A good saw choice

[aandabooks]

It seems to be the way I'm headed. Good dealer close to home. Solid sounding saw. All I want to do is cut wood for the day and put the saw away. Take it out next time and have it cut again. If I bought the 310 or 390 would I still be welcome into Windthrown's Boat Anchor Club?

Matt

 

[WVhunter]

Just buy what you like, what fits in your budget, what feels right in your hands. It doesn't matter what everybody else thinks or uses, get what you can afford and what will suit your needs and go cut wood.
Tom

 

[computeruser]

It seems to be the way I'm headed. Good dealer close to home. Solid sounding saw. All I want to do is cut wood for the day and put the saw away. Take it out next time and have it cut again. If I bought the 310 or 390 would I still be welcome into Windthrown's Boat Anchor Club?

Matt

Nothing at all wrong with heading that way - you've got the right saw in mind for that job.

 

[turbo]

If you only have 400 to spend, you can get a brand new ms280 for that.Maybe not a talked about saw it wont let you down!

 

[aandabooks]

Is a 280 going to occasionally run a 24" bar?

Matt

 

[pacman]

true

Just buy what you like, what fits in your budget, what feels right in your hands. It doesn't matter what everybody else thinks or uses, get what you can afford and what will suit your needs and go cut wood.
Tom

WHAT YOU SAID !

 

[Knotdodger]

I have cut quite a bit of firewood with my poulans and homlites too. My homelite made me quite a bit of money in southern alabama during hurricane Ivan.. You can cut anything with the right amout of time.

My dad always ran Mac's. Thats what I was going to buy was a MS290. That was the budget. I just lucked out and got a new 361 at an industrial supply store in Ft. Wayne ind. for 350 dollars. My little 33cc Homelite is still going. I put it through the ringer in Alabama..

 

[windthrown]

It seems to be the way I'm headed. Good dealer close to home. Solid sounding saw. All I want to do is cut wood for the day and put the saw away. Take it out next time and have it cut again. If I bought the 310 or 390 would I still be welcome into Windthrown's Boat Anchor Club?

Matt

Yah, you can be in the club. May as well make the 290 club the 290/310/390 club. I might even make you president, as Lake became a dictator in less than a day.

 

[windthrown]

I
My dad always ran Mac's. Thats what I was going to buy was a MS290. That was the budget. I just lucked out and got a new 361 at an industrial supply store in Ft. Wayne ind. for 350 dollars. My little 33cc Homelite is still going. I put it through the ringer in Alabama..

$350 for a 361!!!! Wow, that is a sweet deal. You could sell it used for a lot more than that. Congrats.

 

[windthrown]

If you only have 400 to spend, you can get a brand new ms280 for that.Maybe not a talked about saw it wont let you down!

The 280 has less power than the boat-anchor 290 though. And costs more. Better built, better handle, but stihl a lot of plastic. Also the factory only recommends a 18 inch bar max for the 280 (which is odd, as a 260 can wear a 20 inch bar and it has less power than either of these others).

As for the question about a 24 inch bar, Stilh only recommends the 390 with that size bar (what the factory recommends). In softwood you can go longer, and with skip you can also go longer though.

 

[Lagrue]

the 361 is the best of the bunch...great all around saw. Not too heavy that you can't de-limb with it, powerful enough to buck up some large wood.

I have a husky 350, and an old husky 264 that I found in a road ditch. It has lost alot of compression but it still will outcut the crap out of the 350. It will smoke it. Next new saw I buy will be bigger than the 350 for sure. I priced a husky rancher the other day. It was under 400.

 

[aandabooks]

Well I went and bought a saw at a local dealer with a great rep in the area. Stuck to the budget and bought a MS310. Decided against the MS390 because it would put me too close to wanting to drop another $100 and look at the MS361. At that point all I might hear is the gunshot from when my wife kills me!!!! Had them put a 18" bar on it. Extra loop of RSC chain, 6 pack of Stihl Ultra, gallon of bar oil and a case (came free with a promotion) out the door was $424.

I'll have to pick up at least another couple of chains. I've found some online sellers with much better prices than the dealer. 24" b&c I'll pick-up on ebay. Found a guy selling Forester pro top B&C combo for $40. They any good?

Talking to the dealer I told him what I have been running and he said that the 310 will really cut down on time. When I told him I've been running safety chain, he said the 310 will make it seem like I've been cutting with a handsaw. I've tried my buddies in a couple of cuts and it certainly looks that way.

