Thanks for the advice. I will not attempt to use ether to start any of my chainsaw. I am 83 years old with a bad shoulder. Never have a problem in cold weather with starting my saws with compression releases, Husky 359 and Stihl ms650. My 056 and ms250 are difficult; about ready to tie an anchor to the 250. Never have a problem with my smaller Echo saws. Will never buy another saw that does not have a compression release. Recently purchased a new ms261 C-M but have not used it yet.
MS261 hard to start in -15° weather
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4CornersPuddle
ArboristSite Member
Back in the '90s when I was winter logging in eastern Oregon and western Idaho, we timber fellers would split pitch pine kindling at the end of each day at an ole ponderosa stump, ready to be lit the next morning for our warming fire in our strips. As our boss said we'd work unless the temp was -35 F, we rarely got to avoid being out in the woods due to cold. The boss's reasoning was that -35 F would be cold enough to cause heavy equipment breakdowns. The yarder might be cranky, the skidders not start, etc.
We fellers could slog through the snow to our strips, pour a little fuel on our kindling stack, and have a fire in moments. Then we could pull on our 288s to see if we were in business.
I always killed my saw the night before by choking it. Several of the other guys did not. My saw was usually the first one running each day. I was not necessarily the brightest lightbulb in the package, however. Some of the guys would have to warm their saws by the fire, even removing the top covers and placing the saws so that the radiant heat from their stump fires warmed the carb area. As we were being paid by the hour during this severe winter logging, they were standing slack jawed around the fire, swapping tales of their last night's exploits while I was keeping warm only by layin' 'em down. No worries, I'd rather fell trees than yak any day.
Try killing your saw at the end of the day by choking it to death. It may fire sooner the next morning.
A funny twist to this tale, except for the feller who lost his saw, was one of our guys, lacking common sense, had his warming fire burning at the end of a 10 foot pitchy log laying on the ground. He bored into the opposite end of the log and left his 288 hung up out of the deep snow that way for the night.
You guessed it. The fire burned all the way down the log through the night, reaching his saw some time in the wee hours. The magnesium burning undoubtedly could be seen by astronauts on the space shuttle at 3 o'clock in the morning or whenever. There was no plastic nor magnesium left the next day. Saw bar and chain were annealed, carburetor actually looked like a puddle, crank and rod were black as the Ace of Spades. Even his piggyback gas/oil jug had not survived.
That fire was HOT.
We fellers could slog through the snow to our strips, pour a little fuel on our kindling stack, and have a fire in moments. Then we could pull on our 288s to see if we were in business.
I always killed my saw the night before by choking it. Several of the other guys did not. My saw was usually the first one running each day. I was not necessarily the brightest lightbulb in the package, however. Some of the guys would have to warm their saws by the fire, even removing the top covers and placing the saws so that the radiant heat from their stump fires warmed the carb area. As we were being paid by the hour during this severe winter logging, they were standing slack jawed around the fire, swapping tales of their last night's exploits while I was keeping warm only by layin' 'em down. No worries, I'd rather fell trees than yak any day.
Try killing your saw at the end of the day by choking it to death. It may fire sooner the next morning.
A funny twist to this tale, except for the feller who lost his saw, was one of our guys, lacking common sense, had his warming fire burning at the end of a 10 foot pitchy log laying on the ground. He bored into the opposite end of the log and left his 288 hung up out of the deep snow that way for the night.
You guessed it. The fire burned all the way down the log through the night, reaching his saw some time in the wee hours. The magnesium burning undoubtedly could be seen by astronauts on the space shuttle at 3 o'clock in the morning or whenever. There was no plastic nor magnesium left the next day. Saw bar and chain were annealed, carburetor actually looked like a puddle, crank and rod were black as the Ace of Spades. Even his piggyback gas/oil jug had not survived.
That fire was HOT.
I have done the kill it with the choke trick myself. When it's very cold I like to start my saws before putting them in the cold truck toolbox, kill them with the choke, then it's usually easy to start them quick at the cutting site and not where yourself out pulling when u need energy to cut safe.
Stihl chokes can be finicky getting them to close all the way and stay through starting. I think that is the #1 reason for hard starting cold. Had the problem with huskies 2 but less often.
Stihl chokes can be finicky getting them to close all the way and stay through starting. I think that is the #1 reason for hard starting cold. Had the problem with huskies 2 but less often.
"sara mclachlyn quietly plays in the background"
Each year tens thousands of chainsaws are sleeping in below freezing temperatures, often without a proper case to keep them safe from the nightly dew point dropping. For just a few extra seconds a day you can bring your saw inside the house, garage or mud room to prevent untimely hard starts or simply keep it in the back seat of the truck to help warm it up.
A well used saw that cranks, runs and has excellent power that reliably starts and runs above freezing may not start easily due to not having enough compression and vacuum to overcome the extra umph needed to pull harder on the carb diaphrams and to pull in the higher amount of gasoline needed fast enough for a easy startup. 7=10 drops of premix on the air filter may help get it kicked off.
Each year tens thousands of chainsaws are sleeping in below freezing temperatures, often without a proper case to keep them safe from the nightly dew point dropping. For just a few extra seconds a day you can bring your saw inside the house, garage or mud room to prevent untimely hard starts or simply keep it in the back seat of the truck to help warm it up.
A well used saw that cranks, runs and has excellent power that reliably starts and runs above freezing may not start easily due to not having enough compression and vacuum to overcome the extra umph needed to pull harder on the carb diaphrams and to pull in the higher amount of gasoline needed fast enough for a easy startup. 7=10 drops of premix on the air filter may help get it kicked off.
Huskybill
Addicted to ArboristSite
The coldest I cut in was 10 degrees. With a good hot jug of coffee. That was my record breaking cord of wood cut from standing timber bucked up. My other record is cutting and splitting tops, 1.5 cords loaded.4 hours by hand.
I n the bush camps here in Northwestern Ontario after 40 below work was suspended and the guys stayed in camp.40 below and colder is very hard on equipment that was the reasoning of the paper company it had nothing to do with protecting the well being of their workers.
Kash
Kash
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