O/T CHAIN SAW BRANDS?

Anonymous-0 · Mar 11, 2010

JUST WONDERING YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NEW STHIL AND THE HUSKAVARNA SAWS? I HAVE TO BUY A NEW ONE BECAUSE SOMEONE LIKED MINE BETTER THAN ME AND THEY STOLE IT. LOOKING TO RUN A 20 TO 22 INCH BAR. ANY THOUGHTS WOULD BE HELP FULL.

bigreddm · Mar 11, 2010

stihl farm boos 16 or 18 inch bar. all you"ll ever need.... 20 or 22 is just more chain out of the wood to hit ground or stones to dull. and more chain to sharpen..... I ran saws for 20 years now and only on a handful of occasions needed more than 16....

MSJ from MN · Mar 11, 2010

Must be alot of small trees where you live.

Tony Vidlak Sr. · Mar 11, 2010

I've got a Husqvarna 61 and a Stihl 046 both saws are twelve years old. They have been very good saws for me.I've been heating entirely with wood for 23 years now.So they have cut there fair share of wood.I run an 18 inch bar on the Husky and a 24 inch and 36 inch bar on the Stihl.
Jonsred is a nice saw so is Echco

kyplowboy · Mar 11, 2010

I know nothing about new saws but I have a stihl 029 with a 22" bar. It has been a great saw. I bought a new stihl (don't know the number but it was the smallest one they made then) with a 14" bar about 5 years ago just for triming up small stuff around fences, (029 will make a man out of you in a hurry cutting sapplings!) and it has been a much better buy than I ever thought.

Dave

Stuart · Mar 11, 2010

Go with a 20 inch bar. My Dad has been heating his house with wood for 30 years and most of what we cut requires a 20 inch bar or larger.

Stuart · Mar 11, 2010

Almost everything I cut requires a 20 inch bar. Why are you running your saw into the dirt? Do you need more practice? lol
'

Paul from MI · Mar 11, 2010

Bought a used Dolmar two years ago. Great saw, very reliable and powerful. It came with a 19 & 22 bars. Never used the 22, 19 is about right for the stuff I cut(Mostly tops). Not too many Dolmar dealers around, but a really good saw.
Paul

MarkB_MI · Mar 11, 2010

Are you saying you only cut trees that are bigger than 36 inches? The bar only needs to go halfway through the tree! It's a very big tree indeed that you can't cut with an 18 inch bar.

Anonymous-0 · Mar 11, 2010

what ever saw you buy. buy it from a dealer not a big box store they are not the same saw you have a consumer and a commercial grade same number but it will have one more prefix in the ser number. same with name brand hand tools they look the same but they are not

kruser · Mar 11, 2010

Steal a Stihl! Just kiddin

My 029 with 20" bar stihl works great after 12-15 years with some abuse. Little 14" Stihl gets more work though because of the weight and stihl cuts a lot!

4010 puller · Mar 11, 2010

I've always liked echo myself, you outta be able to buy a 20" bar model for $400-500. Either way you go (last time I priced them) the echo, husky, and stihl were all very close in price so it may come down to your brand preference. I think you can buy husky's pretty reasonable at Lowe's.

Traditional Farmer · Mar 11, 2010

I have a Jonsenred with a 24" bar and like it much better than the Stihl saws I've owned

RandyB(MI) · Mar 11, 2010

Trees that large should be sold as logs and not wasted on fire wood anyway. Unless you are a professional and cut every day all day , the Stihl Farm boss w/18" bar is all you will ever need. Some think they need one with a 427 Chevy and 40" bar to cut on occasion. I'm sure they will all tell you they have 8" too.

chevytaHOE5674 · Mar 11, 2010

(quoted from post at 18:40:01 03/11/10)The bar only needs to go halfway through the tree!

I cut trees for a living, and let me tell you sawing from both sides is time consuming, more work, and in some instances dangerous. Sometimes sawing from both sides is inevitable, but I avoid it whenever possible.

