[Closed] what chainsaw - stw users what do you use?

I have a love/hate relationship with my old MS230. Now Ive got a starting technique that shouldnt flood it 🙄 Im hoping there will be more luvvin', and less hatin'.
But its s/h to me for £80 and I will probably get a spare one for the same kind of price from the same source, at the very least to have a second one working and also as a parts donor at some point 😀

been using mine here a lot lately
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Mine can be a bit of a pig to start too, which is very annoying. The ms251 is apparently easier to start, which would be a relief during long sessions.

Husky 236e here with a 14" bar. I've had it nearly 2 years now and it's been great.
The e bit means its toolless adjustment for chain tension - I paid just less than £200 iirc.
You won't go wrong with either a stihl or a husky.

I borrow one of our maintenance chaps collection of 17 (+4 non working) Shihls. The only time I need is when a tree falls on the road to/from work - a common occurrence here.
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Got a Husqvarna 386 xpg and a 372 xpg. Use to use Stihl at work but went to Huskys. Find they are great for cutting clean wood but we often shove our bars into water and muck and found the Stihls a lot better as the Huskys just die.

Use to have an MS240 that was brilliant.

I use a Stilh,had it two years and have had no problems.
I would add though that it only gets light use,logs for the burner and the occasional fallen tree.

I bought a Stihl 034 with a 15" bar from a guy on Arbtalk - he does it as a sideline and gets great praise from a lot of knowledgable people on there.
He stripped and checked the saw before it came to me and was completely ready to go. Its fairly old but in good condition and although probably paid a little more than I would have for an unknown saw off eBay, I'm happy in the knowledge that if it goes wrong I can send it back to him to sort if required.
It's 59c, runs a non-safety chain and I now look forward to cutting even the biggest pile of cord.

My Stihl 034 must be more than ten years old, I've cut mountains of wood with it.18 inch bar helps with big home clearing jobs. I've only ever used Stihl saws, this is my second in nearly thirty years.

Stihl ms260 for me.15 bar is ample for even big stuff +i can get free chains in that size 😀 😀

I prefer husqy as they just feel more pro, less tinny. I use a Husqy 357XP with an 18 inch bar; about as big as I'd go with 60cc. It's great, a decompression button makes starting a doddle with very little of that dangerous kick if you get the pull wrong. I probably use it about twice a month for work, sometimes on an all-day job, and it's comfy and has decent low vibration levels.

We use an Efco, good workhorse always starts

Got three (well four if you include my work one)

A very old Husky that I use for large stuff a beast to start but has loads of power and the filter never clogs, vibrates to bits and you need to be butch to use it all day.

A old Stilh 23, which is worn out and now going to be broke up for parts, good balance between power and size.

Last week I bought my second Stilh MS-170 which tbh is my chainsaw of choice, so light to use, easy to start and even though its the baby in the range, can still handle 90% of my cutting needs.

Hi flip,
my tuppenceworth if you please. Use and have used a variety of saws during my work (NT Warden). Currently use a MS361 + 16 bar as my day to day saw, which is good and torque-y but a bit full on for casual use.
I have killed a number of 024/240's in my time (3!) so hesitant to recommend one of those, but have to say that the 241 and the 261 are good looking and running saws - used a 261 the other week and it was nice - very light.
Stihl seem to divide their range into property maintenance/agriculture/forestry with not a lot to see between them, but as far as I can tell the forestry saws such as the 241/61 etc have much, much better vibration control than say the 231/251 - consider this if you're likely to be using the saw for an extended length of time. Google HAV chart (Hand arm vibration) to give these figures relevance. The 251 [list](45cc) has worse vibrations than the 441 which is a 70cc monster, (though a slightly unfair comparison as the 441 is an exceptional saw...)

TL:DNR / I struggle with long sentences / Conclusion : buy a 241 w/15 or 16 bar!

MrsBouy uses stihl for her carving, she's tried Huskies but found the Stihls both lighter and more powerful.
She's about to try out the battery powered versions too..
She uses varying lengths of carving bars depending on what she's playing with.

I'd suggest using that super fuel that begins with an A ( cant for the life of me think what is called, but it's ready mixed and uses some organic additives that cut down the emissions)

Aspen [url= http://www.landscapejuicenetwork.com/profile/AxelHildebrand ]http://www.landscapejuicenetwork.com/profile/AxelHildebrand[/url]

It's a bit pricey for me and I guess always will be due to the logistics of transporting small orders of a bulky product, but I do try and minimise the bad stuff by using the Stihl HP Ultra oil.

Stihl MS 240 with a 16" bar here which has been very reliable so far.

Stihl users with a 16 inch bar, how much would I notice the reduction in bar length from 18 to 16 inches with my 034? I will need a new bar sometime soon, I've always used an 18 bar and fear I might struggle with some of the bigger trees. What are the advantages of a shorter bar?

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Stihl 023 and 025 here. 14'' amd 16''. Prefer the 023 as she revs better but the 025 seems to pull through bigger wood more reliably.

Spud on Arbtalk is a good shout. A top chap.

What are the advantages of a shorter bar?

There is less chain to drive and less resistance from the bar, so in theory it should maintain speed more easily and cut quicker on smaller stuff. I had a B&Q special, which came with a 16" bar. I put a 14" on it and it's now almost usable 😆

If you need the bigger bar, you need the bigger bar.

I have 3 bars for my Stihl. Mainly I just use the 14" since I cant be arsed to swap it out at the moment. I prefer the 12" though.

But pretty much all my felling is up to 7" diameter.

