Chainsaw Needed

[Clemson]

I'm in the market for a new chainsaw. My old McCullough is impossible to get parts for, and my Homelite is torn up to the extent that it needs to be sent back to the factory for a new housing. Do any of you have suggestions for sources with good prices on saws? Do you have any brand biases?

Thanks in advance.

Clemson

 

[Boondox]

I'd start with a search on "chainsaw." There was a LONG thread a while back. The long and short of it was get a brand your local dealer carries and trusts. The big three (Stihl, Husqvarna, Jonsered) are rock solid but some models among those brands have more desirable features. Some of those features include compression release for easy starting, chain tension adjustment in an easy to reach location, favorable power to weight ratio, etc. Some folks swear by chain store brands, but most of the serious woodcutters go with the big three. And last but not least, spring for some really good safety gear and use it!

Pete (Vermont woodchuck)

 

[Richard]

<font color=blue>And last but not least, spring for some really good safety gear and use it!</font color=blue>

And wear it religeously

 

[rancar]

I've also had McCullough and Homelite....got rid of them due to constant operational problems similar to ones you cited. I spent a little more and got a Stihl 044 about 6 years ago. I love this saw. I cut about 5-6 cords of firewood each year and this saw has never given me one problem. All I've ever done is replace the chains. I'd highly recommend Stihl. Shop at hardware stores, tractor dealers, other places that sell these saws. Many of these places now have Springtime sale prices in effect that should last through July.

 

[woodmills1]

stihl ..... and get the biggest even numbered one you can afford, but go for the reccomended bar. that is don't oversize any bar will unbalance saw and make it more tiresome to use. some cutters will need large bars for special types of jobs, but for regular use 20" is big enough for almost anything and 16" on smaller saws.

 

[Youare]

I'll throw my two cents in. Any of the three manufacturers mentioned all have good machines. They all seem to have two different lines of saws, one line for the weekend warrior and another line for the person who is going to use the saw every day.

If you can afford it buy a saw that has a good reputation with those who make a living with them. I would perfer a 16" bar to a 20", chains are less expensive, less teeth to sharpen, and the saw has a better balance. If you need to cut tress over 30" in diameter then get an 18".

I have owned Mac.'s, Homelite's, Stihl, Husky, Sachs Dolmar, and Wright saws. Stihl and Husky are what I use now both are good saws.

Randy

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Anyone have any experience with Poulan chainsaws? I see them around here quite a bit and my local Tractor Supply Co. store handles them (which could be why I see them around here). I don't really know anything about them or chainsaws/brands in general. I'm not looking to become a lumberjack here. I've got some major cleaning up to do right away but I probably qualify as the 'weekend warrior' type user overall.

 

[Youare]

My father-in-law had a small Poulan saw years ago, it served his purposes for the weekend work he did.
A neighbor of mine back in the mid 1980's worked for a company that made the metal working machines that produced transmissions and engines. They did some work for Poulan designing a machine that would perform some of the machining operations on their chainsaw engines.

My neighbor talked with some of the engineers from Poulan, one of the intresting things he found out was the life expectancy of their homeowner line of chainsaws was 80 hours. That may seem like a short time but for the person who uses a saw mabye 10 times a summer for a couple of hours that is 4 years of life. If the saw does last 100 hours that's 6 years.

One of the things that used to seperate the homeowner saw from the professional saw was the type of cylinder bore they have. The homeowner saw had a chrome plated cylinder bore and the other saws were made out of a special material that did not require plating. Once the plating wore off the cylinder the material underneath which was softer got scuffed away by the piston ring and you threw the saw away.

One way you could tell was when you started the saw without the air filter on, when reving the engine a cloud of vapor would come out the carb. This is blow-by from a worn cylinder. The saws without chrome plated bores will last longer when the proper oil/ fuel mix is used.

Buy the best you can afford.

Randy

 

[rf33]

To me, the most important concern with a chainsaw is the balance and weight of it. I agree with the others here that the extra $100 or so spent to get a Stihl or a Husky is probably money well spent. I think though that the balance and feel of the saw are alot more important to the average weekend user than some of the other factors such as cc's or HP or RPM or some of the other factors which are advertized. I think that having a saw that you are comfortable using and working with for several hours is probably the best safety that you can have. An awkward or too heavy saw can wear you down, and when I am tired and fatigued I am alot more accident prone then when I am fresh. Sorry for the long winded reply.

 

[Boondox]

That's a great point! If your intended use is brush clearing, it makes no sense to get a Husky 372XP able to take down large maples.

Pete

 

[Ledgemere Farm]

I bought two a couple of years ago. One for my father and one for myself. Mine was the biggest piece of crap I ever owned. My father's works fine. My father also has two 25 year old Homelites. They are still going.
I now have a Homelite and a STIHL.

