This saw fell in my lap the other day. Not a saw I would ever purchase, not even at a yard sale for a good price most likely. But I agree with how it ended up in my possession and I will be using it, carefully. I don't really have the option of selling it.
It belonged to a friend of my father's. Both of them cut firewood all their lives, my dad still does but soon enough I will be doing it for him, I know. This saw was the last one owned by my dad's friend. But by the time he purchased it after a lifetime of running Homelites, he never had the strength to use it.
My dad checked in with the widow the other day and she asked if he could use this saw. So be bought it for $100 and gave it to me for another back-up saw while both of my oldest saws are down until winter, at least, if not longer.
I will use it as a back-up for a pinched saw, for one. It is nice and light - it could do the work on some of my jobs, for example when I have to cut mostly 4" Balsam Fir all day long. Sometimes I don't use a clearing saw to do that when the slash is super deep everywhere - leave it to USFS to wait until there is more dead wood than live wood on a tract to go in there and "harvest".
I know I will always just be extra careful with the diameters and species I would ever cut with it. It's getting hard to lock up the saw collection lately, need a new, better toolbox for one. I can see how this saw will be the one just left in the bed of the truck at times whereas I don't see that happening with my XPs.
I also think it would be a good training saw. It's light weight would be good for a new young sawyer still building muscles. Kids today .... rarely in shape. And it still has a safety chain of some sort. Not the, hmmm, aggressively safe? chain with the bumper between the teeth, but the kind with the extra flange on the raker/depth gauge.
I put it's first 1/3 of a tank of gas in it yesterday. It fired OK though there is just a faint smell of something burning in a little in the exhaust. But then Stihl HP Ultra is a weird smelling mix oil to me sometimes, though that is all I run now.
It was nice cutting with the safety chain even - it is still factory sharp of course. Made me wonder how long "home-owner" saws would last if they were well sharpened all the time.
This saw has a 2010 S/N.
Some questions -
I read on here somewhere that these are frequently re-built and then stamped with an "R" somewhere - where on the saw would this be? It was a chain store purchase originally.
I understand the carb is made in China and not to expect much longevity out of it. Can it be replaced with a better carb, ever?
It ran OK but I would want to turn up the timing a little - if I could - there doesn't appear to be a T screw. Or is it hidden away a little more?
I have always run 3/8" chain all my life. Smaller chains all look the same to me - small. Is this is a Pico chain on here? Or .325 ?
What will the future hold with this saw? I will not be surprised in the slightest to see the surely plastic oil pump start to leak... what else?
It belonged to a friend of my father's. Both of them cut firewood all their lives, my dad still does but soon enough I will be doing it for him, I know. This saw was the last one owned by my dad's friend. But by the time he purchased it after a lifetime of running Homelites, he never had the strength to use it.
My dad checked in with the widow the other day and she asked if he could use this saw. So be bought it for $100 and gave it to me for another back-up saw while both of my oldest saws are down until winter, at least, if not longer.
I will use it as a back-up for a pinched saw, for one. It is nice and light - it could do the work on some of my jobs, for example when I have to cut mostly 4" Balsam Fir all day long. Sometimes I don't use a clearing saw to do that when the slash is super deep everywhere - leave it to USFS to wait until there is more dead wood than live wood on a tract to go in there and "harvest".
I know I will always just be extra careful with the diameters and species I would ever cut with it. It's getting hard to lock up the saw collection lately, need a new, better toolbox for one. I can see how this saw will be the one just left in the bed of the truck at times whereas I don't see that happening with my XPs.
I also think it would be a good training saw. It's light weight would be good for a new young sawyer still building muscles. Kids today .... rarely in shape. And it still has a safety chain of some sort. Not the, hmmm, aggressively safe? chain with the bumper between the teeth, but the kind with the extra flange on the raker/depth gauge.
I put it's first 1/3 of a tank of gas in it yesterday. It fired OK though there is just a faint smell of something burning in a little in the exhaust. But then Stihl HP Ultra is a weird smelling mix oil to me sometimes, though that is all I run now.
It was nice cutting with the safety chain even - it is still factory sharp of course. Made me wonder how long "home-owner" saws would last if they were well sharpened all the time.
This saw has a 2010 S/N.
Some questions -
I read on here somewhere that these are frequently re-built and then stamped with an "R" somewhere - where on the saw would this be? It was a chain store purchase originally.
I understand the carb is made in China and not to expect much longevity out of it. Can it be replaced with a better carb, ever?
It ran OK but I would want to turn up the timing a little - if I could - there doesn't appear to be a T screw. Or is it hidden away a little more?
I have always run 3/8" chain all my life. Smaller chains all look the same to me - small. Is this is a Pico chain on here? Or .325 ?
What will the future hold with this saw? I will not be surprised in the slightest to see the surely plastic oil pump start to leak... what else?
