Hi guys!
I have been coming to this site off and on for over 3-1/2 years to get great advice. I have silently read thousands of posts about every type of subject here. Originally, I was looking for a chainsaw and posted to an engine lubricant forum looking for advice, and someone sent me here. What a wealth of knowledge!
I was looking for a saw to clean up my overgrown 1.5 acre yard around a 110 yr old farmhouse that we bought in 1992 from a 96 year old lady who had lived there since 1934. The house needed major updates and repairs (it was probably condemnable when we bought it) so I spent my time on that first. When I got to the yard, I knew I needed a chainsaw, but I was quite afraid of them. I work as a mason and use Stihl masonry saws daily, but I know that chainsaws, although having very similar powerheads, are much meaner beasts.
I always want to buy a tool once, and buy it for life, whenever possible. Money, however, was tight at the time due to 2 toddlers and all the house updates. I decided that $250 to $300 would have to be the budget. I found this thread and have been hooked on this site ever since.
I wanted a Stihl 026, but the $450 price tag was waaaay too much. I looked at the 025, but it did not look to be in the same class as the 026. The thread spoke well of the CS-4400, and a few weeks later Home Depot had them on closeout for $260. I believe they were being replaced at the time by the new, slightly larger, CS-440. Looking at the 2 saws, the difference was mainly the side chain tightener on the new model. (I know it is also listed as being a few cc's larger in displacement) It also happens that Home Depot was running a 10% off sale on home and garden equipment for Memorial Day, AND I had just received my Home Depot card which offered 10% off my first purchase with it. I walked out with it for $221.13, tax included.
This saw is only 43.6 cc displacement, and is rated as having 2.95 hp. According to prior posts here, I should not run this saw with a 20" bar...unless I wish to be called an "idiot" or be chastised as being stupid.
My saw came standard with an 18" bar. The recommended bar lengths are 16" - 20". I used the 18" bar with much success, logging an estimated 150-200 hours with no problems cutting a lot of 10"-16" diameter trees. Labor Day weekend this year we set out to take down the rest of the trees. These trees were:
4 Yellow Pines between 10" and 18"
4 Silver Maples between 12" and 18"
1 Cottonwood White Poplar 30"
2 Box Elders, a 28" and a 55"
1 Norway Spruce 22"
1 White Pine 30"
1 Sugar Maple 38"
assorted smaller trees less than 6" in diameter
These were all trees around the house that, for one reason or another, had to go. The Sugar Maple was over 90 years old (it was big enough to show up on aerial photographs taken of the area in 1932!) but it was split by lightning and had opened up a huge crack that went right to the ground. It was 95 feet tall and leaned over my new 4 car garage, so...
Anyways, I bought a 20" Oregon bar and chain combo for the bigger trees. I am sure that it did not do the job as well as a 70 cc Stihl with a 20" bar would have, but my little Echo did get through the wood with no problems. By Monday night my wife and I had finished getting rid of all the brush and had called for the stump grinder. All of the good wood was cut up with the Echo and given to 3 friends who had helped haul brush away all weekend and owned woodburning furnaces. All of the crap wood was cut up by the Echo and given to a family member for campfire wood.
What I am saying is that this little, underpowered, off-brand saw was capable of using a 20" bar for roughly 40 hours of runtime in a 3 day period and was quite capable.
Maybe I should have put the stock bar back on it for all but the thickest cuts. I didn't really care to do that. Instead, an older (late 60's) neighbor used my bar-mounted file guide to touch up the chain a few times a day when I took a break, and we left the 20" bar on it.
After reading all these posts, I will probably buy a 16" bar and chain combo for general use, as the 18" chain needs replacement and I can get the bar and chain combo for just a few bucks more than the chain itself. I do however, think that a few of these posts are pretty harsh. My guess is that the guy who asked about the 20" bar is probably a homeowner like me, not a pro who will log 1,000 hours a year on a single saw and needs the most efficient setup possible.
All these years of reading quietly in the background as a "guest", and today I had to register and post just to ask you guys to lighten up a bit. This site has tought me how to use a chainsaw. It has moved me to use Canola oil for bar and chain oil. It has swayed me to use Mobil 1 Racing 2T instead of Stihl or generic 2-stroke oil. It has given me great information on safety and correct procedures and techniques.
I'm not a pro, so you can discount my using a 20" bar on a "close to 3 hp" model, but why call anyone names for doing so? Maybe it is the only saw he has and needs to use one.
Sorry for the rant, and I hope to read silently in the background for many more years. I felt I had to post because this is one of the most civilized forums I read (and I read a LOT of forums to gain knowledge about various subjects). PLEASE don't let this gem of a site turn into a bickering, name calling fiasco that sooo many other well intended forums have become!