The chainsaw thread...

[bodywhomper]

I put double dogs on my ms361. When I got the saw it only had 1 dog. The saw spends a lot of time bucking large pine: 30+” diameter. Double dogs was a substantial improvement for me in letting the saw do the work and keeping the cuts straight. Picture also shows a bit of the mod I did to the muffler.

[highangle]

I can think of some days cutting in a blizzard it would have been really nice to have the heated grips

Put a pussy pac in your glove. ?

[XXX-er]

I have never tried the chemical heater pacs for cutting,

We are usually chasing the ski season so sometimes its uncomfortable and you just suck it up

in a blizzard its really uncomfortable

no bugs tho and no worries about starting a forest fire

[neufox47]

550xp or ms-261 to run a 20” bar? Both dealers are local, Stihl dealer gets better reviews.

Upon further research they appear identical. Better dealer gets the nod.
https://www.forestry.com/editorial/e...-stihl-ms-261/

[bodywhomper]

I’m not a big guy and weight matters to me after getting an ms240 when compared to my much heavier ms361. Granted my ms361 is much heavier than that husky. With a 20” bar, you might need to use a more standard chain, bar(?), and sprocket, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but could be an added expense. Those saws may come standard with picco chains and sprockets, at least my neighbor’s ms261 did. I think his dealer may have changed the chain and sprocket out of the picco system for no extra fee. I’m not sure if bars are picco. My neighbor did it to simplify things for himself. He also has an ms440. He can now interchange bars, chains, and use the same sharpening kit for both saws.

[mooseknuckle]

20” is nose heavy on 261 for me. I found 18” to have better weighting.

Mine is getting sold and putting cash into the 462 under similar approach to what was noted above. Outperforms the 440/441/460/461 by a mile and is much lighter. Thinking a 20” and 25” bar will make a nice combo.

[XXX-er]

the dealer recommended 20" on the 261 and thats what i run, the saw seems to pull that much chain & bar fine

[zion zig zag]

I’m not a big guy and weight matters to me after getting an ms240 when compared to my much heavier ms361. Granted my ms361 is much heavier than that husky. With a 20” bar, you might need to use a more standard chain, bar(?), and sprocket, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but could be an added expense. Those saws may come standard with picco chains and sprockets, at least my neighbor’s ms261 did. I think his dealer may have changed the chain and sprocket out of the picco system for no extra fee. I’m not sure if bars are picco. My neighbor did it to simplify things for himself. He also has an ms440. He can now interchange bars, chains, and use the same sharpening kit for both saws.

I think the 241 comes standard with Picco, but the 261 comes with a 3/8. Stihl used to make a ms261 tune up kit that included 3 picco chains a new sprocket, they claimed that it cut 20% faster in softwood.

[bizarrefaith]

Anyone else find that "stock" bars tend to be too long for the engine size they are attached to? I almost always find myself sizing down on bars from what saws are sold with.
Maybe controversial(?) but I also think Stihl is crazy overpriced, especially the "homeowner" saws, which aren't anything special but are premium priced because of the name.

[bodywhomper]

I think the 241 comes standard with Picco, but the 261 comes with a 3/8. Stihl used to make a ms261 tune up kit that included 3 picco chains a new sprocket, they claimed that it cut 20% faster in softwood.

Thanks. That seems to correlate with what my neighbor said about his ms261. He bought his a few years ago. He also does a lot of cutting of hardwood (orchard trees in the Central Valley and oak and manzanita in the lower Sierra). His ms261 has the auto tuning carb, which he’s pretty stoked on. My ms241 also has the auto tuning carb. It’s trippy to hear the carb adjusting itself when using it (no complaints).

Regarding bar length and balance, my ms361 has a 24” bar and is tip heavy when the tank is empty or full. I believe it was originally sold with a 20” bar, which would probably have been well balanced. My ms241 came with a 16” bar and is well balanced.

[XXX-er]

Sthil recommends a 16-20" bar, my 261 definatley has a .325 chain and all the literature on-line also sez .325, I notice the 550 husky gives the rec's so i am gona assume a .325 on a 16-20" bar is the sweet spot for a 50CC saw

IMO with a shorter bar you need to bend over more to reach the wood which is harder on the body so do you wana bend over more with less weight or bend over less with more weight?

I have hefted big saws with super long bars that were being used in a mill, even skip tooth the weight of the bar & chain engine is way too much for me but I question if 4" on a little 50cc saw is gona make that much difference and if that amount of of weight is a killer are you gona have trouble with the weight of the rest of the saw ?

Right now Husky might be a little less $$$ so when i was buying the the price for 50cc pro saws were pretty close but Sthil thru in a spare chain, a plastic case for the saw, a 6 pack of oil and a sthil hat so I went Sthil 261 instead of Husky 550 but i was gona buy either/or, at about the same time "Angle parking only" my cutting bro got the 550, I have done a lot of cutting with buddy and the 550 also seems like a fine saw



or even get a Poulan but as LHutz esq pointed out ^^above you could buy some cheap POS and cry every time you take it to the shop or buy a pro quality saw and just cry the once when you buy it

[zion zig zag]

Sthil recommends a 16-20" bar, my 261 definatley has a .325 chain and all the literature on-line also sez .325,

You're right, .325

[bizarrefaith]

I question if 4" on a little 50cc saw is gona make that much difference and if that amount of of weight is a killer are you gona have trouble with the weight of the rest of the saw ?

or even get a Poulan but as LHutz esq pointed out ^^above you could buy some cheap POS and cry every time you take it to the shop or buy a pro quality saw and just cry the once when you buy it

I like to stay around 3:1 for bar length to engine size (cc). It's not about bar weight or balance, but if I have a 20" bar on a saw, I'm want to be able to use the whole thing if need be. I think on a 50cc engine, for the most part, you are going to be underpowered if you are cutting with most of the bar. And if you don't have the power to efficiently use the whole bar length, why even have it on?

