Sorry for the long winded response.
All really good advise so far.
Red, My first advise would be to get a few books and safety manuals and familiarize yourself with the process of cutting wood. Since I see you’ve got the on-line manuals covered I would recommend a couple of books. First would be a book called “The Backyard Lumberjack” and will give you the basics of what you will be doing to get your firewood ready for the fireplace/woodstove. Second would be Douglas Dent's book "Professional Timber Falling- a Procedural Approach" this is kinda considered to be the tree fallers bible of sorts and will go well beyond what you learned in the first book.
There is no substitute for hands on knowledge, and after reading those books you will be more familiar with what you’ll be doing, and should have a pretty good knowledge of what is safe and what is not, I recommend finding someone to show you how to use a saw hands on. Likely the person who “helps” you will not have read the books and will no doubt have some bad habits to pass along. He is not likely to take well to you pointing out his poor technique so unless he’s doing something that is likely to get him killed today just keep it in the back of your mind not to do it that way yourself (you can straighten him out later). Nothing will pi$$ someone off faster than asking them to show you how to do something and then tell them their doing it wrong.
Having someone there to show you how to do it will help with your level of confidence and the other person will likely keep you from doing something that is going to get you hurt.
My second piece of advice would be to get yourself some
Personal Protection Equipment. Chaps or saw pants are a must as is eye, ear, and head protection. I would recommend a good “forestry” helmet with a flip up screen and muff’s attached. Peltor, Stihl, and Husqvarna all make good ones and you can find them at your local dealer or at one of the site sponsors at the top of this page. Steel toed boots and good gloves are must haves as well. Your buddy who will be teaching you how to use your new saw will likely make fun of you for wearing “all of that crap” and will probably tell you he’s been cutting for X amount of years and he’s never needed any of that crap. Just know that every time he cuts safely the odds increase that he’s going to have an accident and I think we would all rather be wearing “that crap” when it happens. The last piece of safety advice is to never cut alone, especially when your new to cutting. If you have to cut alone always tell someone where you’ll be and what time you will be home, and always keep your cell phone
on you, it won’t do you any good in the truck if your bleed to death before you get there. It’s also a good idea if your going to be out cutting for an extended period of time to set up a time that you will call someone in the middle of the day, that way they will know to be worried when you don’t call and can come check on you.
As far as saws go I would buy the best saw you can afford and learn to maintain it (reading here will help).
My advice would be to find a local dealer whom you like and trust and see which brand he carries. We do a lot of bashing and what not about brands around here
(and Stihl definitely makes the best saw out there) :sword: but truth be told all of the major players make excellent saws.
Cheap Stihl = MS250, or MS290 Farm Boss
Cheap Husqvarna = 350, or 455 Rancher
Cheap Jonsered = CS2150
Cheap Dolmar = 510
Pro Stihl = MS260 or MS361
Pro Husqvarna = 346XP or 357 XP
Pro Jonsered = 2152 or 2159
Pro Dolmar = PS5100s or PS6400
Used is always an option but I would stay away from fleabay until you know more about what your looking at.
Keep reading here and ask as many questions as you need to, some folks will be kinda hard on you for asking such “stupid” questions, just ignore them as they apparently already know everything there is to know and think you should to. Remember there are no stupid questions only stupid answers and those stupid answers tell more about themselves than it does about you. Good luck and cut safe.
I have a very gerneral question.
