Mike,
I'm hoping to swing down and see Bob next week. Maybe if you are around we could catch up as well.
Steve
I'm hoping to swing down and see Bob next week. Maybe if you are around we could catch up as well.
Steve
Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)
- Thread starter mainewoods
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LoL! Yes I can't fault what you guys say, an old saw that has potentially had a hard time or mistreated would be a waste of money and a huge frustration. However I have to temper that with a new MS440 would cost north of £800...let me see...fr jones are my closeby dealer and actually the cheapest in the uk by quite a margin normally..... checking their site they have 441c-m (with 18" bar and chain) at £743, down from rrp of £1062 It would take me 3 years of wood burning to recoup that and it would only get used for a tank or 2 a year.
I've had some really good luck buying a few used saws from this site. Being across the pond might hamper the cost savings for you but it's worth a shot. It helps to know the guy you are buying from knows saws vs buying a yardsale saw.
Well, I've been scrounging some some more ash lately. I got 8 cord of ash/soft maple I cut this past winter but I keep bringing home ash the county cut in the righ-of-way under the power lines. Just too tempting to pass it up. All 4-18" diameter stuff that's laying down and all limbed. The grass is growing tall now so it's getting harder to find it. I ended up scrounging a cord so far and have it stacked.
I have some large projects lined up for this summer. I bought a Froling FHG boiler, a 820 gal storage tank and will be installing that shortly. I acquired a chainsaw mill and want to timber frame a wood shed. I started stock piling pine and poplar logs for that. I also have more firewood that needs stacking and splitting. LoL Happy summer everyone.
Well, I've been scrounging some some more ash lately. I got 8 cord of ash/soft maple I cut this past winter but I keep bringing home ash the county cut in the righ-of-way under the power lines. Just too tempting to pass it up. All 4-18" diameter stuff that's laying down and all limbed. The grass is growing tall now so it's getting harder to find it. I ended up scrounging a cord so far and have it stacked.
I have some large projects lined up for this summer. I bought a Froling FHG boiler, a 820 gal storage tank and will be installing that shortly. I acquired a chainsaw mill and want to timber frame a wood shed. I started stock piling pine and poplar logs for that. I also have more firewood that needs stacking and splitting. LoL Happy summer everyone.
Look for one that runs and is cheap enough to still be a fair price if you wind up having to put a piston and cylinder on it.
How much does it cost to ship overseas these days?
A few years back I shipped 3 I/O boat propellers to the UK (roughly same size box and a little heavier than a saw) and it cost about 40 bucks.
A few years back I shipped 3 I/O boat propellers to the UK (roughly same size box and a little heavier than a saw) and it cost about 40 bucks.
Have you thought about going electric?
(Dylan did it in '65, and just won a Nobel prize . . . . )
Seriously, the 120V/15A electrics here have a lot of torque, and can cut through good sized stuff, although with lower chain speeds. Should work at least as well at 230V. Other nice thing about electric saws is that they don't care if you let them sit for long periods of time between use: no fuel to go bad, no carbs to rebuild, etc. Can store them in the house. Less expensive than gas or battery saws (seeing some in the £120 - £130 range on line).
Philbert
What would happen is that you would never use the MS180 again. The 441 is big enough to handle big stuff and still small enough to use on small stuff without tiring you out. Also, you might find your circumstances change after a while. When I got the 310 and my 7x4.5ft trailer I thought that would be all I needed - in other words, by the time I had cut enough to fill it I would have had enough for the day. Jeez I wish I had the bigger trailer, or one with cage sides to get several cubes in, since cutting that much with the bigger saws is pretty easy compared to with the 310. Carting wood back and forth 1.5 cubes at a time is a pain. Also what if your tree guy moves on or finds other people to dump wood on and you have to go and find your own?
FWIW, to clarify what I said about new saws, certainly you can (emphasis on the word "can") do very well from 2nd hand saws if you get them from the right person. Reputable types around here would be a better option than picking one up from a yard sale.
