Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[LondonNeil]

Driving stick will be a lost art by the time my kids can drive. If you take the manual trans out of the sports car you also take the sport out of the sports car. Autos are for bracket racers and daily commuters .

I suspect that by the time my girls are old enough, no one will be driving themselves, they will Uber a google self driving vehicle.

 

[LondonNeil]

Due to family events I'm rethinking the Time vs money equation and might move on the unbuilt ms660 and move on the 'runs but could do with some love 038avs' and drop some cash on a new bigger saw instead. So which would you pick? you all know i only buck up logs and only need a bigger saw thsn my 180 for sh1ts and giggles...and maybe blocking up a cube of uglies a year. browsing my local dealers website I'm looking at:

Husky 555 with 18" bar, £495. Pros blimey that actually seems quite a deal, its plenty big enough to be my big saw, cons....see my comments below, i slightly prefer cream and orange saws.

Stihl ms391, 20" bar £550. Pro's I slightly favor Stihl as more places sell and service them over here but the local dealer does the all orange stuff too so no biggy. plenty of sw and bar for me...in fact is overkill....all the saws I'm looking at are....but

Stihl 461, 25" bar, £806. Snigger...Snigger snigger. totally ludicrous but..snigger snigger snigger....No its not on the list but...snigger

views please. thanks

 

[KiwiBro]

Big jump between the 180 and a 391. Note a 261c-m is £50 cheaper than a 391, just .3kW less power, and over a kg lighter.

That said, if you want a big-don't-argue saw that is increadibly easy to handle for a 'big' saw, that will have people calling you when a big tree comes down because they know you've got a capable saw, why not spend £550 on a Dolmakita 7900. That's an incredible amount of get-er-done for the money.

 

[LondonNeil]

261c-m 18" £546. errrrrr, nope I don't understand it, but I'll go the extra £4 https://www.frjonesandson.co.uk/pro...ms-261-c-m-chainsaw-50-2cc-18-inch-bar-chain/

 

[KiwiBro]

My mistake on the 261 pricing - was looking at powerhead only.
The Dolmakita 7900 I looked at had 18" B&C and is great value for money if you can use the displacement. If I was choosing between the 391, 261, and 7900, it would be a no-brainer.

 

[farmer steve]

Due to family events I'm rethinking the Time vs money equation and might move on the unbuilt ms660 and move on the 'runs but could do with some love 038avs' and drop some cash on a new bigger saw instead. So which would you pick? you all know i only buck up logs and only need a bigger saw thsn my 180 for sh1ts and giggles...and maybe blocking up a cube of uglies a year. browsing my local dealers website I'm looking at:

Husky 555 with 18" bar, £495. Pros blimey that actually seems quite a deal, its plenty big enough to be my big saw, cons....see my comments below, i slightly prefer cream and orange saws.

Stihl ms391, 20" bar £550. Pro's I slightly favor Stihl as more places sell and service them over here but the local dealer does the all orange stuff too so no biggy. plenty of sw and bar for me...in fact is overkill....all the saws I'm looking at are....but

Stihl 461, 25" bar, £806. Snigger...Snigger snigger. totally ludicrous but..snigger snigger snigger....No its not on the list but it should be...snigger

views please. thanks

FIXED it for ya Neil.

 

[Jeffkrib]

This is the load of pine I got for free, it ended up being 2 trailer loads which would equate to 1 load of the hard wood I normally get but as I said I like having some pine in the mix.

 

[James Miller]

That's my 7910 bottom right with a 32 I borrowed off a 395. Handled it no problem burried in the big log in the back ground. With an 18 or 20 and an 8 pin rim I think it would be a noodling monster. One saw to handle anything the 180 won't.

 

[rarefish383]

That might be the tip of my 1050 on the far right.

 

[dancan]

Spruce with black spruce being the king of the softwoods because it grows in very adverse conditions , it is dense as far as softwood goes , not uncommon for me to cut one that's 100+year old and only 4" to 6" diameter . It dries in a summer , burns hot and low ash but like softwood , no long time burn .
I find that white pine needs a year to dry for a proper burn in my furnace but I'm burning bigger splits , it just burns different than spruce in my furnace .
Popple , I've only burn't 2 trees worth so far , 2 dead standing that my neighbor had that I cut one winter after being snowed out of the woods for 2 weeks and needed a chainsaw fix , I burnt them in 2 days , I found that popple was better than snowballs or the wife's kitchen table .
I'll polly get the bigger popple milled up and my friend will grab what he can including the fir for kindling so it won't go to waste , he also likes Zoggerwood because he doesn't have to split it .
Neil , 261 or the 7900 .
Nice furniture Joe , I may just get that popple milled into 2" stock for some rustic furniture .

