Chainsaws

[Briar Lee]

When my first wife and I divorced in 2000, I let her keep my chainsaw, which was a mere Poulan anyway.

I went to a hardware store in town, and bought the most expensive Stihl chainsaw they carried, a Stihl 036 Pro, and with case and accessories it all came to about $700.

I am deathly afraid of chainsaws. But I do need one, occasionally, and my old Stihl 036 Pro has only a few hours on it, and my son has more or less taken it over.

At my farm, I bought a $40 as new Craftsman (by Poulan) 38cc chainsaw and case from a pawn shop, and for me to carry around in my Yamaha Rhino to be able to have a saw handy it’s perfect. I’ve discovered pre mixed synthetic gas, which is wonderful for an occasional use saw, because it doesn’t go sour.

But there is an Amish Husky dealer just a couple of miles from my farm, and they provide on site delivery and pickup of power equipment for maintenance, and I don’t want to be an “English” lawyer having them mess with my forty dollar store brand Poulan. I’ve already bought a Husky pole saw and brush cutter there, and last week I was in their shop and asked what the modern Husky equivalent of my 50cc Stihl 036 Pro was, and they showed me a Husky 550 XP Mark II.




They had two brand new ones in stock, and one they sold new in October and the man cut a big bunch of cedar logs and returned it within their trial period, and traded it for a bigger professional saw.

In turn the shop sent the used saw to Husky and Husky replaced it with a brand new 550 XP II. The only catch was they had to sell it as a refurb, and the five year warranty runs from October 2022. But it was only $540 instead of $690, and both were zero hours new saws.

I bought the refurb $540 saw plus another $80 for a case and every last thing my Amish renter would need to sharpen the chain, and three cans of pre mix gas (required for five year warranty) and while they would have delivered it, I took it with me.

Later my Amish renter and my home place renter came over, and admired my new saw, which they are going to be using to clean up a mile and a half of downed trees from building fence last year, anyway.

From what they said, I bought the best mid sized professional grade Husky saw. It has auto tune, and all the current bells and whistles and gee gaws a saw should have.

I said if they could wear it out cutting on my place I’d be glad to buy another one.

All I asked is they not forget my older renter who lives on my Grandfather’s place, as he would surely appreciate some firewood.

You hear old men about my age whine and moan about what things cost today, but when my father died in 1971 he had a three cubic inch (50cc) Oregon chainsaw, about the size of my new one, and the auctioneer said it was a two hundred dollar saw if it was new.

$200 in 1971 would be about $1,500 today, which is the price of the biggest Husky one man saw the local chainsaw shop sells, and about twice the retail price of my 550 XP II.

Harry Hosterman used to wear out a large sized professional chainsaw about every two years, and I understand that’s still about what they last a professional wood cutter.

Let’s see your chainsaws.

I’m surely not the only one to own such a power toy.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Ha, I thought this was going to be a new name for a blend similar to MacBaren's Virginia #1.

I have five or six chainsaws. I keep them on hand for when I needed help clearing the field when the river rises and drifts the trees and logs into the field after big storms. Happened about every other year.
Thankfully, I never need to cut firewood, because it really doesn't get cold for long enough to mess with it here.

I'm not really scared of them, but I did break a chain once and had it swing back up on me like a freak'n cobra striking at my head. That'll make you soil yourself, ha ha.

 

[canucklehead]

Nice new toy!

I have a Poo-lan. It's a POS for sure but it was free and I have a tiny yard. My brother uses a chainsaw more than me, and has an older 1990s Stihl that is a beast, still powerful.

When I was 5-10 years old my dad cut, carried (actually me and my brother did all the carrying, I hauled ponderosa pine rounds down mountains while other kids were in school), and sold firewood as a side business. He always used Echo saws.

 

[mso489]

It's a little like motorcycles. It's better if you grew up with them. It's not a good skill to learn in retirement. If you write, it's like risking being struck mute.

After hurricane Fran, I cleared the yard of fallen limbs with a bow saw, strictly by hand. Also somewhat after Floyd. I was younger then.

I may get a cordless electric mower. The gas powered need high maintenance and gas goes stale.

 

[captpat]

I have a Husky 372 and a Stihl 260, the latter sees more run time as it’s lighter.

 

[Briar Lee]

Some ruminations on chainsaws.

Husqvarna owns Stihl, Poulan and Jonsared.

I haven’t seen a Homelite in years, nor an Oregon or Echo.

The do gooders have forced emissions reductions on chainsaws, but the men I know that use a chainsaw for a living claim the best chainsaws are brand new ones.

