coppice cutter

Well they only sell one Gomtaro handle as a spare part, and don't specify a model or size for it, so I'm assuming and hoping that it's the same one on all of them.

Agree with this entirely and will certainly give the Gomtaro blade a go when the time comes. However, the Natanoko blade is designed and manufactured in a way that it's meant to be sharpenable so I'm thinking that it may be either easier or more effective, ideally both!

Good afternoon all. I have a Silky Gomtaro 300, which I find myself using more and more, to the degree that I'm considering buying it's big brother the Natanoko on the basis that's it's very similar just a bit stronger and sharpenable. I could also use something a bit shorter sometimes so am I right in assuming that if I just buy a shorter Gomtaro blade my existing handle will fit and I can essentially downsize my existing Gomtaro as required? Thanks.

Personally I couldn't recommend the GR1600 highly enough. Mine is approaching 16yr old with 1,000 odd hours on it and is still going like a train. Seems to defy the laws of physics by the amount of work it does on a ridiculously small amount of fuel, leaves a nice finish, and will cut and collect wet grass. Even at that age the deck is still as solid as a rock, I have a Major tractor mounted roller mower as well and I fight a continuous battle with rust on it every year whereas the Kubota just seems to be made a vastly superior stuff. "Japanese steel" as the saying goes I suppose. The top end of your budget should get you a new one with a bit of haggling and frankly I can't see why you'd even consider spending the money on anything else

It would still be much cheaper than switching to Aspen. Unless you were going to anyway. But that's a different debate altogether.

Surely you could still just buy super unleaded and use it with a good quality 2-stroke oil.

G18 became the G21, so to answer your question precisely, yes it would be a "backward step" to go to a 2120. That having been said, the GR range are still streets ahead of most of what's available. I have a GR1600 which is 15yrs old and just turned 1000hrs. Apart from service items it's needed a steering rod and the gas damper which assists with tipping the grass box, that's it. And it still looks better than my previous Castlegarden ride on looked after a year. The main reason why it would be a backward step is that the G21 is just such a mighty machine. My local Kubota dealer told me that dealers and customers alike were well hacked off when they discontinued the G21 a year or two ago, and it really says something that after a couple of years they started to produce it again, that is a remarkably un-Japanese thing to do and they must have been under serious pressure to have to do it. I'll probably upgrade my old mower in the next couple of years and although I'd dearly like one of them, the GR has been so good that I don't think I could justify the expense of the G21, so I think that's the real dilemma. I think you'd need a G21 on demo for a day to evaluate properly to be honest.

Yeah, I read a lot of stuff on them here. Strangely some people had a problem, some had none. I read a post by one guy who said that he took the spark arrestor out and it started to melt the handle, and the problem stopped when he put the spark arrestor back in, so it's hard to know exactly what's going on. What would be interesting, if it were available, would be to get a parts diagram and see if there is a superseded part number for the exhaust. That would possibly tell you if it had been changed or not.

Just a quick update to hopefully add a bit more substance to the thread, I have an Echo 390 esx on order, should have it early next week. A local company who I get all my Kubota stuff off are an Echo dealer but not an official stockist and they are getting me one. So the first time I get a look at one will be when I open the box, against that, they are a good outfit and I know will keep me right if there's any issues. We've just started lambing so not sure how much it'll get to do for a few weeks but I'll keep the thread updated sometime in the future as to how it performs.

There you go, hadn't considered that. So what about the different gauges on the drive sprocket, can a 3/8 sprocket run different gauges of 3/8 chain or have I missed something there too? Thanks, btw! 👍

Not so much a question as seeking confirmation. Am I right to assume that a guide bar can run different different chain pitches as long as the gauge is the same? So for example, if you had a saw running .325/1.5mm chain, you could change the drive sprocket and simply fit it with a 3/8/1.5mm chain on the same bar. Or even fit a different length 3/8/1.5mm chain and bar off something else, providing the bar mounts are similar naturally? And then following on from that, do all drive sprockets accommodate all different gauges of the same pitch? So can you fit both 3/8/1.3mm bar and chain and 3/8/1.5mm bar on chain on the same saw without having to change the drive sprocket? To me all the above seems obvious, but when it comes to such things I never make assumptions. Thanks in advance.

First of all you really need to put a compression tester on it to see if there genuinely is compression. Wouldn't be the first time that someone mistook compression for scraping a badly seized piston up and down a bore. Then you need to dry the plug and put it back and see if it's wetting it. If it is and there's proper compression then you need to look at your spark. If it's not and there's proper compression then you need to look at your fuel supply, including crank seals. If there's proper compression, a fuel supply and a good spark at the right time it will go, I've never seen an engine yet defy the laws of physics. If it doesn't go then there's a problem somewhere.

