Chainsaw gurus, come here, now

[josh817]

Trying to clean up my mothers yard this summer. We have about 10 dead oak trees; maybe 20 feet tall, biggest is about 16" at the stump. I bought a Poulan 14" bar chain saw from Lowes. I cut down one whole tree, cut its branches, cut the logs, until it started bogging down while cutting. Stalled out, repeat this 3 times, seized completely (checked the chain and pull string, both were good). Used warranty to get another one, got half a tree logged, seized. I used their oil per their instructions, proper bar oil, maintained fluids so it didn't run dry. I figured I was asking too much out of the saw considering of the 200+ reviews, people either loved it or complained about it being hard to start. No one mentioned anything about it becoming seized.

Worried for "cheaper" brands now... Have to be able to decipher reviews between those are not mechanically knowledgeable/don't read the instructions, those who rarely use the saw or use it for limbs,  and those who know what they are doing/do heavy cutting.

On the hunt for a saw that can take the heat. Not wanting to spend more than $250... Looking at an Echo 310 however it comes with a 14" bar, can take up to a 16" bar. I don't feel like I need a bigger bar however, if the bar reflects how big of a tree it can cut then I worry I may push it too hard even with a good brand. Stihl has an MS170 or 171, or 180, not sure what the differences are but that's a 16" bar. Says "occasional use" though which sets of my alarms.




Need wise intuition. Thanks kind sirs

[fhptom]

I went through the similar problem with the big box saws( 2-Poulans & 1 - Mcculloch) after the three 2004 hurricanes came through central Fla and I had about 25-30 trees to cut. Finally realized you get what you pay for with small gas tools and went with the Stihl 20" Farm Boss and it hasn't failed me yet and it has been 8 years. Bought it from a local small shop to get the personalized service also. Can walk right in and get it serviced there compared to trying to get Lowes or Home Depot to do anything. 

 

Tom

[Mike kZ]

I have a Makita chainsaw, never had an issue with it cutting all day. Sounds like you are overheating your saw, maybe let it cool for a short time between cuts.

[josh817]

I suspecting overheating too. The first saw, I tried lining all my wood up, ready to cut all at once. The second saw I didn't bother, let it rest 5-10 minutes while I move logs and reset. Didn't like that either. Once the second saw stalled out the first time, I quit for the day, went back out in the morning. Made 5 cuts and it was toast. I'll just move on, although......... there is the Poulon Pro 18" bar 42cc motor with orange plastic instead of green $169. Lowe's shows it as commercial/heavy use for tree felling and logging. I want to shy away from Poulon but I can't ignore that commercial/heavy use.

We too have a small family run place that's a Stihl dealer. I may go speak to them. My only hesitation is returning a dead saw if it were to happen again. I know the big stores usually won't give me hell.

Lowe's offers a Remington saw that's pretty big/heavy duty 51cc 18" bar. Mixed reviews, a lot of very happy people and then one or two people that have the dreaded scored piston.

Do you guys think I'd overwork a higher end smaller saw, knowing my needs? Stihl, Echo, Husqvarna that's what I can find in stores around here.



Basically at a crossroads. Good reliable brand but I can only afford a smaller saw that they would deem "occasional use", or cheaper unknown brand that is deemed "heavy duty/commercial". Granted, after I'm done getting all these trees down, there should only be 2-3 dead trees a year. This 10 tree situation is due to neglect.

Edited July 3, 2013 by josh817

[str8pipez]

Echo. Went through 3 Homelite's and finally stepped up. Starts everytime, first time. Kick's ass.

[daddydonuts]

I have hardwoods, they will eat your chain up regardless of manufacturer. A good low priced saw is a Red Max if you have a store that carries them. I have cut down plenty of hardwoods with it, no stalling... you really need to keep the chain sharpened at every fueling.

