Why port?

[Duane(Pa)]

Learn all you can about sharpening saw chain before going down the ported saw rabbit hole. First things first...

ps
You’ll get sound advice here. There are plenty of scams and shams in the ported saw circus.

 

[julie wolf]

Learn all you can about sharpening saw chain before going down the ported saw rabbit hole. First things first...

Actually I have been kearning to file chain already. You are correct, it is very important to learn that skill!

 

[Squareground3691]

Actually I have been kearning to file chain already. You are correct, it is very important to learn that skill!

It’s the number one skill set, for having a good day or a bad day ,

 

[Duce]

Learn all you can about sharpening saw chain before going down the ported saw rabbit hole. First things first...

ps
You’ll get sound advice here. There are plenty of scams and shams in the ported saw circus.

Bingo!

 

[farminkarman]

Learn all you can about sharpening saw chain before going down the ported saw rabbit hole. First things first...

ps
You’ll get sound advice here. There are plenty of scams and shams in the ported saw circus.

Ported saw circus…pfft, you mean the Facebook guys aren’t experts?

 

[dall]

Actually I have been kearning to file chain already. You are correct, it is very important to learn that skill!

Round or square?
Lets see some pictures

 

[bryanr2]

I’ve owned 60 plus ported saws. The majority of those came to me stock and I had them ported by Randy. Of all the saws I’ve owned, there was only one that I was happy with stock and could have done without porting it. I had owned it as my only saw for over 10 years and one day I decided to google search a muffler mod and wound up on a chainsaw forum. Then I went down the rabbit hole one right after another for several years. following suite it got ported just the same. Then it got traded off for the next thing that caught my eye. I was happy with it for many years and always used it as a benchmark to compare saws to stock for stock to determine if they needed porting. It was a 10mm 044 that I had owned since I was 18. Bought it at a pawnshop for $400 and never gave me a lick of trouble. Once you go ported…. It’s miserable to run a stock saw in my opinion.

 

[julie wolf]

Round or square?
Lets see some pictures

Using a round file and a jig. @Brad Krause may have some pictures, but I do not.

 

[lehman live edge slab]

Around this forum, when someone says a saw is “ported”, I generally assume machine work is included. The port job in the first vid you posted doesn’t have machine work…as such, the gains aren’t going to be comparable to a saw that has had machine work done.

Around this forum yes but the YouTube people call ported pretty much anything from an opened up muffler to tin pony angle grinder/dremel treatment. So when your out looking for portered saws people need to be very careful of the snake oil salesman.

 

[Brown8417]

All I can say is once you go ported you never go back. I started with a ported 357. Now 346, 261, 400, 500i, 440 hybrid, 064 hybrid. Not sure I could go to the woods with a stock saw. Just my opinion. Remember opinions are like *a-holes, everybody has one, good or bad.

 

[lohan808]

I am a newbie to chainsaws and am curious. Many people I have talked to say to get my new MS400 chainsaw ported. Why? What are the pros and cons? Really curious and trying to understand. What i have learned so far is a bit confusing.

Good question that deserves some dissertation. If you are new to chainsaws, I would recommend that you spend some time learning how to safely do what you are trying to do. Invest in a pair of chainsaw protection chaps, and eye/ear protection, and a helmet if felling trees is on the to do list. After you become VERY familiar with saw work, and have the proper PPE, it is time to evaluate if you are interested in speeding up your saw operations.

Now you need to run a reputable ported saw and understand how differently they operate, and also if that increase in power and speed is something you are willing to match up skill level with. Otherwise you will end up like the rest of us here;
addicted to building and buying hot rod saws and never quite being satisfied... also known as CAD. There are several top notch saw porter/ builders on this site, read their reviews and talk to them about their products.

I only run my stock saws when there is no need for the awesome performance of my work saws.

 

[sawmikaze]

Ported saws are only as good as their operator.

 

[lehman live edge slab]

Also ported saws if not mtronic or autotune will usually require more frequent adjustments so you must be proficient at tuning a saw or things can and will go south in a hurry.

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

In For Sale threads I often see saws ported by members here (meaning a lot of work was done and they could rip the stink off a fartbug) in excellent shape where the saw owner only put a few hours on the saw after having it ported and the saw mainly sat idle the last three to seven years. Why is that?

 

[dall]

In For Sale threads I often see saws ported by members here (meaning a lot of work was done and they could rip the stink off a fartbug) in excellent shape where the saw owner only put a few hours on the saw after having it ported and the saw mainly sat idle the last three to seven years. Why is that?

Some of us have more than one saw
Some of us have multiple thousands of dollars invested in saws

 

[Stump Shot]

Some of us have more than one saw
Some of us have multiple thousands of dollars invested in saws

The one time you should have said slackers and you didn't...

 

[sawmikaze]

Also ported saws if not mtronic or autotune will usually require more frequent adjustments so you must be proficient at tuning a saw or things can and will go south in a hurry.

This too.

 

[Czed]

Actually I have been kearning to file chain already. You are correct, it is very important to learn that skill!

These are good i had my neighbors buy them
so they don't dump dull chains at my shop anymore.
https://www.amazon.com/Husqvarna-53...locphy=200574&hvtargid=pla-306140053563&psc=1
And it's easy to adjust rakers when needed with this kit.

 

[Czed]

Some of us have more than one saw
Some of us have multiple thousands of dollars invested in saws

I have less than 1k in all my dozens of saws but you stihl guy's wouldn't run them
They have scratches on them.

 

[farminkarman]

In For Sale threads I often see saws ported by members here (meaning a lot of work was done and they could rip the stink off a fartbug) in excellent shape where the saw owner only put a few hours on the saw after having it ported and the saw mainly sat idle the last three to seven years. Why is that?

I personally have a problem... I don't need any of the ported saws I have, yet I have them, and yet I can't seem to stop buying/porting them. Sometimes I gotta let one go to fund the next "have to have".