Justwannabeme

I (heart) Pat Daly!!!

love the compression release (same shoulders as Chris, I guess. He wears them better than me..) on my stihl. leave on empty, fresh fill, three pulls to start, 5 pulls to running. that is the usual procedure for fall, winter , spring use. dig out the wood chips/grunge from the plastic heat disc under the bar at each fill. good to go. we do 40 cords for our supply. on wood for 9 or 10 months. automatic propane back up is nice.

Forest program this year calls for thinning, lot of chain saw use coming up...

maybe another wood sculpture....

all with a stihl. will have to check out higher fuels...

Jezzhuntin

036 or 038 Stihl. I have the pros, 24" bar, turned up. they rip. Light enough to hold above head to trim limbs, fell trees and bucks like a ripper. That and you know how to have to sharpen a saw. 24" bar for me (6'1") is short I used to run a 34 and 36" on a 044 and 046. But but for a days job, back doesn't kill slightly hunched over when limbing.

I also have a 017 Stihl that I carry in my P/U. Handy compact and rips for what it is.

But I do live in MT, not so not so much scrub brush here.

chaikwa

The proper pun, as demonstrated below, is, "I'll be sawing with my Husky while you're Stihl pullin' on your starter rope."

If you gotta yank on it more than twice, it's broke. Or a Stihl.

Justwannabeme

honey, we are talking about GAS saws, not your electric pruner Husqvarna blenders R us....

you're welcome. saved you some embarrassment ...

Bark

That last one was great. Maybe this time you could Sculpt Obama.
Ill bet you could sell as many as you can make. A lot of us would want one for our fireplace.

Chrisreyn

OK, so far the general consensus seems to be fairly evenly divided between Stihl and Husky's in that order..

Im thinking that a 16 inch bar would be large enough for most of what I do, but I need at least an 18 for a few of the trees Im gonna be dropping this spring..... is it hard on a saw or unsafe for some reason to run a smaller bar than what the saw came with, i.e. running a 16 inch bar on a saw that came with an 18??

gorms

Don't consider me an expert, but it seems like most store bought saws come with too large of a bar to begin with. For instance I'm running a Husq. 435 with a 16" bar, nice little saw and I cut stuff way too big with it but it suffers when the bar is burried, and there's still 1/3 of the trunk left. It would probably do much better with a 13/14" bar.

I'm still between a Sthil or a bigger Husky for the next step, and keep the 435 for limbing, which it is great at. And FWIW, I run regular 10% ethanol gas in it, cheap oil, and stabilizer and it started in 3 pulls this chilly morning with 8 month old gas.

NE frmhnd

It won't hurt to put a longer or a shorter bar on it. You just won't cut as fast when you have the extra length in a tree. Your chain won't need sharpened as much though, with a longer bar/chain, as each cutter goes through your piece of wood fewer times before it's cut. At least in theory.
I have a 28 inch bar for the 288. I was going to put a 20 on the other one once I get it running. Probably sell them and get a 562XP and 2 bars for it.

I see Husky has pro (XP) models down to 50cc now and a top-handle XP at 39cc.Their web site says the 455 is only .1 pound heavier than the 562, but I know for sure that the one I picked up at the local hardware was a lot heavier.

Hvytrkmech

Get an 18" bar. Stihl or Husky. What ever dealer is closest to you is a winner. You can shelter the saw so temps will be irreverent. Parts availability and serviceability proximal to your residence is the real decision.

The best of luck no matter your decision.

chaikwa

I think she'd make her hero first. Maybe even a campaign sculpture of her; 'Hillary in 2016'.

Bingo!

In all seriousness, Stihl makes a great product, but if you're used to a Husky and you get a Stihl, you'll end up asking yourself what's wrong with the Stihl. It isn't that they don't saw well, they just saw 'different' I guess. I'm used to burying the bucking spikes into a log or tree, pulling upwards on the rear handle and plowing the bar thru the wood. I've never been able to do that with any Stihl I've tried. It's almost as if you need to push down on the front handle instead of pull up on the back or it will bog down.

That's the thing I was most surprised with on the Stihl I just repaired, (besides the plastic gears!). That saw wasn't more than 10 years old and some of the parts have been discontinued by Stihl already. I had to settle for a Chinese knock-off for the little plate with the spring under it that activates and de-activates the chain brake. There are 2 little tabs on it that catch the brake handle when you push or pull it, and the tab that de-activates the brake wore off.

patdaly

Man, I have NEVER pulled more than twice with my 028 Magnum, ever.

I did have to pull the spare MS170 I got from the scrap yard thru more than that, turns out it had bad gas in it......and the idjits scrapped it rather than try fresh.

After that, she always starts by the second pull as well.

Must be the Ethanol in the gas around here.......

chaikwa

Y'know, that's all I've ever used in my saws too and never have had a problem. But I DO add Stabil to it, maybe that helps.

I had a company give me some of that canned premixed gas a year or so ago, and it made a noticeable difference in the way the motors ran, but I don't think it was enough to justify the $8 per quart pricetag they wanted for it.

Justwannabeme

you're my hero. funny thing, my chainsaw has this lil hitch. it keeps decapitating her carvings.....rolling Hillary heads all over


went to old curmudgeon who always seems to have what I want. traded a vet visit for his HUGE male cat for a vending glass, lockable display case.
(yeah, see what I mean?) don't need the vending part.

He had two Homelight saws there, ready to go. funny, we were just talking about that....all metal parts.

Lary Ellis (Top)

You are MY hero

chaikwa

But... but... you said you like LIGHT saws!