What older model chainsaw has the most durable engine?

[HuskyShepherd2016]

I did not know that Macs had iron bores. I deal more with minibike and go kart racers. There is a friendly rivalry (usually) between the Mac and West Bend guys. I applied what I learned from the West Bend guys to build a more powerful and reliable WB610. I also do flow bench and dyno testing on these engines.

My brother-in-law recently purchased an expensive Stihl saw that I assume is professional due to the price. I did not get to ask the model number. We were both helping my dad with a huge oak pile with some trunks over 3 feet in diameter. My 60 year old Root was out cutting his Stihl by at least a factor of 2. To be fair I have much more experience and I suspect he was running a dull chain. Back when I was cutting all day my record for sharpening was 8 times in one day. No point running dull chain.

They had iron sleeves during the 50’s and 60’s and some of the 70’s

The 10-10, the 200, 250, 1-40-50-60-70-80’s had them and the 105, the 125 did as well. Never thought a Root would out it a Stihl. But if it happens it happens. I still love the Stihl’s I’ve got!

 

[david_fillman]

They had iron sleeves during the 50’s and 60’s and some of the 70’s

The 10-10, the 200, 250, 1-40-50-60-70-80’s had them and the 105, the 125 did as well. Never thought a Root would out it a Stihl. But if it happens it happens. I still love the Stihl’s I’ve got!

Nice! Only the West Bend 610s had iron sleeves. The 820s were chrome plated up until about 15 years ago when they switched to NikaSil. 820s are still being produced in South Korea and Taiwan on a limited basis. 610s and 820s use all the same parts except for the pistons and cylinders. I have attached the application chart for the 610 & 820 Benders. They were even used for US military target drones.

 

[stihl sawing]

My 60 year old Root was out cutting his Stihl by at least a factor of 2. To be fair I have much more experience and I suspect he was running a dull chain.

Probably had his chain on backward.

 

[sean donato]

So I’m not allowed to reply to your opinion after you stated yours? If you think all older saws are junk that’s fine but you’ll also get counter opinions about that too, especially from someone who thinks there are great ones both old and new.

Where did I ever once say old saws are junk?

 

[sean donato]

This would be a 3-5 page thread- if it weren't for ego's.

Highly possible, but doubtful.

 

[HuskyShepherd2016]

Probably had his chain on backward.

Hilarious

 

[david_fillman]

Probably had his chain on backward.

Ha ha, I have yet to put my chain on backwards but I did manage to get a belt crossed on a riding mower years ago. Second pass I noticed that the grass only getting swirled. Ooops!!!

 

[North by Northwest]

My appreciation for saws actually has a wide timeline. I’m not necessarily a hater of all new saws, despite the fact that there are quite a few newer ones that I’m not fond of because how quickly they’ve failed in my experience. No not all are like that but I feel I have to be more wary of that these days.

But at that note there are still great ones being produced. Cutting edge technology “no pun intended” that I’d gladly use all day every day.

But the modern day market is also flooded with box store lower end saws with lesser quality plastic parts and emissions features that smother them completely. And manufacturers and dealers are often trying to sell push them under the guise of being pro quality saws which isn’t fair.

As far as todays new stuff my Husky 576 xp & Dolkita 7900 Prez2 both manufactured within the last 3 yrs are supper performing saws that could be utilized in any commercial felling operation with routine preventative maintenance . Their av systems are flawless & fuel efficiency amazing . I love my antique vintage Pioneers & Dolmars & Stihl , however do not kid myself within their limitations today in a real world commercial cutting operation !

 

[HuskyShepherd2016]

As far as todays new stuff my Husky 576 xp & Dolkita 7900 Prez2 both manufactured within the last 3 yrs are supper performing saws that could be utilized in any commercial felling operation with routine preventative maintenance . Their av systems are flawless & fuel efficiency amazing . I love my antique vintage Pioneers & Dolmars & Stihl , however do not kid myself within their limitations today in a real world commercial cutting operation !

Understood. I appreciate that you see what I’ve been trying to explain this far. Maybe I don’t have very good clarification skills. I tried though.

 

[Bubster]

Gotta admit I did not read every post, but there was a time when the Poulan 245 had the best power to weight ratio of all saws. I never owned one, but a friend did and I will say that was a cutting sob.

 

[HuskyShepherd2016]

Gotta admit I did not read every post, but there was a time when the Poulan 245 had the best power to weight ratio of all saws. I never owned one, but a friend did and I will say that was a cutting sob.

There are some minor disagreements and misunderstandings from various angles in this thread but nothing really dooming. I’ve had some hard times trying to ask clear questions and make concise points but none of us are perfect. I used to not struggle with that all my life but back in 2015 I tested positive fir multiple sclerosis and a bunch of my everyday life has changed, including some of my cognition. There are extended times throughout the year like now during this extreme heat, that I cannot go out and enjoy a good deal of things I love to do so much. I can only crank up a saw during the fall and winter because M.S. causes extreme heat sensitivity that really hampers balance, vision and a number of things.

But as soon as the fall rolls around I plan on cranking up all my 245a’s and testing them out beside my Stihl’s, Husky and Mcculloch’s. Just to see how they do. I have put my 041 super up against two of my 245a’s and the super is slightly faster cutting through a 12” log. But I’m sure I might have a 245a that’s faster too.

The torque is definitely stronger than the super though, or it at least it feels that way.

There are more recent saws that are faster than the 245a and besides the strong vibration, the loudness, and no chain brake, it’s still quite respectable of a saw in the 70 cc class, even for today’s saws, despite the fact that they don’t win races. But they’ll pull through big stuff like a champ and they don’t bog or bow down to knots and hard spots very easily. That’s my experience with them.

 

[OM617YOTA]

It's important to remember survivorship bias with the old stuff too. You only remember the cream of the crop best saws, those are the ones that survived, and not all the garbage. Same with cars and music. Bet you don't remember 1/100th of the music from the good ole days of music(whenever that was for you), because none of the bad stuff survived.

MS and heat is no joke. I don't handle heat either, although for other reasons. Just bought a cooling vest, circulates ice water through tubes. Doesn't seem to make being out in the heat any more comfortable, but I can handle it longer without puking, and when I come back in from the heat I'm not as drained as I would be without the vest, and recover faster. Definitely worth looking into.

 

[HuskyShepherd2016]

It's important to remember survivorship bias with the old stuff too. You only remember the cream of the crop best saws, those are the ones that survived, and not all the garbage. Same with cars and music. Bet you don't remember 1/100th of the music from the good ole days of music(whenever that was for you), because none of the bad stuff survived.

MS and heat is no joke. I don't handle heat either, although for other reasons. Just bought a cooling vest, circulates ice water through tubes. Doesn't seem to make being out in the heat any more comfortable, but I can handle it longer without puking, and when I come back in from the heat I'm not as drained as I would be without the vest, and recover faster. Definitely worth looking into.

Well, the saws that I learned on and made money with were older than I was at the time I started and they were soundly stomping everything I was putting them up against. Every customer I worked for wanted me to try their dainty new saws that they were so proud of, and it just left me wondering what happened to the market. That was back during a time when it was really hard, and what seemed like impossible to get a good new model saw at the time because plastic saws were completely flooding the market….or that’s really how it seemed for hundreds of miles in all directions. But I’ll say again, I like old saws and new ones so long as they’re made to last and can get the job done. Heavy saws used to never be that big of an issue to me because I was an avid weightlifter for most of my teenage and adult years, so moving heavy stuff around all the time actually gave me a feeling of accomplishment. Unfortunately now I can only do that after the summer has gone by and we reach colder weather.

Multiple Sclerosis is really cruel in a lot of ways. Because neurological flare ups are so unpredictable and they make you pretty much useless while it’s happening, and there’s no definite timeframe when you know it will let up, and not many people understand, quite often i’ve been accused of it all being in my head.

Well, it is, but not in the way they are insinuating. Yes it’s in the head because it’s a type of brain and spinal damage! Lol!

I’m sorry about the condition that makes you heat sensitive. Make no mistake, the last person on earth who would think that is just an excuse is me. Everyone who is heat sensitive at least once thinks about that one day in the future that Mother Nature might finally come for us. We can do everything possible to prevent heat damage. Hydration, sun screen, cold packs, wetting our clothes down, wearing sombreros…but in the end the sun just flat out wins if we’re in it long enough.

Hang in there. October can’t come fast enough!

 

[HuskyShepherd2016]

It's important to remember survivorship bias with the old stuff too. You only remember the cream of the crop best saws, those are the ones that survived, and not all the garbage. Same with cars and music. Bet you don't remember 1/100th of the music from the good ole days of music(whenever that was for you), because none of the bad stuff survived.

MS and heat is no joke. I don't handle heat either, although for other reasons. Just bought a cooling vest, circulates ice water through tubes. Doesn't seem to make being out in the heat any more comfortable, but I can handle it longer without puking, and when I come back in from the heat I'm not as drained as I would be without the vest, and recover faster. Definitely worth looking into.

As far as music is concerned, most of the 70’s and 80’s stuff that actually survived the 90’s and are still just as loved, I like. Some 80’s stuff was absolute bubble gum trash that did everything possible to rip off Van Halen’s keyboard and synthesizer talent in the worst way possible.

My opinion about 90’s music is not popular. A great deal of it was was completely stock, sounded very trashy with little actual talent, hardly any guitar solos, hardly any drum solos, and nothing very harmonic…and rock and metal seemed to be in a bit of an identity crisis.

To me, Metallica and Megadeath will be the Stihl and Husqvarna of metal.

If Metallica ever went belly up, I would have called them McCullica.

 

[Bubster]

As far as music is concerned, most of the 70’s and 80’s stuff that actually survived the 90’s and are still just as loved, I like. Some 80’s stuff was absolute bubble gum trash that did everything possible to rip off Van Halen’s keyboard and synthesizer talent in the worst way possible.

My opinion about 90’s music is not popular. A great deal of it was was completely stock, sounded very trashy with little actual talent, hardly any guitar solos, hardly any drum solos, and nothing very harmonic…and rock and metal seemed to be in a bit of an identity crisis.

To me, Metallica and Megadeath will be the Stihl and Husqvarna of metal.

If Metallica ever went belly up, I would have called them McCullica.

Take it easy on him guys, he knows not what he just said.

 

[HuskyShepherd2016]

Take it easy on him guys, he knows not what he just said.

Oh I know what I just said and I know it won’t really go over very well. And I know I just might drink a whole gallon of prune flavored Hateraide. But I like to live dangerously from time to time.

 

[pdqdl]

...Hateraide.

 

[HuskyShepherd2016]

P

Prune flavored no less.

 

[aokpops]

Hands down a 298 Husqvarna. I almost never fixed anything on it. All the rubber is good never changed it might have the original sparkplug. The 272 did need a carburetor rebuld. What age are they getting too? I run the new saws best I can. The 394 I rebuilt about every piece. The 372 just starts and runs. And way smoother. I ran a 51 for many years. I pick up a 550 the assault on firewood changed.

 

[Bill G]

Ha ha, I have yet to put my chain on backwards but I did manage to get a belt crossed on a riding mower years ago. Second pass I noticed that the grass only getting swirled. Ooops!!!

David,

@david_fillman
I wonder how many folks know what saw that is in your avatar. I have it's twin, brothers, and cousins, Great saws.

Bill