Thread: Chainsaw Kit???

Buyer might also be pleasantly surprised with the 070 kits in particular.

The wording in the heading is a clear giveaway that they've been given a warning from Stihl legal for false advertising.

One would presume it to be illegal to sell this into Australia without a chain brake and more importantly, why would you buy something without this safety feature.

OK, I'll bite. The biggest safety feature attached to a chainsaw is the top 6" of the person operating it.
A safe operator has no problem with a saw lacking a chain brake. An unsafe operator is going to find a way to hurt themselves regardless, if they haven't already.

Those old schools saw are fun for about 5 minutes and then you realise why folks move onto better saws.

The main thing is weight, at 13kg the 070 weights nearly twice that of a 661 (7.5kg)and has less HP than the 661. Unless you are really fit, manoeuvring such a heavy saw, rapidly leads to operator fatigue which will be more dangerous than it having no chain brake.

The second thing is vibe. Even the AV models have near useless anti-vibe mounts. These old machine are notorious for causing "white finger" which is a deadening on the nerves on the trigger finger. Long term use can lead to complete loss of feeling and nerve damage in parts that come into hard contact with these machines.

While the 070 does have a lot of torque its much slower maximum chain speed (7000 rpm) compared to a modern saw (12,000 rpm) means that in smaller wood, were cutting speed is chain speed limited, the smaller/lighter modern saws will easily out cut them. In bigger wood, to use the extra torque of the 070 the rakers have to be dropped significantly which adds to the general vibe and wear and tear.

They work OK in stationary chainsaw mills where the operator can be distanced from the saw through the use of remote throttles and winches.

As BobL said, that powerhead would work just fine in a mill where it's weight would not be an issue. The first saw I used was an old "Mobilco" back in about 1971. It weighed a ton, needed 2 people to carry it through the bush but when you managed to get it going it was almost unstoppable. It was also noisy, smokey, thirsty, used heaps of chain oil and shook the fillings out of your teeth but it was better than using an axe! That Stihl copy could be almost as bad, especially if it turns out to be made in China or what used to be East Germany. A well-tuned Victa 160cc might be a better motor. ;-)