Another Chain Saw Question

[GarthH]

I've read many of the chain saw posts. They have been very good. I rented a chain saw during the summer and had nothing but grief - hard starting and a dull chain.
Winter is here so I need to make a commitment - sounds like dating my wife.
I cut mostly in the yard so I'm wondering about electric. They always seem so wimpy though. Is there a good quality electric? Is there a gas engine like the honda - always starts?
Thanks again for your thoughts.

Garth

 

[art]

Now I wonder what a rental chain saw might be?

An electric chain saw has a great disadvantage, extension cords!

Try a stihl, three pulls and they are running. Might take a forth pull after sitting a month or so but they are extremely reliable just from our thirty years with them and twenty years with Husquvarna.

 

[SnowRidge]

I've read many of the chain saw posts. They have been very good. I rented a chain saw during the summer and had nothing but grief - hard starting and a dull chain.
Winter is here so I need to make a commitment - sounds like dating my wife.
I cut mostly in the yard so I'm wondering about electric. They always seem so wimpy though. Is there a good quality electric? Is there a gas engine like the honda - always starts?
Thanks again for your thoughts.

Garth

Echos always start.

I have two Echo products. I have never had a problem starting either one of them.

 

[SPIKER]

Liek you said you read other posts, then you should already know, it is a usage thing, if you only used it 1 time in a year then top of the line is probably not what you need. I use my saws a good bit, but they are only poulans, but they start every time run well have readily available parts on-line and at most retail outlet places. bars chains ect are all in-expensive. I've had great luck with the basic units have yet to wear one out even though I have 10+ acres of woods and cut all the time... that being said I have also used the NAME BRANDS, hard to beat a good saw, but you can buy 3 poulans for the price of 1 good saw... you do the math. You only need the saw one or two times then you don't need to buy a production machine...

Mark

 

[bearhawk]

Try a stihl, three pulls and they are running. Might take a forth pull after sitting a month or so but they are extremely reliable just from our thirty years with them and twenty years with Husquvarna.

I have to second the Stihl recommendation. I bought a new 28 super back in 1989, and I use it infrequently. Sometimes just a couple times a year. It has always started, and has never been in the shop.

Just get some training on sharpening the chain, a sharp chain will make a huge difference in its usability.

 

[thatguy]

One word of caution on the electric chain saws - From what I have read, the protective chaps (Im sure you have already priced out the chaps, hard hat, ear protection and gloves - Havent you? ;-) ) do not provide adequate protection from them. IIRC the electric saws have more torgue and the chaps wont clog and shut it down like a gas saw

Good luck

Brian

 

[bbirder]

Liek you said you read other posts, then you should already know, it is a usage thing, if you only used it 1 time in a year then top of the line is probably not what you need. I use my saws a good bit, but they are only poulans, but they start every time run well have readily available parts on-line and at most retail outlet places. bars chains ect are all in-expensive. I've had great luck with the basic units have yet to wear one out even though I have 10+ acres of woods and cut all the time... that being said I have also used the NAME BRANDS, hard to beat a good saw, but you can buy 3 poulans for the price of 1 good saw... you do the math. You only need the saw one or two times then you don't need to buy a production machine...

Mark

I totally agree with Spiker. I ran a shop and sold Stihl saws for years. They are a fine product , but for occasional use a Poulan will do fine for you.(Sold that brand also). You can pick up a good Poulan for just over $100 at Wal-mart. Starting problems come from setting up without use and they all will occasionally give you problems, altho not as much as in the past. With electronic ignitions they have eliminated the stuck points , bad condensers etc. Gas much more convenient to use than electric!

 

[daBear]

Don't matter much what you get Stihl, Poulan, gas, or electric, a dull chain is a dull chain. You can learn to file one to a reasonable degree by trial and a little bit of error, or get a grinder to do it for you. I am not a big fan of Horrible Freight, but they have a decent grinder for occasional use for under $40 and it is frequently on sale for under $30. Try it, you might like it, regardless of the brand or motor you buy.