My new Husky saw has Auto Tune, which is a miraculous and wonderful feature.

There’s a computer module on the saw that adjusts low idle and samples while the saw runs to adjust for elevation, temperature, gas quality, air cleaner condition, and who knows what else. This keeps the saw in perfect tune.

My Husky made Craftsman is a 2.3 cubic inch (38cc) saw, but starts every time, and is a high reviving, hard cutting, good chainsaw. I understand it shares lots of common parts with Husky saws.

 

[mortonbriar]

I have 4, but my favourite is a Husqvarna from the 80s, an 80cc with a 36" blade and a ripping chain that I keep the alaskan mill frame on for ripping slab.

I have a cute little battery powered Dewalt pole saw that can reach 4m and that has been very handy.

 

[tbradsim1]

Mine , at 80 yrs old anything job bigger is called greenbacks city! Lee you got good taste in equipment.

 

[skeeter456]

I have a Husky 372 and a Stihl 260, the latter sees more run time as it’s lighter.

I agree with you, after a day running one you look for something lighter. In my forestry class I was talked into using a 881 magnum with a huge bar. I got 1 pine down and wanted to quite lol

 

[monty55]

I've owned most, Pulan, Echo, Craftsman, Huskavarna and Stihl, I swear by Stihl, over and over. Saved my ass more than once.

 

[Puffaluffaguss]

My grandpa was a sheet metal guy and when he was around 50 he cut his pinky off by accident. He owned a good 40 or more acres in the mountains so he decided to start selling wood. He swore by a stihl, my dad always bought the cheapest thing he could find and it would last a couple cords then give ass. Now that I'm clearing trees on my own property I have a stihl and an electric cheapo ryobi and they both work just fine for what I need um for. So I mean it's kinda like pipes in a way price doesn't always mean quality and vice versa.

 

[crusader]

The Stihl farm boss is the best saw out there for the non pro arborist! Husqvarna is good also, but Stihl is still king in the small engine saw department imo.

 

[trouttimes]

I have cut wood for my sole source of heat for years.. .Stihl

 

[Briar Lee]

I’ve been reading up on chainsaws, and until the 1964 Homelite XL 12 (weighed 12 pounds) all chainsaws were about like my father’s chainsaw, a big, heavy beast made for professional wood cutters.

Over the next thirty years or so there were a host of other manufacturers of light weight saws until eventually Homelite disappeared as an independent company. But a thirty year old chainsaw today is still a modern saw.

The most prestigious and top selling saw today is likely Stihl, and although owned by Husqvarna it’s an independent brand.

The professional loggers I know claim the biggest reason to buy either a Husqvarna or a Stihl is which one does your local dealer carry. Both brands are top notch, and either one of their professional models last up to a couple of thousand hours with good upkeep, while a consumer saw might only last a couple of hundred hours.

My Husky 550 XP II can be serviced at a dealer where they plug it in to a computer that tells the dealer how many hours it has, whether it has the latest firmware, and can diagnose problems.

But if that saw lasts 2,000 hours (at full load) it’s going to be sitting in my milk barn almost new, when I’m in my grave.

When I was a kid the then modern Ashely wood heating stove gobbled up firewood like a drunk at the beer joint swilling beer.

Both rentals at my farm have the high efficiency type modern wood stoves and while I’ve heard people cuss the do gooders over the new wood stoves, once they buy a new one they’ll sell the old one to somebody they hate. The do gooders were trying to cut emissions, but what they actually did was vastly improve wood stoves, to where the new ones only use a fraction of the wood.

Twenty hours of run time would cut all the wood both my renters need for the winter.

My new saw will last a hundred years at that rate.

 

[prairiedruid]

My dad was a Homelite fan and was eventually forced to buy a Stihl. We cut wood with the neighbor for winter heat, Dad and Fred cut while my brother and I hauled. Dad taught me to drive at 12 so I could haul wood in the pick up. My first saw was a John Deere which was ok but now I have a Husqvarna and she is awesome.

 

[Briar Lee]

My dad was a Homelite fan and was eventually forced to buy a Stihl. We cut wood with the neighbor for winter heat, Dad and Fred cut while my brother and I hauled. Dad taught me to drive at 12 so I could haul wood in the pick up. My first saw was a John Deere which was ok but now I have a Husqvarna and she is awesome.

I grew up, where I could see the little town that used to be called Bug Tussle from my house.

Yes, the Bug Tussle of Jed Clampett.

Sixty years of trees have grown up since my wonderful grandmother “Ma” Agee would take me out back of my house and ask me:

Can you show me Bug Tussle?