Some of the willow cord Ive got to chop up next spring is over 2' in diameter so I will need to put the 16" on I think.

Husqy 357XP are our do everything saws, softwood/hardwood, felling, cross cutting. Run 15 inch bars and 3/8 chains, because they can and it standardises our chain rolls as the crosscut saws run it too - 372XP and a Stihl 066 (24" and 32"bars).
Get a lot of hours on the everyday saws, get 18-24 months before issues, good for commercial running.
Go for the smallest bar you can, you can easily fell diameters 3x your bar length.
Personally I'm a Husqy fan, pretty typical of foresters due to more gutsy power band. Quite impressed by some of the Makita Dolmar.

TBH one of the least important things for the domestic user is power. I think some of your big commercial ones would scare the crap out of me timber 🙂

Timber - out of interest do you ever de-carbonise your engines with a solvent? Have you ever suffered from carbon deposits on piston faces causing compression/timing issues? Or do you just send them off for servicing?

Stoner - Never de-carbonised any of them that I can remember, always use good quality 2-stroke.
Issues are most often in carb'- nozzles, set-up, air leaks. Replaced piston ring in one a few years back and a whole piston kit for one where the decompression button scored the piston (early 357XP issue). Had one warranty replacement for crank bearing failure due to swarf on the loose.
We do a fair bit ourselves, but anything needing a gas meter or that is out of the usual, goes into the shop

Really depends what you use a saw for, I had a go with a 350xp?, a small xp anyhow, ridiculously light, good acceleration, would be quite the weapon for hedging or small coppice. XP isn't just extra power, but they tend to be lighter than the regular saws, which is good, as Husqy are usually on the porky side.

I get most of my consumable stuff from Mister Solutions on eBay. Does chains for <£5 each which is a steal. And they seem to hold up pretty well. More importantly he also does Stihl 2S oil for a good price. Bit of a critical fluid so as you say, best not to skimp.

Aspen!!

Darn I knew the name.. Anyhoo's it is expensive but MrsBouy isn't in your league fellas, all her work is localised carving, exhaust in her face digging and gauging and slicing.

Stoner thanks for the tip on suppliers off ebay, we normally get our stuff from a dealer up Northumbria way (just outside Newcastle O Tyne) and they're reasonably priced (cough) but tip will help us no end.

bb - no worries.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Mister-Solutions?

3/8" chains for £5.09 posted for a 16" bar. Bargin.

I still only get 2s oil 2L at a time though (£9/L). It would take me a fair while to get through 5L (£5.40/L)

If you're thinking of doing it to an old well used saw, you may remove something better left in place.

The cylinder is a closed environment, any issues in there are a result of things going on outside it (with the exception of worn piston rings) bad fuel mix/spark/sealing(compression)/air v fuel mix. Not knowing your saw, I couldn't say about the compression/timing, too many variables to guess from a keyboard. We make use of a decent not so shop, they are worth their money and don't take the piss, they know we rely on the tools. Powells, were in Llangua, but now even closer to Hereford, cross border travelling.

5l 2 stroke oil lasts us about a month mid winter.

Are all two stroke oils compatible with chainsaws or are they specially formulated? Originally I used Oregon oil then bought 5 litre cartons of 'ordinary' two stroke oil from my local motor factors.

I've used Husky 2 stroke in Stihl and Vice versa with out any problems just make sure you mix it right.

5l 2 stroke oil lasts us about a month mid winter.

I think Id be hard pressed to use it in a year 🙂

I think the problem I had was probably linked to flooding and not clearing the cylinder before trying again. Seems OK now. There's a bit of pitting from what I can see on the piston head but it's an old s/h machine anyway. Im hoping to get a second one s/h on Sunday which I shall maybe strip and learn how to rebuild. At least there's plenty of spares on eBay for my model (MS230). But compression tests will be a problem.

mcmoonter - Ive been finishing off some crappy mowing machine 2S oil lately and Im sure the machine isnt firing and starting as sweetly as with proper stihl oil in it.

5Ltrs lasts MrsBouy 4 days..

not all 2 stroke oil is created equally, chainsaws are definitely at the high performance end. Husqy and Stihl stuff fine, but wouldn't opt for supermarket stuff. We use Husqy as that is what our supplier has, backs up any warranty issues we may have and means our fuel is a different colour (green) to the access team that use Stihl oil (red) in their brushcutters.
Tried Aspen oils years ago, didn't give the long-term lubrication we needed and we don't spend time with our faces to the saw, in enclosed spaces and the saws are well set-up and not smoky anyhow.

mulacs - where you based? I'm covering Mid & SE Wales, but part of the only woods team the trust have in Wales.

Lesson learned, I'll buy Stihl oil next time.

timber, I have a 346xp which is just in the 50cc bracket with 18" bar and is great for most of my cutting, I have some big wood over 24" in diameter, so was thinking of upgrading for the bigger stuff as the 346 should only be used upto 20" bar and not being a pro arb find it a PITA cutting over 24" with the 346, so what would you recommend for occasional use with a 24" bar that isn't to much of a beast.

Cheers.

5Ltrs lasts MrsBouy 4 days..

She's not supposed to be drinking it...
...and even then it's supposed to be at 1:50 with petrol 😉

Scotsman - if it's just occasional, I'd look for something secondhand around the 70cc mark. That's how we have a Stihl in our line up, needed something large that woudln't see much use, tree surgeon just happened to be getting rid of it at the time as he hardly ever used it.
That 346XP sounds like the little thing I had a play with, nice light and gutsy on a small bar.