 

[J0be269]

I have a Poulan Pro 20" saw that I have owned for a couple of years now. Before I got the pro we had a couple of the regular Poulan's from Wal-Mart, they were ok but eventually got to where you couldn't hardly get them to start.

The version I have is more expensive than the standard version, but seems of better quality to me as well. I have never had to pull the cord more than 4 times to start this saw. Even on cold days you can turn the choke off as soon as it starts and it will idle as long as you want with no problem. The saw is also isolated from the operator handles by spring mounts which really help with user fatigue.

I agree with the others about a sharp chain. Get the right size file for your chain and keep it sharp. There is much info to be found on this on the web. When the saw stops producing good size shavings and more small ones/dust its time to take a 5 min break to sharpen. I have touched up my chain two or three times in a day depending of the wood I was cutting and how many times I misjudged the thickness of a log and dropped the chain in the dirt .

 

[coobie]

I've read many of the chain saw posts. They have been very good. I rented a chain saw during the summer and had nothing but grief - hard starting and a dull chain.
Winter is here so I need to make a commitment - sounds like dating my wife.
I cut mostly in the yard so I'm wondering about electric. They always seem so wimpy though. Is there a good quality electric? Is there a gas engine like the honda - always starts?
Thanks again for your thoughts.

Garth

Electric saws are a pain in the butt IMHO,ext.cords.There are many good saws out there,Stihl,echo,johnsered and husqvarna.coobie

 

[dillo99]

Stihl or Husky...can't lose. I have the Husqvarna Rancher 55 and that thing just goes and goes.

 

[Reg]

I've read many of the chain saw posts. They have been very good. I rented a chain saw during the summer and had nothing but grief - hard starting and a dull chain.
Winter is here so I need to make a commitment - sounds like dating my wife.
I cut mostly in the yard so I'm wondering about electric. They always seem so wimpy though. Is there a good quality electric? Is there a gas engine like the honda - always starts?
Thanks again for your thoughts.

Garth

Nice thought.
This year I got a Honda 4 cycle trimmer/brush saw.
I wonder if we will see 4-stroke Honda chains saws.... PLEEEEZE !!!
2-stroke chain saws really ARE higher maintenance than they need to be.
JMAO

Yeah, guffaws came from the peanut gallery when 4-stroke outboards first appeared too (-:

 

[WayneB]

Garth, I am not sure why you are purchasing a chainsaw, but I would suggest that you spend money on a good gas powered saw. I suggest that you find someone that uses saws a lot and have him show you the operation of the saw. You should also learn about keeping the chain properly sharpened and the right tension on the chain.

Weekend saw users normally are living on the edge when it comes to using a power tools and chainsaws.

I would buy the very best saw you can afford. I believe the more expensive brand name saws are just built better, easier to maintain, have service centers that can provide parts or fix the saw.

At the same time I would buy a second chain, ample amounts of chain oil, files, and 2-cycle oil for mixing with the gas. Safety items would include helmet, gloves, ear and eye protection, and maybe chaps, although I do not use them, although I should!

Go to a dealer and have them explain the saws they are selling, be upfront with the guy and have him tell you the proper use and maintenance of the saw. Even if you don稚 buy from him he will have good information for you. If you go to a package store be warned that the guy selling the saw might not know a single thing about the saws he is selling.

By the way I switched from stihl to Husquvarna mainly because the Stihl dealer I was going to closed up shop. We have a Husquvarna dealer in town that has most parts on hand so it was easy to keep my saws running.

 

[mbohuntr]

I highly recommend the last post, Chainsaws are one of the most dangerous tools you can use and definately not a do it yourself learn as you go tool. They can and will seriously hurt you when you least expect it. Please get some run time in with a knowledgable person. And sharpening a chain makes the work better for you and the saw. Good luck whatever you buy. If a big storm knocks your power out, An electric saw would probably not work well. I've owned homelite, sears, mccullock, and stihl saws. I will not own anything but stihls now, last saw you'll ever buy! my little .025 has outworked me year in and out, I drop, and block-up at least 14 face cord for myself each year.(except this year, I moved.)

