Got my grail saw yesterday

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Nathan Graff

ArboristSite Operative
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I've been quietly looking for a stihl 200t for about 4 months now. Until that time, I had never even seen a top handle saw, or if I had, I hadn't taken notice of them. So, I was keeping a eye out for a saw like that. Every one I saw come up for sale was a minimum of $500 cad in rough shape, and generally more than 4 hours drive away from me.

On friday, I saw one come up that was practically new an hour from me for $250cad. So, I contacted the guy, and got him to hold it till I could get there the next day. He posted the saw at 10 pm. So, our earliest arrangement that could be made for me to see the was was 4 pm saturday. So, I get there, and he has a very recent bill from one of the dealers for a tune up and check over, and the thing runs great. So, I offered him $240, and he agreed, and I have a grail saw with a gallon of chain oil.

The saw feels to have great compression. Fired up on the third pull. I'm very happy right now. Was worth the 4 hour crawl home through a whiteout blizzard to make sure that I got it.

I think it has a 14" bar on it.

At $240 cad, I figured that I could easily put a new p&c in it without much trouble and still be ahead of the game. Now to see how she runs in wood.

Pics on request.
 
I've been quietly looking for a stihl 200t for about 4 months now. Until that time, I had never even seen a top handle saw, or if I had, I hadn't taken notice of them. So, I was keeping a eye out for a saw like that. Every one I saw come up for sale was a minimum of $500 cad in rough shape, and generally more than 4 hours drive away from me.

On friday, I saw one come up that was practically new an hour from me for $250cad. So, I contacted the guy, and got him to hold it till I could get there the next day. He posted the saw at 10 pm. So, our earliest arrangement that could be made for me to see the was was 4 pm saturday. So, I get there, and he has a very recent bill from one of the dealers for a tune up and check over, and the thing runs great. So, I offered him $240, and he agreed, and I have a grail saw with a gallon of chain oil.

The saw feels to have great compression. Fired up on the third pull. I'm very happy right now. Was worth the 4 hour crawl home through a whiteout blizzard to make sure that I got it.

I think it has a 14" bar on it.

At $240 cad, I figured that I could easily put a new p&c in it without much trouble and still be ahead of the game. Now to see how she runs in wood.

Pics on request.
You went through that hell storm last night for this saw???

Lol

Who am I kidding when I want something I would have done the same thing. Where do you look for your classifieds? Kijiji?
I usually scout it but stupid prices and SFA for any kind of quantity of decent brand chainsaws...
 
Yes, I drove through that storm last night. To make it even worse, I didn't stop at home, I drove from Coaldale to Calgary and then back home in that storm... I'm kinda halfway in between those 2 places... haha It gave me a great amount of appreciation for the AWD system on a mercedes car. I never once felt the car was out of control, and is was going much faster than the other traffic. I saw a lot of other AWD vehicles skidding and fishtailing around on the road. The thing that made the roads yesterday very interesting is that the temperature was just below freezing, and the roads were holding heat above freezing. But the snow was getting laid on faster than it would melt off...

I found it on Kijiji. I have found a few good saws on there. Sometimes the prices are higher, but geting a saw shipped from the US here is no cheaper once you calculate in shipping.

I was wanting this saw to the point that I was looking at ordering a kit from China to build one. So, that being said, I'm very happy to have found this one for less than a kit saw.
 
The chain was so dull as to have trouble cutting through hot butter. So, I sharpened her up and set the rakers yesterday. There was too much snow to allow me to do any cutting safely.

Today, I took the saw out to buck up two small apricot trees that I pulled out into smoking wood chunks for my kamado. This little thing cuts like a banchee. Makes the MS170 that I modded seem like it's standing still. Almost makes me want a regular MS200.

2019-05-01_04-33-35 by wolverine00089
 
Bucking with a MS200T.???? Your kind should be banished to a treeless island.
And they’re called depth gauges. Rakers are people who clean up leaves. LOL.

Nice score. you could probably flip it for 2 x that amount. Looks real clean.
Good luck.
 
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