Jonsered Chainsaws

[taplinhill]

Yes......I have an 1983 Jonsereds 490 and also a 1984 Jonsered 490

I have (or maybe "had" now that I think about it) a 630 with both on it and I bought it from the original owner and he said he never replaced any pieces on it. It was a late 1983 model.

 

[Real1shepherd]

You never really know until you dig into it, but I think you did alright. My 2156 and 357xp have become "go to" saws.

It's the same in the States....often someone will list a saw in error or have no idea what they have because all the tags are gone..........or they are stupid/uniformed/lazy/dishonest.

Kevin

 

[Chelford Chainsaw Company]

Hey guys, out of the blue, the bloke I work with rocked up to the shop today with a 920 he “just found” at home. Most of the bits are there and the p/c look great.
My question is what do you reckon the value of a running one of these is?
The saw is a fair bit before my time so I’ve got no real idea of their value.
Any info would be great. Cheers.

 

[Deleted member 150358]

Most I see go reasonably. Runners 300-450-ish unless exceptional see em for less with bad ignition often. Mostly based on parts getting nla and have to buy a whole saw to get bits ya need. Main reason I haven't jumped into any. For the small amount of big wood I get into one would do fine.

 

[Real1shepherd]

Hey guys, out of the blue, the bloke I work with rocked up to the shop today with a 920 he “just found” at home. Most of the bits are there and the p/c look great.
My question is what do you reckon the value of a running one of these is?
The saw is a fair bit before my time so I’ve got no real idea of their value.
Any info would be great. Cheers.

I agree with sixoneton....$300 (rough but mostly there and running well) to possibly over $450 for 90%+ paint, low hrs and perfect parts. Not running or missing expensive parts $150-$175.

In that series the 910 and the 930 are the ones to have; the 910E being the last true Jonsereds and the 930Super being mostly a very good Husky (Partner wrap handle) design.

Kevin

 

[Cantdog]

Hey guys, out of the blue, the bloke I work with rocked up to the shop today with a 920 he “just found” at home. Most of the bits are there and the p/c look great.
My question is what do you reckon the value of a running one of these is?
The saw is a fair bit before my time so I’ve got no real idea of their value.
Any info would be great. Cheers.

There are two schools of thought ....the first is that it is an obsolete saw with absolutely no support from the makers.....same as all the true Jonsereds so for some this will be a deal breaker...not worth much to anyone looking for a dependable work saw. The second school of thought is alive and well on this Jonsered sticky....damn the torpedoes full speed ahead!! And Kevin has pretty much spoken on this line of thought..............it's a long and dangerous road to take as once you've acquired a saw like this you may be looking for a parts saw...this can be expensive but patience is your friend....however you very well may buy a parts saw and find it is actually better than the saw you want to fix so you buy another parts saw...but it only fixes one saw..........so.....you buy another parts saw to fix the first saw....now you have four examples of this saw.....just look at my sig...and it doesn't tell any where near the whole story. This site won't let me add even one more saw to my sig.....it is a slippery slope and you can literally skid down it for years acquiring more and more red saws along the way. Beware grasshopper, for there is danger here......LOL!!!

 

[Chelford Chainsaw Company]

There are two schools of thought ....the first is that it is an obsolete saw with absolutely no support from the makers.....same as all the true Jonsereds so for some this will be a deal breaker...not worth much to anyone looking for a dependable work saw. The second school of thought is alive and well on this Jonsered sticky....damn the torpedoes full speed ahead!! And Kevin has pretty much spoken on this line of thought..............it's a long and dangerous road to take as once you've acquired a saw like this you may be looking for a parts saw...this can be expensive but patience is your friend....however you very well may buy a parts saw and find it is actually better than the saw you want to fix so you buy another parts saw...but it only fixes one saw..........so.....you buy another parts saw to fix the first saw....now you have four examples of this saw.....just look at my sig...and it doesn't tell any where near the whole story. This site won't let me add even one more saw to my sig.....it is a slippery slope and you can literally skid down it for years acquiring more and more red saws along the way. Beware grasshopper, for there is danger here......LOL!!!

