given cutting exercise. I have the typical crosscutting blade on my chains saw and it sure is slow cutting if I am cutting with the grain on a log.....

[Curt Fuller]

Hi Prashun,
The Stihl saw you've gotten is a great saw. If you're going to be doing any special type cutting with it I think you can get different chains for ripping, skip tooth, etc. But I think the standard Oilamatic chains made by Stihl are the best all purpose chain. Probably a bigger factor in how it will cut will be keeping it sharp. Dull chains greatly diminish the cutting capability of any saw and the pleasure of the person running it. As soon as you notice it isn't cutting like it was with a new chain, stop and touch up the teeth with a round file made for the chain. Also, I think the Stihl brand chains are the best. A little expensive but worth it. Another thing when putting on a new chain. When you have the chain off the bar, check to see that the bar hasn't worn more on either side of the groove the chain rides in. If it has, just hold the bar in a vise and give it a few passes with a flat file. Keeping the chain perpendicular in the bar can make quite a difference in how it cuts.

[allen thunem]

prashun
go to baileys.com
give em a call they can help you decide what to get
they sell to professional arborists
the chains you buy in the box stores are all mainly "safety chains" meaning anti kickback
you can get more aggressive chains here and much cheaper

[Toby Bouder]

prashun
go to baileys.com
give em a call they can help you decide what to get
they sell to professional arborists
the chains you buy in the box stores are all mainly "safety chains" meaning anti kickback
you can get more aggressive chains here and much cheaper

www.baileysonline.com

[Jason Roehl]

I don't have a Stihl saw, but I have a Husqvarna 372xp with a full-chisel pro chain--no anti-kickback links. Runs like a uhhh...mad ape, but there's a caveat--you can't let it touch dirt, even for a moment (good practice with any chain, but especially noticeable with full chisel). I also found a couple weeks ago that it doesn't do well against barbed wire embedded in tree trunks...

You can try to get pro chain (no anti-kickback) at a local shop, but more than likely they won't sell it to you--they'll happily sell you the safety chain, which cuts smoothly, but slower. Online vendors don't seem to have that particular scruple (thankfully!).

[Harry Robinette]

Guys Please watch when using these chains a friend thats been a pro tree remover for over 20 years, almost lost his lower leg from just a half second touch of another limb.
So please be careful.

[William Bachtel]

Safety chain won't stop you from getting cut or injured , but it will stop the wood from cutting. :) BE CAREFUL

[Fred Perreault]

Chain saw chains are rated by their "safety", or aggresive nature. Many times they are called "green" chain, which is an anti-kickback type. Then there is the "yellow" chain, which has no kickback safety links, and cuts much easier, and is generally safer in the right hands. Everybody has their stories, and opinions about chainsaws. Much like a kitchen knife, sharper can be better and safer in most cases, all things being equal. I have been using aggressive, semi-chisel and chisel tooth chains for 50 years, and cannot tolerate the effort required to use, or sharpen, a low kickback chain. Keep the saw at waist level or below, maintain good balance and proper footing, and use only sharp chains. Never raise the saw above the belly button. The fact remains that chainsaws are inherently very, very dangerous.Tricks of the Trade: Understanding Low-Kickback Saw Chain by Carl Demrow | May 27th 2011 |

http://northernwoodlands.org/images/sized/images/articles/chainFINAL-300x375.jpg (http://northernwoodlands.org/images/articles/chainFINAL.jpg)

Some chainsaw chains are designed to minimize the reactive force known as kickback. These chains are found on a wide range of chainsaws made for homeowners, arborists, and loggers and are required to be sold on every new saw with an engine displacement of less than 66 cubic centimeters.

To understand how these chains work, let’s first review how a standard saw chain cuts wood fiber. Each cutter link has a heel, a toe, and, on the bottom half, rivet holes. On the top half, from front to back, you’ll find the depth gauge, the gullet, the cutting corner, the side plate, and the top plate. The depth gauge, which is sometimes erroneously referred to as the raker, does not clean out the chip the way a raker does on a crosscut saw. All the depth gauge does is set the depth or thickness of the chip that will be produced by the cutting corner when it hooks and then severs fiber. Depth gauges function as a safety feature, because by regulating the size of the chip, they also regulate the severity of reactive forces. The thicker the chip, the more severe the potential kickback.

To minimize the possibility of reactive forces, kickback-reducing features on chains limit the amount of fiber that can be hooked by the working corner as it rounds the upper half of the bar tip, which is commonly referred to as the kickback zone.
A common way to do this is to add an extra amount of metal onto the tie straps between the cutting teeth such that the tie strap functions as a higher depth gauge as the chain rounds the upper half of the bar tip. (Tie straps connect the cutting links with the drive links, and so-called bumper tie straps have a higher profile than regular tie straps to prevent the cutting tooth from hooking fiber.) Other anti-kickback approaches include drive links with built-in bumpers and ramped depth gauges so that fiber is somewhat deflected as the chain rounds the kickback zone. Chain must meet ANSI standard B175.1 to be designated as low-kickback.
There are two major drawbacks to low-kickback chain, the first being that it renders the kickback zone nearly useless for bore cutting. If your chainsaw work involves mostly bucking firewood, this is not likely to be a problem. It is, however, a problem if you are felling trees directionally using a bore cut to make your backcut (itself a safety technique intended to minimize “barber chair” and other dangerous felling situations). Because that upper half of the bar tip won’t cut well, bore cuts go very slowly if they go at all with low-kickback chain.
The second drawback to safety chain is that it can be more difficult to sharpen. If you take your saw to the dealer for sharpening anyway, this isn’t a problem, but if you sharpen the saw yourself and end up not keeping the chain suitably sharp, you’ll end up introducing a new risk factor – pressing down too hard on the saw in frustration – which can nullify the advantage of the safety chain in the first place. As with anything else, the key to a safety device is knowing how to use it correctly.

[Jeff Nicol]

I have 3 different stihl saws from an 021, 026 (MS260 now) and an MS290 and have been using Stihl for 35 years and I have never used anything but Stihl chains on them. I guess why change when it has never failed! I am able to buy the pro chains at any Stihl dealer here in WI so I would think you should have no problem with that, you don't have to have a "PRO CHAIN" buyers card that I know of. But like already said safety is number one no matter the chain you use. With that being said the standard anti kickback chains are fine, but as you use any chain the rakers need to be filed down to allow the teeth to cut, this is a notorious thing that happens with folks who do/have not used a chain saw much. Like Curt said too, if the bar gets worn the chain will tend to not cut straight and will wander and cut crooked.

Sharp chain and good safety equipment (Kevlar chaps are worth the $$),

Jeff

[john davey]

Prashun, I have the same saw and am using the Stihl blades. When sharp this saw cuts great. My brother is in the tree business and I have worked many jobs with him and this saw was an easy choice for me. I use it for general homeowner work and woodturning needs. My brother has several of them as well as many larger Stihl saws. To the best of my knowledge he uses the Stihl blades. At least when I have worked with him that is all I have seen him have.

A note on this saw: Get the 16" bar and blade for it. The saw seems to run better with the 16" bar.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

When you go online to buy chains, buy a pair of safety chaps. Labonville is a good brand, sold at Baileys. The chaps should protect your legs from a potentially fatal injury. No matter what type/brand of chain you buy. Any brand chain will cut your leg just fine, but it may not cut wood well.:eek:

Chaps are not really that expensive when you balance the other possibility. I try to ALWAYS use my chaps. Even when making just a couple blank trimming cuts. Ah, just 2 minutes of run time. Take the time to put them on. And I hope to never test my chaps.

OK, I'm off the soap box.

Just my $0.02.