Matt

 

[WVhunter]

Congrats on the new saw, I hope you enjoy it.
Tom

 

[cjcocn]

Congrats on the new saw, I hope you enjoy it.
Tom

x2

Congrats, Matt!

 

[aokpops]

sthil makes a good bush saw. if you want to cut bush

 

[windthrown]

Congrats on the 310!

You are now in the 290 Club. There is a guy on Ebay that sells the GB Pro Top 24" bar and chain for a good price. That is a good bar (the one I have in 24"). A solid bar is better. A few tips for you on the 310:

A suggestion for starting your saw with no decomp button is to drop start it. Far easier on you and the saw. Hold the top bar in you right hand and pull on the strater with your left, while lowering the saw slightly with your right. If you start it on the ground like they recommend, you will more than likely get nailed in your left hand/wrist if you do not have an absolute tight grip and are paying attention. Only real issue I have with starting the 290... I drop start all my saws though.

One other issue on that particular line of saw is the summer-winter flippey thingey. I find that if you set the thingey to winter mode, it gets a lot more chips and crap in the filter and faster than in summer mode. It seems to run fine in summer mode, as does the 361, down to freezing. The 210 and 025 run better below 40 degrees F. in winter mode (else the carb tends to ice up and they do not idle right).

The oiler should be set at E (center) for the 18" bar. You will want to up the oil output to high with a 24" bar.

Enjoy... your boat anchor! And they are easy to mod if you want a little more power.

 

[gtstang462002]

A suggestion for starting your saw with no decomp button is to drop start it. Far easier on you and the saw. Hold the top bar in you right hand and pull on the strater with your left, while lowering the saw slightly with your right. If you start it on the ground like they recommend, you will more than likely get nailed in your left hand/wrist if you do not have an absolute tight grip and are paying attention. Only real issue I have with starting the 290... I drop start all my saws though.

One other issue on that particular line of saw is the summer-winter flippey thingey. I find that if you set the thingey to winter mode, it gets a lot more chips and crap in the filter and faster than in summer mode. It seems to run fine in summer mode, as does the 361, down to freezing. The 210 and 025 run better below 40 degrees F. in winter mode (else the carb tends to ice up and they do not idle right).

The oiler should be set at E (center) for the 18" bar. You will want to up the oil output to high with a 24" bar.

Enjoy... your boat anchor! And they are easy to mod if you want a little more power.

I drop start mine the other way around... I hold the saw by the upper hand grip with my left and pull the starter with my right... As doing it this way I do not feel as though the saw has the oppourtunity to go anywhere but away from me. I found on my 290 that once the temps got down to the high 40's- low 50' the carb started icing and not wanting to idle properly... At that point I actually read my owners manual and discovered the summer/winter modes. Switched it over to winter mode and been running strong ever since.

With the oiler on my 20" bar again when it got cold and the oil started to thicken up and not move so easily I found my chain running dry. At that time I broke down and read the entire owners manual front to back twice and never found an accurate decription of where the oil adjustment was. Manual kept referanceing the bottom of the saw... Didn't say anything about it being recessed into the botton part of the anti-vibratory handgrip. But since having discovered it I have turned the oiler all the way up and reduced the constant need for sharpening the chain. I imagin as it warms back up I will have to turn it back some but until then it will stay where it is.

 

[aandabooks]

Thank you for the welcome to the club. I haven't got the saw in any wood yet. I don't have anything in the yard that needs cut or would provide a true test.

I do the drop starting the way gtstang does. Handle bar in left hand, pull rope in right. Just the way I've always done it. I started the saw last night just to hear it run and it fired in one pull on full then one pull when on half. Like the way the throttle locks on. I didn't have the chain brake set though. I'm going to have to remember that. My other saws don't have that feature and I'm always grabbing for the throttle to try to keep the saw running.

Windthrown, can you PM me the sellers username? I found one guy with a 24" Forester in his store for $40 plus shipping.

Matt

 

[windthrown]

I PM'd you the Ebay seller.

New 25" GB Pro Top bar, 3/8, 0.050 with new Carlton A1LM chain for $53 plus UPS shipping (realistic shipping price). Bar/chain is specifically listed for fitting the MS310. He says thet the Carlton chain is comparable to Stihl RS, but it looks more like RM to me. ??? Either way, its non-safety and good stuff, bar and chain complete with shipping are about the price of a 25" Stihl ES bar alone at a Shihl dealer (less if you have to pay sales tax).

If I did not already have one, I would buy one of these. He has 2 left.

 

[Knotdodger]

Congrats on the Stihl...