In the Market for a New Chainsaw

[Rich/WIS]

Have had saws by McCullock, Husky, Echo and Stihl. For light use any saw will work if you keep it sharp, but my experience was Stihl is the way to go. When I lived in WI cut firewood, first for a fireplace with insert and then for an outdoor wood furnace. Probably cut 15+ cords a year for the furnace with a Stihl 029 Farm Boss with an 18" bar. Did use a Husky for a bit but the Stihl cut better. One trick I learned from a couple of loggers was to check and touch up the chain every tank of gas or so and to rotate the bar every third or fourth tank full. Use the Stihl brand synthetic 2C oil and a good bar oil, used Stihl as well for this either regular or winter grade as conditions dictated. My original saw started losing compression after 20 years of hard service and rather rebuild it bought another, new model was the 291 IIRC, also with an 18" bar. Gave it to my son when I moved to KY. The Echo is a pruning saw and haven't used it much, but for light trimming it is fine and easier on my arthritis due to the lighter weight. Not up on current prices but some things are worth spending money on, and a good chainsaw is one of them. You might also check your local Stihl dealer, they frequently have reconditioned trade ins that may meet your needs and price range.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

$200 ?
I'd watch Craigslist or Facebook Market place for a used Stihl, they last for ever.

this... take it from somebody that cuts 20 cords+ per year of firewood.. stihl or husky... even an old beat up one that runs good and has a decent chain will serve you well...

While buying a used saw isn't for everyone, as you may get one well cared for or maybe get one that was misused ...you need to be handy and even yet, it is still a risk.

My first Saw was a Stihl 024, and was given to me by a friend who bought a new Stihl. He said he used the old saw for 15 years, cutting 3 or 4 cords a year...Oak firewood, much already dead... and he figured it was wore out, but it still ran. I thought it didn't 'rev up' like I thought it should. I brought it to a Stihl dealer who checked it out, and said the jet screws needed adjusting, He said, since I was buying a new sprocket and Bar and a few chains from him, there was no charge for checking it out and setting the adjustments properly. Then it was running great, BTW, these are easy things to do, if you have some experience with chain saws, but I didn't have that experience at that time.

Years later, after I got plenty of use from it, I seemed to have less power than before. I also wanted a larger saw, so I bought a new Stihl 360 Pro...Man is that a powerful saw, compared to a 024. That weekend, the Stihl dealer was running a sale, with $50 off a new saw with trade-in of your old saw. I brought in a dingy old poulan, that another friend gave me, as a trade-in. When the salesman carried the old poulan to put in the pile of other trade-ins in the back room, I asked him, what do you do with those? He says, most are junked out, but some are repaired for re-sale. I seen a decent looking Stihl 024 in the pile, with a nice case, I asked him if I could buy it for spare parts for my other saw. He said I could have it for $50...and it came with a nice case, also the bar and sprocket looked good, like it wasn't used that much.

I get it home and try to start the old 024, it wouldn't run, unless I sprayed starting fluid, then would quit...it wasn't getting gas. While it looks complected and difficult to disassemble, once I got it apart, I found it to have a real smart design and is very simple to remove and reinstall the carb. I inspected it and cleaned it. Put it back together and it ran like new.

Since that repair went well, I then took apart the 024 that my friend gave me, that was now running low on power. I found the fuel screen inside the carborator was full of fine wood dust...as I was running a air filter that was wore out. I cleaned the screen and bought a new air filter, and now that saw was again running great.

My last thought for buying a used Stihl...I believe the older German made, small to mid size Stihl saws are build better/stronger than the newer inexpensive USA made (and China since 2008) "residential" Stihl saws.

[IHuntDragons]

I'm super happy with my Echo I bought. Not sure you're going to get a good sized one for $200 though. I found one on FB marketplace new in the box for a good price.

[snowwolfe]

Last 30 years I owned Stihls and Huskies. Bought my first Echo about 3 years ago. I now own 3 Echos. I'll never buy another Stihl or Husky again. My next purchase will be a Echo 620.

[Ed K]

Stihl 041 Farm Boss purchased in 1976. Cut 6-7 cords/year for 40+ years. Still running fine.

[blackthorn]

We bought this place in 2004. I bought an Echo arborists saw for odd jobs around the place. Then the pine beetles arrived. They killed 30 large 25 to 30 inch diameter pine trees. I paid to have 12 trees taken down that would/could hit the house or shop if they fell ($1000.00) and I started to cut them up for fire wood. My little saw did a stellar job, but I had to cut from one side and then from the other, often I had to roll the log to get at the uncut wood. Wife said go get a bigger saw, so I did. I got another Echo with a longer bar. That saw finished cutting up the rest of the first 12 trees an d later the rest of the dead trees on our property. Love my Echo(s)! Both are still going strong. That said, my son has a Stihil and he would have nothing else.

[buckwheatpaul]

I have always been a believer in Stihl....in fact I had 4 of them. Three are commercial and one is a light duty one for small things. My commercial 18" laid down after 16 very hard years of work. To replace it would have been $1200.00. The next closest was $360.00 and came with a one year warranty; two years if you use their synthetic oil. My dealer recommended an Echo model. It came with a 5 year bumper to bumper warranty, excluding chains and spark plugs. It cost me $328.00 and it is not as heavy as my old Stihl; but the $1200.00 replacement was not as heavy as my origional saw.

I bought the Echo for the following reasons:

1. Warranty
2. Service
3. Im 68 and if I have to buy one more chainsaw in 5 years after I wear this one out then I am still ahead.

[EMC45]

A Stihl is a bad boy, most of the pros use them..
The only problem with them is you have to buy parts or get it worked on at a dealer.
You can't even mail order factory parts.

