New Oregon EXL Chain - game changer?

[Mark_Skyland]

10 hours ago, lux said:

Cost is always a relevant factor
It may not be the deciding factor but it’s got to be considered. It’s just business to consider it.
On a single saw it’s less of a factor than on say 10 or more saws.
It applies to whatever you buy if it performs well and it’s much cheaper it makes sense.


Rob D - for sure I will try some. If it stays sharper longer then the cost starts to offset straight away. Less down time sharpening etc.
It did look smoother in the cut straight out of the box which the rotatechs def aren’t. Grabby as you like until the first file but fine after that.

 

7 hours ago, gdh said:

I would say all costs are relevant but in the case of chains it's surprisingly big, for comparison our firewood processor chains without special offers or VAT:

Stihl - £26.04

New oregon - £24.36

Rotatech - £10.90

 

We get through 30+ chains in a year with all the saws so that adds up fast and after all the chains we've tried there's very little realistic difference although I would be tempted to go back to oregon if it lasted significantly longer.

 

Unfortunately I've just got a load of Rotatech otherwise it would be interesting to buy an EXL and try a durability test on different brands, although awkward trying to make it fair.

I look at it the other way around. Yes cost is a critical factor in business but not when it comes to the most important factors and imo the chain is one of them. You can have as much experience and skill combined with the greatest saw but a less than sharp/durable chain makes it all pointless.

If I could notice the difference in performance then I would not bother using a cheap chain. Surely production goes down and using the 30 chains a year saving £1.5/£2 a day I think I would definately give that a miss, if not for the fact of having to sharpen them before using them alone. The more you replace the worse it gets.

 

Each to their own and I certainly wouldn't want to tell anyone how to run their business but it just seems like false economy to me.

[gdh]

Just now, Mark_Skyland said:

 

I look at it the other way around. Yes cost is a critical factor in business but not when it comes to the most important factors and imo the chain is one of them. You can have as much experience and skill combined with the greatest saw but a less than sharp/durable chain makes it all pointless.

If I could notice the difference in performance then I would not bother using a cheap chain. Surely production goes down and using the 30 chains a year saving £1.5/£2 a day I think I would definately give that a miss, if not for the fact of having to sharpen them before using them alone. The more you replace the worse it gets.

 

Each to their own and I certainly wouldn't want to tell anyone how to run their business but it just seems like false economy to me.

I see your point and in most cases I lean towards spending more to buy quality but it works out at 30p a ton and that soon adds up especially with tight margins.

 

I've never had issues with sharpening or performance so there's no loss in production and swapping between oregon, rotatech and husqvarna on the processor there's no noticeable difference so that's not an issue. 

 

Even if you assume the cheaper chains cut slightly slower over a hundred tons for example when you hit a piece of stone or metal and snap a chain it's a lot more economical to be replacing one less than half the price. 

[Rob D]

12 hours ago, lux said:

Cost is always a relevant factor
It may not be the deciding factor but it’s got to be considered. It’s just business to consider it.
On a single saw it’s less of a factor than on say 10 or more saws.
It applies to whatever you buy if it performs well and it’s much cheaper it makes sense.


Rob D - for sure I will try some. If it stays sharper longer then the cost starts to offset straight away. Less down time sharpening etc.
It did look smoother in the cut straight out of the box which the rotatechs def aren’t. Grabby as you like until the first file but fine after that.

Ok no prob.

[Rob D]

6 hours ago, SbTVF said:

Took up your offer on the chain Rob. For use on our Tajfun 400. Been using Oregon semi chisel on a sugihara bar for the last year because full chisel dulls far too fast. Rotatech does not agree with the sugihara bar for some reason.

The EXL is going through everything like a hot knife through butter so far, oak, ash, elm, lime, sycamore, beech and can barely tell a difference in cutting tone, almost sounds like a circular saw him actually. It leaves very smooth cut surfaces too. Put 9 cube through so far, best I’ve done is 30 cube on fresh from the box with semi chisel but it cuts maybe a 3rd to half as slow per cycle so if I do 15 with full chisel it’ll be a time saver.
Old LPX struggles to do 7cube from a sharpen usually.

