Farm saw recommendations

[Keep_flying]

Husky 365 or Dolmar 6100.  Both will do all you want them to do, plus both able to do the things you don't yet know you'll want to do with them.  Might have to stretch your budget a wee bit though.

Dolmar looks impressive, where to get one in the UK though?

[billpierce]

Shavey on here deals dolmar goodies.

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[Spruce Pirate]

4 minutes ago, Keep_flying said:

Dolmar looks impressive, where to get one in the UK though?

22 minutes ago, Spruce Pirate said:

 

PM Shavey on here.

[Keep_flying]

Thanks for the advice guys, going to have a trip to a couple of local dealers next week. The 450 looks promising and on budget, talk about stretching the budget there's some £600 saws in there folks! Is the 365 a current model, can't find it for sale anywhere?

[peatff]

8 hours ago, Keep_flying said:

 Is the 365 a current model, can't find it for sale anywhere?

World of power, FR Jones, Skyland and Honey Bros all list it in stock. How far did you look ?  All similar price about £560ish FR jones sells it without bar for £525

[Keep_flying]

World of power, FR Jones, Skyland and Honey Bros all list it in stock. How far did you look ? [emoji3] All similar price about £560ish FR jones sells it without bar for £525

When I looked yesterday it was out of stock at the first 2 and skyland & honey didn't come up on any searches so obviously didn't look at them. Not that it matters, the budget is £400 so this is will over anyway.

[SteveA]

On 1 September 2017 at 17:04, Keep_flying said:

 

Afternoon everyone, going to do one of those which is best posts everyone loves so much.

So I've got £400 to spend on a saw that will need to do pretty much everything. After some prompting I was looking at the Stihl ms271 but on reading some (old) discussion here about Husqvarna 346 or 550 thought I'd ask the experts.

It will need to do some felling, maintenance work in a 10 acre woodland we have, mostly logging, general farm work and of course get dragged into chopping up anything over 3 or 4" diameter.

As with most farm tools it'll spend the vast majority of its life in a shed and then be expected to start first pull.

So there you go, I've probably committed some horrible chainsaw etiquette fopar so please forgive me but all advice gratefully received.

Cheers

 

We have about 16 acres of woodland and I opted for a Husky 550xpg (heated handles are worth the small extra £'s). If it's gonna be left in the shed for a couple months then it'd be worth running it on aspen.

I used to do nearly all my woodland stuff with a 15" guide bar but the sprocket went so I just use an 18" Sugi bar now (which was my spare).

I did consider buying a 346 but for the money I figured why not get something brand new and with a warranty.

cheers, steve

Edited September 2, 2017 by SteveA

[Keep_flying]

Thank you folks, from the recommendations the husky 450 and the makita 5121 are the only ones I can stretch to. Seen lots of pro comments for Husqvarna but not that specific model, also not seen much comment on makita. Any thoughts?

[SteveA]

5 minutes ago, Keep_flying said:

Thank you folks, from the recommendations the husky 450 and the makita 5121 are the only ones I can stretch to. Seen lots of pro comments for Husqvarna but not that specific model, also not seen much comment on makita. Any thoughts?

The makita isn't orange.

cheers, steve

[Spruce Pirate]

14 hours ago, Keep_flying said:

Thank you folks, from the recommendations the husky 450 and the makita 5121 are the only ones I can stretch to. Seen lots of pro comments for Husqvarna but not that specific model, also not seen much comment on makita. Any thoughts?

I've run a Dolmar for a couple of years now, which is basically a Makita, but red instead of blue.  I like the saw, nice to use but has had  a few issues with things breaking down.  Always had very good service from Shavey in getting things fixed and spare parts, but he's in Devon and I'm about 500 miles away or more.  Local Makita dealer is useless when it comes to chainsaws, next nearest is better, but still not really their thing.  Result is I've gone back to Husky for the bigger saw, not that I don't expect the Husky to break down too, but the dealer is only 10 minutes away.

 

So my thoughts are, get the best saw you can for your budget (I'd increase the budget and get a better saw, but it's not my money) and find out what the local dealer for it is like.  Do you get on with them?  Do they inspire confidence that they know what they're talking about?  How far away are they?  SteveA is right about heated handles too, well worth it if you can get them.