If your plans are to cut brush and 4" trees then a short bar will suffice. But if your going to cut 20+" trees I recommend a 24-25" bar.

That said I generally cut with a stihl 460 and 25" bar. But sometimes a Husky 372 or dolmar 7900 both with 25" bars.

paul · Mar 11, 2010

Not to jump on you, but I cut a lot of 30 inch and bigger hardwood trees - dead elm and others - and so rarely is my 20 inch bar out of the wood, and as little as possible in the dirt.

My little 14 inch bar saw does the trim work.

Both are Stihl, been good to me, can't compare to others.

--->Paul

oliver power · Mar 11, 2010

We've always used 20" bars. It's a good all around bar. You're not bent over as much, as if you had a shorter bar. Also, the balance of the saw was nice. As far as tree diameter goes, most of the trees we cut, could have been cut with a 16" bar. But saw balance was not as comfortable.

Stuart · Mar 11, 2010

We only cut dead dry elm that is standing, there is no timber value in it. I have asked three loggers and they say they really dont want them at all.

Stuart · Mar 11, 2010

I have three Stihl 036 Pro chainsaws with 20in and 24 in bars.

Stuart · Mar 11, 2010

I cut only dead dry elm that is standing. No timber value in it. I have even asked and no one wants it. Sounds like someone cant handle a big boys saw.lol

DBAF · Mar 11, 2010

Never had anything but Stihl Only ones that I don't have anymore got run over and one fell off a truck I guess,at least thats what the guy that was working for me said.

Gary fom Va · Mar 11, 2010

I'm the head mechanic for a clearing company in northern Va. We use Stihl MS 460's and MS 660's exclusively. The only major complaints we have from them are when one of them gets run over by a loader or skidder. As far as I'm concerned, there's Stihl, and there's the rest of them.

The Shmunk · Mar 11, 2010

I am a silver level service technician at a Stihl Dealership here in Wisconsin, We sell stihl and service stihl and other competitive brand saws. Speaking from expierience, Modern Stihl saws are by far the simplest design (i say modern because the older ones such as the 031 and 041's were a little more complicated) in my opinion. The only stihl saws that i do not like are the small ms 170 and 180, they are made with price points in mind and are only meant for the occasional user, and they just have a very cheesey feel to them. Stihl chainsaws are catagorized into 3 groups; occasional use, mid-range, and professional. If you are going to want a 20 inch bar, the occasional use is out of the picture, so onto the mid-range saws. The stihl mid-range saws are designed for the weekend warrior who may heat his house with wood, or a farmer that has fencelines to clear. These saws are generally high horsepower/high weight (seeing those who buy them probably arnt going to be lugging them around all day every day) The last group of stihl saws are the professional saws. These saws have a high horsepower/ low weight ratio. Generally the crankcases are made of magnesium and the internal parts are alot stronger, larger bearings, larger crankshafts, etc etc etc. The down side..... because the pro saws are designed for a 40-50 hour work week, They are very pricey, A mid-range saw that can handle a 20" bar with power to spare would cost you around 450-500, where as a professional chainsaw with the same amound of power can cost 700 on up, If you want a good mid range stihl that can handle a 20" bar i would say a ms 310 (soon to be replaced by the ms 311 with a higher price tag) or even an ms 390. If you wanted a professional stihl chainsaw, i would think an ms 361 would suite your needs, it all depends on how much you wish to spend. Remember that stihl also makes their own guide bars and saw chain, they are the only chainsaw manufacturer that makes their own. Hope this helps with any questions you have with stihl.

schmuck · Mar 12, 2010

I would suggest you buy the most saw you can afford, unless you have a lot of free time on your hands. I bought a Stihl 441 last year. I would have never belived I would ever spend $800 on a chain saw, but the smaller models were not cutting fast enough to suit me. Now, if I run 2 tanks of fuel thru that saw, I'm busy for 10-12 hours cleaning up the brush, splitting wood and loading trailers. It takes about 40 min. to run those 2 tanks of fuel out. I do not know anything about any other brand of saw, but the 441 Stihl is by far the best saw I've ever run. My $.02.

