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Patton'd

ArboristSite Lurker
Joined
Oct 7, 2003
Messages
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Location
Alberta
New quality builder to add to the list of Hot Saw craftsmen. If you want some high percentage gains, your saw needs to check into my operating room and get Patton'd.

For References or more info, please call Jody at 780-974-6121 or email at [email protected]
 
After sculking around here for the last week or so I have decided to make my first post. I cut firewood for a living and would like to get more power out of my Husky 55. Should I just do the muffler or can you do other work to my saw?
Thanks,
Fred
 
A properly done muffler will get gains, but if I put in the time, and hit the whole saw, she'll perform like night and day. eg, shave head, adjust timing, polish and port, do the carb. I don't farm any of the work out. I can do it all for approximatley $300 cdn plus shipping if applicable.
Thanks for the interest
Jody

:angry:
 
While I have backed away from the AS site I just couldn't help myself.

Here is prime example of needing a contract between user and builder. But most of all about who we are dealing with. Most of the builders are thousands of miles away, we have no control what takes place in these shops.

We as a community need to come up with a contract:

1:What will be done "spelled out"
2;Guidelines and timelines to the work.
3; who pays shipping if the work sucks. If you have a saw mailed from NJ to CA then back your looking at 60 bucks. If there is a problem then there's another 60 beans.

If you go right to the horses mouth you know your gettng an A plus job. This is just an example of some of the line items that should be addresses. Trust me I know what I am talking about.
For I guy like me that doesn't adjust carbs and pays people for the craft then the extra wait and money pays in the long run. Someone onced explained to me that since I don't do my own adjusting I shoudn't own a saw. If you pay top dollar from a highly aclaimed builder than there's no reason to be dissapionted.

From spark plug to sprocket you know it will be all looked over and done to T.Here's a shot of a quality job. The 357XP and the 2100Xp a rippers from Dan Henry. I can say He builds a hellava saw, he also knows what I want and what I expect from his talent. Ken Dunn is another builder that on his game also and when I get off the fence he is going to build a 385 or a 372.

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Man o man that looks sharp Huskyman I would like to get that done to my saw too. Did you do it yourself and does it really make more power it sure looks fine. I have several 55's in basket cases because I use them for parts to keep some always running. they are my favorite saw but run hot sometimes and they lock up. Since I have been here I am very thrilled with what I have learned so far and plan on going to 40;1 to save my saws. Can I send a muffler to you Huskyman or could I just punch a couple of holes where you have those pipes? I have a few spares so if I do one wrong it doesnt matter at all.
Fred
 
One thing too I've noticed, about all the hysteria on hopped-up saws- some people are not real fond of how the saw reacts after being hopped up. I recently sold a 371 to a guy who didn'y like it because it is loud, much louder than his stock 365. Some hopped up saws seem to vibrate more too ( from higher compression ).
 
Hi Jacob
I have to admit that I don`t like the additional noise from a modified muffler but that hardly says that I`m unhappy with the performance of a PROPERLY MODIFIED saw. Sometimes it seems that you don`t get the worth of your money or even worse yet, you don`t even get your saw back, or maybe it takes a very long time.

In any case it`s a real kick in the balls to pay any amount of money to have someone take your good running saw, often brand new, and modify it so it produces no more power than a saw with a modified muffler, or in a worst case scenario deliver a saw to you that won`t cut with a stock saw with a modified muffler.

I know that you have been around saws enough to know that this happens.

I believe that what Mark is suggesting is that the builders provide a quantifiable description, something that can be physically proven if need be, of what they will do to a saw before you lay your money down. I agree with him.

I haven`t found any of the builders here to be intentionally misleading however I have found that you need to know the right questions to ask to get the answers you want. That`s just a sad reality of communications between humans. I do believe however that if a builder wants impunity that they have an interest in educating the prospective client in what they should honestly expect from their investment, and be willing to back it up with irrefutable results or a money back guarantee or something.

That would be the only way to level the playing field because there is no way to know what to expect based on what the builders charge. Some of the most substantial "seat of the pants" gains in "woods saws" it seems come from the cheaper builders with the simple mods like mufflers and minor port work and the rest of the gains are a crap shoot. You may or may not get anything for your additional investment. I also know that some guys who consider themselves builders charge substantially more than Ken Dunn when all costs are factored in, and he is the only person who has built a saw for me that has just blown me away.