Edited July 3, 2013 by daddydonuts

[Chaparral2f]

Just saying about the brand, you get what you pay for. I've got a forty year old sthil 090. I've had it for over thirty years and it's never given me a bit of trouble.  My only complaint is that my old saw weighs about a ton. Granted it is a REALLY big saw (48" bar)  But of course trees are bigger here. I'd check out McCullough  you should be able to find one with a 16/18' bar for a couple hundred dollars. I see a lot of guys who work in the woods with them. 

[beermanpete]

[Tony D]

"Stihl has an MS170 or 171, or 180"

 

I have a Stihl Wood Boss inherited from my father when he moved into the city and didn't need a 20" bar machine. He bought that in 1979, and we swapped to the smaller 16" bar.

 

I got another Stihl from work when a Compton 4-Point Graduate managed to melt the plastic case by 'setting' the chain brake before attempting to cut 20" PE piping. $48 in parts and it was back running...after I "unseized it" by breaking all the plastic out of the drum brake---you didn't "Set" the chain break before cutting. Compton Boy 'set' it by pushing the handguard AWAY from him before starting cutting. Uh, if you set it like that... uh... well even a Stihl will eventually 'seize' but it's  just melted plastic from the engine power at WOT overwhelming the brake and turning the drum red hot. That one has been running since 1992.

 

Bought a third Stihl with a short dinky bar for S&G just because it was on sale and I wanted to see how well the new saws worked these days with all the technological advancements.

 

Frankly, I cherish my NON-SAFETY cut chains on my 79 model. The lack of it's chain brake or handguard. 

I fit one of the non-safety chains to the Oilmatic bar on the 92 model, and that cured the 'cut at an angle' tendency of the safety-raker chains. Like it as much as the 79.

The 2010 dinky one is OK for light limbing when I don't need a big saw, and with 20 pepper trees constantly dropping broken limbs it gets a workout. Since I can plunge-cut I routinely cut larger than what I'm supposed to cut with it... in 110F heat of SoCal. Prefer to do the trimming in the winter for personal reasons, but never had a reason to doubt the Stihl could take out anything I could dish out.

 

As a highschooler, I was employed by a Chemical Engineer to clear the brush at his beach property in NE Michigan. He supplied me with Orline Saws, which I seized the first day. He took it back to the president of the company, who was amazed it broke. So they gave him another. I seized it as well. Within two weeks, I got a supply of Orline Saws with specific instructions to 'see if I could break these as well' and found out I became an unofficial testing lab for their R&D Department testing new coatings for their cylinders. Apparently the way I was running the saws was more strenuous than anything the R&D Engineers were doing, as they had not experienced a single failure during the entire development period. They were ecstatic that they found someone who knew how to run a saw, and could give them real feedback on failures. End of summer came, I got a stack of $20 bills from Doc O from the R&D Department at Orline. They had finally gotten a formulation that I didn't kill...unfortunately since that time, I haven't FOUND and Orline saw to buy! Other than a Stihl, Orline would be my choice...I haven't managed to kill either of them!

 

Typical day when I return home: 20" Cottonwood felled by high wind, 20" Pine collapsed on the roof at 5AM (send the boy to do the limbing...)

 

 

I'll add that the 79 Stihl was our primary source (only) for cutting downed timber for home heating during the winter. We were fairly mild, so it only took about 8 Cords to heat the house all winter. That saw cut downed oak in Michigan State Forests every summer from 1979 - 1984 when my parents moved. I would start at 7AM and start cutting or felling trees, and cutting them into 18" split lengths as my dad and brother would load the truck and run the load to the house. That saw ran from 7AM to lunch, and after lunch to 6 or sometimes 8 at night. I was left with chains, cans of gas, and a sharpener. I ran the HELL out of that saw like that until we got out 8 cords and not FACE cords, FULL cords! That sold me on Stihl. That thing never missed a beat and just kept cutting.

Edited July 6, 2013 by Tony D

[josh817]

Mother has this nice riding lawn mower that we never use anymore since I'm the one who cuts the grass and I like the push mower... Doesn't run because it has been sitting. Should be an easy clean up, sell it. She said she wouldn't mind rolling that money into a NICE chain saw.

