Everyone wants to borrow a chain saw.

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That translates to a fraud, yet I get it.. If it's someone you will see again... just tell them to go buy their own.. be honest.. call it karma..
Continue reading and lighten up. We don't come here to hand out good advice unless you ask a pertinent question. Have you loaned out your wife or dog lately? Maybe your street rod or tractor? Possibly your manscaping equipment?
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I say yes. Give them one you know will never start. If it does be sure it won't run right and has a dull chain. Bad coil is a nice nice first starter. Then ***** when they bring it back about how they broke your best tool and should pay to fix it.
Years back, BIL borrowed my only saw, a POS, but my only one... he took a SLEDGE HAMMER TO IT AND DID NOT EVEN RETURN THE CHAIN.... I think I thanked him :)
 
I just tell them my insurance won’t cover them and it’s a liability. I’ve got a super nice way of saying you can’t use my stuff. If it’s the right person I’ll just let em having it. With a gallon of gas and bottle of chain lube. I am using canola since the great “oil shortage”
 
I’m a nice guy like the neighbor you want but you’ll respect my boundaries.
If you’re within eyesight of my property and it’s not scetch. I got you. No worries. If someone asks if I need firewood the answer is always no. Even if I haven’t got my stash up.

You just won’t use my tools and get yourself hurt. As far as my saws. Meh I’ll run it not you. If I won’t do work for you just to be neighborly you’re certainly not borrowing. I’ll keep it super courteous. But it’s that way
 
I live in a suburban but tons of trees and bushes area.. i am pretty beat up so I run a stihl saw every few days for cleanup but cant run it for long. I get too tired out. So I am happy with my situation. However my neighbors can hear my saw running and come over and want to borrow one for ten minutes to do a few branches.
I dont trust that people are safe with a stihl pro saw. I run fast non safety chain.
Saws are so cheap they should get one if they really need one. Not a pro stihl. But hell i have loaned out the harbor freight plug in electric saw. They seem much safer for folks without skills.. and total cost is 45 bucks for a saw inc bar and chain..

Why do people think its ok to ask for expensive gear ? Or stuff they cant run properly ?
They dont know how to mix gas and oil. Cant tighten a chain. And run the chain into the dirt if I am dumb enough to give them a chance.
So often if its someone I like.. god forbid. I will do the work for them. But not loan out the gear.

Other people do similar stuff ?? Or am I missing something I should know better. ??
Because they think it is just a saw and everyone can use one and these people go through life borrowing everything and buying nothing, these are also people that give you your tools back broke and knackered and say thanks and walk off.
 
recently had a teacher at the local DODDS school ask me for help.. strangely enough he was smart enough to ask me if I could bring one of my saws and help him with a slapping of some downed hardwood for a project of his.. this ended up with my other friend driving me back as after slabbing the log, I was well... I am a Marine, and he was offering free hooch...
 

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he had some pretty good hooch by the way.. thank god i pre-mixed @40:1 prior to going there. cheap 100 USd mill frame from somewhere in china.. but damn if the 372 that Carl Miller Worked up did not pull a full comp on a 28" like a champ. you can see the Sapporo beer "hooch" that he was offering in the top rightish corner... damn good beer.
 

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"Show me what you're trying to do...I have a few saws and tools to choose from....then I'll show you how to use them"

That's my pitch when "friends" need tree work done....
Although recently I've discovered that our town requires a "zoning permit" to remove any tree or bush greater then 6" in diam...$25 and application and approval prior to removal....so I use that now too.
My zoning officer sent me a violations warning after I removed 3 dead ash trees. Warning said I had 4 days to apply for said permission or face violations...

I am in KY. We have had several NJ refugees come this way recently. I can see why.
 
I think most people don't understand the cost of a good chainsaw.

Also, they don't know the additional cost and effort required to maintain them. If they did, they may not ask to borrow quite as readily.

They also don't understand what it takes to get the saw back in cutting condition after use.

I agree with the approach of "I'll do it for you".
Most people who ask only need to cut a small bit, anyway.
I like to use saws, I don't want mine broken by neglect, I like to help neighbors. It works out.
 
I think most people don't understand the cost of a good chainsaw.

I think you're right, bet this is a big part of it for some people. They see the $120 Home Depot specials, but yours is a Stihl! It must be double that price! Just no concept that $1600 chainsaws exist. There are also plenty of people who are perfectly aware of what it costs, will happily **** up someone else's saw, return it broke, and not care.

Seriously, when Home Depot rents saws, and Amazon sells them for $150, that's a lot of hassle and hard feelings avoided for very little $$$. I wouldn't even consider loaning a saw.
 
One of the sneakier ways of borrowing a saw is to buy one on ebay, use it until you cut all your firewood, then notify ebay that the saw is defective and you want your money back. I've had that happen to me more than once when I sold saws there. I no longer sell on ebay..
Sorry to hear you were on the losing end of that.
Most sellers are probably O.K. but I haven't used e-bay in 20 years, either.
 
I think you're right, bet this is a big part of it for some people. They see the $120 Home Depot specials, but yours is a Stihl! It must be double that price! Just no concept that $1600 chainsaws exist. There are also plenty of people who are perfectly aware of what it costs, will happily **** up someone else's saw, return it broke, and not care.

Seriously, when Home Depot rents saws, and Amazon sells them for $150, that's a lot of hassle and hard feelings avoided for very little $$$. I wouldn't even consider loaning a saw.
I love to rent big boxes store saws and buy two cheap chains. The feeling you get from cutting dirty tree roots with a rental saw is priceless! I ruined the bar and used up both chains in three hours once. That takes talent and files, lots of files :cool:
 
One of the sneakier ways of borrowing a saw is to buy one on ebay, use it until you cut all your firewood, then notify ebay that the saw is defective and you want your money back. I've had that happen to me more than once when I sold saws there. I no longer sell on ebay..
That bugs me and kept me off of there for years now.
 
Sorry to hear you were on the losing end of that.
Most sellers are probably O.K. but I haven't used e-bay in 20 years, either.

The SELLERS aren’t the problem, it’s the BUYERS, some don’t even want to pay to Rent a saw, never mind BUY one.

To THEM, the solution is buy one (kind of) on eBay, use and abuse it for the project they currently need it for, then when they’re done with it, it is suddenly “Defective “, even though it showed up in Excellent condition, and finished what they needed to do with it, complain to eBay, and Paypal pulls the money back, and they return the saw that they thrashed, and get free use of the saw, while the seller gets negative feedback, a thrashed saw, and no money, just headaches out of the deal


Doug 😎
 
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