Lets talk Chainsaws

[Thinkingman]

I had a stihl 271 farmboss, it was great. Its motor seized up and, although I plan to repair it myself eventually, I was told to have it repaired would cost so much I might as well buy a new one. I was in between the the following for my farm use:

Stihl M261 C-M
Husqvarna 550xp mk ii
Echo CS590

All are professional grade chainsaws. Narrowed it down to the echo and stihl, and then went to buy them and the guy in the shop, which had both, said he honestly loved them both and I’d be happy with either, BUT, the echo was only $383 compared to the Stihl which was almost double, AND the echo had a 5 year warranty compared to the Stihls 1 year (both have a 1 year warranty for commercial use). Needless to say, the echo was an easy choice and it has been fantastic. It also had a larger motor than the echo and the option to go all the way up to a 24” bar. The stihl can only go up to 20”. I got it in the 20” version anyway since that can meet 99% of my needs. I’ve already put it to use and I like it even more than I liked my farm boss.

I’ll also add, I do love stihl, and my stepdad has been a life long stihl fan, he has multiple stihl chainsaws and weedwackers, but after he cut up a few trees with the CS 590, he went right out and bought one as well.

I bought a CS590 out of necessity when I had a spruce split during a windstorm.
I went into HD looking for the 490 they said was in stock and they couldn't find one so they discounted the 590 to the same price.
That thing doesn't play around.
Nice machine, magnesium case, tons of power.
It was heavier than what I wanted but a great machine.
I ended up selling it for more than I paid.

 

[doc holiday13]

Here is a question for super knowledgeable guys.. If I wanted to buy a used chainsaw from marketplace or craigslist and stumbled across a saw thats priced great but seller says it doesn't run. What tools would I want to bring for a quick diagnosis? I ask because i recently found a 461 semi local for a screaming deal, but seller says it hasn't been run in 3 years and he can't get it started

 

[Backyard]

Here is a question for super knowledgeable guys.. If I wanted to buy a used chainsaw from marketplace or craigslist and stumbled across a saw thats priced great but seller says it doesn't run. What tools would I want to bring for a quick diagnosis? I ask because i recently found a 461 semi local for a screaming deal, but seller says it hasn't been run in 3 years and he can't get it started

Just buy it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Steve300xcw]

Here is a question for super knowledgeable guys.. If I wanted to buy a used chainsaw from marketplace or craigslist and stumbled across a saw thats priced great but seller says it doesn't run. What tools would I want to bring for a quick diagnosis? I ask because i recently found a 461 semi local for a screaming deal, but seller says it hasn't been run in 3 years and he can't get it started

what are we calling a screaming deal?

 

[TaperPin]

Googling chainsaw accident photos is a good starting place for self learners. Lots of good instruction in print and online. What you won’t see are the gotchas specific to your area.

I was a longer bar away from killing 5 guys when I was 18 on a fire crew sitting around on standby. To stay busy we were putting in some barbed wire fence around some FS buildings, and a 5’ diameter sugar pine blew over where the fence was going. Huge rootball and 6 of us were using the rootball for shade having lunch. Our saw only had a 20” bar, but I figured I could take enough chunks out to eventually get through it before a sawyer showed up with a big bar. I was halfway through when the big saw showed up and he had the guys under the football move. As soon as the trunk was cut, 20’ up from the rootball, it stood back up and would have easily killed anyone under the roots. I was maybe an hour away from killing the 5 guys sitting there.

On more common cutting situations a coworker had an 8” lodgepole tree hang up, so he cut another tree to help push it down, the first small tree fell back catching him on the calf as he ran out of the way, and caused a full break of his lower leg. As the EMTs were getting him on a board and straightened out the 90 degree bend halfway between his knee and ankle, I couldn’t help telling him it looks like that hurts, and he assured me it did. lol He has always had a good limp after that between ligament tears that didn’t heal correctly, crappy workman’s comp, and I think his leg is a little shorter.

It’s human nature to assume falling trees are intuitive, but a big barber chair can come at you fast and no amount of OJT self learning will get you out of the way quick enough if you aren’t expecting it. Same for big falling tops or even limbs that get knocked off. How many new saw owners understand the importance of having wedges available? I bet half the guys in the field don’t even carry them.

We were cutting firewood and I swore this big old dead tree had a lean, but wouldn’t fall and I didn’t have anything to pound wedges with. 22 year old boy brain thought I’d just cut through the hinge and it would fall backward, don’t ever do that. I cut the hinge and it just sat there, a 20” tree perfectly balanced on the stump ready to fall in any direction. I should have not cut the hinge and made a new pie and back cut in the correct direction just above the one that didn’t work, but that wasn’t something I knew about then. I knew being at the trunk I could side step it if it started to fall, but after a few minutes you just have to get away from it and hope it doesn’t fall on you. *chuckle* That tree never fell while we were there, but it was on an open slope so it might have taken a week for a mild breeze to come along. Luckily we were way out in the sticks, or we’d have to pull it over to be safe. Probably should have done that anyway.

I’ve watched a big dead tree lose all its branches as it hit the ground and roll over a dude down hill going 100 mph. It looked like a cartoon, but he was ok.

A young guy running a saw on a hand crew under me had his hand wrapped up and he kept hiding from me. I didn’t care if he cut himself, that’s usually a bus ride home if I called him on it, but wanted to make sure he had what he needed to keep it clean and properly dressed. He had a whopper of a skin flap from a single sharp tooth. He kept it closed and it never started to get infected, but I should have sent him home for stitches, it did help him out though. He was stitched up back home and it worked out.

The bar kickback can be really dramatic for new guys with a loose grip, especially when they want to look directly down on the bar, which means when it kicks back it’s directly in line with their head.

Driving back home dead tired after a hard day cutting firewood is probably as dangerous as anything you can do with a saw. Be safe.

 

[doc holiday13]

what are we calling a screaming deal?

$350 and comes with a 25" bar. Seems all the plastics and sideplate are intack

 

[Steve300xcw]

I'd just snag the thing and figure out wtf sometime this winter