Husky 455 as a gift...keep or return and get a MS390?

[HUSKYMAN]

Boys, a guy using two gallons of gas a year DOES NOT need a $600 pro saw. He just doesnt. The 390 will do the job just as well as the 361 for what he does with it.

AS guys think a $600 pro saw is needed just to get the mail every morning. I would get the MS390, it has more cc's and more torque for ripping logs. The 455 will do it, the 390 will do it faster.

 

[husky455rancher]

exactly 2 gallons a year..... what ou have will be fine..Mike

 

[Urbicide]

I would keep it if I got it from my wife. I got the 2171 as a wedding gift
from mine and I ain't complaining

Good luck and congratulations to the wife that gives you saws!

Peter, does your wife have any sisters?

 

[Burvol]

Take it back and get a 357xp. You won't regret it one bit.

Good call

 

[JLROOT]

Keep the saw. If you need a bigger saw, find a way to make it happen (used, etc).

You're wife picked it out, by keeping it you will show her that her effort was well worth it...

+1 Besides you may want to start a collection. What collection is complete without 'the saw that everyone hated'. I like my 455. It was a good step up frome a Homelite Ranger. Would like to have a big cc saw with a big bar just in case...

 

[l2edneck]

Obviously your a STIHL guy,the fact that it was yer first thought to trade it for one tells me so.....

dont let the haters convince you different.....they know the score and continue to try to coerce people to the other side because their product doesn't do it FOR them.

 

[OmegaRed]

Well just to finish out the thead I pick up a new 20" bar MS361 on Friday with 2 chains. The wife was cool with the swap (the lowes people looked at me funny) and I've got more saw than I'll nee for a while.

I went in asking about a 390 (they didn't have any in stock) but did have the 361 and I figured WTH you only live once and you can't take the money with you should you die tomorrow.

I just need to come to better terms with Stihls less than clear saw chain selector. I'd like to get a RSC and a ripping chain at some point. They don't seem to call out that an specefic chain is a ripping chain. Is it just the filing angles? What's the deal with the several varieites of skip chain? How do you discern the differences? I hate when the marketing people of a company are too lazy to get the product differentiation information out there.

thanks
bob

 

[XJWoody]

Congrats on the new 361. Toss a Lakerized™ muffler mod on there, turn up the juice a little, and you'll have a sweet little wood-killer.

As far as the chains go... for a 20" B/C you'll be fine with the RS (full-chisel) for cleaner wood and RM (semi-chisel) for dirtier wood. At that length bar, no real need for skip. Stihl calls their newer versions of these "RSC" and "RMC." If the chain that came on yours is a RSC3 (the #3 in the code denotes 'low kickback' as does the green tie link) RSC & RMC will be more aggressive, and are easily spotted by the yellow tie-link and yellow box label. Not necessarily more dangerous, esp. since this isn't your first time cutting... just be aware that these are a little more "grabby" on the upper front quadrant of the bar tip. I proved this to myself screwing around doing shallow bore-cuts with my 361, 16"ES-33RSC. "Hello Kickback!" Happened fast enough to startle me, even as I "knew" that's what I was fooling with.

The "Super L" has square-ground cutters... I have no real experience with it (I held a loop of it recently - it looked/felt very sharp ) so will limit my comments to A: Has a very involved learning curve to hand-file. B: Mostly a west-coast softwoods chain. It's not what I need in the oak/hickory/maple woods of NC... but if my little pines & poplars someday grew huge, and I wanted to slice them up really fast, square ground would be a good choice.

Nutshell fact: "Skip" chain has a 'blank' link in place of every other cutter link, and semi-skip has the # of blank links between normal and full-skip. Another way of saying this is that if regular chain has X cutter links, the full skip will have 50% of X and semi-skip will have 67% (approx) of X. Skip is mostly used on long(er) bars, both for chip removal, and ease/speed of resharpening.

Ripping (milling) chain is similar to round chisel, but the cutters are ground with different angles. I think this is to pull a smaller amount of wood per cut vs regular chain. It should also leave a smoother finish than regular. Bailey's has this (WP375-30RP regular and WP365-30LR narrow-kerf/low-profile) if your local shop does not.

Hope this doesn't muddy the waters too much... and make plans to attend Club 361's annual convention in Bermuda this winter.

 

[kallaste]

I have a 455 and a 372xp. Of coarse the 372 is faster, but the 455 will do what you want it to just fine! It will pull a 24" bar with a sharp chain reasonably. Baileys have the 24"cj mount in stock. Keep the 455 and give it a chance!!

 

[splittah]

I have a 455 and a 372xp. Of coarse the 372 is faster, but the 455 will do what you want it to just fine! It will pull a 24" bar with a sharp chain reasonably. Baileys have the 24"cj mount in stock. Keep the 455 and give it a chance!!

Have you been sleeping? :hmm3grin2orange: Read post 27.


He picked up the cancer curing, saw to end all saws... the MS361 and by doing so has entered the 361 CLUB!!


Congrats!!

have one on me

 

[SawTroll]

......
Nutshell fact: "Skip" chain has a 'blank' link in place of every other cutter link, and semi-skip has the # of blank links between normal and full-skip. Another way of saying this is that if regular chain has X cutter links, the full skip will have 50% of X and semi-skip will have 67% (approx) of X. Skip is mostly used on long(er) bars, both for chip removal, and ease/speed of resharpening.
.......

Sorry to break it to you, but the numbers are (about) 67% for full skip, and 80% for semi-skip, depending on the exact number of dl.

The cutters are just skipped, and not replaced by anything.