Please recommend a good firewood saw

[neverenough]

The only dealers in town are J. Deere (which does carry saws) and Stihl. The JD dealer charges about 30% more for his saws than I can get them on the internet. I believe in supporting the local dealers, but I'm not THAT willing. The Stihl guy will not budge off MSRP on anything (even though I bought an expensive stirng trimmer from him earllier in the year) and his services charges on saws are exorbitant. I'm not expecting anyone to give me a saw, but it would be nice for these guys to work with me at least a little. There are no Husky dealers within 100 miles. Why can't I find Jonsered saws anywhere here in the West?

Sounds like you live next door to me. The local Deere and Stihl dealers are exactly like you described. I drive an hour for Deere parts/products, and have one of the best small engine/Stihl dealers about 25 miles from here. I won't buy another brand of saw just becouse of the dealer. Prices are great and service is above average.

As far as Jonsered goes, a lot of dealers around here are dropping them becouse of their support. I bought a new 2040 years ago, and I'll never buy a Jonsered again. I'll use an axe before another Jonsered.

 

[litefoot]

OK, after much deliberation and shopping and wasting my time worrying about which saw to buy, I broke down and bought a new MS460. It was THE saw that I kept longing after and I guess if you're going to fork out the dough, then a man ought to get what he really wants.

I found a Stihl dealer in Grand Junction, CO which is on the way to the home office where I work. This guy immediately knocked $70 off the price of the saw and threw in a case and 2 extra chains. He even gave me the choice of any size bar I wanted...I went with a 25" bar. Can't wait to head up to the hills.

Now I just have to 'splain all this to momma.

 

[lostone]

Now I just have to 'splain all this to momma.

NO amount of splaining is gonna help Ricky.

 

[SawTroll]

Congratulations!

Happy ending in this tread, provided you survive the confrontation with you know who....


Now you will need another saw to fill out the gap between you saws, good tactic!

 

[046]

litefoot, great choice!!

 

[Mange]

OK, after much deliberation and shopping and wasting my time worrying about which saw to buy, I broke down and bought a new MS460. It was THE saw that I kept longing after and I guess if you're going to fork out the dough, then a man ought to get what he really wants.

I found a Stihl dealer in Grand Junction, CO which is on the way to the home office where I work. This guy immediately knocked $70 off the price of the saw and threw in a case and 2 extra chains. He even gave me the choice of any size bar I wanted...I went with a 25" bar. Can't wait to head up to the hills.

Now I just have to 'splain all this to momma.

Good for you, now to the tricky part.

Quickly borrow at least 10 other saw's, When she looks at these 11 saws she will most likely flip, then you being the nice guy you are offer to return all but one, as a compromise, she will then think you are a real big guy, that let these go and say: no but half of hem at least.
You return the borrowed saws and buy 4-5 more to play with. All fixed.

Remember, the one that die's with the most toy's win!!!!! :angel:

 

[mktest]

For years I believe Jred was ahead of Husky quality and technology wise. The purchase by E-lux of Jred did put Husky on the map via their shared synergy and cross-over technology which benefitted Husky. However I wonder where Jred would be positionned in the industry today had they remained on their own and had they been able to re-invest their corporate profits back into their own R&D instead of E-lux coffers.The Jred however still looks a lot prettier than a Husky in its red & black overcoat.

I agree, the look alone is good reason to chose Jonsered instead of Husqvarna

At the moment Electrolux is looking at separating Husqvarna from Electrolux, into an independant company. Who knows where that will end, but the labour union here in Sweden reckoned it was a good thing, to keep jobs here. I don't trust them, but future will tell.

In the old usnet-group misc.rural, a guy named foxeye (don't know if he posts here) published an email he got from some guy importing Jonsereds. This is from 1998. It is published publicly before so I just paste it here.

Here's the story on Jonsered and Husqvarna.

Husqvarna did not "buy out" Jonsered. Husqvarna is a subsidiary
of Electrolux AB; Sweden's (and one of the world's) largest
conglomerates. Both Jonsered and Husqvarna are subsidiaries
of Electrolux, as is Poulan. Husqvarna was Electrolux's first
chain saw manufacturer acquisition and thus, became the "flagship"
brand.