Haha this truly made me laugh. I doubt I’d keep this (I’ll never say never) but do like fixing up some of these old saws and running them for a bit before selling them to serious collectors who covet them.
Truly the one saw I regret selling was the 346xp in my picture. Put so much work into it and as I read someone say before “it finishes cutting before I’m ready to”, but the offer was too goo to refuse.

 

[Cantdog]

Haha this truly made me laugh. I doubt I’d keep this (I’ll never say never) but do like fixing up some of these old saws and running them for a bit before selling them to serious collectors who covet them.
Truly the one saw I regret selling was the 346xp in my picture. Put so much work into it and as I read someone say before “it finishes cutting before I’m ready to”, but the offer was too goo to refuse.

Well that didn't really address your question about the worth.......but on some level it did.....really the lowest price you can purchase it for is the best.....because, though it may be of great value us .......in the real world it is not for the reasons I addressed in #1 above. Not to say this saw may be a great example...and a good cutter , it's appeal is for more of a collectable and that is a very hard thing to hold down as far as pricing goes. Ebay is the place to maximize a sale......these prices are not really representative of what odd/rare/obsolete red saws are worth.... My advise is...on all reds saws is this........just as cheap as you can acquire them...and that doesn't really mean screwing the seller....unless he/she is savy in the selling of obsolete items they will find the market not there....so if they want to part with the saw a bit of money is better than no money.

 

[Chelford Chainsaw Company]

Well that didn't really address your question about the worth.......but on some level it did.....really the lowest price you can purchase it for is the best.....because, though it may be of great value us .......in the real world it is not for the reasons I addressed in #1 above. Not to say this saw may be a great example...and a good cutter , it's appeal is for more of a collectable and that is a very hard thing to hold down as far as pricing goes. Ebay is the place to maximize a sale......these prices are not really representative of what odd/rare/obsolete red saws are worth.... My advise is...on all reds saws is this........just as cheap as you can acquire them...and that doesn't really mean screwing the seller....unless he/she is savy in the selling of obsolete items they will find the market not there....so if they want to part with the saw a bit of money is better than no money.

I had planned to eBay it like you suggested. I was just looking for an indication of a reasonable start price, I hate letting them run from £0.99. The saw came to us for free so, bar a bit of labour and B/C any profit should be decent. The only sticking point however is I think the guy I work with is vastly overestimating it’s value, just needed to gauge a realistic figure.

 

[Cantdog]

I had planned to eBay it like you suggested. I was just looking for an indication of a reasonable start price, I hate letting them run from £0.99. The saw came to us for free so, bar a bit of labour and B/C any profit should be decent. The only sticking point however is I think the guy I work with is vastly overestimating it’s value, just needed to gauge a realistic figure.

Well perhaps he should keep it.......really there is no set price or expectation for these saws. On ebay it will all be about the attitudes of the bidders not really what the saw is worth....could go high....or not....has a lot to do with the presentation as well.

 

[Real1shepherd]

The hard fact of the matter is that collectors have completely changed the game with respect to saw prices and parts availablity. If you go way back in this thread I used to scoff at them because all my saws were used @work. Now I'm older @retirement age and I use the saws less. So unwittingly and screaming all the way, I'm more in the collectors camp now, if truth be told.....lol. However, I don't have any shelf queens that won't be taken outside and thrashed in timber.....at least not yet.

While I tired to ignore the collectors at first, it was like the white settlers in this country overrunning the Natives....you just can't ignore them anymore.

I'm exactly aligned with Robin in that our goals were always to buy cheap and then fix up. And just like he said, you buy a parts saw to fix the first saw and wind up fixing the parts saw.....very soon you have four saws of the same model etc....lol!

CAD (Chainsaw Affective Disorder) is a bad thing, but better than loose women and gambling....at least by some margin, right?

Kevin

 

[Real1shepherd]

I had planned to eBay it like you suggested. I was just looking for an indication of a reasonable start price, I hate letting them run from £0.99. The saw came to us for free so, bar a bit of labour and B/C any profit should be decent. The only sticking point however is I think the guy I work with is vastly overestimating it’s value, just needed to gauge a realistic figure.

