A buddy of mine stopped by the other day to look at buying a chainsaw. He purchased some property and wants to clear out some trees, mostly mountain hardwoods (cherry/oak/maple/beech) that have fallen, been knocked over by the last guy who timbered the property, and/or are standing.
He has an old 015 Stihl, which is great for limbing and small stuff, but not the best for consistently cutting anything 8" or larger (it can be done, it's just a lot easier with a bigger saw). The guy's a contractor, and has experience with a variety of larger saws, but they'd all been beat up by the guys who used them before, and he wanted to try some clean ones out before he bought one for himself. I have a pile of saws, Stihls and Husky's, that I got back in 2000 and 2001 for a project I did clearing a few acres for my niece's house. The saws have been sitting since late '04, with the mix (50:1 poulan synthetic/89 octane) in the tanks. I dug out a couple saws for him to try, a 357XP Husky, a 365 Husky (my favorite, which they've stopped making
) and an 046 Stihl Magnum (a brute). They'd been sitting in my unheated garage (temps ranging from 15 - 35 degrees). We cleaned off the accumulated crud, cleaned up the plugs and such, and they all fired up within 5 or 6 pulls. We ran the old gas through them and put in fresh mix, and he's out cutting away, trying to decide which one of them he likes best.
I had a similar experience with on old 056AV Stihl (so old it doesn't have a blade brake or compression release on it!!) that sat for 5 or 6 years, then fired up within 5 pulls.
The point of all this is, you hear about gas aging, and gumming things up, but, for whatever reason, I really haven't noticed it when it's mixed. Anyone else have similar, or opposite, results?
He has an old 015 Stihl, which is great for limbing and small stuff, but not the best for consistently cutting anything 8" or larger (it can be done, it's just a lot easier with a bigger saw). The guy's a contractor, and has experience with a variety of larger saws, but they'd all been beat up by the guys who used them before, and he wanted to try some clean ones out before he bought one for himself. I have a pile of saws, Stihls and Husky's, that I got back in 2000 and 2001 for a project I did clearing a few acres for my niece's house. The saws have been sitting since late '04, with the mix (50:1 poulan synthetic/89 octane) in the tanks. I dug out a couple saws for him to try, a 357XP Husky, a 365 Husky (my favorite, which they've stopped making
I had a similar experience with on old 056AV Stihl (so old it doesn't have a blade brake or compression release on it!!) that sat for 5 or 6 years, then fired up within 5 pulls.
The point of all this is, you hear about gas aging, and gumming things up, but, for whatever reason, I really haven't noticed it when it's mixed. Anyone else have similar, or opposite, results?
