Chainsaw for small woodland

[Vedhoggar]

12 hours ago, Welshfred said:

+1 for the 261 but nothing at all wrong with a 260 if you find a good used one from a good source. Recommend 13" bar, less sharpening and nifty in the undergrowth. 

The 26 series are excellent workhorses.

Yeh, I prefer a 13" bar too for felling, snedding smaller dia trees and underwood but on an old MS 240 (18 year old).  And agree that there are some good secondhand saw out there but you need to know what you're buying and from a known reliable source ... bought a second-hand MS 460 a few years back which had hardly been used and has never been a problem also bought a second-hand Stihl 450 brush cutter and it runs perfect and never been a problem either also a customer gave me a MS 180 which he said wasn't working and had no more use for, I cleaned the filter, put fresh fuel in and it worked fine, not a saw for me and sold it on to another customer for occasional firewood work and made a profit on it.

[Stere]

I   prefer 15" more handy esp if siding up hedges / reaching into blackthorn scrub to cut it at base or cutting across larger diameter hazel coppice stools.

 

OP probably will want a decent brushcutter also.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 27 by Stere

[Muddy42]

Id also recommend the 50cc 261 and a 15 inch bar.

[GarethM]

MS261 with the 14 or 16" any day of the week.

 

Yeah it's more expensive than a MS251, but practically the same weight but with M tronic for better grunt and has two stud instead of the 251 which constantly need tightening or slacking.

 

Unless you're on the logs all day, stay away from the 18" as it's slower and heavier.

[KeenButGreen]

Thanks all. 
 

i scythed off the small amount of bramble - the canopy is very dense (too dense for the planned Hazel coppice rotation) so a brush cutter’s not a priority. 

Just looking for best prices on a 261 - online prices seem to vary quite a lot. 
 

More questions soon!  

 

[Stere]

Hazel needs some  light to regen as it isn't a very shade tolerant species so cutting them but not the overhead canopy won't do them much good.

 

For decent healthy hazel growth &  coppice poles material  zero to a max 20% canopy cover is best.

 

Posting some pictures up may be helpful.

 

Is it hazel with standards or two distinct species  blocks?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 28 by Stere

[Botty Cough]

My first saw was a 362XP with an 18" bar.

Still got it .

Lovely saw. Also being 6"7" it means I don't have to bend over to coppice the hazel. It's a great saw for running through the woods .

If you can get a slightly bigger saw with as much metal as possible avoiding the plastic body's etc it will last you.

Get a saw with a metal side case etc...

Husky 455 or something like it is a great bit of kit 

Edited February 28 by Botty Cough

[Trailoftears]

Its hard to look past the 261, it'll wear 14-20" bars,tho 16" is the sweet spot.Its high revving and relatively lightweight.Probably one of Stihl's best all-rounders at the mo.On the other hand,the 241 with a 15" bar would be perfect for the work outlined.The elephant in the room is how small the price differential is.Last time I looked online the 261 is around the £685 mark with a 16/18" bar.The 241 is somewhere around the £625-640 mark.So its a bit of a no-brainer to get the 261 for more power/flexibility.Also its on v.3 of the mtronic,so any issues seem to have been ironed out- not sure the smaller saw is on v.3? I'd be dubious about buying a used 261 on earlier software/without the 15 micron fuel filter tbh.The husky 550xp is an exact match for the 261 on price/power/weight etc.But I'm not sure if you need to replace the whole carb should the autotune system throw a wobbler,with the stihl,you can buy a new solenoid for £12 odd quid and at that price its good to have a spare in your kit really.If you buy a new stihl online,Radmore&Tucker take some beating on price/c.service.At my local stihl dealer last week the 261 was ticketed at £775,and the 241 at £717.So the in store 241 price is higher than the online 261! There's probably some price creep going on with the 261 given its popularity and positive reviews.

[Trailoftears]

As an afterthought-I can't comment on the ms251,but I did have the misfortune to own the 250-it was absolute sh*te.I won't bore you with its issues,suffice to say,they were legion.Equally,I wont mention its good bits-there werent any.When I bought my 261 I lovingly tossed the 250 onto a large bonfire-hand on heart,thats the most pleasure it gave me during my period of ownership.On the other hand,I recently sold on my 2003 ms180 for £150 via ebay and it was still working like a champ.So,one never knows with these homeowner budget saws I suppose.

[KeenButGreen]

5 hours ago, Stere said:

Hazel needs some  light to regen as it isn't a very shade tolerant species so cutting them but not the overhead canopy won't do them much good.

 

For decent healthy hazel growth &  coppice poles material  zero to a max 20% canopy cover is best.

 

Posting some pictures up may be helpful.

 

Is it hazel with standards or two distinct species  blocks?

 

Yes!  My current conundrum is how to convince the others that, while lovely, we really do need to take down the immature oaks/Ashes/beach trees in the defined hazel coppice area to allow a *lot* of sunlight at ground level.  As well as the overstood hazel stools.

And, by my calculations, there may be a felling licence required as we’re close, if not over, the 5m3 level. 

and then there’s all the harvested product to sort and use in better ways than ‘habitat creation’

 

Anyway - all for another thread, also where on this site 🙂

 

 

5 hours ago, Stere said: