Thread: Chainsaw purchase advice

I think mcculloch is now made by husky so they mighta improved

go with a stihl

i have an 026 and it pulls a 20"bar i would recomend bigger if you were doing it all day every day but it should be fine for what u want

Unlike cheap electric, the reliability of hard working cheap internal combustion engines as are needed on a Chain Saw is like buying a lottery ticket - ie low chance of success. You can be lucky and find one that lasts or you can pay triple, buy a brand name and substantially increase your luck.

Other things to consider are
- how far away is your nearest service and parts centre?
- how friendly and helpful are they?

My ideal would be a Stihl MS310, but that seems a bit over the top for my use. Alternatives might be MS250, MS290, or Husqy 450e. The Husqy 445e might do as well, with it being able to take-up to a 50cm bar according to the manufacturer, although I think it retails with 40cm.

I generally take manufacturers recommendation seriously - except when it comes to bar length which is usually very conservative - they do that because like speed limits they know that some users will push the boundaries. My experience is the 290 could easily pull a 60 cm bar in most wood, and the 310 could go to 70 or 75 cm. The 290 is 3 kW while the Husky 450 is only 2.4 kW. Thats a 20% difference that will be really worth having and confirm my opinion that if the 2.4 kW 450 can pull a 50 cm bar then the 290 can easily pull the 60 cm bar. I had a real good go with a 290 around Xmas and found it to be a gutsy little saw. If I every needed a 50 - 60 cc saw that would be the one for me.

I would buy the 290 and get a 60 cm 3rd party bar and chain bar from Forum member SawChain.

Cheers

We live on 25 acres and I get a firewood license every year and cut about 8 cube of firewood every year. This involves cutting down the wood in the forest, cutting to 1200mm length, bring home, let dry for a couple of years, then block to 300mm ready for the fire.

On top of this I cut a fair bit of fallen timber on the property, some as thick as 500-600mm, mostly Grey Box, Red Gum and Yellow Box.

So, my chainsaw sees a fair bit of work. I was originally going to buy a Stihl FarmBoss, but found it a bit heavy and decided to settle on an MS230C with 45cm bar.

It is now 9 years old, has been serviced twice, starts first time every time I need it and generally can't fault it, apart from the air filter. It blocks up very quickly, to the point I have 2 filters when I go to the forest, so I can replace it rather than clean.

For the smaller stuff that falls around the place I use an electric GMC, also 9years old, can't kill it (touch wood!).

You'd be mad to buy anything other than a decent brand .eg Stihl . husqy , echo
You've already wasted money on rubbish.
I've had a Stihl farm boss for 25 yrs its cut hundreds of cubic metres .
Its still working almost as good as new.its worth something 2ndhand.
Also have a one handed pruning saw.

i used a secondhand farmboss (stihl) for about 10 years before i gave it to the outlaw. it was great and never broke down, just the vibration used to give an injured shoulder a hard time. so i got a new 450 husky (3 years ago)...the vibration of the newer saw is far less though i'm sure stihl has done the same. and i thought it was going to be to small but it has never been a problem yet. do yourself a favour and get a new stihl or husky. i'm not bias it's just that at the time of purchace the husky was $200 cheeper than the farm boss. other wise i would have got anothr farm boss.
good luck

I will wade in for sthil also. If you can afford one it is the way to go. The up front cost will feel hard at the time but years down the track you will be glad you did.
I switched to a gas fire 2years ago but have held on to the sthil for the odd bit of turning wood. It starts after sitting for the best part of a year on the shelf. If looked after and cleaned after every use it will go for many years . Mine is about 10 years old now and I expect at least another 10 out of it.
Regards
John

Originally Posted by echnidna

I think mcculloch is now made by husky so they mighta improved

I bought a mcculloch leaf blower a while ago. The instruction book sorta suggests it might not start first pull every time, and to date it's done that just once, from cold. Buying again, I'd choose another brand.

The packaging includes the names Electrolux and Husqvarna.

A chap at a local whitegoods retailer asserted that Westinghouse's quality has slipped since Electrolux took them over. You might use this as a basis for research on who owns whom:
Electrolux Husqvarna westinghouse mcculloch

I chose the Mcculloch because Dad's used (well owned, he hasn't actually used one for some years) Mcculloch chainsaws for 40 years or so, almost since chainsaws came on the market.

Ironically, the one time my leaf blow/vac started first pull was yesterday. I'd not used it for months, and contemplated draining the (surely too-old fuel), but not having a good means of disposal to hand decided to try starting it to see what happened.