I need a Chainsaw

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Originally Posted By: JR402
I bought a stihl ms250 about a month ago. I think its a nice saw for the money. I wanted a smaller saw for little jobs and limbing ect.
This isn't meant to offend just giving an opinion but I can't see how it would make sense to rent a small or mid size chainsaw, in my mind its a tool that you either need or you don't, and so if you need one then its worth just buying one so you have it.


Well, I have owned 3 saws over the last 30 years, they tend to get used for about 4/5 days a year then pushed to the back of the workshop (often without storage prep) so they end up being a Pig to start then given away.
I did have a share/borrow arrangement with a buddy, Just to keep the saw in regular service. but last year, 15 mins after I started using the Stihl, the muffler fell off (Vibration fatigue) New muffle $80!!!!
Back to the wood lot the next day, the chain broke $25.!!
I may still buy, but rather than 'Brand' I will go with size, the largest Sthil, Sachs, Husky or Jonsered I can get within my budget.
Right now it seems I can get a Jonsered cs 2234s which is a 38cc saw for $230 which doesn't seem to bad.

Pawnbrokers around here only have commercial saws, too big and too much money.
 
Originally Posted By: expat
Originally Posted By: JR402
I bought a stihl ms250 about a month ago. I think its a nice saw for the money. I wanted a smaller saw for little jobs and limbing ect.
This isn't meant to offend just giving an opinion but I can't see how it would make sense to rent a small or mid size chainsaw, in my mind its a tool that you either need or you don't, and so if you need one then its worth just buying one so you have it.


Well, I have owned 3 saws over the last 30 years, they tend to get used for about 4/5 days a year then pushed to the back of the workshop (often without storage prep) so they end up being a Pig to start then given away.
I did have a share/borrow arrangement with a buddy, Just to keep the saw in regular service. but last year, 15 mins after I started using the Stihl, the muffler fell off (Vibration fatigue) New muffle $80!!!!
Back to the wood lot the next day, the chain broke $25.!!
I may still buy, but rather than 'Brand' I will go with size, the largest Sthil, Sachs, Husky or Jonsered I can get within my budget.
Right now it seems I can get a Jonsered cs 2234s which is a 38cc saw for $230 which doesn't seem to bad.

Pawnbrokers around here only have commercial saws, too big and too much money.


It sounds to me, you need educated in maintaining & and operating your equipment. You have no business using stuff like this.
 
Well.....I think that's a little harsh.
Reality is.... It's late in the season, you just cut, hauled, split and stacked wood, you're looking forward to a shower and a Beer and you tell yourself you might just head back out one day in the week. Weather turns bad and you end up not getting any more wood. so the saw ends up sitting because there are always more urgent things to do.
I DO know the safety concerns of owning/operating a saw. which is one reason I don't want to share a saw with someone that does not understand correct chain tension.
 
Here's your sign

0223_warning-label-chainsaw_485x340.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: expat
Well.....I think that's a little harsh.
Reality is.... It's late in the season, you just cut, hauled, split and stacked wood, you're looking forward to a shower and a Beer and you tell yourself you might just head back out one day in the week. Weather turns bad and you end up not getting any more wood. so the saw ends up sitting because there are always more urgent things to do.
I DO know the safety concerns of owning/operating a saw. which is one reason I don't want to share a saw with someone that does not understand correct chain tension.

I've been there, although usually my saw doesn't sit for too many months in a row. I still say get a pro saw though, then you'll have no problem justifying good gas, and good oil with a stabilizer in it. I tried the the cheap saw route with a husky 141(its an orange poulan, a $230 jonsered is a red poulan), it went about 50-60 hours and then shot sparks out the exhaust and quit losing most of its compression, so I put it in the corner of the shed 2 years ago. Its not worth taking in to the shop, I don't like it enough to open it up to see what went wrong and try to fix it, so its $250 that I wasted that I could've put towards a good saw, that probably wouldn't have blown up ever and would be worth rebuilding in 20 years when its getting a bit tired.
 
All Stihl saws are made by Stihl, Not Poulan.
If you are breaking chains and have mufflers falling off, sounds like some other issues are at work. This is the most dangerous tool in the shed..... careful.
 
There is a Husquvana at Canadian Tire that has no model # and is not listed in the Husky line-up. The saw is made in the U.S. (not Sweden) I strongly suspect it is a re-branded Husquvana.

I think the chain breaking was 'the other user' over tightening the chain. that saw's bar did not have an end sprocket, it is designed to have a little slack in the chain. Buddy kept re tightening the chain because "when he worked in the woods" you tightened until you had the thickness of a coin between the bar and chain link when cold.
Muffler was a fatigue fracture in the metal, which, along with the replacement price, has not impressed me with Stihl.

Will be going here http://www.walkerssawshop.com/ tomorrow, to get advice.
 
Originally Posted By: expat

Will be going here http://www.walkerssawshop.com/ tomorrow, to get advice.

