Are Stihl saws as good as they were?

[bcorradi]

Yah i personally believe the 044 did.

 

[paccity]

i tried.

 

[StihlKiwi]

ok....where can i buy a new homelite?

Can you not read the graph?

 

[RandyMac]

i tried.

Hey, you heading South this month?

 

[KiwiBro]

the big Pioneers cut far more OG

OK, I'm almost ready, where do I sign on for the OG?

 

[StihlKiwi]

OK, I'm almost ready, where do I sign on for the OG?

I hear Tane Mahuta and some of his buddies are tempting fate. Nice collection btw

 

[paccity]

Hey, you heading South this month?

i'm hoping for the end of next week. seems like when i try to plan anything i get slammed. allwell it's for a good cause.

 

[RandyMac]

i'm hoping for the end of next week. seems like when i try to plan anything i get slammed. allwell it's for a good cause.

It is good to be busy.

 

[KiwiBro]

Nice collection btw

A hundy and it's all yours. Well, except for one, that's winging it's way back to it's hemisphere of origin.

 

[Gologit]

Yah i personally believe the 044 did.

Maybe they did...in Minnesota. Out here? No way. No way at all.

 

[Venomvpr900]

saws all only as good as the person using them and taking care of them,,, a simple minded joe blow and blow up a 2000 saw if its not taken care of,, for instance,, the little earthquake that i use has had a bunch of tanks run through it,, sure its a cheap saw but it does run good,,, so what it comes down to is if the saw is used right and taken care of

I 2nd this. I have people standing in line for my old stuff because they know it has been cared for. To be truthful I am a little over the top about it but hey why spend the money if your going to treat it like a throw a way

 

[naturelover]

Oops


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

 

[PhilMcWoody]

The fact of the matter....homelite is done and stihl, husky, and dolmar are still going.

I seem to have CAD. I don't need 'em but I want one of each.
(I should have asked the doctor about this issue when I saw him the other night.)

Let's see one for each son, one for the wife, one for the dog. I could justify a whole wall full of 'em.

 

[8433jeff]

Maybe they did...in Minnesota. Out here? No way. No way at all.

Mn was logged the old fashioned way, misery whips and axes. The first time.
A lot of hardwood from the "big" woods (quotations for sarcasm), left in the 50's, 60's, and 70's to make room for or existing farmland easier.
Never seen or handled a Stihl from before an 011 or 041, and I doubt they cut much of the aforementioned.

Big Woods - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[roberte]

The McCulloch I knew has been out of business for longer than that. The stihls of that time were porky, under-powered yuppie saws. I only comment on saws that I have personally operated, the new stihls I have run, are similar to the old ones. Although that 066 was a good limbing saw.

View attachment 280873
2 Macs & 2 "limbing saws"

 

[1dragon]

I love my cheap, plastic, junker, homeowner saws. They start every time, run hard, and always cut. I have an old 029 that reminds me of an old Ford 300 straight six. It simply won't die. It's a $65 thrift shop saw that just will not quit cutting. My 390 runs & cuts like 64cc's should, thanks to some mod & retune advice I got from the forum. I run a 20" bar on the 029, 25" on the 390, and within their respective sizes they cut just as well as my 084 monster. The 084 bulls through a 48" log the way the 390 does a 24" log, the way the 029 does a 15" log. I cut for my sawmill, which focuses on gnarly, burled, crotchy, figured, hard stuff. I'm real specific about what I cut. The softest wood I normally cut is hard maple, which I fell/buck most all of those with the 029. Nothing about how I work my "homeowner" saws fit the marketed category of "homeowner". But yet they do the job, do it well, and do it every time. They start easy & run strong. Aside from bars & chains or modding my 390, the only repair I have ever needed was the 029 tank vent tube fell off/lost & needed replaced, and the 390's chain guard cracked in a fall. For junkers they serve me well.

I couldn't agree more! This is also my experiance with my JUNK 029. I did have to bump it up to the 390 kit after a broken ring and piston. BUT that was before I got on here and new about tuning a saw properly. I had it MM'd and believe i over reved it. Throttle was pinned out of wood for a time. The high speed adjustment screw was only out about a half turn. This 029 still cut for a couple years in this state of tune by an unknowing owner. When the faithful 029 let go it was AFTER cutting for the day and after cleaning the saw getting ready to put it away.

All my Stihl equipment starts and runs the first time everytime. I just have zero reason to go elsewhere for now. I don't have anything against other brands, just no reason to change. Part of the reason I am back to using my OLD 015L for my limbing and the not so reliable, finicky Echo CS3400 just sits around incase the old Stihl goes down. The Echo gets plenty of rest! Same with my Husky hedge trimmer, hard to start and finicky.

The 390 kit with 8 pin and sharp chain on a 18 inch bar is impressive. I'll get flamed for this but so far i'm more impressed with it then my new to me MS660. I have some work to do on the 660 I know, and i am basing this on only 5 minutes of cut time with the 660. But the fact remains i thought the 660 would blow me away, it hasn't yet! The muff modded 390 8 pin however did and still does impress, and was very impressive next to a 036 Pro.

I only cut hardwoods, oak,apricot,almond,walnut. Nice to see somebody else has the same experiance as i have had with a cheap, junky homeowner Stihl!

 

[echoshawn]

now what about mcculloch, didn't they build go-carts for kids and boat anchors for the navy????

Those go karts were 50+ mph monsters!

 

[sawbones]

yeah sure, whatever. Where was stihl when the bulk of the PNW old growth was felled. Oh yeah, copying Homelite designs.

Both stihl and Husky missed the big PNW OG show, you will just have to live with that.
I'm betting the big Pioneers cut far more OG than stihl and Husky put together.

Actually Stihl was a copy of The Canadian IEL-Pioneer saw.

After WW2 Andeas came out with the BL and BLK one man gear drives similar to IEL and Reed Prentice saws.

IEL brought the first direct drives in mid fiftys and Stihl copied those and brought their Lightning Contra direct drive in late 1958.

There was a lot of copying going on post ww2.


Sit a Stihl Contra next to the IEL RA or JA or 600 series and pull the covers off of
both saws and you will have trouble telling them apart except for color.

There were plenty of Stihls sold after 1960 in the US but many americans would not buy them because of the bitterness of war.

Some folks still feel that way today about overseas products even if they are better.


Another thing to remember is that prior and or during to WW2 Seattle Mill and Mine copied a Stihl to build the first Titan Twins long before the one man saw market.

 

[CATDIESEL]

yeah sure, whatever. Where was stihl when the bulk of the PNW old growth was felled. Oh yeah, copying Homelite designs.

easy there California, don't go get yourself up in a lather. if you like playing with those old over-weight dinosaurs, then so be it. now, wasn't this thread about Stihl anyway? it is all in good fun.

 

[timberland ts]

Hard to tell what happened if you werent there!