I’d say it’s right over there, Grandma, can’t you see it?

About a half a mile away to the North was the home of Emmet Molder.

She’d say all I see is an old house way over yonder.

Let’s go to the barn and have your Daddy tell us about how Bug Tussle used to be there.

I’d lead her to the barn, where even in her sixties the men there would get all tongue tied in the presence of an outrageously beautiful woman.

The woman that wrote the Ma and Pa series that inspired Granny in the Beverly Hillbillies didn’t look or dress like a hillbilly, and neither did Pa Agee look and dress like Jed Clampett.

Emmet Molder’s house, that during the thirties and forties was the store at Bug Tussle is still there, in fact wonderfully restored to better than it likely ever looked.

All I need to do to see it again is cut a few trees.

The chainsaws in use when I was a kid were as dangerous as rattlesnakes.

Thinking back, my father had a big, heavy yellow saw that probably was a McCulloch with an Oregon bar.

Daddy was too afraid of it, to use it alone.
And he was too afraid to use it around me. Red Mauzey cut all our firewood.

He likely kept it for the same reason I bought mine.

Who ever heard of a man who owned 320 acres in the Ozark hills that didn’t have a good chainsaw, you know.

 

[mso489]

In one of my early jobs after the Navy, I trained with a guy who had a dramatic chainsaw injury scar on a forearm. He was fine, had full use of his arm and hand, but it made you think. He was a big capable looking guy, so it wasn't like he wasn't up to the job.

My wife had a finger cut up when she reached for something too near a chainsaw. She grew up on a farm, so she got it doctored and went right on. She's rebounded from various injuries, but that's another story.

 

[Briar Lee]

I found a good blog about vintage chainsaws.

VINTAGE CHAINSAW COLLECTION

PICTURES OF MY CHAINSAW 1 MAN AND 2 MAN SAWS.

vintagechainsawcollection.blogspot.com

The one man commercial chainsaw, was born right after World War Two.

Look at how much a four horsepower (same as my 11 pound 550 XP II) weighed in 1951, and they were bragging how light it was!



By 1969 they were selling more or less modern saws.

 

[OverMountain]

Capitalism is an imperfect system that makes goods more plentiful, and more affordable through profit and competition. Your dads saw is a great example. The commercial saws hitting the market have never been better or more affordable considering the value you are obtaining.

Keep them clean, maintained, and empty of gas when not in use and they will last for a very, very long time in good repair.

 

[Briar Lee]

Capitalism is an imperfect system that makes goods more plentiful, and more affordable through profit and competition. Your dads saw is a great example. The commercial saws hitting the market have never been better or more affordable considering the value you are obtaining.

Keep them clean, maintained, and empty of gas when not in use and they will last for a very, very long time in good repair.

All my adult life I’ve ranted and railed at the %#{+ do gooders who did things like mandate unleaded gasoline.

And I was dead wrong, not just once but at everything I protested against change.

Unleaded gasoline is incalculably better than old time leaded gasoline. The spark plugs on new cars will last the life of the car, although the manual recommends changing every 100,000 miles. My father traded Fords every five years, and he might have the valves ground twice between trades. Mufflers last the life of the car now, period. I cannot remember
the last spark plug cleaning machine I saw, or car thaf needed a valve job.

I have a 5,000 BTU window unit air conditioner in our bedroom with the do gooder approved Freon I bought last year, and you could not give me the old kind. The tag on it says it uses some ridiculously low amount a year to run. It’s silent as a ghost, and keeps the bedroom cold as an icebox, utterly and totally automatically. It was cheap as dirt, and my HVAC clients claim they’ll last twenty of thirty years if kept clean. I bought another one for our son’s bedroom. The rest of our hundred year old two story house can keep a higher temperature while we sleep under blankets.

Every last little thing the do gooders have forced on chainsaws has been an improvement, without exception.

My El Cheapo 38cc Poulan made Craftsman starts on the second pull after two or three years without use, on synthetic pre mix that does not go bad.

It could kick back, but you’d have to be an extraordinary careless operator, and the chain brake would likely save the day.

It has three and a half horsepower from 2.3 cubic inches, more than the famous Homelite XL 12 that was 3.3 cubic inches and a bit more than the XL Super that was 3.5 cubic inches. and it’s lighter. It will last longer, rev higher, is easier maintained, it’s incredibly safer, and a brand new Poulan costs $170 probably even better than mine, which might be ten years old.

The inflation calculator says $170 today was $17.50 in 1964. Those first lightweight saws cost well over a hundred of their dollars.