New Saw Recommendation

[newbury]

Funny to hear complaints of Stihl's being hard to start. That is the thing I love about my 029. It has sat a year at a time with gas in it and it starts in 3 pulls and first pull every time if I'm using it daily

I think that is why they are labeled "hard to start".
People want them to start on first pull. Not "set fuel to max, set choke if cold, pull 3 times, reset choke, pull"

 

[anomad]

Hero of the day.....the old Stihl 029.
Never used it at all last year. Dumped the gas out, put some fresh mix in, 4 pulls and away it went!
Figured I'd try some cutting. It ate right through it like it was starving. Though I had to cut from both sides.
I'm even more surprised that I sharpened the chain that good, LOL

Maybe I won't have to spend money just yet. Mind you I'm not down the big ends of the logs yet but I'm sure it will do.

I just had to laugh when I saw a Canadian was cutting down and chopping up maple trees - LOL!

 

[4570Man]

I think someone mentioned Makita saws already. I have one and it’s not a bad saw at all. I paid around $600 for the Makita which is much cheaper than the 500i is. I briefly had an Echo 590 that I bought at a clearance store for like $200 and the Makita will blow that saw away. I sold the Echo to a family member for the same $200 I paid.

 

[Runner]

Funny to hear complaints of Stihl's being hard to start. That is the thing I love about my 029. It has sat a year at a time with gas in it and it starts in 3 pulls and first pull every time if I'm using it daily.
Maybe it's the newer ones? My mechanic friend said he hates the new EPA friendly carbs.
What I like about Echo is they are Japanese. So when you're talking about small two stroke engines, it was the Japanese that pretty much dominated motorcycle technology, so they should know how to build and engine.

I had a Stihl O11T top handle saw for 20 years and it always started easy and ran great. Never had a problem with it.....until it was stolen. At that point (2011 or so) I went to my Stihl (John Deere) dealer to look at a new one and by then, they had gone to the "flip top" caps (of which I read many complaints, including on here, I believe).

So I asked the salesman to demonstrate how to use them and he couldn't get the gas cap back on, had to call someone from the service department to do it. I knew that Husky still used "normal" caps, and that they also had a good reputation, so I decided to try a Husky saw.

I know that may sound like a strange reason to change brands, but I hate complicated solutions to simple problems....

 

[4570Man]

I had a Stihl O11T top handle saw for 20 years and it always started easy and ran great. Never had a problem with it.....until it was stolen. At that point (2011 or so) I went to my Stihl (John Deere) dealer to look at a new one and by then, they had gone to the "flip top" caps (of which I read many complaints, including on here, I believe).

So I asked the salesman to demonstrate how to use them and he couldn't get the gas cap back on, had to call someone from the service department to do it. I knew that Husky still used "normal" caps, and that they also had a good reputation, so I decided to try a Husky saw.

I know that may sound like a strange reason to change brands, but I hate complicated solutions to simple problems....

More times than not I have to get pliers or a screwdriver to loosen the screw in caps. I’ve never had a problem with the flip top caps.

 

[Highlandr]

More times than not I have to get pliers or a screwdriver to loosen the screw in caps.

Yep. Hence the screwdriver slot in them.

 

[PeteN]

I probably cut around 8-10 cords of wood a year and have a multitude of different brand saws from top handles to standard saws. The Stihl 029 is a fairly good sized saw so it should pull at least a 20-24 inch bar. I bought an Echo 590 for the bigger stuff since the size was a little larger than I had with a larger 3/8" chain and it kicks *ss, and is a reasonable price. It came with a 20" bar but I bought a 24" for the bigger stuff. I use it for the big stuff but my favorite saw is the Dolmar 5100s which is NLA. If you only have a few trees that are the size you described, a bigger bar may be the answer. If you have more large trees to cut up you probably will need to move up to a 72cc saw with a big *ss bar but they are tiresome to use and it's amazing how much more cumbersome a saw becomes once you get above 24". The level of respect for the tool you are using becomes more apparent when you use the big saws. My dad used to use large McCulloch saws with 30 inch bars but they are heavy as hell, louder than a Harley and more saw than I would want to handle. Shot out chips that hurt as much as pellets. Still have them but only pick them up once in a while to appreciate the weight and performance of the new saws. Back then it was displacement to get horsepower and torque where now it's about hp and chain speed.

 

[edgarrian]

"hard to start"

what's peoples definition of this. IN my mind it would be anything over 6 pulls or more. There is generally something wrong or needs replaced.

Pretty standard for a saw to need three pulls when its cold and then there after one pull.

My dad and grandpa poulan saws years ago when i was a kid. Im 49 now. So long time ago. Anyway one was hard to start and the other easy.

 

[Fields_mj]

So, my small engine mechanic tells me all new saws are garbage with these new EPA emissions. But I have a bunch of maples I just had felled. They are 14 inch at the tops and 26 and 31 inch at the bottoms. I only have an old Stihl 029 and thinking about getting something bigger. What do you all recommend.
I find looking at the saw websites very confusing. You see small saws that are more expensive than big saws?
Figure for what it cost to get them to block it all up, I may as well invest in a bigger saw.

What do you all recommend for this job?

if someone else is taking them down for you and you are just bucking them up then just use what you have. The last saw my dad bought in 1993 with a stihl 028 and he still runs it today. Several years ago he had a large Maple taken out of the backyard that was well over 3 ft across at the stump. He used that 028 with an 18 inch bar to clean it all up. It took a long time to deal with the trunk but he got it done. It is worth noting that way he's with firewood my entire life and that's all did fine. I turned 51 early this year and I heat with firewood as well. I have six different saws of various sizes. For wood that is 26 to 30 in across, a bigger saw is nice to have. I would look at something in the 70cc range. On stihls that's going to be 044,, 046, ms440, ms441, ms460, or ms462. If I were buying it just to deal with those two trees I'd probably buy a Chinese clone of one of those saws and put a 28 inch bar on it. Get it from some place like bluesaws.com and can't talk to them before you buy it. They'll go through it and give it a shake down and make sure that everything on it is good to go so that you don't have a pile oh crap when it gets to you. It cost a little bit more but you'll still be into it for around 500 bucks and that's a third of what you'll pay for a new stihl or Husqvarna. If you're going to get into running big saws frequently, then by all means get a good used or new OEM saw, but I sure wouldn't spend that kind of money to clean up a pair of Maples