They are indeed excellent, but don't ever leave them outside or even in a dampish shed or garage. They rust like crazy, high carbon content in the steel apparently.

Fair assessment, for me in this case noise would be the most appealing benefit of battery. I consider my woodland a place of peace and tranquility and introducing the rip of a noisey 2-stroke to it genuinely doesn't lay well with me in this instance. However, as per the post, I've been bought a wee bit of time for now to reassess.

Just "Made in Germany", so plainly post unification. There's a sticker with numbers on it and 97 stands out so i'm guessing that's possibly the year of manufacture. If that's the case it's in remarkable condition for a farm saw, still the CE stickers and everything on it.

I'll have to check. Certainly feels as if it's built like a tank anyway!

No resolution (or money spent!) yet, but a turn of events has kicked the can down the road a bit. To be honest I was struggling, not that there weren't saws that I could have bought, just that there was nothing jumping out at me as being the obvious thing for the job, and certainly nothing that I would have been confident enough to place an order for online without seeing or handling the goods. A neighbour in the meantime has offered me the use of his 109 Dolmar, it's like 20yrs old at least but has done very little, still has all the stickers on it!, has a 15in bar on it, and I can have it until I eventually get out and get something. It's a heavy wee brute, doesn't actually feel that much lighter than the 266 to be honest, but it's smaller and a bit easier started so it'll buy me a bit of time. Getting out and getting stuck in will probably be helpful in determining more precisely what I should get as well. Must admit I increasingly like the idea of battery power, more for the quietness than anything, but how much?????? Crazy money for something compared to petrol equivalent, and they're certainly not a lightweight option either! I wonder if there's a bit of cashing in on the 'green agenda' going on there? However, spending a few weeks cutting will maybe give me a better idea of precisely what balance of weight/power/durability I actually need. Thanks for all contributions.

I worked a lot on TZ Yamahas in the 70's when they were using actual chrome on the barrels. The platings they were using from the 80's on were different (i.e. not chrome!) and rightly so, chrome was a very imperfect means to an end. Thus the terminology is a puzzle, especially as it would appear going by what you say that it isn't actually chrome anyway. Looks increasingly like it something to sound good on the marketing blurb.

Nikasil is used as an all encompassing term to cover all forms of nickel silicon coating, none of them are chrome. Chrome was primarily used in 2-stroke racing engines in the 70's (Yamaha were the main users), but iron-liners were still common place as well and from early 80's on most companies were developing their own electro coatings anyway, all of which were vastly superior to chrome. So it seems odd that it's now being put forward as a selling point, then again maybe I'm taking it too literally.

Quick update. Was pretty much settled on the new 3510es from Echo, it was close between it and the 362WES as they're very similar weight and power output and then spotted in a video that the little grabby things (can't remember their proper name and cba'd looking it up when everyone will know what I mean anyway!) on the front of it are plastic! OK, I'm not a pro user as such, but that's a bit too "I just want to be able to tell my mates I've got a chainsaw" for me to take the thing seriously. So it's pretty much a toss-up now between the 362WES and the 'old' 352. On paper the 362 is lighter and more powerful, but the 352 just looks like a more 'traditional' type of saw, possibly better built being an older design and a bit heavier(?), and is also significantly cheaper. Don't have the option of going somewhere that has both on the shelf so it's going to have to be a brainstorm moment ordering one. 352 looking most likely at the minute despite it having been on the market for yonks, but then, everyone seems to hanker back to the older saws as being better anyway!

Yeah, I've seen that in the blurb. Seems odd when chrome plating was ditched in the late 70's for the more durable and robust nikasil type coatings that have been on the go since. So either it's just marketing speak or it's something that's been resurrected again in an improved form.

Another thing worth adding. If your stove is fitted with a room seal kit and you have a particularly air-tight house, sometimes it helps to just ease a nearby window for half a minute until you get the stove fueled. But obviously this would be of no benefit whatsoever if you already have a room vent.

The fact that you need to ask the questions strongly implies that in your case the answer is gas.

Mine was a white top, bought new in 80/81 or thereabouts. Have to say, as far as my old grey matter can still recall, the 266xp is just that wee bit better in pretty much every respect, apart from needing a fair arm to pull the thing it's still a brilliant useable saw.

Not at all chief, you've used and handled both side by side (361/390), it was an excellent insight and a good review. Really can't see a difference (361/362), must be some typically pedantic Japanese thing. Oh well.