Looking for a box strong enough to ship an MS440 safely.

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Mountainman

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I'm getting ready to part with my prized MS440 with less than 10 tanks through it. I'm at a loss as to where to locate a strong enough box to ship it in without damage to the saw. Our local Stihl dealerships are pretty much geared to homeowners, so I seriously doubt that I could get a large enough box from one of them. I was hoping someone who ships a lot of saws could offer some advice on where to find a strong enough box that would hold the saw. Thanks in advance.
 
I buy those “tough totes” from Lowe’s or Menards. The black ones with the yellow lids. They’re actually cheaper than the cardboard boxes. I stuff them full of foam, wadded up newspapers, bubble wrap etc until the saw won’t move. Snap the lid on, and they already have holes in them from the container to the lid. I put two zip ties through each hole for a total of 12 zip ties, then run a strip of duct tape around the rim to seal the lid to the container and I’ve never had an issue. The totes are about $8 here.
 
I choose any cardboard box slightly bigger than needed and then line the inside with another layer of cardboard. Then some padding (foam, egg cartons, dirty diapers, whatever you got) then the saw in a trash bag, surround the saw with more padding (get it tight), one more layer of cardboard over the top, close it up and tape excessively. You can use a much more reasonable size box if you're not sending a bar. I shipped an ms660 to Ireland this way without any problem. I did take the handlebar off to reduce the box size needed.
 
Make a simple wood case from scrap wood with thick foam inside, that's how I'd send it and that's how I'd like to receive it.
The above suggestion with plenty of bubble wrap inside and tape all over would probably do too.
 
Would cost $40 just to mail the box, never mind the saw!

Yeah, after all it's just an expensive saw in nearly new condition.

I ordered some Stihl oem parts; chain adjuster crown gears and some guide bar studs and they charged me $50 for the mail, so $40 in the context of a whole saw seems to me like nothing at all.
 
I buy and sell a lot of electronic stuff and a good heavy duty box with lots of bubble wrap seems to do the trick.
Heavy duty box or double box with lots of bubble wrap should do the trick along with shipping insurance. MAKE SURE YOU INSURE IT.
 
The box is not as important as the prep and packing. Absolutely remove the spike. Think through the packing placement and type. Heavier bubble is the best. Newspapers will work but they can shift. Packing peanuts suck for heavy items.

A friend and I used to ship 30+lb boxes of craft beer(bottles and cans) across country to each other on a regular basis. The closest we ever came to a failure was a can that swelled sitting overnight in the high desert in NM in winter. We usually just used regular boxes with well thought out packaging.
 
Either a double walled box or a very sturdy box with a heavy cardboard liner , just helps prevent puncture wounds, them make sure the saw is totally surrounded with packing materials, allow no movement what so ever in any direction. Overfill the box by an inch or so, when the top flaps are folded and compressed down to taping level then put the tape to it. No matter who you ship it through the saw will be put through a torture test, there is no up or down as far as the handlers are concerned, tossing, throwing, kicking and falling off pallets piled high along with maybe several hundreds of pounds of other freight piled on top of the saw will happen so it will run a gauntlet of impacts before it gets to its future destination.
PS, peanuts are absolutely the worst packing material I have yet encountered, balled up newspaper has worked for 90% of the saws I have shipped, the other 10% were shipped by foaming the plastic wrapped saw into a solid block confined by the double cardboard box.
 
I'm getting ready to part with my prized MS440 with less than 10 tanks through it. I'm at a loss as to where to locate a strong enough box to ship it in without damage to the saw. Our local Stihl dealerships are pretty much geared to homeowners, so I seriously doubt that I could get a large enough box from one of them. I was hoping someone who ships a lot of saws could offer some advice on where to find a strong enough box that would hold the saw. Thanks in advance.

I ship a lot of saws and I use the saw box and then something like a Lowes/HD box to double box it. Stihls are famous for cracking around the oil fill cap where that little ear sticks out in front.

I don't remove all dogs/spikes. If they are small, I place a piece of foam in front of them so they can't penetrate the box. Also important to pad the handle so it fits tight and doesn't allow the saw to flop back and forth.

I pad the recoil and handle area as well as the the handle and clutch cover area in the original saw box. In the double/outer box, I add bubble wrap, extra cardboard and plenty of tape.

If you are using a non saw box, I wrap the whole saw several times in bubble wrap before placing it in the box. Foam from old electronics/TV boxes creates good filler material that also adds some shock absorption.

Hope this helps. You can also shrink/pallet wrap the box to create some extra reinforcement and security, especially if you want to preserve and original box for an old saw.

The blue circle in the pic shows where Stihls are prone to damage during shipping.


Shipping Damage area.jpg
 
InstaPak expanding foam packaging bags. Throw one in the bottom of the box and set the saw on it as it expands, toss one on each side and one on top, close up box and wait. It'll make a firm, fitted padding and fill the empty space in the box. Saw won't move. I would put the saw in a trash bag before hand and remove the spike, wrap it in plastic and tape it to the top of the saw.
 
InstaPak expanding foam packaging bags. Throw one in the bottom of the box and set the saw on it as it expands, toss one on each side and one on top, close up box and wait. It'll make a firm, fitted padding and fill the empty space in the box. Saw won't move. I would put the saw in a trash bag before hand and remove the spike, wrap it in plastic and tape it to the top of the saw.
I like to tape them to the pad on the inside bottom of the rear handle.
 
At minimum, double box it. The plastic crate idea is great as are some other suggestions in here.

If you must sell bar along with saw, remove the bar and wrap in cardboard, tape it up, do not leave bar on saw. If it's a long bar, might be better to ship separately.

Whatever you use for padding, do not use peanuts, those things should be banned from earth for the mess they can make. Styrofoam also tends to disintegrate and create a bazillion small bb's of styrofoam.
 
I ship a lot of saws and I use the saw box and then something like a Lowes/HD box to double box it. Stihls are famous for cracking around the oil fill cap where that little ear sticks out in front.

I don't remove all dogs/spikes. If they are small, I place a piece of foam in front of them so they can't penetrate the box. Also important to pad the handle so it fits tight and doesn't allow the saw to flop back and forth.

I pad the recoil and handle area as well as the the handle and clutch cover area in the original saw box. In the double/outer box, I add bubble wrap, extra cardboard and plenty of tape.

If you are using a non saw box, I wrap the whole saw several times in bubble wrap before placing it in the box. Foam from old electronics/TV boxes creates good filler material that also adds some shock absorption.

Hope this helps. You can also shrink/pallet wrap the box to create some extra reinforcement and security, especially if you want to preserve and original box for an old saw.

The blue circle in the pic shows where Stihls are prone to damage during shipping.


View attachment 756326

Oh what a sweet picture... :numberone:
 

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