 

[webbmeister]

Hmmm ... I went pedestrian on my chainsaw - just don't use it enough to justify a Husky or Stihl. I bought an Echo from HD. I have to say that it starts right up even after long periods of disuse, and it really cuts well. It is now three years old and has been used for a total of maybe 50 hours. Chain is still good and sharp, runs like new. I'm happy with it.

Jim

 

[bgott]

Echo isn't pedestrian. They are a really good brand. They are also priced that way. I had a credit coming from my tractor dealer for a grill guard I returned. I went ahead and got an Echo off of them after doing a lot of research. A comparable Stihl went on sale for about $100 less three days later. The one think that ticked me off about the Echo was that a case was an extra cost option. I thought the dealer was pulling a fast one because there was a difference of opinion on what the credit was supposed to be but I checked with another place that handled Echo and they charged extra for the case also. I do know this Echo beats the he11 out of the POS "Craftsman" Poulan I have.

 

[rancar]

Gary,

<font color=blue>Anyone have any experience with Poulan chainsaws?</font color=blue>

I've also had Poulan. I had operational difficulties with these as well. Maybe good for small weekend projects but won't hold up well if you do a lot of everyday timber cutting and firewood. Go with one of the three favored by the timber guys...these are Stihl, Husky, and Jonsereed and you can't go wrong.

Bob

 

[Bird]

Gary, I've used McCullough, Stihl, Craftsman, Homelite, and Poulan saws; currently own my second Poulan (and the only reason I had to buy a second one is because I gave my first one away when we took off full time RVing for nearly 6 years). Now I do believe Stihl makes the best one, but too dadburned heavy and awkward for an old man like me. Give me a Poulan every time; starts easily, light weight, and has never failed me yet. And besides that the price is better./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[cstocks]

I have owned only one chainsaw in my life and it is a Stihl that I bought from a friend about twelve years ago. The saw was a couple of years old when I bought it. That saw has been the most dependable, trouble free gasoline powered piece of equipment I have ever owned. It has gotten used extensively but intermittenly over the past dozen years. I can let my chainsaw set up for a year with gas left in the tank and it will crank it on the third or fourth try when I break it out to use again.

I have owned lawn mowers, tillers, chipper-shreddered and string trimmers but none have been dependable as my Stihl chainsaw. They all have one thing in common. Let them set up for a spell and the carborator gets crapped out from disuse. I don't know what is different about my chainsaw but I can always count on it working for me when I need it. Since I have never owned any other brand chainsaw I cannot say if other brands are as dependable.

I do know this. When I get ready to shop for another chainsaw Stihl will be a the top of my list.

Chris

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

I sure appreciate all the input here. As I said, I'm probably going to use this hot and heavy for a few days this summer and then won't do much more than the average homeowner after that. With that in mind (and because my cash outgo has been rather extensive lately /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif ) I bought a Poulan tonight. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

It's a 54cc, 20" model and was on sale as a 'Manager's Special' at a brand new TSC in a neighboring town. I heard about it being on sale just this afternoon from a customer who lives there. He'd bought one yesterday and showed me his. It looked like it would do the job so I decided I'd just drive over there tonight and get one.

By the time I got there it was almost closing time for them and all of the boxed ones were gone (of course). As I was lamenting not having called before I made the drive they offered me the display model at an additional discount. Since the store had only been open about a month and they even had the box and manual, I jumped at the deal. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I will, however, disassemble it back down to it's shipping state and reassemble it myself just to make sure everythings put together properly. All I can think is that this was assembled by someone who knew they were never going to use it, just to hang on a wall. [roll] Maybe I'm overly cautious, but I'm hard pressed to think of another tool around which I'd want to exercise more care and caution than a chainsaw. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[smilingreen]

I have 3 Stihl chainsaws. The first one is a 290 model with a 20" bar, the second one is a 390 with a 28" bar and the third one is a Ht 75 extendable up to 11.5' pole pruner with a 12" bar. I use all three saws extensively in my landscape maintenance business and cannot say enough good about them. They start up every time, plenty of power and are very well designed machines. The 390 gets a little heavy after a few hours of cutting big diameter trees, but that is expected. The 290 and the HT 75 are easy on gas. The 390 drinks the gas pretty hard. If you have quite a few trees to prune back on your property, the HT 75 is the cats meow!!! You can stand on the ground and reach braches up to 15' feet in the air. We did a job three weeks ago that had to have about 2.5 miles of tree line trimed up 12' off the ground. We did 40 hours of tree trimming (water oak, cedar & sweet gum) on one chain, the factory original. It has a 12" micro chain on it and it zips very quickly through branches up to 10" in diameter.
well, thats my 2 cents worth!!