With that thought in mind, how do we decide who is a credible builder and who is not without risking a bunch of money? A few hundred bucks for saw mods plus the cost of the saw aren`t going to change my life if the saw turns out to be a disappointment, but it sure pisses me off. Why wouldn`t it? On the other hand, a similar investment by others less fortunate than I is a big setback if it doesn`t pan out. I feel an obligation to give praise to anyone who performs a good service for me, and a similar obligation to inform innocent people who may be considering putting their money down on a product which I may have recommended by virtue of my purchase or contract. I don`t want to be put in the middle, so what would I or anyone else do? Just say nothing?

Of course what do I know, I`m probably as loyal as a two dollar hooker and only half as smart.

BTW, I am not commenting on any transaction with Mike Rupeley as may be inferred in other posts, simply my general impression of the real black magic involved in getting a saw built.

Russ
 
Originally posted by Hatchet Jack
Man o man that looks sharp Huskyman I would like to get that done to my saw too. Did you do it yourself and does it really make more power it sure looks fine. I have several 55's in basket cases because I use them for parts to keep some always running. they are my favorite saw but run hot sometimes and they lock up. Since I have been here I am very thrilled with what I have learned so far and plan on going to 40;1 to save my saws. Can I send a muffler to you Huskyman or could I just punch a couple of holes where you have those pipes? I have a few spares so if I do one wrong it doesnt matter at all.
Fred

I didnt do that muffler, it was done by Walkers Saw Shop in B.C.. The 55 has the nuts to run 3/8 chain now, but I still run .325 and a 16" bar and I am very happy with it. It is my second favorite saw to use. Since you have some spares I would go ahead and try it yourself. Get a small plumbers brazing kit and see if you can add the ports yourself. Stay small, a pair of 3/8 or 7/16 ports is plenty. The 55 is not much louder than when stock, but my 670 is a different matter. I need hearing protection with that thing.

I run my saws at 32:1 with good results, it allows me to run almost all my saws on the same mix.
 
Hey Russ-

you're right on the money with all of that, but I'd like to take it a step further. Of course different operators are looking for different results, I asked the question on Wade's post about what exactly his 2186 was tuned for, in respect to what he needed to do exactly. A professional timber faller in most scenarios doesn't exactly need a lot of RPMs, but rather needs the torque for running long bars cutting a mix of tree species. Most guys here still run 32" bars even though the timber average is down to around 16-19". Firewood cutters I would think need the higher RPMs for shorter bars, as I run shorter bars so I don't rock my chain.

So I would say that build packages could be put together. They don't have to be fancy, but a builder could spell out exactly what is involved for the money. For instance, Walker's main thing is to drop the transfers, enlarge the intake and exhaust ports, and install more ports on the muffler. That's a good standard build that pleases a lot of people. There's no carburetor mods involved, no machining the base of the cylinder or the top of the piston, and his price is right.

Madsens just does some the work to the piston usually. I've been into several of their saws and only one had any changes to the exhaust port. There were no changes to the transfers, intake, muffler, carburetor, or air filter on any of their saws. But they don't charge much either.

Build packages would allow a buyer to decide how far they want to go with the saw. Plus, some models respond really well. I'm strictly a novice, but I've had good luck modifying 044s, 046s, and 066s because they're already great saws from the factory. I haven't always had good luck with older saws, like the Pioneer P-62/Poulan P-655 or the Stihl 075, because those designs are highly proprietary for the time they came out and the builder has to have a high degree of two cycle knowledge to know which changes to the port timing are going to be most beneficial.
 
Hey Huskyman thankyou for telling me about the muffler. I called Walkers and remembered you to them. They said they could do my 55 muffler for me I cant wait. I will also change over to 3/8 with an 18" bar. All this is fun and thanks again you guys are great. Now I hope I can cut faster than my brother but I wont tell him what I did. He always could outcut me.
Thanks again Huskyman.
Hatchet Jack
 
Jokers, Jacob and Marky
You guys have all hit the nail on the head. Contracts of some sort would be nice its a guarentee for you and if the builder can do what he says then he should have no problem agreeing to it. I am telling you in all honesty that was a terrible experience from start to finish with that 2186 but thank god I have it. A buyer needs to know what he wants and the builder has to be able to tell him wether or not thats what he is going to get and when he is going to get it..... bottom line. ....what a fun subject......Wade
 
Hey Huskyman thankyou for telling me about the muffler. I called Walkers and remembered you to them. They said they could do my 55 muffler for me I cant wait. I will also change over to 3/8 with an 18" bar. All this is fun and thanks again you guys are great. Now I hope I can cut faster than my brother but I wont tell him what I did. He always could outcut me.
Thanks again Huskyman.
Hatchet Jack
I wonder if he ever got the muffler mod?
 

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