Another factor too for you may be that your UK market is different than ours; either up or down. You may be far enough from the Mother country that J'reds are more money there (scarce) than the rest of Europe....I dunno. Seems like in some parts of the south/southwest here, J'reds were quite rare and bring premium prices to those collectors there that now want them. We have a member in TX that says they're really hard to find down there.

Maybe Jonsereds did it differently in Europe, but here back in the day, they had a really sparse to non-existent dealer network in most places.

When our member Scott was stationed over in Europe, he was buying J'reds from all over. I don't remember him saying he bought anything from the UK.

Kevin

 

[Chelford Chainsaw Company]

In all honesty I don’t think they are as highly sought after over here.
I’d happily ship all over the world, as long as customers are happy to pay shipping.

 

[Real1shepherd]

I wonder if there is even a subset that collects the older J’reds in the UK? Might be just be a NA phenomena......


Kevin

 

[jonsereds 621]

I wonder if there is even a subset that collects the older J’reds in the UK? Might be just be a NA phenomena......


Kevin

Ahem, ahem!!..............Well, it may be a SMALL subset, but personally I wouldn't have anything else. My first saw (new) was a 621 in around 1981 I would say, soon acquired others the same. They have needed few repairs in 39 years, mind you I'm a Farmer, I'm not trying to clear cut forests ! Perhaps ten years ago I happened on a Stihl 026, ( supposed to be the bees knees), I always felt it was rather inadequate. Two days ago, I thought I'd run it against one of my recently refurbished (courtesy advice cantdog) 49sp's (This one free, from a skip.). In green ash 16in dia, the 49sp roared its way through time after time, while the 026 was positively outclassed, and felt anaemic and in every way a disappointment, and yes, it's throttle is opening fully and it's well up together. It might as well have been battery electric.
I have other saws, but if I want to walk to the job, start the saw and do the job, I will take a 49sp every time.
Mind you, I like to run them, work them, keep myself warm from them AND have them to look at.
If I could figure out how, I would post a photo of my little band....All strong reliable runners.
So....wonder no longer, I am here !
The man behind the counter in 1981 ish, told me, and I remember it well......"If you look after that saw, it'll last your lifetime!" (mind you, he knew I'd been out drinking with his son the night before...). Well, it looks like it might, and if someone else eventually does the same, I don't doubt that it'll do the same for them.
Jim. Great Britain.

 

[Real1shepherd]

Ahem, ahem!!..............Well, it may be a SMALL subset, but personally I wouldn't have anything else. My first saw (new) was a 621 in around 1981 I would say, soon acquired others the same. They have needed few repairs in 39 years, mind you I'm a Farmer, I'm not trying to clear cut forests ! Perhaps ten years ago I happened on a Stihl 026, ( supposed to be the bees knees), I always felt it was rather inadequate. Two days ago, I thought I'd run it against one of my recently refurbished (courtesy advice cantdog) 49sp's (This one free, from a skip.). In green ash 16in dia, the 49sp roared its way through time after time, while the 026 was positively outclassed, and felt anaemic and in every way a disappointment, and yes, it's throttle is opening fully and it's well up together. It might as well have been battery electric.
I have other saws, but if I want to walk to the job, start the saw and do the job, I will take a 49sp every time.
Mind you, I like to run them, work them, keep myself warm from them AND have them to look at.
If I could figure out how, I would post a photo of my little band....All strong reliable runners.
So....wonder no longer, I am here !
The man behind the counter in 1981 ish, told me, and I remember it well......"If you look after that saw, it'll last your lifetime!" (mind you, he knew I'd been out drinking with his son the night before...). Well, it looks like it might, and if someone else eventually does the same, I don't doubt that it'll do the same for them.
Jim. Great Britain.

Great stories. Love to hear about J’reds workings hard across the pond!!

In all honesty, I never got a chance to clear cut anything....the US Forest Service made sure of that....lol. Wait a minute though....I did clear cut right aways for power line companies....does that count?? Serious money too. I would have been happy to do that until retirement.....but ya know..... being still somewhat young, dumb and full of c**.....

