Hey pro's:how long does it take to wear out a saw?

[Zombiechopper]

I just cut for fun and to help out friends that have land but no saws...I'm probably never going to wear out a saw from normal use. So I'm just curious, how long does a pro saw last? For the sake of argument, lets say a saw owned and well maintained by a faller. Lets say it runs 6 hours a day monday to friday or however long a fallers work day is with the saw actually running. Does it last a year, two years? What fails first? Comression drops and needs ring/and or piston? How many rebuilds before bearings or seals fail? Just curious...

 

[056kid]

10+ years. Mounts and screws are the stuff that fails on old saws that are taken care of. Clutch springs need to be replaced as well Mabe after a loong time a bearing will go from a decades worth of kick backs and hang-ups.

I have had muffler bolts come out of 2 different saws, both I herd and fixed before it met Mr. piston.

 

[serial killer]

In a residential/municipal tree service, a saw will last pretty long unless it gets dropped, smashed, or run over. It's kind of rare for a saw to last three years, but once it does it will probably last ten. It depends on how careless the guys are, and whether you have hacks doing maintenance on them. I sold a 200t to a buddy of mine a few months ago after he smashed two of his in a week. If I remember correctly, one got run over and the other got dropped from about 60 feet and then had a log fall on top of it.

 

[eyolf]

In my area, most timber harvest is done with mechanical harvesters, and saws ride around on the equipment, or even sit in a truck a lot. Usually saws get replaced because they were damaged, abused, or maybe the logger just wanted a newer model.

There are a lot of "arborists" crawling out of the woodwork, as out-of-work folks are looking to find new ways to earn a living...most of them will fail, as they don't really understand the work or even how to really run a business. A few of these guys are using already worn out equipment and many of the rest will never wear their saws out. When things start looking up, they'll abandon the trade and take less demanding work.

Edit: it occurs to me that I didn't even come close to answering the question.
I have a few older saws at home, including a Homelite 330 (not really much of a saw) that I personally wore out years ago: it lasted about 3 years as my only saw, and has about 100 hours on it. I think roughly equivalent to 60 cords of oak firewood. A Jonsered 670 had about 12 years and 500 hrs, still running great when I siezed it. The bottom end was fine, so I replaced the piston and cylinder.

I believe with good care, a modern nikasyl-bored chainsaw could last 1000 hours.

 

[Moss Man]

I know one man skidder loggers go through at least one saw a year here, busy loggers that is.

 

[wheelman]

We used to buck logs exclusively with our saws for the loggers we hauled for. Hard use for a saw I know, but we would generally get about 2 years out of the pro Stihl saws we used.

 

[Zombiechopper]

It sounds like they last a pretty long while if they don't get smashed.

 

[kevlar]

logging has fallen off badly here,but at its height I was selling the pro's a new saw every year. That's not to say it was worn out just that it was common for the money making saw to be in the best shape possible,if the old saw was still good (not always the case) it became the back up,and the back up was sold . Some pros would wear a saw out in a year (usually good at running it not great at maintaining it).

 

[Justsaws]

I just cut for fun and to help out friends that have land but no saws...I'm probably never going to wear out a saw from normal use. So I'm just curious, how long does a pro saw last? For the sake of argument, lets say a saw owned and well maintained by a faller. Lets say it runs 6 hours a day monday to friday or however long a fallers work day is with the saw actually running. Does it last a year, two years? What fails first? Comression drops and needs ring/and or piston? How many rebuilds before bearings or seals fail? Just curious...

Most that I have talked with are happy with at least two seasons/years before replacement. Once the cost of parts hits 50%+ they typically dump them in the storage shed for parts machines. Most common severe failures are caused by lack of proper maintenance.

Piston and cylinders usually will get replaced but if it needs a crank as well it is usually a parts saw. Typically they will run the same saw model until it gets replaced by the manufacturer or the numbers start looking bad.

This applies mostly to 70cc+ saws.

 

[Gologit]

logging has fallen off badly here,but at its height I was selling the pro's a new saw every year. That's not to say it was worn out just that it was common for the money making saw to be in the best shape possible,if the old saw was still good (not always the case) it became the back up,and the back up was sold . Some pros would wear a saw out in a year (usually good at running it not great at maintaining it).

Yup. Dependability counts for a lot and by the end of a full season a saw can be fairly well thrashed. Some guys take good care of their saws and some don't. We don't think about longevity as much as we think about performance. Saws are a write-off...if you're making your living with one you might as well run the best you can.

 

[BuddhaKat]

About 10 minutes. It'll run longer if you maintain it well and mix the fuel. How long it lasts depends on how well you take care of it.

