Buying my first chainsaw. Lowe's OK?

[KMatt]

You don’t have to pay a months mortgage for a good firewood saw. I use pro grade huskys at work. Awesome saws. My one personal saw right now is a Poulan 5020. Hard to beat at $200 new. All it needed out of the box was the high side opened up about 1/2 turn. Cut one cord with it a week ago.

But if I didn’t get to play with the pro saws at work to scratch that itch I’d probably have my own at home.

 

[Bobby Kirbos]

AFTER YOU BUY THE SAW......

Get yourself some protective gear. $125 should get you chaps, a helmet with face shield, and a pair of chainsaw gloves. Not top shelf quality, but they will do what they are designed for should you ever be unlucky enough to need them. Like the saw, get what you can afford now and upgrade later.

 

[Deleted member 117362]

After 33 years of marriage, I do this with my wife also......

So you married at 8 years old?

 

[1Alpha1]

Good to know that a Husky is a Husky is a Husky.......not matter where you buy it from.

Sears also sells um. A couple of years ago, a Sears sales associate told me that all Husky's are the same, no matter where it comes from. For once, someone who actually knew what they were talking about. That's NOT the norm for Sears.

 

[HarleyT]

So you married at 8 years old?

Well in dog years.....

 

[Modifiedmark]

Since Marks bustin my balls so hard.
I reread the op's question i see i missed the part where 100 brings the saw home.
For 100 thats a orange saw that will do well.

Learn safe operating practices, learn to sharpen tune and service and itl last quite a long time.

Stay off this site as much as possible or guys like me will get your ear youl have more saws than you can use in a week. Also stay off craigs list.

Good luck and have fun making chips

Nothing personal, it is what it is, but while I'm on a roll, go back and read again, he don't need to learn to tune a saw. He said thats easy..

 

[Andyshine77]

Nothing personal, it is what it is, but while I'm on a roll, go back and read again, he don't need to learn to tune a saw. He said thats easy.. [emoji23]

Yeah I cought that, figured we already had our hands full.

 

[Modifiedmark]

Yeah I cought that, figured we already had our hands full.

Reading comprehension, lost on today's youth.

 

[Evan]

Lol well.
I will say every saw teaches me something same as every horse im around and every bead i run.

If i ever think im done learning im most certainly 6ft feet under.

Practice does not make perfect, practice makes better.

It is easy peasy dammitt your making me read this hole thread i quit at 9-12 a year crunched some numbers for 5 years and walla i spit a saw recomendation.. color doesnt matter

 

[RandyMac]

I started out perfect, been downhill ever since.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Before you buy it at Lowes, make sure that your local Husky dealer wants your business.

I was recently at my local Stihl and Echo dealer (1 dealer that carries both lines) and they had a sign on their door "We will no longer service equipment purchased at the big box stores." I guess they got tired of dealing with and explaining to Joe "straight gas" Homeowner why his $400 Echo (that he just bought at Home Depot) burned up. I can understand the desire to not want to deal with "the unwashed", but to flat turn them away is just plain rude and arrogant **.

** This is the same dealer that tried to sell me a Stihl when I went in looking for an Echo, "Why do you want Echo? Stihl is better...", so maybe I shouldn't be surprised.

That seems odd. The local OPE shop here only will service brands they sell, but they don't care where it's from.

 

[Husky Man]

Before you buy it at Lowes, make sure that your local Husky dealer wants your business.

I was recently at my local Stihl and Echo dealer (1 dealer that carries both lines) and they had a sign on their door "We will no longer service equipment purchased at the big box stores." I guess they got tired of dealing with and explaining to Joe "straight gas" Homeowner why his $400 Echo (that he just bought at Home Depot) burned up. I can understand the desire to not want to deal with "the unwashed", but to flat turn them away is just plain rude and arrogant **.

** This is the same dealer that tried to sell me a Stihl when I went in looking for an Echo, "Why do you want Echo? Stihl is better...", so maybe I shouldn't be surprised.