I think there are a couple mid-range huskys that are pretty much detuned pro saws, they'll know which ones. I really really doubt they sell the poolan level huskys so everything will be $300+
How do you live in the BC interior and limit your firewood to 12" logs and under? I'd think you'd get into 24"+ douglas fir and stuff like that? For a pure firewood saw you can go up a size or two as your not jinking around limbing and dragging the thing through the woods all day. I bet walkers sells more 372's or 385's with a 24"+ bar than anything else.
 
"How do you live in the BC interior and limit your firewood to 12" logs and under?"

I don't want to do too much splitting, Plus there is lots of easy, dry wood on the slash piles.
Yes, Walkers have some real monsters. Plus some small, competition 'Hot Saws'
I hope they may have something used (smaller) that they would stand behind. Or just give good advice.
 
Originally Posted By: expat
"How do you live in the BC interior and limit your firewood to 12" logs and under?"

I don't want to do too much splitting, Plus there is lots of easy, dry wood on the slash piles.
Yes, Walkers have some real monsters. Plus some small, competition 'Hot Saws'
I hope they may have something used (smaller) that they would stand behind. Or just give good advice.

It will be interesting to hear what they say. Hopefully they'll have a good used saw for you if you don't want to buy new.
I hear you with the splitting, maybe its the difference between hard and soft woods and the number of knots? I like bigger rounds as they tend to be a bit clearer and then I get 30-40, 50 sometimes 200+lbs of wood per cut. With huge wood you can cut a cord very quickly, but it has to be split right there of course. And I just noodle the hard to split sections with the saw and split the rest with a maul, but I mostly do easy to split wood like Ash and Hard Maple, and some Oak.
 
I use Jonsereds 630 and 670 and an Echo CS346 chainsaws. Echo is for limbing and small diameter sticks. Bigs saws are for big sticks. They don't get too much use these days because almost all wood that I cut is 12" diameter or under and I don't split that stuff. I buck it and store it round. You can get 30% more wood storage by not splitting it.

I've used and owned a couple of Stihl. They're good saws but pound for pound, the pro series Huskys/Jonsereds saws are hard to beat. An important aspect is to not get a saw that make you work more than it. Get the right size saw for what you intend to use it for and keep a sharp chain on it. A dull or improperly sharpened chain will make for very long, annoying days.

Be careful. Chainsaws show no mercy in the hands of the careless or foolish...
 
Test drove a few saws and bought a Husky 435 and a 16" bar (stock was 18"), a good price and they threw in a spare chain.
No way could I live with a sub 38cc saw. I'd get frustrated and overwork the saw!
The 435 seemed the best combination of weight and power.
I asked about Stihl, it seems 'this' is Husky country! they use Husquvana's in the camps, so guys buy Huskies. If the stihl I lost the muffler on was a Husky, $5 would have bought me a used one from the bone yard.
He did say Stihl make good saws, but it's like the Ford/Chevy thing.
 
There is a realy nice chain sharpening device that you attach to the end of the bar when the engine is off. You then start the saw and press the end of the sharpener (the end far from you) against something for three seconds while the throtle is up enought to make the chain move. Then stop saw and remove sharpener. That quick, you have a sharp chain.

This comes with a 16 inch bar, and you can get them for husky, and stihl saws. Look on e-bay. You have to get a chain made fot it, and each chain comes with a stone you put in the sharpener.

A chain saw without a sharp chain is about as usefull as a butter knife.
 
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
There is a realy nice chain sharpening device that you attach to the end of the bar when the engine is off. You then start the saw and press the end of the sharpener (the end far from you) against something for three seconds while the throtle is up enought to make the chain move. Then stop saw and remove sharpener. That quick, you have a sharp chain.

This comes with a 16 inch bar, and you can get them for husky, and stihl saws. Look on e-bay. You have to get a chain made fot it, and each chain comes with a stone you put in the sharpener.

A chain saw without a sharp chain is about as usefull as a butter knife.

Interesting, I like the idea of a spare chain, as I do not like to sharpen the chain on the saw. I prefer to have the chain in the jaws of a vice.
 
Great choice with the Husky. Going with the brand that has best local service is always wise with saws.

Have fun, but be safe. I always show this video when I do chainsaw safety training:
 
Originally Posted By: G.Frost
All Stihl saws are made by Stihl, Not Poulan.
If you are breaking chains and have mufflers falling off, sounds like some other issues are at work. This is the most dangerous tool in the shed..... careful.


I personal think the tree is more dangerous than the saw, but really a hedge trimmer sends more people to the er than chainsaws.
 
Originally Posted By: 660mag
I personal think the tree is more dangerous than the saw, but really a hedge trimmer sends more people to the er than chainsaws.

I personally think that an inexperienced operator is more dangerous than both.

A hedge trimmer might nip off one's finger. A chainsaw however might nip off one's leg. Controlling the bleeding in a nipped off finger in one's back yard is fairly achievable. Doing the same on a sawed off stump of a person's leg, out in the sticks.....

The magnitude of severity of injury increases considerably with a chain saw. Other contributing factors such as being further away from medical treatment and/or lack of immediate attention usually conspire to result in often very serious consequences.
 
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