Videos to follow.

 

 

Sounds good especially as with a processor and you have already good experience of the LPX - let us know progress and yep please post vids on here for the £ back.

[Mark_Skyland]

If you've done the math and your down to 30p a ton as a decider then that it is a tough call indeed!

 

We did try them out to see what the fuss was and tbh they where awful. As  others have mentioned they were awful out of the box so required a sharpen which was difficult  to say the least. They were binned soon after. In store customer feedback is always negative in regards to the  to performance. 

 

 

Anyway, sorry to derail the thread. 

 

 

 

[lux]

I look at it the other way around. Yes cost is a critical factor in business but not when it comes to the most important factors and imo the chain is one of them. You can have as much experience and skill combined with the greatest saw but a less than sharp/durable chain makes it all pointless.
If I could notice the difference in performance then I would not bother using a cheap chain. Surely production goes down and using the 30 chains a year saving £1.5/£2 a day I think I would definately give that a miss, if not for the fact of having to sharpen them before using them alone. The more you replace the worse it gets.
 
Each to their own and I certainly wouldn't want to tell anyone how to run their business but it just seems like false economy to me.

But the point I made was it’s not a false economy because there isn’t enough difference in the chain performance to warrant spending more on my ‘volume’ purchase chains. Never had a fault with them. They don’t make specialist chains so I still buy Oregon for those. ( skip and milling etc ) Yes Oregon is better quality but the cost v performance trade off isn’t there for general use.

I didn’t say it needs sharpening before you use it. I said it’s smoother cutting after being filed the first time. More to do with the depth of cut as opposed to sharpness.

But as you say. Each to their own.

[SbTVF]

On 13/10/2018 at 20:54, Rob D said:

 

 

Sounds good especially as with a processor and you have already good experience of the LPX - let us know progress and yep please post vids on here for the £ back.

Not had a lot of time on processor of late ( it's my wedding in 3 days!!) but the chain is still cutting like new after 16 cube, it's not the cleanest of hardwood either which normally destroys full chisel. Never got even close to that from LPX so the stay sharp ability is definitely evident!! I hope once it's had a sharpen it can run for as long between each sharpen.
 I tried getting a video up of the new chain but it wouldn't work. It'll have to wait until I get home from the wedding/honeymoon in the first week of november for a comparison video.

[Rob D]

On 20/10/2018 at 21:48, SbTVF said:

Not had a lot of time on processor of late ( it's my wedding in 3 days!!) but the chain is still cutting like new after 16 cube, it's not the cleanest of hardwood either which normally destroys full chisel. Never got even close to that from LPX so the stay sharp ability is definitely evident!! I hope once it's had a sharpen it can run for as long between each sharpen.
 I tried getting a video up of the new chain but it wouldn't work. It'll have to wait until I get home from the wedding/honeymoon in the first week of november for a comparison video.

 

Hope the wedding went well and have a good honeymoon! Yep sounds like you got better results from the chain so interested to hear more!

 

[SbTVF]

The verdict is in as far as I’m concerned.

Lasts for almost twice as long as the old LPX.

Did 26m3 of logs with the EPX and only 14m3 with the LPX both brand new.

There was noticeably less stretch on the EPX too. Needed 1 less tension up over twice the cut volume.

Sharpening now with my granberg precision so will see how it fares second time out.

I’ve done videos of both and I think the difference in cut speed is marginally faster but maybe only split seconds at the most.
Will try upload.

[Rob D]

22 hours ago, SbTVF said:

The verdict is in as far as I’m concerned.

Lasts for almost twice as long as the old LPX.

Did 26m3 of logs with the EPX and only 14m3 with the LPX both brand new.

There was noticeably less stretch on the EPX too. Needed 1 less tension up over twice the cut volume.

Sharpening now with my granberg precision so will see how it fares second time out.

I’ve done videos of both and I think the difference in cut speed is marginally faster but maybe only split seconds at the most.
Will try upload.

 

 

Good stats - let us know when you have the vids posted and I'll refund the order.