Best places to find used saws?

[MOA]

Dont want any secrets revealed, but what are some good places to find used saws? Best prices and rebuildable projects?

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Other than pawn shops, the paper, Craig's List, ebay, farm, county or state auctions?

 

[MOA]

I avoid Ebay, most peolpe want a Lot of $$$$$$$$$ and you dont now what you are getting for sure.

 

[manual]

Support your local loggers.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

My Garage.

 

[Bill G]

They are around.

Bill

 

[Marco]

A busy Stihl dealer who does not have time to fix his trades, where most of my used saws came from.

 

[Freakingstang]

A busy Stihl dealer who does not have time to fix his trades, where most of my used saws came from.

And a busy Stihl dealer that takes huskies in on trade....

Likewise, a Husky dealer that takes stihl saws in on trade.

Most of the dolmar dealers try to get top dollar out of the Stihls, as they seem to know the real world value of them...

I get most of my used saws through both husky and stihl dealers in the midst of logging country. Out in the middle of nowhere and the amish change saws quite often

 

[blsnelling]

They are around.

Bill

That's hillarious! Chainsaw salvage yard, or is that a grave yard?

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

I avoid Ebay, most peolpe want a Lot of $$$$$$$$$ and you dont now what you are getting for sure.

For out of the box, ready to use, I agree. But for a rebuild like you mention, there's tons of old parts saws for decent prices on ebay if you're patient and don't get into bidding wars.

 

[spike60]

Best places are to wander into saw shops that have been in business for quite a while. There is all kinds of stuff laying around. You may be able to get a couple of dead saws that you can make running saw out of. Also, there are used saws that are maybe to far gone to be sold to someone who would expect some kind of warranty. Make an offer; you never know.

A lot of saws are saved for parts, but as time passes, and a saw has been discontinued, the demand for those parts falls off. Sometimes a guy will let stuff go pretty cheap, just so he can clean out some stuff. Like some others have said, good deals can be had on saws that are of a different brand than the shop carries.

 

[njforestfire]

I avoid Ebay, most peolpe want a Lot of $$$$$$$$$ and you dont now what you are getting for sure.

If you ask the right questions you can cut your chances of getting screwed. I usually get all of my saws off of eBay when I want something else. I have been very lucky so far but I ask a ton of questions which help me weed out anything that might be kinda fishy. I also try to state EVERYTHING that might be wrong with the saw when I sell.


:biggrinbounce2:

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Yeah, ebay is no longer the place for deals it used to be. But like I say, if you're looking for a saw that you're expecting to tear down and rebuild, there's plenty of good candidates out there. Bad bearings? No problem, you'll be changing them anyway. Low compression? No problem, you'll be putting in new rings anyway. Trashed carb? No problem, you'd be rebuilding the carb anyway. Scored piston/cylinder? Likely not a problem if you were gonna do a bb kit anyway.

But yeah, for a saw you want to pull out and run and cut....humph....good luck.

 

[bama]

I haven't run an ad in the paper because I wouldn't have the cash to buy all the older saws that I know are out here. Someday, when I have the $$$, I will get that ad in the paper. There was a lot of wood cut here in the 70's and 80's.

I use eBay almost exclusively and have never been burned. For every saw I win on, I would bet I lose on 50. I decide how much and stick to my limit. Needless to say, I try to find the pretty bad saws or the sleepers with no picture or bad labels. I just got a Jonsered 630(I think) for $25 because he listed it as "Jonsered 18" bar" in his description and only took two far away pictures. $12 to ship it, so no matter what, I will break even. He had great feedback, but just didn't work up his listing very well.

You just have to be patient.

 

[STIHL-KID]

The trend that I see.......

I bought my first chainsaw through the local paper. A retired guy no longer wanted to do firewood cutting and swapped to a gas furnace. The saw was in great shape and the price was reasonable. I find lots of chainsaw ads in the local news paper. One place to check is Craigslist, excellent place to find saws. Most saws posted are because the owner is upgrading to something different or decided to get rid of the wood stove heating. Ebay has been helpful only for parts (the only place I can really go to anytime and find the part i'm looking for). Pawn shops, swapmeets, local saw shops, and small engine repair businesses seem to charge top dollar for the big brand name saws. That's what I have experienced locally. Garage sales/ yard sales are good places too, but hit and miss sometimes. Sadly, the older "metal" saws are hard to find parts for locally when you need them. My local Stihl dealership does not have any parts on the shelf older than 5 years. When I bring down my ol' 031AV, they just laugh and say "Try ebay!" The other thing to consider when looking at a used saw is how common that particular model is. My friend has several older Stihl chainsaw models and they were odd-ball numbers. He has had some problems finding specific parts for them. There's a saw with your name on it somewhere........good luck!

 

[spacemule]

I've never been screwed, paid too much, or had something that was worse than I expected from ebay. You just have to have a little common sense. . .hey! That's exactly like any other transaction, isn't it!

 

[Indiana John]

eBay? Maybe..............

Whether eBay is okay for buying a saw depends on what you're looking for.
I've been thinking about selling both my 041's and buying a newer/lighter saw capable of easily handling a 20" bar. I was watching an MS310 on eBay that looked like it had been dropped or had a tree dropped on the back and needed a new rear handle and tank. Looked good and had a 20" bar. Just what I was looking for! However it sold for close to $250 with $25 shipping. I figured the parts to fix it would probably be around $75 or so. Now my online research shows that saw selling new for around $400. So figure at least $275 for the saw, plus about another $75 for parts, that would put me at least $350 for a saw nearly two years old with no warranty. As I said, a new one with warranty can be got for about $400. Do the math............
On the other hand, I bought a Jonsered "parts" saw last week on fleabay for less than $40 with shipping. Just goes to show that where the 'Bay is concerned, you need to do your research. And as far as my 041 replacement, I think I'll just wait for spring and maybe I can find a good deal then.

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Good point about ebay. Some clowns get carried away on there and will spend more than the saw is worth new!

 

[JonnyHart]

I got all my saws in very good or excellent condition for a good price on ebay, and I used the buy-it-now for all of them. Gotta snag em when they're first listed if the buy it now price sounds good. This can take a long time, before you actually find a good deal. I had alot of time on my hands.
I've never been screwed over. Don't buy if they got no feedback or negative feedback.
Good Luck!