Ping Bill Gumbine

Hey Bill,

I was playing your DVD for my daughter, my Old Man and I had just finished watching Klaus' dovetail film. I've been burning up a couple of HD wonder saws and SWMBO said that I could get a real saw after these two die. I looked at Huskies and Stihl, and the 2 piston ring is what has me leaning more towards the Stihls. My questions are, which one is that you've got, and how do you like it. Lot's ow maintenance, larger or smaller if you had your druthers?

Thanks, Dave in Fairfax

Reply to
Dave in Fairfax
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Hi Dave

I actually use two saws, both of them Stihl, although that might get you in the doghouse for a while. It did for me! My first one, and the one in the DVD, is an 026, which was the biggest I could afford at the time. It has a

20" bar on it. Shortly after I bought it, I started getting into really big logs, and petitioned SWMBO for permission for a larger saw. She said, "You just got a larger saw!". To make a long story a little shorter, I ended up with an 046 Magnum with a 28" bar, which is probably at the other end of what most people need. It is a monster, and is no fun to use all day long. Something in between the two would probably be suitable for a one saw stable. The two together make a very nice combination, but they ain't cheap.

Maintenance has been almost nonexistent. I fill them with gas and oil, change the filters from time to time, and sharpen the chains, but they both have six years of pretty good use on them now, and they still start right up in hot, cold, or inbetween weather. They both still have their original spark plugs. I have only ever had one part break (besides the chintzy cases Stihl offers, and which I think they have improved since I bought mine), and that is a washer on the 046 which holds the sprocket on. It wore through from use, and cost me something like $1.75 to replace. The guy at the Stihl store even put the new one on for me, as it was one of those E clip things that tend to go shooting off into orbit.

I would not hesitate to buy either again. Now as a side note, I understand that Stihl makes two lines. Those saws with even numbers are professional grade, and those with odd numbers are homeowner grade, although still much better than the big box offerings. I cannot vouch for that. The other thing to know is that a little while after I bought my saws they changed all the model numbers. It is a small change, and amounted to nothing more than moving the 0, so that my 026 became a 260 and my 046 became a 460, but it helps to be aware of it so there is no confusion.

Good luck with it, and if you have any more questions, I would be glad to try and answer them.

Reply to
Bill Grumbine

Leif

Reply to
Leif Thorvaldson

Dave... Hope you don't mind us (Leif IS an "us", right?) adding to the thread... We have a lil' 14" stihl that seems bullet proof... Runs like a champ, starts easy, auto chain oiler, etc... got it on sale for $170 which made it less expensive than poulen/pollon/allergent/whatever... it's a great size for us, (14" swing lathe) and light enough for the wife to carry and use...

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

Bill Grumbine wrote: snip of good info and experience. I suspect that you cut a wee bit more wood, and larger than I do. I rarely cut anything larger than 14" never larger than 16". I've been leaning toward slightly smaller saws, the 280 or MS250. One dealer told me about the odd/even lines, the other told me that all the parts come off the same lines and use the same parts with features and size being the differences. Spring asst start vs decompression start, unibody construction vs two part, that sort of thing. The saws I have now are

35cc aprox so moving up to a 45cc saw would be a serious change, going up to 50 or 55cc doesn't seem like it would be necessary. The problems that I'm having with my saws is not in power, but in lasting. What's the word on the new DVD?

Thanks for the info, Dave, in Fairfax

Reply to
Dave in Fairfax

Thanks, Leif, I was looking at the 310 also, the only thing holding me back is, my back. Without some start asst, I figured that I's throw it out even more than I do already. I looks like a monster saw, and the price is definitely right. No "intrusion" at all, please feel free to jump in here or back channel any time you want. That, OF COURSE, goes for Bill as well. The LDD is an interresting thought, I'm just not sure how it'll hold up to heat. Burning soap, now there's a smell I can do without.

Dave in Fairfax

Reply to
Dave in Fairfax

HI Mac, I never mind any of the regulars adding to a thread or my mailbox. I've gt a 14"swingover also, that's why I figured that a 16" bar would do what I need done. I'm guessing that you have a 170 or a 180. That's about the size of the saws that I have now, although better quality. The problem is that I think I'm lossing my rings and with cheap saws, it hardly pays to replace them, especially since the cylinders may well be worn as well. Once I get done tallying up the cost of parts and throw in the backache from hunching over for a few hours to rebuild them, a new good saw seems like a much better idea.

