Stihl 63PM chain no longer available?

Ok, thanks. Someone here is selling both types on the internet, but the VX is slightly more expensive, which leads me to think there must be some difference. I'm going to be needing some of that lo-profile chain soon, was just wondering if there is a preference.
 
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  • #29
Skwerl said:
Hey Burnham- I haven't discussed this matter with any dealer for many years, but most Stihl dealers simply do not carry the 63PM by choice. Of the dozen or so local dealers, only 2 carry the 63PM. The rest just say "Oh, the safety chain is the only stuff available". :roll:

Just find a dealer to sell it to you by the roll and be done with it. ;)
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My dealer serves a logging town in the foothills of the Cascades, Brian...this is not your run of the mill homeowner lawn care shop. You can buy blocks as big as a barbeque grill, 6000' foot reels of 1 1/4 inch cable, there's always at least 2 spankin' new 660's on the shelf for sale, along with the rest of the pro line...though you do have to special order an 088 :D. I've been buying "real" sawchain from him for 3 decades.

Turns out my dealer, who usually is spot on, got some bad info from his distributor, or some such deal. He went to a dealers meeting on Saturday, by coincidence, following our conversation re the 63PM chain on Friday, and got the straight skinny...which is that there are no plans by Stihl to drop the PM chain. So this morning I picked up a couple of loops, and it's the same good old 63PM.


GASoline71 said:
Burnham... I can check with Wood's Logging Supply tomorrow for ya... :)

Gary
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Thanks for the offer but I'm all set now, Gary. You're one of the good guys, for certain. :)
 
Burnham said:
My dealer serves a logging town in the foothills of the Cascades
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I'm envious, Burnham. My dealer here is a small shop that mainly sells wood stoves, has two saws on a shelf that never move and are covered with dust, a rack full of brochures, and a wife who I always have to ask, "What time is your husband getting home?" ;)
Oh yeah, there's a big slobbering dog, too, that likes me :roll:
 
Stihls pro chain is premium stuff. In 3/8ths Low Profile I favor Carlton over Oregon. Carlton has about 1/3 more tooth and is nicely agressive.
 
Speaking of Carlton .I had heard that Woodsman Pro is Carlton chain .

I was just looking at Baileys and the lo pro .043 chain that sells under that name has no guard links like the Oregon 91 or what ever the number is .
 
Most of the Woodsman Pro is Carlton-There are a couple of items in the line that are made by someone else.
 
I checked out some new chain today at a dealers. The 3/8 lo-profile Oregon cutters, are slightly over half the length of the ones on Stihl chain. Can't imagine what Oregon is thinking :?
 
sawcollector said:
Burnham, I really wish you would try some 63PMC wen it is available. You might like it!
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I don't quite get the thought about the cutters rocking back on the "comfort" chain. Don't all cutters rock back when encountering wood, being that they are on rivets and the chain has some slack in it? I was examining some comfort chain, the action seems the same, compared to the earlier style chain, that is holding it in my hands. I must be missing something. :?
 
WWB,
Compare a C chain with one that isn't with it in the bar and you will see that the back of the cutter is sitting high of the bar rail. So this gives it room to ease down as the cutter bites in and the net result is less vibration.
 
Thanks for the reply. Although not a fan of safety chain, I purchased a loop of the PMC3, it was the only 3/8 lo-profile chain available from my local dealer. All day cutting with it today, and contrary to Burnham's experience, I found it to be a good to excellent cutting chain, quite smooth, as you suggested. I didn't notice a tendency to get hung up in the cut with the 242xp. It's a moded saw with very high rpms and added power, if that would make a difference? Plunge cuts seemed efficient as well, as Stihl is advertising, at least in the 40-50cm softwood trees I was experimenting with. Some folks are suggesting that it isn't a good chain for plunge cuts, as I think is normally the case with safety chain. I wonder how many folks saying that have actually tried it? The anti-kickback ramps are fairly minimal angled gradual, compared to some other brands of safety chain. My take on the chain is that it is less compromising than what has been previously sold as anti-kickback chain.

I'll be looking forward to trying the comfort PMC chain without the anti-kickback feature, for sure. If it is much of an improvement over the PMC3, in terms of speed, it should be an awesome chain. Reading around, there seems to be some question whether it will ever be available?
 
It is available since I have a loop in my hand. I will try to do some cutting with it and some 63PMC3 on my hot rodded 200T if the weather holds this Sunday, and see if there is much of a difference.
When low kickback chain came out it did not perform as well, but that was then and a lot of research has been done since then. I suppose moving the hump to the driver has helped give the chain back some aggressiveness.
 
Looking forward to reading your comparison between the two chains. I'm curious about the mentioned tendency to get hung up in the cut. Seems like it could be a power issue, if not used to operating a smaller saw.....?

Have to say it again, the smoothness of the cut was really comfortable. It was also on a new bar, so that couldn't have hurt either.
 
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  • #44
woodworkingboy said:
Looking forward to reading your comparison between the two chains. I'm curious about the mentioned tendency to get hung up in the cut. Seems like it could be a power issue, if not used to operating a smaller saw.....?

Have to say it again, the smoothness of the cut was really comfortable. It was also on a new bar, so that couldn't have hurt either.
Click to expand...

Jay, perhaps a better description of my observation with the PMC3 would help. By saying it had a tendency to get hung in the cut, I meant that at times it would seem the chain was racing along at a good clip, but not cutting much. If I'd lift the bar very slightly and then re-engage the chain to wood in the kerf, it would start throwing chips again. This happened in various wood and cutting situations. So it wasn't a problem of power shortage, it was more like the chain just quit cutting off and on.

I couldn't figure it out, but since I was predisposed to be displeased with the chain from the getgo, I attributed it to that. Maybe something else was the issue.
 
Thanks for the description, I was under the idea that the chain rotation was stopping. Were you cutting hardwoods or softwoods?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #46
Jay, I had it happen in Douglas fir, western red alder, and bigleaf maple...so a mix, but nothing truly hard like oak or hickory.
 
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