Flipping chainsaws as a 15 year old

[Ollie_M]

hi all, just thought some people might find this interesting, i live on a farm and my dads a mechanic, i've been working on two strokes/engines in general for a couple of years now and finally took the plunge to start making use out of my knowledge rather than using it to spend money (dirtbikes cough cough).

Anyways, first saw that i'm flipping, a stihl 038 av super.
Bought for £80 as had been sat in a shed for years but had compression, spark and fuel so i bought it.
flushed all old fuel out and cleaned carb through, new sparkplug and some fresh fuel i got a pop after 3 pulls.
reset to factory settings as wouldnt start and it fired straight up, took some fettling to get the idle down and response times up but runs sweet now.
new 20" oregon versacut bar and chain went on along with a new break handle as old one was broken and dodgily repaired
Hoping to sell for around £300 looking at previous ebay sales.
will be going up on ebay in a couple weeks time as im about to leave for holiday.
 

Edited May 26, 2023 by Ollie_M
spelling

[spuddog0507]

Good to see a young man making good use of his spare time and changing it in to something useful as well as increasing his bank balance, most 15 yr olds around me are just weed heads and a waste of space,,

[Squaredy]

2 hours ago, Ollie_M said:

hi all, just thought some people might find this interesting, i live on a farm and my dads a mechanic, i've been working on two strokes/engines in general for a couple of years now and finally took the plunge to start making use out of my knowledge rather than using it to spend money (dirtbikes cough cough).

Anyways, first saw that i'm flipping, a stihl 038 av super.
Bought for £80 as had been sat in a shed for years but had compression, spark and fuel so i bought it.
flushed all old fuel out and cleaned carb through, new sparkplug and some fresh fuel i got a pop after 3 pulls.
reset to factory settings as wouldnt start and it fired straight up, took some fettling to get the idle down and response times up but runs sweet now.
new 20" oregon versacut bar and chain went on along with a new break handle as old one was broken and dodgily repaired
Hoping to sell for around £300 looking at previous ebay sales.
will be going up on ebay in a couple weeks time as im about to leave for holiday.
 

Have you considered simply repairing other peoples saws?  My experience is that there are very few places that do that well so might be a good market?  
 

Indeed if you turn into a good competent mechanic I suspect you will spend most of your life turning down work and wishing there were more hours in the day…

[spudulike]

3 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

Have you considered simply repairing other peoples saws?  My experience is that there are very few places that do that well so might be a good market?  
 

Indeed if you turn into a good competent mechanic I suspect you will spend most of your life turning down work and wishing there were more hours in the day…

Very true words as most don't have a clue on this type of kit so if you have good ability, can turn kit around reliably, fast and have a high success rate, a reasonable living can be achieved. 

[Ollie_M]

1 hour ago, spuddog0507 said:

Good to see a young man making good use of his spare time and changing it in to something useful as well as increasing his bank balance, most 15 yr olds around me are just weed heads and a waste of space,,

Means a lot mate, thanks 

[Ollie_M]

1 hour ago, Squaredy said:

Have you considered simply repairing other peoples saws?  My experience is that there are very few places that do that well so might be a good market?  
 

Indeed if you turn into a good competent mechanic I suspect you will spend most of your life turning down work and wishing there were more hours in the day…

Honestly could be something I would consider, may put an ad up on eBay or something as around me atleast I know of zero places that do servicing on / stroke garden equipment. Only problem being is that with repairing other peoples saws there’s the time expectation which could be a problem trying to do it along side school. 

[spuddog0507]

3 minutes ago, Ollie_M said:

Honestly could be something I would consider, may put an ad up on eBay or something as around me atleast I know of zero places that do servicing on / stroke garden equipment. Only problem being is that with repairing other peoples saws there’s the time expectation which could be a problem trying to do it along side school. 

Go for it as you wont have any thing to loose, and as the saying goes nothing ventured nothing gained,, i did something simular way back in 1980/81 buying, refurbing and selling Yamaha FS1E,s, the sports moped of the day, it put money in the bank and bought me my first van in 1982, happy days, But you have a big advantage over what and when i was doing it and thats the internet, as today every thing is at your finger tips on most mobile phones, parts supply, information and if you get a bit stuck on a issue there is generally a video on youtube to watch and put you right,, Just go for it,, and i for one would be very interested in how you progress so please keep us posted,,good luck,,

[scbk]

Good for you for learning and giving it a go. Just be careful, there's a lot of stolen 2nd hand chainsaws about, don't get caught up buying and selling them.

[Ollie_M]

8 minutes ago, scbk said:

Good for you for learning and giving it a go. Just be careful, there's a lot of stolen 2nd hand chainsaws about, don't get caught up buying and selling them.

Main reason I’m sticking firmly with buying and selling through eBay only due to buyer protection as I can’t use PayPal due to my age

[scbk]

Ebay is the Aladdin's cave of stolen stuff though!

 

 

I started buying and selling tat on ebay when I was 16, back then you were supposed to be 18 so I had to lie about my age.

You won't believe this, sometimes you had to win the auction, get the seller's address, get your parents to write you out a cheque, put it in an envelope, post it to the seller, wait for them to receive it then cash it in and wait for it to clear, then they might get round to packing up the item and carrying it down to the post office to stand in a que to send it out. Would take about a month to buy something! 

 

Never mind the fookin dial up internet 

 

Had to walk to the school bus, uphill both ways