
Are generic chainsaw chains good enough?

Bob reminded me in the
comment section yesterday about the angle marks on the cutters of a
Stihl chain. It really helped to teach me the proper angle when I first
started sharpening.
I went through a phase with
the old 039
where I used a generic chain that our local hardware store would cut to
whatever size you needed. I think they were maybe 5 dollars cheaper,
but at the time I was trying to avoid a trip to the big city. I've
since decided to pay a little extra and get the Stihl brand chains
after talking to a few old timers about the difference.
Image credit goes to
PlanoPower.com.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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All of the tree service professionals that I know (even the ones using Husqvarna saws) use either Stihl or Oregon chains. Over the years, I have proven (the hard way) that tools are the last place one should cut corners. You WILL pay eventually. ...go ahead and get the good tools and save yourself the time and aggravation of using/fixing/dealing with cheap tools.
--Mike