engha_neer
ArboristSite Lurker
Hi Guys, I've been lurking on here for a while reading and just generally trying to decide which saw to get. I've been running a 36cc Craftsman that my dad sold to me at the camp and around our lot brushing and cutting some trees. It was mostly adequate for the small stuff and was doing okay with a sharp chain right up until I brought down a couple 12" maples and took me the rest of the day to take care of them. Well, after a couple weekends wrestling with the old craftsman, and realizing that I was avoiding bringing down any more of the bigger trees cause it was so much work to buck them up, I took my dad up on his offer to bring his old saw up with me to do some work.
Now, my dad sells firewood for a living. A LOT of firewood. At any given time he has 50 cord of log length in the yard he's going through, and another 25-40 cord ready for delivery. He averages a delivery of about 10 cord a week, and has an older guy helping him out. The two of them do it together. He's 84 and going strong, and has three MS250s that he uses. He likes them a lot, and that's the only saw he uses. He's always rotating the older one out and picking up a new one down at the local hardware store. Well, I took the old one up to camp to work with for the weekend, and while it ran well, that old saw is TIRED. I never would have believed that you could wear a saw out, but he sure has. It runs like a top but you can bury it in a piece of wood and stop it dead. It doesn't have nearly the power of even my little craftsman. So, after wrestling around for yet another weekend at the camp, switching between my saw, and his old iron, I had to disappoint him and bring his 'free' saw back to him after the weekend. He knew it was tired--that was why he was going to give it to me--but it wouldn't have been right for me to take it if I wasn't going to make use of it so I brought it back. I left for the weekend convinced that a new MS250 would be just the right saw for me.
Well, it's been a week since then, and yesterday I went down to our local Stihl dealer and came out with a brand new MS270! For an extra 50 bucks I figured that it would last me forever, and I'm quite a bit younger than my old man and figured that the little extra weight was no problem. BOY, was I spot on with this one! She came with an 18" bar and an RSC chain, and I couldn't be happier. I have a big pile of hardwood over at our lot (we're building a house) that I tore into today and I just had a big smile on my face. There's a couple of 12-16" logs in there and I was just wicked impressed with the saws ability to chew right through them--showering my legs with sawdust chips. I like it, I didn't find it heavy after almost 3 hours of cutting, and there was nothing on the pile that it wouldn't go right through.
I have to say that I really appreciate all the advice on this site. Although almost all of that advice has to do with buying 'bigger, better, faster', I think I came away with the perfect saw for me.
Now, my dad sells firewood for a living. A LOT of firewood. At any given time he has 50 cord of log length in the yard he's going through, and another 25-40 cord ready for delivery. He averages a delivery of about 10 cord a week, and has an older guy helping him out. The two of them do it together. He's 84 and going strong, and has three MS250s that he uses. He likes them a lot, and that's the only saw he uses. He's always rotating the older one out and picking up a new one down at the local hardware store. Well, I took the old one up to camp to work with for the weekend, and while it ran well, that old saw is TIRED. I never would have believed that you could wear a saw out, but he sure has. It runs like a top but you can bury it in a piece of wood and stop it dead. It doesn't have nearly the power of even my little craftsman. So, after wrestling around for yet another weekend at the camp, switching between my saw, and his old iron, I had to disappoint him and bring his 'free' saw back to him after the weekend. He knew it was tired--that was why he was going to give it to me--but it wouldn't have been right for me to take it if I wasn't going to make use of it so I brought it back. I left for the weekend convinced that a new MS250 would be just the right saw for me.
Well, it's been a week since then, and yesterday I went down to our local Stihl dealer and came out with a brand new MS270! For an extra 50 bucks I figured that it would last me forever, and I'm quite a bit younger than my old man and figured that the little extra weight was no problem. BOY, was I spot on with this one! She came with an 18" bar and an RSC chain, and I couldn't be happier. I have a big pile of hardwood over at our lot (we're building a house) that I tore into today and I just had a big smile on my face. There's a couple of 12-16" logs in there and I was just wicked impressed with the saws ability to chew right through them--showering my legs with sawdust chips. I like it, I didn't find it heavy after almost 3 hours of cutting, and there was nothing on the pile that it wouldn't go right through.
I have to say that I really appreciate all the advice on this site. Although almost all of that advice has to do with buying 'bigger, better, faster', I think I came away with the perfect saw for me.
opcorn: 