Kevin

 

[Cantdog]

Ahem, ahem!!..............Well, it may be a SMALL subset, but personally I wouldn't have anything else. My first saw (new) was a 621 in around 1981 I would say, soon acquired others the same. They have needed few repairs in 39 years, mind you I'm a Farmer, I'm not trying to clear cut forests ! Perhaps ten years ago I happened on a Stihl 026, ( supposed to be the bees knees), I always felt it was rather inadequate. Two days ago, I thought I'd run it against one of my recently refurbished (courtesy advice cantdog) 49sp's (This one free, from a skip.). In green ash 16in dia, the 49sp roared its way through time after time, while the 026 was positively outclassed, and felt anaemic and in every way a disappointment, and yes, it's throttle is opening fully and it's well up together. It might as well have been battery electric.
I have other saws, but if I want to walk to the job, start the saw and do the job, I will take a 49sp every time.
Mind you, I like to run them, work them, keep myself warm from them AND have them to look at.
If I could figure out how, I would post a photo of my little band....All strong reliable runners.
So....wonder no longer, I am here !
The man behind the counter in 1981 ish, told me, and I remember it well......"If you look after that saw, it'll last your lifetime!" (mind you, he knew I'd been out drinking with his son the night before...). Well, it looks like it might, and if someone else eventually does the same, I don't doubt that it'll do the same for them.
Jim. Great Britain.

HaHaHa Good one!!!! I believe your dealer was correct........this very day I was cutting up some 12-16" ash....was just a degree or two above zero F......my original 49 sp was running fine but the going was tough in frozen ash.......went back in the shop and dropped the rakers another 0.010" or so.....back to the wood pile......the old girl made a deeper exhaust note at the same rpm as before and the chips were much bigger...it was a blast just digging in the dogs and rotating through that stuff. Of course this saw is in tip top condition and mildly ported so that helps. The only saw I have ever bought new....April 1977......I was 23......I am.now a small number of days from 65 and the 49 is better than new.....and I am not, though I'm in good condition our graphs are diverging these days.

 

[Cantdog]

Damn .......I'd like to have this saw...but not $654.00 worth.......but sure it looks nice........I'm just to damn cheep to be a serious collector I guess....

https://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-Jo...h=item1cc87cd627:g:D2kAAOSwg-tcU10L:rk:9:pf:0

 

[Real1shepherd]

Damn .......I'd like to have this saw...but not $654.00 worth.......but sure it looks nice........I'm just to damn cheep to be a serious collector I guess....

https://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-Jo...h=item1cc87cd627:g:D2kAAOSwg-tcU10L:rk:9:pf:0

That's Kevin in SK again...probably a low hr saw with NOS parts on it to complete. Before he put it on eBay, he would have sold it for less. Collector money now.......like you, no fun when buying at saw at that money.

Kevin

 

[Cantdog]

That's Kevin in SK again...probably a low hr saw with NOS parts on it to complete. Before he put it on eBay, he would have sold it for less. Collector money now.......like you, no fun when buying at saw at that money.

Kevin

The only saw I paid real money for was my 49SP and my 111S with a 36" roller tip in .404 with a real nice Granberg sawmill rig......that one hurt... All the rest I just got right or built them. I think the best deal I got was my 80.......was on ebay with a crushed trigger handle and a rusted up bar and chain.......terrible looking......bought it as a parts saw for my other 80s......long story short.....discovered then and there that all old Jonsereds from the 49SP on up through the 90 used the exact same trigger handle using different trigger linkages for different models, excepting the 621 which has the only odd ball trigger handle. Three hours after UPS delivered the corpse in a cardboard casket that 80 was making chips again.......after replacing the trigger handle with one from a 49sp and putting on a different B&C . It fired right up.....never cleaned the carb or kitted it......never touched the points....nothing I would generally do.....carried 238 lbs of compression...still does....full price delivered......$63.00....it's the one in my sig. I have a half dozen other 80s but that is my favorite!!