Creating a custom Husqvarna...

[Vic Hyman]

I have been asked by a few friends to create a thread and share the experience of building a custom saw. Following are pics as I start with a stock Husqvarna 353, tear it down and fully rebuild.

 

[Vic Hyman]

New
Here is the 353 as it arrived to me from a FleaBay auction

 

[Vic Hyman]

So I tore it apart and cleaned it up...

 

[Vic Hyman]

All of the factory paint needed to be removed so the magnesium could be prepped for powder coating

 

[Vic Hyman]

I powder coated the cases with a color called "Dormant Copper" as I wanted to choose a color somewhere between Johnsrud Red and Husqvarna Orange... since they are essentially the same saw...

 

[Vic Hyman]

Then with new bearings, seals and gask ets... the reassembly begins

 

[Vic Hyman]

Since the factory orange plastics would clash terribly, I used RIT dye to recolor all of the plastic pieces and then applied new decals

 

[Vic Hyman]

 

[HuskStihl]

That's really good looking work

 

[Vic Hyman]

I did the same exact process to a 372 and a 353 so they appear to be matching saws.. like big brother and little brother

 

[Hinerman]

Is this the same saw you had at KC charity cut? It looks bad arse IMO...

 

[Vic Hyman]

Thank you! And yes these are not just shelf trophies...they get used as much as my time allows. The 372 already has more than 11.7 hours or runtime and the 353 has 5 hours already. Hinerman, you burned through a tank of fuel with the 372 during the KC Charity Cut... thank you for not dulling the chain too bad

 

[Vic Hyman]

I also want to thank Homelite410, Mitch and Roush for all of their help and teaching me so much!

 

[sunfish]

It is pretty cool stuff!

 

[HuskStihl]

I also want to thank Homelite410, Mitch and Roush for all of their help and teaching me so much!

If that was 410's project, it would have wound up with a 3120 jug and 20" spinners

 

[blsnelling]

Nice work! What kind of finish does that dye leave on the plastic? Is it as shiny as the original? Does it leave a coating, or simply impregnate the plastic itself.

 

[Vic Hyman]

Nice work! What kind of finish does that dye leave on the plastic? Is it as shiny as the original? Does it leave a coating, or simply impregnate the plastic itself.

The RIT dye does soak into the plastics to change the color but does not change the overall finish. The top cover on the 353 has more gloss because that piece was not as beat up as the other pieces... the 373 had so much UV damage that it was almost white, but also the gloss was gone

 

[blsnelling]

Awesome!

 

[Backtroller]

A little of topic but I have had very good luck with changing plastic colors with liquid Rit dye in the bottles by heating the water to a near boil and then adding the color.

 

[Homelite410]

If that was 410's project, it would have wound up with a 3120 jug and 20" spinners

[emoji5] that's pretty good man!

Vic did a hell of a good job on this and I bet he will do more............