My preference for buying new stems from my experience buying cars. After the first 2nd hand car I bought became problematic and expensive to fix after one year - and continued to have other problems keep cropping up, I swore I wouldn't buy another used car. But then the right car at the right price came up and had quite low kms on it. Dammit, another lemon. We're in the process of divesting that and a new car is due to be delivered on 11th August. So I prefer to bite the bullet, buy new and take care with maintenance to make them last.
Do yourself a favour, buy the new 441. When you fire that baby up it'll stick some lead back in your pencil. Then you'll understand.
Pfft , happy here with my 241 
Pfft , happy here with my 241
Yeah, but they've got oak over there in England...
KiwiBro
Mill 'em, nails be damned.
About 16" buried in oak would be about the 241's limit, me thinks. Can bury approx 16" in dry tea tree with mine. That's an 18" bar buried to the dawgs. Some dry gums make that difficult. Chip clearance seems to be the main issue.
I did look at shipping a while ago, when i was lusting after an isocore maul before i got my stihl monster cheap (ebay win, £35 when rrp is £85) at the time i couldn't find a way to ship a maul for a sensible price, so i doubt it would be worth it for a saw.
I did briefly consider a stihl plug in, maybe i'll look harder if the 038avs doesn't come off, the risk of long periods of standing idle causing damage to a petrol saw is something i take seriously (I don't go as far as using Aspen alkylate fuel but do use premium pump fuel to try and avoid the ethanol that's in the standard at 10% minimum by law, I also use stabiliser, stihl green premium oil and only ever store the saw dry).
I'm hoping the 038 i bid on is a home owner firewooder or farmer, not a tree surgeon, and it definitely isn't from a forester given its location. not that a few ebay photos show much but the case looks clean and for me, most telling is the bar. The bar clealry isn't the first on the saw but its lost enough paint to show its not new, and telling i think is that its largely only lost paint from the 8 to 10" nearest the head, this saw hasn't spent a lot of tie with that bar buried in big wood, so i reckon its not worked hard that much. 2 days to go and we all no its the last 10 seconds where it all happens but i'm the only bidder so far. Part of that is its collection only. its a bit of drive for me to get, but i'd make a day of it and take my better half and little girl to the seaside and collect the saw on the way.
I'd check the saw over before parting with the cash, pull the starter and check compression feels ok (but then i've never pulled a bigger saw so that won't be easy to judge), examine the cord, check the bar for burs and excessive wear, check the chain brake, check the chain tensioner, fuel it and start it, does it start ok, idle ok, smoke too much, respond to the throttle? I'd try to remember to take a log and check it cuts ok and sounds ok in the cut and doesn't bog. if it seems ok then i'd bring it home, give it a bit of a clean then send it off to my brothers father in law who services and repairs mowers and garden equipment for a living, and get him to compression, pressure and vacuum test it. If it passes that then I'd start smiling, if it had a leak or poor compression then I'd have to decide, stihl parts, AM chinese parts, or just flog it again as 'spares or repair' but lets hope it doesn't come to that, and i need to win the auction first.
are you ditching the Blaze King King then? i thin I saw you on 'that other site' telling the Blaze King aficionados that you needed more.
I did briefly consider a stihl plug in, maybe i'll look harder if the 038avs doesn't come off, the risk of long periods of standing idle causing damage to a petrol saw is something i take seriously (I don't go as far as using Aspen alkylate fuel but do use premium pump fuel to try and avoid the ethanol that's in the standard at 10% minimum by law, I also use stabiliser, stihl green premium oil and only ever store the saw dry).
I'm hoping the 038 i bid on is a home owner firewooder or farmer, not a tree surgeon, and it definitely isn't from a forester given its location. not that a few ebay photos show much but the case looks clean and for me, most telling is the bar. The bar clealry isn't the first on the saw but its lost enough paint to show its not new, and telling i think is that its largely only lost paint from the 8 to 10" nearest the head, this saw hasn't spent a lot of tie with that bar buried in big wood, so i reckon its not worked hard that much. 2 days to go and we all no its the last 10 seconds where it all happens but i'm the only bidder so far. Part of that is its collection only. its a bit of drive for me to get, but i'd make a day of it and take my better half and little girl to the seaside and collect the saw on the way.