I bet she paid a good $900+ for that mower and she thinks its worthless. She was going to give it away just to not deal with it, just like her 1998 Honda Civic that I got $3000 for!

[Tony D]

Yes, when we got the second saw, I watched "Kirk" start the saw, and "SET" the anti-kickback. Ran out and said "what the hell are you doing?"

 

Idiots come in all sizes. It would have been better had he lost his testicles in that Quad Accident...

[josh817]

So I'm not dumb enough to set the chain brake on and leave it on but... I am dumb enough to think that there was more to the operation of the chain brake than what there really is. Basically I read something like "inertia operated chain brake" I'm going hmmmmmm such a small package, I wonder how they do it? How do they know when the saw is kicking back?


Fast forward to watching a youtube saw review and seeing some guy doing the kick back motion and his wrist is what pushes the handle.


Wow, I feel dumb.




Part 2:
Go back to last summer. I wanted to make an ammunition key chain. Pull out a round, didn't want to drill it in case if there were a spark, so I wiggle the bullet out of the casing and pour the powder out. I try to use a punch and a hammer to pop the primer but it isn't going, so I call my father up. "Hey Dad, I have an empty casing in the vise here and I'm trying to pop the primer. How big of a whack does it usually take?"


"Joshua.... what type of dumb ass are you? Does that even sound like a good idea, popping a primer inside the shop?"


Part 3:
Father as a child, fishing in the swamps with my grandfather. He casts out his line and it lands right on an alligators mouth. "What the hell did you do that for you damn fool?" accompanied with a smack upside the head. "I couldn't have aimed that well if I tried. I didn't mean to"

Part 4:
Sitting with my grandfather and my girlfriend at my sisters wedding. Grandfather decides now would be a good time to woo my girlfriend into thinking he's one awesome dude; telling her stories about how he "and the boys" would hop in the car after work and drive to a particular area in Pennsylvania for the girls. How his big baby blue eyes coaxed many a women into his quarters. Then he questioned her decision on dating me "Why are you dating this clown anyway? What do you see in him?".

Mind you, just before this, we were up getting him food and he was sitting at the table by himself. The photographer asks him if he's going to get any food. "Don't worry, I have people".

Afterwards he points to the other table where my father and two aunts are conversing. "You see them over there, that's my family, they're plotting my demise"


So as you can see, there's a good two generations of fools and dumb asses. It builds character, Tony!

Edited July 6, 2013 by josh817

[Tony D]

"Joshua.... what type of dumb ass are you? Does that even sound like a good idea, popping a primer inside the shop?"

 

LOL

 

Case 1: Kevin Keskimaki, Pecker Pete Petersen, Bob Hemmila and I are on a pipe bridge over the Escanaba River. Below, large rapids roiling. We are discussing the merits of using the bridge as a "jumping off point" but being that it's 25-30 feet high at least...most are hesitant. Someone mentions a cat. Machismo takes over and everybody is calling everybody else a cat. Yours truly hops over the edge to the  'harmless water below' following teenage logic voicing a large "Y'ALL CATS!" exclamation punctuating the jump. Three guys start screaming. I have time to look down. I have time to look down and think "why haven't I hit the water yet?" I look down and think, "I don't even know how deep this water is, there could be a big ROCK making that upswell below me." Then I think "why am I only halfway down?" THEN it hits me "This is probably going to hurt!" I grip my innertube under my arms with all my might and cross my legs like all those old Navy Training Films tell you to do. I realize the big brass nozzle is right next to my face and I lean back slightly just as I hit the water. Instantly I pass THROUGH the innertube. My arms were straight up. Yeah, that worked...NOT! I think "wow, this is deep!" as I look up, and see the profile of the innertube quickly moving on an "X" vector, while I'm going on "Negative Y"... And then I hit the bottom, and my legs buckle, and my ankle gets cut open on jaggy rocks.... It is at this point that I realize exhaling and yelling exhortations in an extended manner probably wasn't brilliant. And now I try this futile 'swim downstream to catch up with your innertube' and pop up as my innertube is about 50 yards downstream... Kevin is on the south bank screaming and asking if I'm OK, Pecker Pete is jumping in from the north bank to come out and get me... and Bob is on the bridge shaking his head saying something about being a retarded idiot. Which, at this point...I tended to agree with him.

