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I spoke to enough loggers that were turning their Stihls in for Dolmars .... Most of my trees are hardwoods: oak, hickory black walnut
Whatever your choice, I think you'll find the 16" bar less than optimal for larger diameter cuts.
Can you elaborate on the advantages of the Dolmar saw over a Stihl? Lighter, more power, starts easier, lasts longer, easier to work on, or something else?
Your opinions always seem well-reasoned so no doubt you know more than you wrote down.
Can you elaborate on the advantages of the Dolmar saw over a Stihl? Lighter, more power, starts easier, lasts longer, easier to work on, or something else?
Your opinions always seem well-reasoned so no doubt you know more than you wrote down.
For a homeowner, the cheapest saw that is bigger than 12" is probably going to be fine. You are not a lumberjack. You do not need a $900 husky rancher. If I use a chainsaw more than 20 hours a year, it is unusual. We ahve lots of dead trees to cut up, but I do not have lots of time and cutting up all the trees at once is not a priority. I am easily able to keep up with our firewood use. In fact we have about 10 - 15 face cords cut, split and stacked. No need for chan sawing for a year or two at least.
I spoke to enough loggers that were turning their Stihls in for Dolmars .... Most of my trees are hardwoods: oak, hickory black walnut
Whatever your choice, I think you'll find the 16" bar less than optimal for larger diameter cuts.
there's no comparison between Dolmar and Stihl.. I have a Stihl Pro 036 I've ran for 15 years now, but I had a Saks Dolmar I used cutting many a tree off of houses and buildings after hurricanes Hugo and Andrew and that thing cut circles around my Stihl... it's not even a close call, when it came to the bigger trees we put the Stihls back up...
Get one that starts easily. Nothing is less fun than pulling the cord 150 ties trying to get your saw to start. Some of them are hard to pull and take a lot of pulls to start. It only gets worse as the saw gets older.
A longer bar requires more power and a lot more weight. Unless you do physical work for a living, you re going to get tired really fast with a big commercial saw.
Get rid to the stupid homeowner safety chain your saw comes with and get a chain actually capable of cutting wood. It makes a world of difference. You would be surprised what you can cut with a small saw once you get a decent chain.
Also get a second or even a third chain so you do not sit outside sharpening the chain constantly when you are tying to cut wood. Sharpen the chains when it is raining outside.
I think you said oak. If cutting a lot of oak, you may need a more powerful saw and lots and lots of chains. Oak will dull the chain quickly.
Also get a second or even a third chain so you do not sit outside sharpening the chain constantly when you are tying to cut wood. Sharpen the chains when it is raining outside.
I think you said oak. If cutting a lot of oak, you may need a more powerful saw and lots and lots of chains. Oak will dull the chain quickly.
Sorry, but I have to disagree...
You do not sharpen a chain when it's dull...takes forever to sharpen again at that point...
I have 2 aggressive cut chains for my Husky and can touch one up with hand file after a couple tank refills of fuel quicker than change out the whole chain...only takes a couple passes to put an edge back on...This works great for me...
Ancient thread....but due to a recent wind storm that gave many of the homeowners in my neighborhood, including myself, the need for an hours worth of chain saw duty cutting mostly limbs and branches which had blown down, one of my neighbors had a clever solution to the "I need a chain saw for the occasional use but not a "real" saw for cutting cords of wood."
Lady brought out a battery powered electric saw. Looked like it had a 12" or so bar-- like those old McCullough's that everyone had a couple decades back. Great for cleaning up minor storm damage. No hassle. Buzzed through a few limbs, and she was done. I never gave it a thought, but the idea seems plausible. I have no idea of the cost, but the convenience was certainly apparent.
Yeah, I definitely want to keep with the non-commercial variety, mainly to keep my costs down and preferably under $300. Lowe's has a 16" Husky for about $270, and that's the one I'm eye-balling. But, if there's a reason I should go bigger, I'm certainly willing to entertain it.
Keep in mind that some of the lower end Husky models are manufactured by Poulan (Husqvarna owns Poulan and a few other brands that all roll up into the parent company Electrolux).
I run a Poulan with an 18" bar that I bought from Lowe's right next to the Husqvarna equivalent. The case even looks the same aside from color. It has made quick work of about 15 trees so far on my acre property and hasn't had the first hiccup.
Just be careful that you aren't buying a saw for the name. Sometimes the name drives the price up without adding any real benefit. For example, the Husqvarna 440 18" chainsaw that Lowe's sells and the Poulan Pro 18" chainsaw are very similar in functionality and specs (the biggest difference being the Husky has a 40.9 CC engine vs the Poulan 42cc engine) despite the Husky costing an extra $130.
BTW.....
If you're looking at Husqvarna, know that Poulan, Jonesered, and a few other brands all fall under the umbrella of Electrolux and have some similar design features that are shared amongst them.
I'd say a 16-18" bar would probably suffice for your needs. If you're infrequently using the saw and keep the maintenance up a Poulan Pro would probably work just fine. If you intend to use it frequently, I'd probably spend a little more money and get a Husqvarna 455 or something similar.
Get one that starts easily. Nothing is less fun than pulling the cord 150 ties trying to get your saw to start. Some of them are hard to pull and take a lot of pulls to start. It only gets worse as the saw gets older.
A longer bar requires more power and a lot more weight. Unless you do physical work for a living, you re going to get tired really fast with a big commercial saw.
Get rid to the stupid homeowner safety chain your saw comes with and get a chain actually capable of cutting wood. It makes a world of difference. You would be surprised what you can cut with a small saw once you get a decent chain.
Also get a second or even a third chain so you do not sit outside sharpening the chain constantly when you are tying to cut wood. Sharpen the chains when it is raining outside.
I think you said oak. If cutting a lot of oak, you may need a more powerful saw and lots and lots of chains. Oak will dull the chain quickly.
I'd have to disagree with the bolded statement. It's much easier to keep a sharp edge than to try to bring one back to life. I make a point to sharpen mine every time I put gas in it. This allows me to only make 1-2 passes per tooth and maintain the edge rather than removing a ton of material to recreate a sharp edge. A sharp chain is much safer than a dull one.
I'd have to disagree with the bolded statement. It's much easier to keep a sharp edge than to try to bring one back to life. I make a point to sharpen mine every time I put gas in it. This allows me to only make 1-2 passes per tooth and maintain the edge rather than removing a ton of material to recreate a sharp edge. A sharp chain is much safer than a dull one.
We are taking about exactly the same thing. What you are doing is sharpening the chain. You are using a file to make the teeth sharper than they were - that is what sharpening a chain is.
I do not like sitting outside doing it when I could be cutting. Apparently you are much faster at it than I am because it takes me quite a while. I can swap out the chain in 2-3 minutes while sharpening each tooth with a file takes fifteen minutes to half an hour, especially if you lose track of where you are. I usually have no more than an hour or two to cut up anything at any given time. Our chains seem to get dull and slow fairly quickly.
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