Rob D

I think you need to rule out some of the other more straight forward reasons before thinking too much about the chain or joining rivet that is at fault. Prob something else caused this to fail. The joining link is likely one of the weakest areas on the chain - but just because it breaks does not mean it's been incorrectly spun up - more likely it's that it's the first thing to break due to other stresses being put on the chain ie. it's the first point of failure. If you look carefully at this chain that has broken there is too much peening on the drive links to be regular wear - you need to check the drive rim or sprocket as first thing - and second the condition of the bar is 2nd thing - has it been de burred and carefully checked for any chips or damage inside the rails? These are what generally cause a chain to break IMO. That's not to say you can pin down exactly why the chain has failed - often multiple factors. But prob best to rule the obvious out before looking at the less obvious.

If you can take some vids of yourself milling so can see the speed. I have found that softwood can sometimes be harder to mill but saying that the lo pro chain seemed to find it ok.

Yep - and I remember buying that chipper almost 20 years ago - I remember turning up to the first job to reduce a laurel hedge - the guy that worked with me at the time was loving it [before that it was manual chopping down in the back of the truck and trying not to hit the bed]! Have to say I was loving it! What a difference a chipper makes.

😄😀

Hmmm.... interesting - well I expect whatever you're doing will likely work out well for the long term.

Yep I remember when you changed over arbtalk to this new format [which now feels very normal] - what a hue and cry that raised at the time 😅

First 'big' dismantle - Turkey Oak on Isle of Wight 2002 ish - it went ok. First commercial trannie - which was gas powered - quite a novelty and pretty cheap to run - burnt the head gasket out towing but other than that all good. My brother in the background used to help me at weekends.

I remember that Chipper Crazy that was 14 years ago now...

Ah here it was - 10 year ago now!

Yep gutted I never milled more of it and kept some as not come across anything like it since! Or now you mention it I do have an old bench type table gathering dust made from some of that wood. May resurrect that now you reminded me.

Yep we sponsor this and I put a listing and have had a couple of jobs from it. One job pretty much pays for the listing really...

Yep the tooth geometry is completely different to a standard chain - you would ruin a standard chain if you tried to sharpen it with the powersharp system as powersharp sharpens from top down.

I think if it works for you it's ideal - it didn't for me after numerous tries and testing - so much so we opted to no longer sell it [feedback on it was also pretty bad]. But as said we can agree on disagreeing and if it works for you all good.

I thought the chain was very cool and the sharpening tool an innovation until I used it and realised how wrong i could of been! First one or two goes it's ok and after that all down hill and if you hit something you never get it back to 'truly sharp'. We no longer sell them and unless they were greatly improved... once you have more experience of it and the chain is dull - you go through sharpening process - oh the chain is still dull - go through the sharpening process - still dull... you realise sadly it is more a gimmick. But it was great to see the new idea - but to my mind it simply does not work. There is as yet no easy way of sharpening chain other than pretty much the old fashioned way. Ref 'easy tensioners' agreed - why are they on there because personally I find them a PITA. No need and more fiddly than using a scrench - but I guess for homeowners who would not tension the chain otherwise maybe it works 🙄

We do now and again. But with no disrespect to the OP I'd be hesitant to put business someone's way until there was strong evidence that they were providing a good consistent service. It's more involved to do as people will ask 'oh you recommend this business to sharpen chains - are they good then?' and if you say 'yep should be fine' and it isn't - those people will come back to you with the complaint 😏

Yep but then it's a good opportunity to sell new chains with something like - buy 3 get 1 free type deal. A few home owners I know would have x6 chains - rotate them as they dulled - and then send x4 to get sharpened. So they may be open to buying multiple chains.

Yep that could be another big selling point if you could do square ground chain - you'd be the the one in the UK to offer it [to my knowledge].

I could see a very good business opportunity there - in that if you knew your stuff with chains/got your chains sharpening and service good enough like the guys in this thread are almost 'I had x6 25" chains so I thought sod it treat yourself to a Zombosis sharpen' then you know you are doing well. Also mostly everyone dislikes doing the depth guages and getting them right - every third or 4th sharpen they all need sorting and that would be a good thing to talk about.

