2lumbarleft
ArboristSite Operative
I haven’t cut firewood for sometime. The neighbor had a large green ash tree that bought the farm from Ash Borer disease. Skid length sections of the tree were taken to the street for pick up. Upon inquiry, I was told that if I wanted to cut it up, I could have it. Most of my equipment has been stored for the year, but I had an Echo CS-450 chainsaw that I recently muffler modified, removed the carb limiters and needed an opportunity to give it a good test and tune up. To those of you that have an opportunity to purchase one of these saws at the “right price,” I highly recommend them. Normally, I would have installed a 16” bar for a 45cc saw, but I had plenty of wood approaching 24 to 25” in diameter. I chose to install an 18” Woodsman Pro 1.3 mm narrow kerf bar and chain. If you have never tried that type of bar, which I purchased from Bailey’s Power and Equipment in California, I highly recommend it. The top plates are longer providing extra life and the chain really cuts well for semi chisel chain. I have many pro quality saws, but I must say that I am always impressed by the AV on these Echo CS-450 saws. I could bury the bar and maintain top engine rpm while cutting. There were plenty of knots in the wood as plenty of linear kick back was present. Unfortunately, I also successfully cut through a few nails found deep in the wood where I would not have suspected them to be hiding. Anyway, about 1.5 cords of wood later, the job was done, my back was biting me and my right shoulder felt like it was recovering from a stab wound. Guess I now remember why I don’t cut much wood anymore, but it felt great to let the wolf loose. Those Echo CS-450 saws are not light weights. I gave them honest evaluations with a scale that was calibrated with check weights. Usually, they weigh in between 11.47 and 11.53 pounds. Published weight is 11.2 pounds. Almost everybody cheats on the weight, so be warned. This saw is still lighter than a Poulan Wild Thing P4018WT or a Poulan Pro PP4218A, and is way more powerful. As a matter of fact, I would subjectively compare its cutting speed to a Stihl MS-290 provided it was equipped with a .063 gauge chain. The narrow kerf bar that I used, makes a difference. By the way, without a proper muffler mod and removing the carb limiters, this saw is like running your car with a muffler with a potato jammed up its exhaust pipe. The power increase from the muffler mod is definitely in the 30% - 40% range. Without the mod, It barely out cuts a stock Echo CS-400. Give it a try, you will like it for the money spent, provided you are careful when buying!