You can get nearly everything you need for a Stihl saw from Baileys. Even some of the really older ones. Up to complete rebuilds.

[EMC45]

I have a Stihl 021 I bought used in 2002 at a pawnshop for 140 bucks. It was in pretty darn good shape when I bought it. It doesn't get used daily, but the times it's run it does great. I have rebuilt it once since buying it (fuel lines, plug, filters etc.)

I also put a Woodland Pro bar and chain combo from Baileys on it. It is a pro arborist chain (which I'm not) that has no kickback protection rakers on it. It is a fast chain and will cut! Easy to touch up when using (every fresh tank of fuel I slick up the chain or if it goes in the dirt).

Few things to look out for already mentioned is pure gas and not ethanol. Also the Stihl will bog if the fuel or air filter are really dirty or clogged - AND there is a spark arrestor screen in the muffler that if it gets carboned up it will retard your saw. I took mine out and it ran perfectly afterward.

I have been guilty of not running my saw dry after a season and on occasion some ethanol gas got in there. Just watch the carb and fuel lines and you should be square. I use a simple Stihl round file and freehand my technique to square the teeth up and it works every time.

[Texas by God]

Here's the mother of electric chain saws!
A friend gave it to me long ago. It weighs about 20 pounds. About as easy to drag the tree to the saw

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[KLR]

I was looking for a string trimmer so after a lot of research I listened to the "buy once, cry once" advice and bought a professional quality Stihl.

In less than a year of light usage it wouldn't rev up. I took it to the dealer and he immediately blamed me and told me that Stihl wouldn't repair it under warranty because I had probably used gas with alcohol in it. I had not. I always use the premium stuff for my chainsaws and trimmers.

While it was at the dealer, I wondered what it would cost to just buy a carb and replace it myself and discovered that Stihl has the parts situation locked up tight to dealers only. So no more Stihl for me.

After that I bought a small Echo chainsaw. It starts easy and runs great. I've had it for several years and cut a lot of firewood with it. I've also had Husky saws and continue to have good luck with them.

Short version:
Professional Stihl broke quickly, Dealer sucked, Parts not widely available.
Echo and Husky have been good chainsaws.

[Winger Ed.]

You can get nearly everything you need for a Stihl saw from Baileys. Even some of the really older ones. Up to complete rebuilds.

That's good.

A few years ago I was going to get into mine and found that to protect their dealers, they wouldn't allow mail or on line parts orders.
I found the parts I needed since mine had a carb. that was a off the shelf item made by someone else.

Not being able to get factory packaged parts except face-to-face with a dealer always ticked me off.

[Petrol & Powder]

Premium Gas isn't the same thing as non-ethanol gasoline.
So using the "premium stuff" doesn't guarantee non-ethanol. And, even with pure gasoline, the fuel can still varnish if stored for long periods of time.

I have never had a problem finding parts for a Stihl.

[Gtrubicon]

Don’t buy any chainsaw that is sold at Lowe’s, Home Depot or a hardware store. I own more than a dozen pieces of stihl equipment. They are tops in my book. There is a lot of other good equipment out there. Whatever you buy, buy it from a dealer that will also service it. There’s a reason the big box stores don’t service what they sell.

[Markopolo]

Stihl parts are now much easier due to evilbay....

[Lloyd Smale]

now that's an antique! Should be on the wall with my cousins collection of antique chain saws his dad and grandpa who worked there lives in the woods collected. Real cool ones are the two man 4 stroke saws you wind the rope around the starter to start up. His even still run. They weighted about 50 lbs! Buy the way since the 70s the only saw they would buy is a stihl and that was good enough for me. Id bet 3/4s of the real wood cutters in the US use stihl.

Here's the mother of electric chain saws!
A friend gave it to me long ago. It weighs about 20 pounds. About as easy to drag the tree to the saw

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[jonp]

Stihl has their 16" bar leader model on sale for $159 right now. I didn't really need another but for that price it's hard to pass up. I picked mine up Thursday and have used it at least a couple of hours everyday since including today. If you purchase a 6 pack of oil with the saw it doubles your warranty to 2 years.
Rick

If you can find one for that price then it's a "Steel". I crack myself up sometimes. I am still a Jonsered/Husky fan. I've found over the years that people get quite invested in the brand of saws much like Ford vs Chevy. For the casual user just about any brand will work be it Stihl, Husky, Jonsered, Poulin/Craftsman, Makita, Hitachi, Sachs Dolmar etc. Professional users tend to gravitate to a few brands and that should tell you something if you use one a lot.

The big difference is whether you buy a homeowner saw or a professional grade saw. My Johnsered has a titanium case and housing, the homeowner version does not nor does the homeowner go as high on the RPM's . Buy a saw to match what you are doing and need one for. If you are limbing a few trees or cutting a couple of cords of wood you don't need to spend $1,000 on a saw.

[jonp]

Here's the mother of electric chain saws!
A friend gave it to me long ago. It weighs about 20 pounds. About as easy to drag the tree to the saw

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Wow. Thats something nifty

[jonp]

You can get nearly everything you need for a Stihl saw from Baileys. Even some of the really older ones. Up to complete rebuilds.

+1 I've bought chain and other stuff from them. Great outfit

If you spend anytime with chainsaws you quickly learn that it is the chain the does the work. A sharp chain with the correct profile is key.

Gospel

[CLAYPOOL]

As rick tn said STIHL on sale now. USE ONLY NON ALCOHOL - PREMIUM FUEL. RUN DRY OR dump fuel out then run dry. WILL PROBABLY OUT LAST US ALL..
$ 159.00 ON SALE NOW..... BUY a extra chain and rotate the bar also . WEAR HEARING PROTECTION