Also - I keep seeing this in your posts 'if the venture didn't work out then...' well you'd have to sell on ebay and take the hit. He who dares Rodney! You don't mention also how much sharpening experience you have? Not trying to be funny - but are you good? If so why not hand sharpen and file until you have the money to buy a big expensive machine? If you are so so sharpening yourself then that's the first thing to improve and get right. Hand filing could be a way to kick start the business and test the water.

I reckon you could do alright with milling chains because they are long and expensive! But I would say to make it successful you'd need to buy a decent machine - maybe something like the vallorbe OAK - around £3.8k silly money - but it does the depth gauges at the same time and that could be a good 'angle' ie. gives a filed finish with correctly set depth gauges. It's automatic as well so if you got the set up nailed I expect you could get a lot done in a day. Also in the original post - you said that you don't think the general public or hobbyist would need this service or would use it - if you made it easy for them they would. There would be a lot to do to make a business like this successful I'd say. For instance: Making it easy for people to send their chains to you - I say chains because I would have a minimum of x3 chains to sharpen as I can't see how it would cover all the postage otherwise. As part of the service do 'free postage' where people go to a website and download a postage label 'free' [covered in the cost of the service but it's labelled as 'free'] Give advice - if their chain looks shagged - tell them but then offer to send them a new chain at a discount [where you would make more money plus it saves that deal ie. if you say 'I can't sharpen this as x,y,z reasons' - then who pays for the postage of them sending the chains to you? I'll give you a clue - it won't be them!

It's so hard to get info out of any manufacturers - we've not had any Echo 2511 TES saws for now around 4-5 months. And no date or idea of when they are in. It's hard to tell what's going on..

As a lead on from this supply issues now seem pretty bad - what compounds this is no clear details from manufacturers about when they can supply. I'd say this was down to 1) they don't know 2) they can then hedge their bets 3) they don't want to embarrass themselves It seems hard to get honest info. Sugihara - we put an order in April 2021 - still not being told when it will be produced [if ever?] Tsumura - April 2024 next order [no not a typo it's 2024]. Cannon - got a big order coming August this year 2022. Their lead time now up to 14-16 months GB - more in Dec 2022 Panther Mini - new order from new manufacturer late April/early May Oregon - can't get much info from them Stihl - we're not direct dealers but some stuff seems to be 3-4 months I can only see supply issues getting worse this year. Am still not really sure what is causing it - likely a few factors and variables going on.

The best way to answer this question is by yourself. Get an Oregon chain. Get x2 of the Rotatech chains. Use them side by side and decide if it's worth paying more for the Oregon. It's very similar to the question of what chainsaws you run - some folks buy a saw off ebay for £120 and others buy a Husky 560 or Stihl 400 C-M for up to £900. So who made the 'right' choice? Why would you buy a chainsaw that is almost 9 times the price? Is it worth it? It does the same thing - you put fuel in and cut wood. You can buy 7 or 8 of the cheaper version... For some it is and for some it isn't. But the only way to find out is to do it yourself as it's more about you than the chainsaw or the chain. It sounds profound and wise but it really isn't. People will give you conflicting advice - don't listen to them - work it out yourself. It changes over time and 'where you are at' - when I started I bought second hand gear - these days I only sell second hand gear. So is it best to buy second hand gear - or new every time? There is no right or wrong. It depends on your circumstances. I remember doing my training [and this is going back 20 years at Sparshalt, Winchester]. I was skint and mainly doing gardening but wanting to get into treework. They were selling helmets at one of the open days. They had the climbing helmet with chinstrap for £5-00 extra than the ground helmet with peaked cap without the chinstrap. I figured I could buy the cheaper helmet and grind the peak off and add some elasto to make a climbing helmet. I was told 'don't be a twat' so I had to take it back and swap it over! I don't know why I'm typing that but it's the same sort of dilemma. And no I'm not saying you're a twat if you buy Rotatech chains as they are good chains for the price - I'm just putting it out there. In summary - try both - think about how you find them, make some vids and youtube them - what works for you - stick to that. Rinse and repeat a year later to see if anything has changed. If you have a considered approach what works for you is the right way to go and others can go forth and multiply

Depends on the weather and time of year! I'm going to start climbing again this year - but only if I can buy my own woodland.

Looks really good - not cheap as I suppose for any team you need at least 2+ sets. I'm not familiar with what else is out there and how it compares. Having used a cheap and cheerful blue tooth communicator I couldn't believe how less stressful it made the work!