frugalangler
Gold Member
I'm not as physically in shape as the video's professional logger, so to conserve strength:
I don't usually bust my gut on the first 2-3 pulls as the fuel line/carb/cylinder primes itself. You always see people "swinging for the fences" on the first pull even if the saw hasn't ran in days/weeks. Why bother? Just a couple slow roll out pulls is all that's needed, then it usually "starts on the '1st' pull" !
Anybody else do the same?
My OLD McCulloch Pro-Mac that's 30+ years old had almost exactly the same 'controls' on it, so not new newfangled by any definition. Yep, it was a bear to start, but slow-rolling it over a few times would get her juices flowing and then a quick tug would fire it.
Yep, slow roll technique works!
I've also found that running it totally dry after use helped, as if it sits even with fuel stabilizer the fuel would seem to degrade enough that it didn't like to start, and that first tank would not run good, after refill it ran great, lessons learned after living with it for 30+ years. It's not my goto saw, because it's HEAVY, but when I need a big bar w/ more power I drag it out. Otherwise, I go to my cheap Poulan Pro that has a primer bulb, it's famously good at starting easy.
I used to cuss those primer bulbs, but whoever designed that system should be rewarded, I've got other B&S, Tecumseh, Honda, etc. engines (My Kohler is the worst) that don't use a primer bulb and after they sit especially after being run dry they can be a real bear to start, even slow roll technique doesn't work well on them (except the electric start ones, they eventually will start).