 

[BobL]

In a thread earlier this year

volks-man said
"Hey lake, how many thousand revolutions is the cut-off point for homeowner warranty repairs?"

and Lakeside responded:

"2500 hours Piston and ring lfe at 10xxxx or so..."

Thats
2500 x 60 x 10k rpm = 1,500,000,000 revs before a new P&C is needed.

2500 hours of WOT is;

5 hours a day, 5 days a week for 100 weeks, or ~2 years!
OR
If you cut 5 hours a day, 1 day a week for 500 weeks that ~10 years!
or
If you cut 5 hours a day, 1 day a month for 500 months that ~40 years!

 

[derwoodii]

I ball parked math that I made about $95,000 from one $1000 saw over its 5 year useful life.
And $5000 from just one $40 saw chain.
And $5000 plus from one set of $120 chipper knifes.
One saw lasted 2 weeks before it was killed by straight fuel "sob"

 

[bonden]

When i was at my Stihl dealer one day i was looking at a cut of saw ts700 that was in for repair, it is used 5 hours a day all year long cutting stone blocks ,the owner was wherry impressed, it had lasted a whole year. I know the question was about chainsaw but when this saw lasted one year in stone-powder i guess a chainsaw must last twice as long ore more.

 

[BloodOnTheIce]

I have a tree service with a MS180 they bought in 2003, it's been though 10+ rear handles, and is used 200+ days a year but is still running.
It all depends on what the saw is used for, stump saws seem to last forever, I have guys with 084's, 044's, 038's, 056's and Husky 288's, 2101's as stump saws that are still running. The limbing saws have the shortest lifespan, most guys get a couple years out of their limbs saws before soemones straight gasses it or backs over it with the Skidsteer.

 

[Jacob J.]

It depends highly on the commercial application the saw is being operated in, as demonstrated by the posts above (and the quality of maintenance.) That being said, west coast log cutters are among the best operators as far as maintenance goes, and the lifespan of a pro quality saw here is limited to two years. Most west coast guys work a 6-7 hour day, six days a week when they have work. In the early-mid 90's, I was putting a new piston and rings in an 066 every 14-16 months and a new piston and ring in my 288s every year.

I was only running an 044 for about 18 months before it became a back-up saw, and then it only stayed in the stable another year at the most before getting sold as a project or as a firewood getter. 046s were lasting a little longer but not much. 372s start needing mounts around 18 months.

I've seen tree service companies get anywhere from a year to six years out of a pro level saw. The amount of abuse the saw receives is the mitigating factor there. A climber using an 020T/MS-200T full time will probably only get about 2-2.5 years out of one before it starts becoming a project. I've seen hook tenders get 8 years out of a climbing saw.

 

[056kid]

It depends highly on the commercial application the saw is being operated in, as demonstrated by the posts above (and the quality of maintenance.) That being said, west coast log cutters are among the best operators as far as maintenance goes, and the lifespan of a pro quality saw here is limited to two years. Most west coast guys work a 6-7 hour day, six days a week when they have work. In the early-mid 90's, I was putting a new piston and rings in an 066 every 14-16 months and a new piston and ring in my 288s every year.

I was only running an 044 for about 18 months before it became a back-up saw, and then it only stayed in the stable another year at the most before getting sold as a project or as a firewood getter. 046s were lasting a little longer but not much. 372s start needing mounts around 18 months.

I've seen tree service companies get anywhere from a year to six years out of a pro level saw. The amount of abuse the saw receives is the mitigating factor there. A climber using an 020T/MS-200T full time will probably only get about 2-2.5 years out of one before it starts becoming a project. I've seen hook tenders get 8 years out of a climbing saw.

must be the rain out there hah, then again the loss of power on an old 046 isent as noticable with a 20 inch bar.

 

[ZeroJunk]

It would be good to know an hour estimate on it. I would imagine that if you are a firewood cutter that if the saw didn't last most of your life it was because you did something wrong.

 

[BobL]

It would be good to know an hour estimate on it. I would imagine that if you are a firewood cutter that if the saw didn't last most of your life it was because you did something wrong.

Go back and read my post.

 

[PLAYINWOOD]

A builder once told me, if a set of rings lasts 2000 tanks it doesn't owe you a thing.
For a firewood cutter like myself,1 tank will make a half a cord in my halfton truck or two tanks for a cord.
If you were to purchase a new saw for $800 then a 1000 cords SHOULD cost you $.8 a cord.
Then you have fuel/mix,oil,chain,spark plugs,bars,depreciation.
Therefore the accountant thinks about 15 to 20 dollars a cord is your cost.This is why $40 a cord to cut,60 a cord to split because it takes more time , and $40 a cord to deliver plus the cost of your wood.

I hope this is what you were looking for.