 

[JustJeff]

After my daughters soccer practice I had a few minutes to spend outside so I took my little scrounged homelite to some Manitoba maple I had in 4’ lengths. The plan was to have a little fun and then fire up the poulan 5020 and just get er done as some of the pieces were 12” or better. But I was having so much fun with the diminutive 30cc homie. It throws real chips just like it’s big brothers. Lol. Anyways before I knew it, it was all cut up and the poulan got no love. It was such a nice cool evening, I couldn’t make myself come inside before dark.

 

[JustJeff]

@LondonNeil look at any “what saw should I get?” Thread on arboristsite and it will inevitably go to the 7900 dolmar. Which is no doubt an awesome saw but for the average guy who just heats his own house and doesn’t sell wood or fell any trees, a 50cc saw will do just fine. A 261 with an 18” bar will buck up to 36” a 7900 will do it faster yes. You will find a lot of chainsaw enthusiasts on this site and it’s easy to get caught up in it but for the average homeowner with one saw I’d recommend a 261 or 362 if funds allow. Either one will last a lifetime with good care.

 

[MustangMike]

461s are real nice saws, but a bit heavy (as is a 7900). For an all around saw, very tough to beat a nice 044 or 440 if you can find one.

 

[KiwiBro]

@LondonNeil look at any “what saw should I get?” Thread on arboristsite and it will inevitably go to the 7900 dolmar. Which is no doubt an awesome saw but for the average guy who just heats his own house and doesn’t sell wood or fell any trees, a 50cc saw will do just fine. A 261 with an 18” bar will buck up to 36” a 7900 will do it faster yes. You will find a lot of chainsaw enthusiasts on this site and it’s easy to get caught up in it but for the average homeowner with one saw I’d recommend a 261 or 362 if funds allow. Either one will last a lifetime with good care.

That settles the matter then. LondonNeil, please post pics of your new 261 and 7900 when you get them.
Regards,
CAD Anonymous

 

[cantoo]

My 260 gets the most hours on it. Do almost all the limbing with it but I also do a lot of felling with it too. After skidding logs to the landing I sometimes use it for bucking to length (13'4") because it's a pain to go back and grab the 460. If I'm felling a bunch of trees I will use the 460 but if only a few then the 260 gets used. Sharp chains are a good idea. Cutting cedar and ash.

 

[LondonNeil]

Dollar sounds a great saw, but dealers are rare, very rare here. I'll stick to stihl or husky.

 

[LondonNeil]

Oh poo, kiwibro just lobbed a cat at a flock of pigeons.... £550 for the maki with 18". No local dealers though. If it goes wrong id regret it.

 

[Jeffkrib]

Don’t be to worried about local support, I’m in the same boat as you and have a 7900. Don’t know what the local support is like but if I have a problem I’ll be coming on here for ideas and support. If I need parts I’ll get them from Nate (ford150) who I’ve bought parts from in the past.
That said if your looking for a two saw plan the a 60cc saw would probably compliment your ms180.
If your looking for a 3 saw plan then buy a ms261 and 70cc in the future.

 

[KiwiBro]

Spent quite some time trying to put an order of Tsumura bars together with Nate but got nowhere. He never replied to my last PM. That contrasted markedly from his usual helpful disposition, so I figure I pissed him off somewhere along the line since last order or it just fell through the cracks somehow. Shame to lose a good supplier but shite happens.

 

[LondonNeil]

2 saw plan. For 2 years I had a 1 saw plan and if I was more careful picking up wood, and willing to leave some 'nice but trouble' wood and some space in the car and make more trips, a 1 saw ms180 plan works. Or it did..... Until I tasted bigger saws. As for 2 saw plan, the big saw can be heavy as it doesn't get used much. The Makita appeals. The 18" bar would be adequate but if somehow I had a need for longer I could get the bar and the saw would pull it. I think the cat has chased the pigeons away and settled the arguement. Given the price difference (261-makita) is nothing and weight isn't a factor....blue here we come. Need to move on the old stihls to someone with the time to love them.... They should be nice saws again.