schmuck · Mar 12, 2010

You stole my name!

onefarmer · Mar 12, 2010

I've had a 026 stihl w/20" bar for over 20 years until two years ago it cut all my wood. Saw has never been w2orked on yet. Except for the maintenance items spark plug filters and an occasional carb diaphragm. Two years a go got a deal on a rebuilt 044 24". They are both pro models and have a excellent power to weight ratio. Make a great pair. Now days I'd get a 260 and a 441. Maybe a 361.

MarkB_MI · Mar 12, 2010

Tahoe,

You cut trees for a living. It makes sense for you to buy a $1000+ saw that has enough horsepower to drive a 24 inch bar. But does it make sense to put a 24 inch bar on a mid-range saw like a Stihl 290 or 260? I'm asking your opinion, not trying to be sarcastic.

Anonymous-0 · Mar 12, 2010

Stihl is the only way to go! Thats all we use at work, I've seen one dropped out of a bucket,picked up,and started cutting again.My son ran over his with his truck, had to buy a new handle but it runs like new. They will cost you a little more but like anything else "you get what you pay for" Good Luck Mike

chevytaHOE5674 · Mar 12, 2010

My dad runs a 24" bar on a smaller saw (unsure of the model) because he likes being able to limb and cut stuff close to the ground without bending over constantly (IE firewood). He also like having a bar big enough that he can drop just about any tree he encounters without having to go look for a different bar and chain or saw.

The Shmunk · Mar 12, 2010

oooopsies.... my bad

Tom from Ontario · Mar 12, 2010

Now run a Stihl and very pleased with it. Old bird was a Pioneer and a boat anchor but it just kept working. Worst saw I ever touched was a McCulloch Timber Bear. Total POS.

Farmallhal · Mar 12, 2010

Nothing beats a Johnsred in fact there isn't a close second. I have a real power house in my saw which I think is a model 2171 which I used yesterday which is a couple of years old now. It is by far the best cutting and powerful chain saw I have ever used. It will really cut a chip so fast they can hardly clear the saw.
I will never buy another Sthil chain saw. Bought a brand new one (model MS360 I think) and it would never run more then 15 to 20 minutes before it couldn't be restarted. Took it back to the original selling dealer at least 20 times. They never could find anything wrong with it as it would always run during their testing period. Finally it got even worse, and they agreed to tear it down to find why it was so gutless. Told me I wore it out (it didn't have 12 to 15 hours of total time on it) as there was something wrong with the air cleaner which diverted the air around the air cleaner directly into the carb. This I guess I was suppose to find on my own as they never got that far into the saw during the numerous times it was in their shop. Sthil or the dealer said it was all my fault as it was being used improperly without filtered air. Never again will I buy any power tool with any engine from that farm store regardless of brand or anything with the Sthil name.

chevytaHOE5674 · Mar 12, 2010

(quoted from post at 08:28:11 03/12/10) Nothing beats a Johnsred in fact there isn't a close second.

Well last I knew Jonsereds were husqvarna's with different plastic on them...

(quoted from post at 08:28:11 03/12/10) Never again will I buy any power tool with any engine from [b:2db9e8c52e][i:2db9e8c52e]that farm store[/i:2db9e8c52e][/b:2db9e8c52e] regardless of brand or anything with the Sthil name.

First mistake buying from a farm store, not a good dealership. My dealership sells nothing but saws, and logging equipment, and a little OPE so they are great at what they do.

I run my stihls 10 hours a day 5 days a week the majority of the year, and have no complaints, and have the same to say for my huskies and dolmars. Moral of the story is if you buy any professional grade saw and take care of it, it should take care of you. But sometimes no matter the brand you can get a lemon.

O/T CHAIN SAW BRANDS?

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