Bobby Kirbos
Scrounger of Cellulose Based BTUs
@Westwood
Research muffler mods. If you're handy, you'll more than likely want to do one on whatever saw you do buy.
What's the best stihl fire wood saw for the money
- Thread starter Mustang71
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@Westwood
Research muffler mods. If you're handy, you'll more than likely want to do one on whatever saw you do buy.
The only saw i didn't muffler mod was my husky 450. It sounds good stock and when I took the muffler apart it was empty inside. Those don't come with a baffle. I didn't want to mess with it since it ran fine. It's a top exit too so I would have had to weld up that hole and drill a new one elsewhere and weld a pipe on it. Don't know if i would have gained much. Other saws have baffles inside and chambers and small exit holes. Get rid of all that and usually there's a gain in power and the saw runs better.
It doesn't matter as long as it has a "long blade"...
It's a proven fact that a person with a wild thing with the long blade approximatey 28" can out cut anyone. It will cut any tree, possibly steel or concrete.
Long blades are over rated. I'll take a medium sized bar any day. 16" or 18" is perfect.
I'm an Echo convert. I still have 3 Sthils all very old but Sthil is just expensive for a professional saw while Echo makes some very good much less costly saws. Shindawa builds engines for Echo and they are built in Japan. The cheaper Sthils don't appeal to me. A cs590 and C's 352 Echos are a great combination. If I had to choose only 1 saw it'd be a Echo C's 490. With a 20 inch bar and a saw light enough to fell (some trees) and limb or buck the 490 is my choice. Surprisingly, the cs352 cuts darn good and has a 16 inch bar. I'd not be afraid to tackle a 28 inch Oak with it. Admitted, I'd not be in a hurry. AND, I'd have 4 or 5 felling wedges and a very sharp Chain.
This thread is getting kind of old, so I was going to crack some jokes about "Best" and "For the Money". About 2 years ago a plastic piece broke on the handle of my little Echo 305 climbing saw, so I went to Ace to replace it with a newer version of the same saw. It was a little over $300. At the other end of the parking lot is a Southern States and they are a Stihl dealer. I walked down there and they had an MS170 on sale for $159, so I bought it. For the money, for a Stihl? I've had more fun than should be legal with that little termite. I've cut 20" Oak with it, and at the pace most homeowners would work, it did the job. Since I cut standing dead Oaks off 3 different farms, I seldom see 20" wood, usually in the 25-30" stuff. I'll use the MS 290 with a 20" bar on it if I'm feelin lazy, or the 660 with a 25 if I'm in a hurry. I just found the receipt from the 660. I bougt it new about 7 years ago with 36 and 25" bars, 2 chains for each bar, a gallon of bar oil, and a six pack of 5 gallon synthetic mix. It came to a little over $1000. If you take care of a saw, good fuel and mix, lots of oil on the bar, keep the chain out of the dirt, sharpen it when it starts to cut slow, and it will last you a life time. So, no matter what you pay for it now, in a couple years it will it will be down to costing you penny's a week, and a few more years it will be free. Since the thread was about Stihls, that's all I talked about. If you go to saws in general, my Homelite Super 1050 with a 36" bar and 404 chain will flat out walk the dog on my 660, and it's almost 50 years old. Same with the XL924, it's about the same overall size as the 290, but pulls a 30" bar with no problem. The little Super EZ is a screamin demon. How much did they cost? I don't know, I've had most of them so long they hit the free status 20 years ago. So, the best Stihl for the money, $159 MS 170, hands down.
Reading about the plastic handle breaking reminded me how I learned how to fix broken plastic. I have used supper glue but the trick is to cure it with baking soda. If you put baking soda on supper glue it cures instantly and gets harder then it does without it. It works and last a long time.
I didn't grew up around chain saws. My folks had a gas station truck stop in a small town on a major highway. There were a couple farmers that did tree work in our area so my folks always hired them. Dad pasted away when I was in seventh grade so when I got out of high school I left home went to tech school and never went back home. Worked night for years as a mechanic for a grocery wholesaler. Back when I was in tech school farmers in the area would come to the school and post ads looking for help. I helped this old guy for a couple years while I was in school and since his farm was in the area I settled in I kept helping him when I got a full time job. A couple year later he go cancer and passed I got the chance to buy what he called the home place house and 160 acres. I sold my house in town bought the farm and that started the need for chain saws. He never did a good job of keeping the trees cleaned up on his farm as he farmed 1000 acres by himself and wife when she was alive and some hired help from the school over the years. The rest of the ground he farmed was rented. When I bought the farm I started working some with another older farmer down the road that needed some help during planting and harvest. I helped him and his son the first harvest I bought the farm so in the winter the dad said I will help you get your farm cleaned up. He had Homelite chain saws can't remember all the model numbers I think like a 903, 300, and maybe a 150 or XL something. That guy could sharpen a chain. By the next winter I installed a Lincoln wood stove in the house and needed my own saw. Happen to be Surplus Center was a Stihl dealer back then and was having dealer days so I stopped after work one morning started looking a saws and bought a 038 this would have been mid 80's. Then next time the old guy and me were cutting wood he ran the 038 could wipe the smile off his face by the next winter he had a 044 to one up me. I still have the 038 never been rebuilt I cut around 10-15 cord a year finally added a 461 Stihl four years ago to help and now it is my go to saw. Not saying other brands of saws aren't good but Stihl's have been good to me.