 

[MossRoad]

I've read many of the chain saw posts. They have been very good. I rented a chain saw during the summer and had nothing but grief - hard starting and a dull chain.
Winter is here so I need to make a commitment - sounds like dating my wife.
I cut mostly in the yard so I'm wondering about electric. They always seem so wimpy though. Is there a good quality electric? Is there a gas engine like the honda - always starts?
Thanks again for your thoughts.

Garth

Good electric chain saws are not whimpy. For occasional around the home use they are fine and it is one less gas motor to deal with.

As for gas chainsaws... 2 stroke gas engines should not be a mystery. I seriously think that people that have trouble with them are always messing with the carb, spark plug, oil mixture, and that gets them out of adjustment. I've had several 2 stoke engines over the years, from tiny weed eaters, big weed eaters, chain saws, snowmobiles and I used to drag race a 400cc Yamaha 2 stroke twin RD400. Get it running right and LEAVE THE CARB ADJUSTMENTS ALONE!!!

 

[KHNewman]

I would have to agree with most of the posters advocating gas over electric. I have a Stihl and an Echo and I use them occassionaly and they start in a few pulls even after months of not being used.

I was a climber for a logging company for 5 years and we only used Stihl and found them to be indestructible but I can't complain about my Echo climbers saw.

I see a lot of people who try to start small gas engines who struggle every time becasue they don't have a feel for how to use the choke, throttle and priming pump properly and end up flooding the engine and then just keep pulling and pulling. There is definitely a bit of an art to getting a two cycle engine to start in one or two pulls.

As one of the other posters mentioned a dull saw is a dull saw so keeping the chains sharp is critical. I keep 3 or 4 extra chains on hand and have them sharpened professionally. Most weekend users don't realize that you only have to barely hit the dirt once to really dull the saw. That can mean the ground or dirt on a log etc. The chains are really sensitive to hitting anything but wood and they dull FAST. Proper cutting and keeping the chain out of the dirt is the best defense against dull chains. Most novice users are constantly plunging that blade into the dirt and digging tomato gardens with the bar.

I would not recommend hand sharpening if you don't have a great deal of experience or a need for constant sharpening. I also find that once a chain is machine sharpened it gets too hard to properly hand sharpen although some disagree. Get yourself 4 or 5 extra chains and have someone sharpen them. At the rate you use the saw you might only need to have them sharpened once a year if you keep it out of the dirt.

 

[Egon]

I would not recommend hand sharpening if you don't have a great deal of experience or a need for constant sharpening.

How do you get the experience?

 

[Hookblock]

One vote for sthil, if you go to sthil's web site they have a good product selector. The last saw I got 025 was out of a dumpster (yes someone threw it away) cleaned it up, put on a bar and chain, new gas, ten pulls later it started, a small carb adj and has worked great

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

i used to work at a small hardware store that sold remington electric saws....JUNK.....they came back all the time, right after the people bought it......

with that said, my grandpa bought a used milwaukee electric chainsaw.......i was skeptical! let me tell you, it'll flat out cut......

however, he only uses a saw about every 3 years or more, so for him it suites him well.....

i really wouldn't want anything but gas, but that really depends on your situation....

 

[KHNewman]

Egon - Hand Sharpening is an art. I worked with guys who could hand sharpen a saw so well you could shave with it. There is not a machine made that could put an edge on a chain the way they could. I watched them a thousand times and they explained all the principels to me and after 5 years of full time commercial logging I would consider myself adequate at best. I only hand sharpen a saw in a pinch when I am out of sharp chains and I can do a sufficent job to allow me to keep working but certainly not at peak performance.

The original poster is a novice and does not use his saw frequently. He does not have anyone to teach him how to properly hand shrpen a saw and does not have the frequent need for sharpening so he will get little practice. There is no substitute for practice and at his rate of use it will take him forever to become adequate at sharpening. It is a waste of his time and it would be better to invest in several chains and have them professionally sharpened.

I understand your point about learning and I am someone who is always willing to invest the time to learn a new skill but you also need to judge the amount of time it tkaes to learn the skill and the amount of use you will get out of the skill once you learn it and judge if it makes sense to invest the time necessary.