Forester Chain review

[fearofpavement]

So I finally spun up some loops of the Forester chain I bought a few months ago. What I have is 100' of .325 x .063 in semi chisel non safety style. I spun up an 18" loop and made about 100 cuts on stuff that averaged about 5". I was pleased with how it cut. Made good chips and self fed well. I was mostly cutting Chinaberry but also some southern yellow pine and a bit of other hardwoods such as sweet gum, etc.

I was surprised that the chain didn't need to be retensioned after that session. Usually I have to tighten a new chain about 3 times before it stabilizes. I don't know if the stuff is pre-stretched or not. There was almost no info at all on the box it came with.

I also spun up a loop for a 16" bar and mounted it on the saw but haven't cut with it yet.

Once I get some more time on the chain I will update this post with any additional findings. I haven't used it enough yet to give an accurate report but my initial opinion is favorable.

 

[fearofpavement]

I've got this chain on three of my saws now and am still thumbs up on it. Seems to do what it's supposed to do.

 

[stihl for life]

i find the forest chains kinda suck in the hard wood i cut up here in Canada. cant keep the edge on them in the logging fields . dosent help some trees are dam dieing ash tress from ash bore

 

[chainsawman2011]

heres my take on forester chain. I have a total of 3 100" rolls over the last 5 years and in different pitches/gauges. all full chisel. great chain until you get them dull and you need to sharpen them and then you cant get a good edge back on them. so I went back to carlton chain. But the bars hold up just as well as the Oregon bars and the stihl rollomatic e bars. I know someone will disagree I am sure but I have seen some stihl bars with very little hours on them just wore right out.

 

[fearofpavement]

heres my take on forester chain. I have a total of 3 100" rolls over the last 5 years and in different pitches/gauges. all full chisel. great chain until you get them dull and you need to sharpen them and then you cant get a good edge back on them. so I went back to carlton chain. But the bars hold up just as well as the Oregon bars and the stihl rollomatic e bars. I know someone will disagree I am sure but I have seen some stihl bars with very little hours on them just wore right out.

Can't speak to that as I haven't done other than a very light touch up on them. I'll see and if my opinion changes, I'll note it. Not sure why it couldn't be sharpened... hmmm...

 

[chainsawman2011]

it can be sharpened but they don't heat treat the cutters enough so the don't hold an edge well after cutting in hard dead ash. then you find yourself taking the tooth back farther and farther to get back to hard steel again.

 

[fearofpavement]

Well, there is very little ash in Georgia so I rarely cut it. Mostly oaks, pines, gum and the occasional hickory, dogwood, catalpa, birch, chinaberry, tulip, tupelo, etc.

 

[Matt81]

I have used a lot of Forester branded chain and bars. Overall i am happy with it. Have used both their full chisel and semi chisel chains. Also laminated bars and the solid replaceable nose bars.
I am actually putting a "like new" 18" forester pro nose bar and forester semi chisel chain on a 455 i am selling. Not because i am glad to get rid of it, but i am confident enough to put it on a saw i am selling because i know it will cut well and be reliable. I do use Oregon chain a lot. I also run a fair bit of Carlton chain. Also i use some Stihl chains. First off i will say that it does get dull a bit quicker than the 3 other brands i use, but for it's price i cannot complain. Plus due to the price i can have 3 loops for the price of one big name brand loop. I have not experienced major problems when resharpening. It still cuts well for me after being hand filed or put on the grinder.

I cut mainly Aussie species of hardwoods. I do occasionally cut some maple and oak, cypress, spruce or radiata pine. Cutting softwoods to me is like having a holiday! It feels like i am not doing any work! My saws running GB EVOII or forester chain just fall through the smaller diameter wood. If i am cutting green wood usually i use mostly chisel chain. In dead or very dry wood (or green box species wood due to it being so tight grained) i mostly use semi chisel. I've been using these Forester chains in all sizes for everything from limbing with my 338XPT, to bucking big trunks (around 40") with my 7900 and all my saws in between. In all sizes 3/8 LP, .325 and full size 3/8" i have been impressed with its cutting speed and how it stays sharp relative to it's price.

I have found that the newest GB EVOII Chinese chain i am currently trying out, is identical in appearance to the Forester chain i used to import from the US. Not 100% sure about the similarities at a metallurgical level, but so far i cannot tell a difference at all in regards to holding an edge and in feeding and cutting speed. Honestly if they were not different size loops, i would not know which was which! If i was told it came out of the same factory i would not be surprised!

At the moment i am buying the GB EVOII chains and GB bars from a good local supplier here because it is way cheaper for me than importing due to shipping costs or unfortunately buying locally due to extremely optimistic pricing from local dealers. After all the crap with GB in the past i was hesitant to support them and buy the newer Chinese made bars and chains, but at least the company is still Australian so some money will be coming here i guess. They are not as good as the older "GB Made in Australia" bars but are honestly close to it at good prices. I am lucky to have about 5 "Made in Australia" GB 20" CN40 bars in Husky large mount squirreled away for a rainy day.

In the end everything is relative. If i wanted to go out and pay $50 a chain loop from Stihl (or Carlton or Oregon) i would no doubt be happy with how it performs. I do run a lot of brand name chain myself. I will be forced to hand file out in the field more though due to having one chain for my $50. I pay around $17 a loop for the GB EVOII same size chains and can run one on the saw and have 2 spares for the same Stihl or Oregon money. I know i am getting better value as it is more productive for me to swap over to a new ready to go sharp chain than to hand file a chain on the saw when it gets dull. I need my saws to be productive for me to make a living off of them. If they don't cut well, i don't get much done, and i don't get paid well. It's that simple. So far the GB EVOII chains and Forester branded chains and bars i have been using have served me well and i am very happy with them. Until i have something bad to say i will continue to buy them.