Thanks for the input, Dave in Fairfax

Reply to
Dave in Fairfax

=====>Dave: I have a bad back and the starting pull on that saw is less than on an 025 of my acquaintance. Not trying to teach egg-sucking, but do you use the drop technique when simultaneous pulling on the cord? That saves bending over and pulling so hard. What kills my back now is bucking up a log and the requisite bentover posture for so long. Starting is no problem! You prefer the smell of burning/hot lube oil?? Tsk, tsk!*G*

Leif

Reply to
Leif Thorvaldson

PLEASE DON'T DROP START A CHAINSAW! It does things to legs that not even the magic of LDD can cure.

I've had two totals and a number of nasty partials from this very practice.

Use a timber jack to help your back out, or roll the logs uphill with ropes and a come along to a waist high cutting platform.

Reply to
George

Dave, Nothing to do with your question for Bill, but I've had good luck with factory or company authorized reconditioned power tools. In fact, often less trouble than with new saws, drills etc. Maybe they were reconditioned better than they were built.

After the hurricane clean-ups were over, many reconditioned Echo, a decent brand seldom mentioned here, smaller chain saws became available at a good price and warranty. You guys might want to keep this in mind after your next hurricane, storm, noreaster, flood, or tsunami ...unless you had to buy a new saw for your own clean up. YMMV, etc.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

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Reply to
Arch

It's good to know that yours starts easy, I take it that isn't using a decompressor. No, I don't use the drop technique. I've seen it go wrong, and it didn't look like fun. Maybe a higher bucking stand would help. I use a triple stump, on end, to hold my logs, so that keeps them up about 3-4 ft off the ground. Cuts down on the bending. I was a deisel mechanic for years, hote oil/lube stopped bothering me a while back. %-) Burned soap smells just a little too much like burned person for me to be comfortable with it.

Dave in Fairfax

Reply to
Dave in Fairfax

======>Nine and one half loggers that I surveyed utilize the dropstart. The one half tends to be clumsy and forgetful, but still persists in utilizing this simple and quick way to start a chain saw. NB: The saw isn't dropped directly down, it is pushed away and down. If it ever started and came loose from your hand, it would land well away from you -- don't try it in a crowd, though! This discussion flashes me back to Monty Python's "Search for the Holy Grail" and the Black Knight's assault on the Merry Throng.*G*

Leif

Reply to
Leif Thorvaldson

Sorry, you won't convince the medic who's seen it. I imagine our cutters are "professionals," too.

Though I hope you never do, once would be enough to convince you to put your foot in that conveniently-shaped handle.

Reply to
George

Dave in Fairfax wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@fairfax.com:

I just bought an MS250 from the guys that all of the garden services buy from locally. They did right by me on lawn mower, chipper, tiller and every other tool/service I've used them for over the last 20+ years.

The fellow I spoke with knew a little about turning, and a lot about saws, and I walked out happy. He saw no reason to go to a bigger saw, even when I spoke of a bigger lathe in my future. The 250 is about the right weight for a session of several hours. My back has been iffy since a football incident in high school (mumble) years ago...

Patriarch, making blanks in California of Black Walnut, fresh from the orchards...

Reply to
Patriarch

Hi Dave

The word is, I am not sure yet. We are definitely doing it, we just aren't sure when. I will be sure to give you as much warning as possible though. ;-)

Reply to
Bill Grumbine

You in Sacramento or up the highway toward Marysville?

Reply to
George

Oh yes, forgot to add, for any who consider this method, that the saw goes "away and down" until it reaches the end of the recoil cord which is still in your other hand, at which point it swings back in, arriving below the midpoint of the tibia down to the ankle, depending on stance. Even had a guy who put his left leg out and up a hill who caught it in the side/rear, severing the Achilles tendon.

If the saw goes "away and down" in that coordinated push/pull motion and the recoil cord snaps or pulls out, the saw arrives normally below the midpoint of the femur to the knee, depending on how bent the elbow. Chaps are a big help here.

So it won't "land well away from you" unless you are quick enough to overcome the reflex that causes us to grip or reach when we lose hold of an object. Nope, not worth it....

Reply to
George

Leif.. you don't have a bad back, you have a back problem... BTDT

I do really bad things to my hip and lower back when I lift a lot of logs to cut... being lazy, I made a saw buck like the one on Darrells page.. The difference with mine is that it's sized to fit up against the tailgate of the pickup, so I can roll a log onto the buck, cut it up, and then pick up the blanks and pith at almost waist level... That doesn't sound like a lot of improvement, but if you have a bending problem and are doing blanks on a regular basis, it saves a LOT of bending..

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

you're a lumberjack and you're ok?? rofl

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

for sure... and for those who don't want to bend over, it's just as easy to set the saw down on a log and put one foot in the d-handle.. As to drop starting, my fear isn't dropping a running saw, it's having a running saw in one hand that might be trying to rotate towards body parts... yuk! You can really gunk up a chain saw when you cut meat with it..

mac

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Reply to
mac davis

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