 

Ahhh, but forever the glory of the day, and having three witnesses to proclaim my manliness at school the next year.

 

This same group was involved with the "Box of M16 Blanks and a BB Gun" incident. You know, just because they are called "Blanks"...doesn't mean there isn't anything in them that won't break the skin, penetrate, or fester...

[Tony D]

NONE of those thoughts occurred BEFORE I left the bridge.

 

Curiously they ALL came to me on the trip down. 

 

I refer to it as the 'clarifying power of gravaity!"

[josh817]

Should've done a cannon ball, Macho Man Tony!


So I'm 11 years old, hanging out at my Dad's shop one summers day. All day he's been talking about some mean burgers at Fudruckers and how they have such a delicious 1 pound burger. Father decides that we're all going out for burgers. We're waiting in line for the lady to take our orders and Dad asks me what type of burger I'm going to get.

"I'M GOING TO GET THE ONE POUNDER!" ......... everyone turns around and looks at me, even the cashier. Dad says "Are you sure? There's a display window showing the sizes of the burgers over there". My eyes bulge out when I see a burger the size of my head. "Never mind, I'll do a quarter pounder". The cashier begins to change my order and Dad stops her. "No no no.... the boy asked for a one pounder, give him a one pounder" and he smiles at me.

Oh geez now I see whats happening. "This is going to be a lesson on how to think before you speak". So they make your order and they have a bar area with all the fixings. We start putting stuff on my burger and Dad starts talking about how good the nacho sauce is. I slather that big beast with nacho sauce, of course forgetting that this is a lesson. Everybody has now finished their food while I'm half way through looking woozy. "We can't go home until you finish, Josh. We're going to have to get some dessert while we wait on you". Nacho cheese sauce starts getting hard after a while. One thing about him is that he will keep feeding you until you say you're full, but if you waste food, you're going to get your ass kicked. Now days a one pounder is just the right amount of burger for me; Dad broke me. I also can't ever do a take home box. People are sitting there watching me shovel the remains into my mouth trying to hold it down, reminding me I can get a take home box. NOPE, CAN'T, THAT'S JUST NOT RIGHT

---------------

Fast forward to this past May. I had spent all this time studying for a fluid dynamics final that I was pretty sure I failed. I went to campus early to study before the test and I had my phone off. Dad left a voicemail saying good luck and if I want we can go get unlimited wings at Hooters or unlimited tacos at Don Pablo. I forgot to turn my phone on so I never got the message. I'm all discouraged from the test, I pick up $12 worth of dollar menu tacos and burritos from Taco Bell to drown my sorrows away. Dad comes home and asks if I wanted wings or tacos. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I just gorged myself and wasn't hungry. Taco's, because duhhh I just had chicken last night; awesome logic. Him and I both get unlimited tacos and we both eat 9 of their huge tacos because you know at $9 for a meal, anything over $1 per taco is just too much; you have to get your monies worth.

Total damage: 6 taco's and 4 burritos from Taco Bell plus 9 tacos from Don Pablo. You know whats coming.


------------

Now I get to watch this while Father coerces my step brother into these traps. We're checking for spark and fuel on a car. Step brother wanted to help so Dad lets him watch for spark from the coil wire to the block while we crank it. "Don't touch the wire or you'll get zapped" says Dad. Step brother being a smart ass 9 year old "No it won't, you're dumb".

Dad:      Me:     Dad looks at me, looks back at Willie "Oh yahhhh I forgot, you know everything, your father doesn't know what he's talking about. Well, why don't you hang onto that side.... Josh, crank her over! Lets see if I'm wrong!"

Hey man, I'm not going to be part of your system. It's like a game of chess, living with this guy.





We need more childhood lesson stories

Edited July 7, 2013 by josh817

[Tony D]

"I can eat 50 eggs"

Nobody can eat 50 eggs...