Taking down my pine I used my new nk WoodlandPro B&C. I got it to hopefully boost performance while keeping my preferred pitch. It's noticeably lighter than the standard WoodlandPro bar I used. Not ZOMG lighter, but you can feel it. I really don't notice a performance difference. I would guess benchmark numbers would show it's faster, but if I can't feel it, it doesn't matter. The nk also seems to get pinched easier than standard. On really small stuff(~1"), you'll get part way through, and it'll pinch on the bar and keep the chain from cutting. It's like the cutters don't extend as far past the bar as they do on standard. A standard chain would keep going on stuff that stops the nk. I'll have to study it more to see exactly what's going on.
Verdict? A B&C combo costs less than a 84dl Stihl chain. If you're ordering from baileys, you might as well give it try. It's a low risk proposition, and maybe you'll like it. I'm a fan of WP bars in general, at least on smaller saws. It's an immediate swap when I get a small saw. Can't vouch for their big bars.
The question...
My second trip up the tree required a bigger saw, so I took my 355 up. It was egregiously out of tune. Waaay too rich. It was bad enough that I adjusted it while I was in the tree. It was all but unusable as-is. I'm not good at tuning, so I start with the saw rich, then back off slowly over time, but that was far beyond where I usually leave it. The question(finally)... Was I so bad at the initial tune, or did something change since I last used it? It isn't a saw I use a lot. The tree I got it for fell on it's own, and I prefer the 2511 when I can get away with it. I've never had tuning drastically change before, so that makes me think my first tune was just awful, but I read of people always tuning in the field, and for changing conditions. Are those big changes, or just little tweaks?
Verdict? A B&C combo costs less than a 84dl Stihl chain. If you're ordering from baileys, you might as well give it try. It's a low risk proposition, and maybe you'll like it. I'm a fan of WP bars in general, at least on smaller saws. It's an immediate swap when I get a small saw. Can't vouch for their big bars.
The question...
My second trip up the tree required a bigger saw, so I took my 355 up. It was egregiously out of tune. Waaay too rich. It was bad enough that I adjusted it while I was in the tree. It was all but unusable as-is. I'm not good at tuning, so I start with the saw rich, then back off slowly over time, but that was far beyond where I usually leave it. The question(finally)... Was I so bad at the initial tune, or did something change since I last used it? It isn't a saw I use a lot. The tree I got it for fell on it's own, and I prefer the 2511 when I can get away with it. I've never had tuning drastically change before, so that makes me think my first tune was just awful, but I read of people always tuning in the field, and for changing conditions. Are those big changes, or just little tweaks?