Advise on 1st Chainsaw for home use

[neiln]

I note the OP had now got a husky 135 (good choice). But just for anyone else that reads this a few points.

 

A small stihl, the ms170 or 180 (not even the 171/181) is a well made saw and serves a homeowner very very well.  I've cut, split and stacked 80m³ of firewood (processing arb waste) over the last 7 years, mostly with a ms180 and 14" bar.  Keep the chain sharp and don't overwork it, it cuts well.  I did run out of patience dealing with some large ash and got a bigger saw (365), but then when dealing with 10-15 m³ of wood each year in a suburban garden I quickly run out of room and the wife runs out of patience.... Plus when the wood comes free from friendly tree surgeons I take it when offered so at times the piles of logs can be large and need dealing with.  Even then, if I didn't have 3 small children/had a little more time I could have dealt with everything with the ms180.

 

This summer I sold the ms 180.  I sold it as I saw a (Dolmar) Makita EA 4300 on Amazon for a really really really good price and bought it.  I gave the stihl a good service and got a good price on eBay, so the upgrade was less costly than a new MS180.  If I'd bought this saw originally, with an 18" bar, I wouldn't have bought the husky 365.    As it is I now have a good pair pro saws and can easily deal with more firewood than most London homeowners! (~32m³ over the last 18 months), but for someone starting out, if they were confident they would be doing 10+m³ a year I'd suggest they consider a 40-50 cc saw, the Makita, a stihl ms241, or equivalent husky.  Less than that, the ms170/180 or husky 135.  Less than 3m³ a year look hard at electric, corded if you can work with they limitation.

[coppice cutter]

1 hour ago, AngrySquirrel said:

You can get a Recip saw in blue bosch then go with the long Wood blades that will cut loads. Pruned a tree out when we was trying to put a fence up plus had roots out.

They work on saw horse also there is some pretty aggressive blades out there from likes of Bosch.Lennox etc

I've tried that.

 

Works well but fierce hard on the wrists, .....................well for us oldies anyway!

[Steven1210]

Saw arrived today, but it's staying put until weekend.

 

Bought some axes today, probably of low quality, compared to what's out there. Will get them on the grinder, and then the stone to put a decent edge on them. I'm guessing putting a fair shoulder on them,rather than a flat edge? 

 

https://www.screwfix.com/p/roughneck-log-splitter-set-3-pieces/48279

 

For mixing 2stroke, I'm not liking the bottles with marks on them.

 

Is it better to have a decent 1ltr plastic bottle, measure, and mark a litre on the bottle, then use a 50ml syringe  to get accurate oil amount per litre?

 

Told ya, silly question time!

 

Steve

Edited October 5, 2021 by Steven1210

[adw]

I can see this all going pear shaped, just buy yourself 5ltrs of Husqvarna pre mixed alkylate fuel.

[Steven1210]

19 minutes ago, adw said:

I can see this all going pear shaped, just buy yourself 5ltrs of Husqvarna pre mixed alkylate fuel.

In what way pear shaped?

 

Because I'm mixing fuel

[Haironyourchest]

9 minutes ago, Steven1210 said:

In what way pear shaped?

 

Because I'm mixing fuel

No, it's the wee bottle that comes with the saw... It's a gimmick. If you're going to be using so little fuel that a 1lt bottle would actually be useful, then you would be better off with 5lt of Aspen (red). It doesn't go off. 

 

[Steven1210]

7 hours ago, Haironyourchest said:

No, it's the wee bottle that comes with the saw... It's a gimmick. If you're going to be using so little fuel that a 1lt bottle would actually be useful, then you would be better off with 5lt of Aspen (red). It doesn't go off. 

 

Ahh right. Got you.

 

Will pick some up at weekend.

[Commando]

As an occasional user it will be easier to use the pre mixed alkalyte fuel that’s been mentioned. Husqvarna, Aspen and stihl have versions. It doesn’t go off like petrol and so u can leave it in the saw over winter.
Also takes the guesswork out of mixing oil and petrol. Highly recommended [emoji106]

[Steven1210]

That makes sense.

 

With my multi tool and blower empty them and let them die on tick over when putting them away. 

 

Can I use the alkalate fuel in those?

 

25/1

40/1

 

Or just keep them as I do just now.

[Stubby]

1 minute ago, Steven1210 said:

That makes sense.

 

With my multi tool and blower empty them and let them die on tick over when putting them away. 

 

Can I use the alkalate fuel in those?

 

25/1

40/1

 

Or just keep them as I do just now.

You can but the results will very much depend on how long and how much the pump fuel has degraded the rubber components . If you have not had them long it should be ok ( might need a slight carb adjustment ) . Petrol attacks the rubber removing the coating that is on it to keep it supple . Alkylate fuels don't do this . So if you run a machiene on Alkylate fuel from the get go no probs . If you run one on Alkylate that has been run on petrol for some time it can show up problems with the rubber becoming brittle and cracking . This is what the petrol has done not the Alkylate fuel .