I'd check the saw over before parting with the cash, pull the starter and check compression feels ok (but then i've never pulled a bigger saw so that won't be easy to judge), examine the cord, check the bar for burs and excessive wear, check the chain brake, check the chain tensioner, fuel it and start it, does it start ok, idle ok, smoke too much, respond to the throttle? I'd try to remember to take a log and check it cuts ok and sounds ok in the cut and doesn't bog. if it seems ok then i'd bring it home, give it a bit of a clean then send it off to my brothers father in law who services and repairs mowers and garden equipment for a living, and get him to compression, pressure and vacuum test it. If it passes that then I'd start smiling, if it had a leak or poor compression then I'd have to decide, stihl parts, AM chinese parts, or just flog it again as 'spares or repair' but lets hope it doesn't come to that, and i need to win the auction first.
are you ditching the Blaze King King then? i thin I saw you on 'that other site' telling the Blaze King aficionados that you needed more.
sawed some locust with mine today.Pfft , happy here with my 241
sorry dancan. great saw.
Cowboy you're not from round here are you. I'm in deepest darkest 'burbs of london and London is...quite big and very sprawling. even if i could find a source of serious wood to cut, and got the training and certificates to allow me to fell it legally (yes really) I'd be driving probably 2 hours each way to get it, the saw, a truck, a large trailer....yep it would get expensive. No, if i lose my source I'd hunt another wood guy down or scrounging would be the odd garden tree for a neighbour, and although around here there are plenty of mature oaks, i wouldn't tackle one of those by a house. They need climbing, reducing, then the trunks are sliced up a foot at a time until its down to about 15" and can be dropped. I've done some rock climbing in my time, but won't wave a 'saw like a light saber while i sit in a harness dangling on a 10mm rope via a grigri or shunt. Nope, while your enthusiasm and encouragement is very welcoming, really it is, I'm not going to buy a new MS441 anytime soon!
I was just sayin'. I spent my first 22 years in Melbourne so I get the city situation - couldn't go back and live there now. I recognise that dropping trees in London and towing the big trailer around ain't happening. If your tree guy is happy to cut it up for you, I suppose you can get by as you are for now. Sooner or later though, the CAD always wins.
My old man bought an 031AV new about 35 years ago (still has it) and used that for all those years to scrounge fallen limbs in parks, neighbour's yards bits and pieces etc. Took ages though and he could have done it in half the time if he had a bigger saw ...
KiwiBro
Mill 'em, nails be damned.
Well, I'm gonna mix it up a bit and suggest a MMWS 261 new edition. I've waited a few months before passing any sort of comment on the saw because I wanted to get plenty of hours with it. So, having done so, I'm coming out of the closet and confessing to it being a bloody rip-snorter of a saw. The veritable wolf in sheeps clothing. Light but as screaming angry as a cut cat.
Cowboy said everything I wanted to say!!!
So Neil, time to move to where you ride that bike!
Steve, keep me posted, but my Niece and her boys are in from TX through the 28th. The WE is out!
So Neil, time to move to where you ride that bike!
Steve, keep me posted, but my Niece and her boys are in from TX through the 28th. The WE is out!
Great choice for a new saw. Enjoy!
KiwiBro
Mill 'em, nails be damned.
Thanks. It is so light and easy handling, I think it could replace my 241 pretty easily. It's so powerful (for a wee saw), I'm wondering if I need the 7900 anymore because there are only a few times left when I need it before reaching for the 395 anyway. At this rate, I'll be back to a 2-saw plan- the 261 and 395. That Randy dude has allot to answer for. He has made my rock solid 7900 feel like an inbetweener saw.
I got my hands on a 261 tonight and now I'm horny for one. It's a way better saw than I thought it would be. Had 20" bar buried in hardwood and pulled it pretty fair. And felt light in the hands.
