wyk

A muffler mod and that 346 should pull an 18" 325 in spruce without much trouble. I used a 20" narrow kerf bar on my 50cc Echo in cedar all day long, and it saved my back.

I have seen 346xps in stock in Ireland as recently as a month ago. I think Millers has them as well as the place in Carlow.

The easiest petrol powered machine you could possibly work on is a chainsaw. There's no need to approach it with any trepidation. There are few parts, and they mostly can only go in a certain way. There are loads of videos on line that show how to make repairs on your saw. Even though I have worked on them for years, I occasionally check a few to see if there are any tricks I can use when I head into a unfamiliar saw. Once you get a saw apart for the first time, you'll realize how easy it is, and any work in the future will be a relative cakewalk.

It is very worth it. It's nearly impervious to insects unfinished. Smells gorgeous when used unfinished for interior work like ceilings, cabinetry/closets, shelving, drawers, doors, etc. I know some folks that have homes in the Pacific NorthWest of the US half built of that stuff.

You hire occasional users instead of professionals?

Make sure you're gonna use PPE if you plan to use it on that trampoline. Here's my ported 2177 running rakers at about .055 on an 18" bar in seasoned maple.

It was a poke at English health and safety.

Wuhat?!

Not's not a lot. So how much fuel for the heating can we store near the home? Coz I gotta say, this house came with provision for much more than 10 litres...

You helped make up my mind. I needed a small mill. Why not now. Cheers, Bud

Putting a 36" bar on a stock 385 is asking a lot. Port it if you need to run it with that bar. The 385 takes well to porting, and simply removing the base gasket often gives good compression. It sounds like you are wanting more revs and power than the saws want to give in their configurations. Is the 357 muff modded? Without any mods to the engines of both saws, swapping in larger carbs will cause more problems than solve.

Yeah - ya don't have to pay for shipping You get to pay retail in person instead!

And how long had Stihl been making that 290? 25 years? Gezuz - and it sill sold for too much. I remember being in the dealership when I was 19, 26 years ago nearly, and they were trying to tell me the 029 super was better than the 268xp. Whatever. I paid 100$ more and got twice the saw with less weight. Granted, $100 was a lot for this kid back then. Stick with the 261CM. Make sure you do not buy the non MTronic 261, as it is unimpressive in most aspects you would use a 50cc saw for.

281's and 288's are known for being tough to start with high compression. The timing curve likely isn't helping either. As I once told a woman I dated, 'Take a firm hold of it and pull it like a man!' .

When did you pull the plug out? Was it new before you pulled it? Since there is little carbon build up on it, I would put it back in, warm the saw up, put it in 12" plus wood, and kill the saw once you get to the middle of that piece of wood. Then remove the plug, set your camera to 'macro' mode(usually depicted by a flower), and snap a photo with plenty of ambient lighting. A vid would also give us some idea of how your saw is running.

Sounds like a plan. Cheers!

I generally have wood less than 20" to mill, and I do it mostly in the field. On occasion it gets larger. What I was wondering, I guess directed at 20" mill owners, is could I use a 20" alaskan to cut the occasional large bole from both sides, or is it too much of a bother since the 20" mill allows the tip to move too freely? Cheers, Wes

Niko, This is where I ask you how many Echo saws you have used for work...again... Especially since many Echo-branded saws are now Shindaiwa design and manufacture.

Spikes/Dawgs are the same fit for all stihl professional saws. So that should be easy. You also find them all over EBay in the US affordably. The spike for the 361 is the same for the dual spike 362R kit. Lots of fire crews for mountain work keep 60cc saws as they are easier to climb with, and most trees they meet will be pine and easily cut with a 20-24" bar on a 60cc saw. Once you port that 461R, it should perform similarly to this - my ported 77cc(big bore kit) Jonsered 2165 - same wood as previous video: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyxorZEKTNA]Ported 2165 with 77cc big bore kit in Beech - YouTube[/ame]

I had a 25" on my old muffler modded 361 for a try, and I didn't like it. But a ported saw with increased compression pulls them fine. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbuvz27qXOU]MS361 ported in Beech with 25" bar - YouTube[/ame]

None of my own, I am only new to milling timber. But this is a good example of it. Even though it is sanded slick and smooth, it still appears to have grain and imperfections: This is a photo of fossilized wood, but it gives you an idea of the type of colours the sediment create as the exact minerals that made this fossil are what stain the river logs in some cases:

It's real value, aside from making hippies feel less guilty, is not in how tight the rings may be(there is plenty of new growth with tight rings about for furniture), and even less to do with the structural quality of the wood(new growth Douglas Fir, the wood used mostly in construction in the states, is as strong, or stronger than old growth, and dirt cheap and plentiful from renewable tree farms throughout the PNW). The most expensive wood is treasured for it's figuring. When you stuff a log into river water, where it will see water current for the rest of it's 'life', sediment and minerals will wash over and be absorbed into the fibers and gaps. The lack of oxygen, especially in hotter southern climes, helps preserve the wood. The last recovered trunk I cut was a Douglas Fir, about 4' wide by 80' in length that had bright warm red, orange, and purple grain throughout. Since Douglas Fir can also be structural, this added a bit to the value of that log since much of it became an open stairwell.

518 is what I have seen most builders use.

As above. Also, invest in a compression tester if you plan to buy second hand saws. The compression is the most important part much of the time if the rest of the saw seems to be working fine.

Wow! You need to turn that into an avatar, or sumfin. I fear turning my 361 that high, but I run a much longer bar on mine.