I voted 044, I’ve cut a few thousand cords of firewood with 036, 360, 361, 440 among a few others. The 036 is the best choice if your going to keep them new and trade every 100 or so cords or just for your own wood. 044 is more bang for the buck, can cut 4X the wood so you get more value from it.
I believe the new 461 has the same weight as 440 and more power.
I believe the new 461 has the same weight as 440 and more power.
Yea I always carry two. I can’t afford to miss a Saturday of wood cutting this time a year. Work all week and a lot of the time only have Saturday to do wood. Even the time to run back to town to buy a new saw could cost me 1/3 of the cost of a saw. I carry twin 440’s, but two that take the same chain is about mandatory. 6 sharp chains, 2 bars, 2 splitters is my survival pack. A wild thing in the tool box ready to go and a file would be better than nothing though if your on a schedule and budget.
After I bought the Echo 490 I never use my Sthil 026. When I put it up about a year ago I was running great. Now it's acting funky. I bought a new fuel and impulse line from the dealership but haven't messed with putting it in. By now the carb may need cleaning. The whole saw needs cleaning. It's a good saw but it takes 10 pulls to crank after it set awhile. I offered to sell it to a Guy for 225 dollars just to get it out of my shop but because it took 10 pulls to start he declined. It's to good of a saw to just give away but I never use it and I'm getting to many saws. Yesterday I gave a old Poulan 2150 to a friend. That litte saw is a very good old Beard Poulan. Back when Poulan made real saws. About the 026 Sthil, I guess one day I will clean it up and put it on Craigslist.
I have a little green poulan and the same age crafstman and those saws do all my saw work unless I'm actually cutting fire wood then I use stihl saws. I dont want to break out the more expensive bigger saw to do some pruning around the house. It's just not worth it. I have to clean it sharpen it and I dont want to damage it doing some dumb job. Also if I'm cutting up some sketchy wood that might have nails in it I dont want to ruin a stihl chain. For strickly fire wood its stihl for me. Anything else I like those 42cc or 36cc poulans. Durable and cheap to fix.
I have one Stilh 084, 1 Echo 37cc i think/ everything else in between is Dolmar
There are a couple of Echo saws in between also. Then there is also my Stihl MS361 and at least two of my Husqvarna saws -- 353, 51, and 61.
Dan Newton
ArboristSite Member
If we are talking firewood production, I would say 034 super! A lot of people forget about them, but they were an AMAZING saw! They can be found fairly easily around me in good shape for $200-$250. Nice and light with lots of torque. Mine wears a 24" bar and never complains about it.
dave mclennan
ArboristSite Operative
dave mclennan
ArboristSite Operative
IMO the stihl 034 and 036 pro models cant be beat i ve had huskys and 1 echo pro, i live in bc canada and my family do firewood and sell it woodstoves like the quadra fire are so well made now firewood heating in bc is a money saving option, ive tried them all IMO huskys are crap, ive used dolmars 5105 pro w muffler mods [now makita] with great success, my 036 cuts 100s of cords of larch [tamarack] and fir each month [except summer] nothing beats my 036 we have 3 of them personally i like my dolmar 5105 with some mods the best, its comfy to me. if you going to cuts lots of firewood get the pro model there lighter, faster, etc. we tried huskys but they dont stand up IMO.
gerrywoodsy482
ArboristSite Member
Classic debate. It's the 500i for me. Really good all rounder and great power to weight ratio.
Depends on what your needs actually are. For the wood that I normally cut, I really like my 036, but I tend to cut a lot of stuff thats between 12" and 24", and I don't normally keep anything under 6". I know others who don't much over 12" and keep everything down to 2". They love their 026/260/261 (I like my 026 as well). Some people spend a fair amount of time in wood over 20". Those folks are going to like a 400, or 460.
I don't personally have any appreciation for a saw that's not a Pro saw. I don't run saws every day, but when I run them, I often run them for hours on end and therefore I want a better power to weight ratio than I can get from a home owner or "farm boss" can give me. Case in point, the listed Stihl 029 weighs a whopping 13 lbs, has roughly the same output as the 026 which weighs a hair over 10 lbs. While I know its considerably newer that the models listed, the MS400 weighs less than the 029 (12.8 lbs) but puts out 5.4hp. If someone GAVE me an 029, I'd clean it up, sell it, and put the proceeds towards either a new MS400, or (if my budget requires a used saw instead) an 026 or 034S/036 (12.6lbs, 4.5hp). The deciding factor would be how much weight I wanted to carry around vs how much work I wanted to get done. Personally, I regularly run both (026 and 036). The 026 does most of my limbing, and cuts stuff up to 10" or so. The 036 cuts everything else.
I don't personally have any appreciation for a saw that's not a Pro saw. I don't run saws every day, but when I run them, I often run them for hours on end and therefore I want a better power to weight ratio than I can get from a home owner or "farm boss" can give me. Case in point, the listed Stihl 029 weighs a whopping 13 lbs, has roughly the same output as the 026 which weighs a hair over 10 lbs. While I know its considerably newer that the models listed, the MS400 weighs less than the 029 (12.8 lbs) but puts out 5.4hp. If someone GAVE me an 029, I'd clean it up, sell it, and put the proceeds towards either a new MS400, or (if my budget requires a used saw instead) an 026 or 034S/036 (12.6lbs, 4.5hp). The deciding factor would be how much weight I wanted to carry around vs how much work I wanted to get done. Personally, I regularly run both (026 and 036). The 026 does most of my limbing, and cuts stuff up to 10" or so. The 036 cuts everything else.