I realize that the OP has Lowe's Gift Cards he wants to use, but buy whatever you can from the dealer in the future. I am to the point that I almost wish that Husqvarna would drop the Big Box stores. I Love my Husky's but anything more than chain and oil and forget about Lowe's. Want anything bigger than a 460 Rancher? Forget about Lowe's The Dealer that I bought my 266XP and 23 Compact has been gone for years, the shop that I drive by every day on my way to work? It's now a Stihl Dealer, Great Guys that work there, Jim usually cuts a couple bucks off the chain and what not's I get from them. Jim told me that after Lowe's started carrying Husky, everybody buys the homeowner level saws there, and that is the BULK of the sales, the Pro class saws just don't have the volume to sustain a dealer. But then guess where everybody goes for warranty work? the DEALER, Lowe's just SELLS, doesn't service, from what I hear it isn't just Husky, or Chainsaws, the MFGR's in most products don't pay the dealers anywhere ear a Fair rate for warranty work

Sometimes a dealer can cut you a break, or swap things out to fit a saw to your needs. My Wife got a Husqvarna 445 for Christmas, Yes, She REALLY Wanted it, I really looked hard for a 445 with a 16" bar, as I felt that would be the Ideal Power/weight/Price combination for her. I was up in Okanogan, WA for work, and spotted Xtreme Power Sports, a Husky dealer, they had a 445/18" bar on the shelf, and was willing to swap out the B&C for me, but unfortunately, the only 16" bar they had was 3/8 pitch, not the .325 the 445 uses, but they sold me the saw for $305 and it usually sells for $339. then if you buy 3 cans of Husky premix gas at the same time, they double the warranty from 2 to 4 years so I got the saw, 3 quarts of fuel and a doubled warranty for $10 less than the regular price

Doug

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Yup. Lowe's taking Husqy shut down the chainsaw sales at shop I'm working out of.
Before Lowe's took it, the shop was the highest grossing in the state. The Husqy big wigs even took the owner and his wife (my buddies folks) on an executive cruise.

This was mid 90s.

 

[54bogger]

What I'm not a fan of is someone like Evan chiming in that a man needs a $800+ 70cc+ pro saw to cut firewood with especially in a thread where a guy don't have a bunch of money to spend and can get a perfectly capable brand new saw for $100 that would do the job for him and do it pretty well.

As to the Stihls, some are alright, I'm not a all out hater. I wear thin on the Stihl fanboys though, they are not the correct answer every time.

The 044/440 is the most overrated tweener saw around though, you should dump that 440 for a 441, much smoother and more powerful. The 661 is ok, but keep it to a 36" or under bar.

We will have to disagree on the 440. But now you have me curious, just what saw or saws do you use to cut your firewood with?

 

[bowtechmadman]

That 455 should serve you well...if it wasn't for the gift cards (or if you can use them on something else you need), I'd suggest you buy from a local dealer.
Shhhhh please don't tell the wood in my woodpile that it was cut with a Dolmar, Poulan and a Husky that isn't a 372, I'm afraid it will feel bad and not burn for me.

 

[chipper1]

With a limited budget, you'll be doing fine with a 455. I had a 460 Rancher for a few years and it was a very reliable firewood saw. Don't let folks talk you into buying more saw than you need. Would you be better off with a pro saw? Yes. But do you NEED it? No.

This is a great post , along with many others, then there's those"if it Ain'y a pro saw it won't even scare a piece of wood out of the tree line.

If it were me I would buy a husky 450, then whenever you can get a pro grade 60cc saw.
I prefer an 18" on the 450 because I don't have to reach to far to cut on the ground and it also gives me a lot of reach for limbing on the opposite side of a tree I've dropped/has been dropped.
On the 60cc saw I'd run a 20" setup and have a 24" for when it's needed.
These two saws with a little extra work on a large tree would do just fine for probably 95% of your needs.
I see your 68 yrs old, I can't see myself wanting to have to pull a 70cc saw over if I didn't have to at 68, but who knows. If you need a bigger saw than that I'm sure you can get help with larger stuff from a local member of the site.
Once you get the 450 rancher you will have a much better idea of what you want in a 60cc saw.
I would also recommend you get with some of the local members of this site and run their saws and cut with them as much as possible. You will learn things from tricks on sharpening(very important) to how to avoid pinching a bar by making a plunge cut instead of just cutting from the top.
I also see you will get to cut all that wood from the power lines on your place, you lucky dog you .
Welcome to the forum and have fun out there.
Brett

 

[Westwood]

I'm not 68 if you were referring to me. If that's what my profile reads, I just slammed in a date.

 

[gary courtney]

Cool beans. Thanks guys. Good group of folks you got here.

Stick around that is subject to change like the weather!

 

[gary courtney]

these are my limbers!

 

[Modifiedmark]

We will have to disagree on the 440. But now you have me curious, just what saw or saws do you use to cut your firewood with?

What I use to cut firewood with is a completely different subject as to what this thread is about.