Dealer can make a big difference with Stihl I definitely agree -- some will give you a lot of goodies and nice price breaks, some won't give you shit.

Are Stihl all plastic now -- Husky still has some saws with magnesium crankcases.

[XXX-er]

I was looking for the Husky 353 which had the good rep but they had been discontinued and i wasnt sure about the 550XP so I dropped by the Sthil dealer and he had the deal for all the extra shit which was actualy a promo from Sthil canada so it was a no brainer but nowdays I would buy a 550XP

That ^^ same Sthil dealer also sells Jonsered which is made by the Huskavarna Group, some of the part #'s are even the same as a Huskavarne, they also make guns sewing m/c and a bunch of other brands
Gardena
McCulloch
PoulanPro
WeedEater
Flymo
Jonsered
Klippo
Diamant Boart
RedMax

most of what i cut is at treeline so its not big wood but some of it is big enough to use the whole 20", IME the 261 will pull it if you keep the chain super sharp, all the guys i cut with are using 50-60 cc pro saws but nothing bigger than 361

I have run the pro saw beside the homeowner saw and they sound pretty anemic, I believe the homeowner saws will have the plastic engine blocks but the pro saws will use mangnesium, IMO its probably a good idea to let a homeowner saw cool off periodicaly OR just buy a real fucking saw

[bodywhomper]

that's interesting about the stock chain for the MS261 (note a picco chain is also a 0.325" pitch). maybe my neighbors stihl dealer (modesto area) was selling the saws with their own preferred tweaks. there's chat in the wood and saw monger forums about the improved speed of the picco chains on an ms261. i initially mentioned picco chains because my skim of the comparison article posted by neofox between the husky and the stihl mentioned using picco and pixel chains.

[XXX-er]

From a little goggling a Picco chain seems to be lower profile/less kickback/less friction ... an easier chain to run

I havent heard of a Picco chain and I am not using it far as i know

[bodywhomper]

I think they put a picco system on the stihl in that comparison to make it more fair because the husky oem is pixel, picco equivalent.

Looking more closely at the stihl website, my neighbor also switch his ms261 to a 3/8” chain, bar, sprocket to match his 440. But his ms261 was also being sold with a picco because he and I spoke about the picco chains because it’s on my saw.

[bizarrefaith]

I have run the pro saw beside the homeowner saw and they sound pretty anemic, I believe the homeowner saws will have the plastic engine blocks but the pro saws will use mangnesium, IMO its probably a good idea to let a homeowner saw cool off periodicaly OR just buy a real fucking saw

One of my concerns with plastic too (long term) is that plastic is so soft you are going to have to be real careful not to strip bolt holes when you disassemble for service.

[XXX-er]

that comparison in that link is just fucking wierd, they compare a couple of 50cc pro quality saws with 2 very different chains and if you watch the vid its in swedish, so maybe thats how they spec em over there

I looked at the empty box my chain came in and its .325 (not picco) and thats what sthil canada specs for the chain on their website, maybe chain spec has something to do with the wood in your region, we got nothing up here but Pine/Balsam/spruce and most of what I am cutting is shitty Balsam

the take away for me is the 261 and the 550XP are a couple of fine saws probably dead even in power, the 261 is a pound lighter, you could run them flat out all day and either one will probably last a long time doing so

[XXX-er]

One of my concerns with plastic too (long term) is that plastic is so soft you are going to have to be real careful not to strip bolt holes when you disassemble for service.

I don't know how they hold them^^ together but the real problem might be realizing how much they suck and wanting to buy a real saw

My buddy had to borrow my saw to cut his home owner jonsered out of a bar pinch,

he got the saw out but now he is in the market for a real saw

hopefully he can sell his POS to someone else

[bizarrefaith]

Even the best saw is no substitute for wedges when it comes to avoiding pinches but for some reason people rarely take advantage of how much easier they make things

[XXX-er]

well sure but the bar pinch was very minor, the problem was he got to use a pro saw and now realizes how much his sucks
so it has already cost him for the shitty saw he owns and now it will also cost him to buy something that doesn't suck

whole lotta crying eh

[neufox47]

20” is nose heavy on 261 for me. I found 18” to have better weighting.

Mine is getting sold and putting cash into the 462 under similar approach to what was noted above. Outperforms the 440/441/460/461 by a mile and is much lighter. Thinking a 20” and 25” bar will make a nice combo.

Selling huh? You in N Cal?

[Meadow Skipper]

My buddy had to borrow my saw to cut his home owner jonsered out of a bar pinch,

he got the saw out but now he is in the market for a real saw

hopefully he can sell his POS to someone else

That may well be more operator error than a saw problem. But I wasn’t there.

Edit: as often happens, my comment was late to the game.

By local rules he owed you a case of beer.

[XXX-er]

we are bro's not pro's but if such were the rules I would be carrying a spare bar along with the spare chain to cut myself out on the sly