As the original acquisition, the flagship began to
receive significant funding in research, development and
marketing. At the time, Jonsereds was Sweden's number one
chain saw and considered by many the world's best.
Husqvarna saws were not in Jonsered's league at the time.

In 1978, Jonsered and Partner, Sweden's remaining independent
chain saw manufacturers were also acquired by Electrolux.
Ever since, there have been perpetual rumours of Jonsered's
imminent demise. Oddly enough, here we are 20 years later,
stronger than ever, with the best line of products we have
ever had.

As Electrolux's main brand, Husqvarna has and will
continue to receive the lion's share of marketing
dollars. Their goal is to make the brand a household
name and their product line has spread to include
American-made lawnmowers and low-end chain saws and
trimmers (the something for everyone philosophy).

With duplicate brands, it is only logical to consolidate
costs at every possible level so, yes, many Jonsered and
Husqvarna models are virtually identical. As Jonsered
distributors, we say this is not necessarily a bad thing.
True, lack of competition dilutes innovation - and Jonsered
certainly brought a great deal of that to Husqvarna - but
the combined efforts of personnel from both companies
have resulted in better products for both brands.

A good analogy may be General Motors or Ford/Lincoln/Mercury.
If Husqvarna is Chevrolet, Jonsered is perhaps, Pontiac.
This approach has worked fairly well for these two corporations,
so we think there is some solid logic to the approach for Jonsered
and Husqvarna.

Today, we have the broadest line of reliable, high-performance
Jonsered products ever. Jonsered's approach is not to
try to compete with Husqvarna in the mass market, but to
do what they do best; specialize in high-quality, innovative
products for small-scale forestry use, including a
complete line of Turbo chain saws, trimmer/brushcutters,
portable sawmills and iron horse transporters.

Sorry to hear there currently no Jonsered dealers in your
area. We continue to look for good servicing dealers in every
locale. We and Jonsered are still here and going strong.
Not the biggest, not the most well-known, but quite possibly,
still the best.

Thank You For your interest.
Sincerely,
Customer Service Dept.
Tilton Equipment Company
Jonsered Importers Since 1969
The opinions expressed are mine, and mine alone.

 

[SawTroll]

Partner

Mktest, that story was interesting, but not very surpricing. It is nice to have it summed up like that.

However, I don't think the story is complete without mentioning that
Partner was the originator of at least one major innovation that is still important, the Air Injection/Turbo filtration system. As a trademark, Partner was the real looser in this story, as no Pro saws is sold as Partner any more, and haven't been for about 20 years.

 

[mktest]

However, I don't think the story is complete without mentioning that
Partner was the originator of at least one major innovation that is still important, the Air Injection/Turbo filtration system. As a trademark, Partner was the real looser in this story, as no Pro saws is sold as Partner any more, and haven't been for about 20 years.

Yeah, in shops here Partner is mostly seen with low-end consumer products manufactured wherever it's cheap. When I was younger I thought "Partner" was a crap brand, probably Asian, didn't realize the company had a proud history. Partner still has some professional products in other areas, IMHO Electrolux should stop using Partner as a brand for chainsaws. Or make proper stuff, like the machinery on http://www.partner-industrial.com/
I live quite near Partner HQ, but don't know anything about where they produce stuff these days, perhaps in Husqvarna factories? (I mean their cutters and stuff, the consumer saws are probably Poulans?)

 

[pinus]

firewood saw

Hi all!
I´m lurking here a some time and like this group. Now decided to register.
My experience with cainsaws is not very long, some 5 years of firewood cutting with occasional timber cutting.
At the moment I´m using Stihls MS-270 (15" blade, 0.325 semichisel cain) and by the performance it is quite the same as the 026 was, what I´m used too. Actually, 270 seems being even a littlebit more quicker and powerfull, and has much more better antivibe!
The only minor problems I´m encountered with it is the occasional high idling speed in summer period, and in the winter period, contrary, there were some spurious lackings of the idling (dies out). After some pause (carb warmup?) the idling will recover again. So, te carb is behaving sometimes a littlebit srtrangely. May be it can be corrected with adjusment screws...
For the occasional user I recommend MS-270
V.