Makita 6100. Is it still good for a gimpy old guy?

[Gravy]

And, I LOVE it. Ridiculously easy to start, even cold. Way more power than the old 488. I'm confident it will pull a 24" bar/chain combination well enough to handle the big ends of the old oaks that I have previously had to leave to rot.

 

[davidwyby]

Great! I bet it will. Some have talked about running 28”…haven’t tried on my ported one yet, but it pulls 24” in oak easily.
Just got a 7900 ported by @huskihl…gobs of torque!

 

[Fatherwheels]

I would stay away from any Makita or Dolmar saw,
Makita who own Dolmar are stopping production of
gas / petrol saws from early this year.
I had two new Makita EA4300 saws and sold them because
I read where people needed crank seals and bearings
and were having a nightmare looking for them.
The best saw out there for the money is the Echo CS590,
and they still make them, parts are plentiful.

 

[Gravy]

I would stay away from any Makita or Dolmar saw,
Makita who own Dolmar are stopping production of
gas / petrol saws from early this year.
I had two new Makita EA4300 saws and sold them because
I read where people needed crank seals and bearings
and were having a nightmare looking for them.
The best saw out there for the money is the Echo CS590,
and they still make them, parts are plentiful.

I already bought the 6100. At 66, I'm not particularly worried about it wearing out before I do. The stories of parts shortages are likely Covid/Suez Canal supply chain issues rather than lack of OEM support since the saws are still current production. I'm confident that repair parts will remain available for years to come, pretending that I will actually need them. Makita is not a stupid company and they won't piss off a bunch of loyal customers by immediately dropping all parts support for ICE equipment. Yeah, pro loggers should probably transition to another brand, but firewood cutters like me don't need to do anything drastic.

 

[Fatherwheels]

I already bought the 6100. At 66, I'm not particularly worried about it wearing out before I do. The stories of parts shortages are likely Covid/Suez Canal supply chain issues rather than lack of OEM support since the saws are still current production. I'm confident that repair parts will remain available for years to come, pretending that I will actually need them. Makita is not a stupid company and they won't piss off a bunch of loyal customers by immediately dropping all parts support for ICE equipment. Yeah, pro loggers should probably transition to another brand, but firewood cutters like me don't need to do anything drastic.

Here is just one post where a guy is having trouble getting parts,
https://www.arboristsite.com/thread...-for-makita-dolmar.355011/page-5#post-7676541There is already a shortage of parts for the Makita saws, they simply can not be got, the dealers can not get them. Certain models fare better than others, mainly the larger saws that aftermarket parts were made for and are still available for, I know dealers who kept the last of their small saws just to break them for parts, because they could not get the parts they required from Makita.
And another post,
https://www.arboristsite.com/thread...al-bearing-removal.353403/page-6#post-7636321I owned a 6100 in both colors, great saws, sad to see Makita gave up.

 

[davidwyby]

There are lots of saws out there that are discontinued but still running due to used and aftermarket parts. Bearings and seals can generally be bought from industrial supply houses by size, OEM is not necessary,

 

[Fatherwheels]

There are lots of saws out there that are discontinued but still running due to used and aftermarket parts. Bearings and seals can generally be bought from industrial supply houses by size, OEM is not necessary,

OEM sometimes make non standard items, I fear this is the case with the 420 / 421 /4300 saws, some info says they started with the bearing and seal as a unit,
then it was two separate items, the cases changed too, so all in all a nightmare
getting info that is accurate and without such parts are no easy to locate, many
are trying to get parts for those two saws, Stihl and Husqvarna, completely different story, the one thing I have learned since Covid seems to have upended everything is, stick with the popular brands that have the most products in circulation.
I took a shot on Makita, took another shot on a cheap efco, never again,
I will be sticking to the big two.

 

[davidwyby]

I'm willing to risk it, love my ported Dollies, they are bad mamma-jammas.

 

[Gravy]

I'm willing to risk it, love my ported Dollies, they are bad mamma-jammas.

And since mine will just be used to cut a few cords of wood a year and do any needed storm cleanup, I'm just not inclined to worry about it. I also suspect the current shortage of particular parts is due to Covid rather than the announced coming discontinuation. I expect that Makita will continue parts support for at least a few years. That's just normal business practice for any company that doesn't want to piss off it's customer base.

Anyway, I'm really happy with the saw. Got the 24" bar & chains yesterday, so I'm set up for the big wood whenever I get to it.

 

[davidwyby]

I'm a bit late on this but I recently got a 24" narrow kerf bar and chain for mine, like it!

 

[Franny K]

Small mount bar, small spline sprockets, inboard clutch. Can run NK .325 chain 7 or 8 tooth drive. Rather skeptical about NK bars more than 20". Some 20 inch NK bars seem 78dl some 80.

 

[davidwyby]

20" NK, I need to do some tweaking to get an 8 or 9 pin on the 24" bar which is actually 3/8" LoPro. I have run it on my ported 2156 (357xp) and was very happy.



Contrast that speed to this: (I should have been wearing chaps!!)

 

[Gabriel1982]

I'm not actually looking at the 6400 series saws. They are downsized 7900s. The reason I asked about the 6100 is that it seems to be exceptionally easy to start, with a spring-loaded pull-start mechanism and an ignition coil that allegedly makes a good spark at low rpm, thus making it really easy to start, and might have the power to occasionally work with a 24 inch bar and skip chain so I can buck up the odd old-growth oak tree, even if it's a bit slow.

As far as I can tell, the 6400-7900 series saws are completely different animals from the 6100, with nearly no interchangeable parts. Seems that the large frame Dolkitas require multiple good hard yanks to start. Much as I would like the power, I can't yank that hard any more without tearing more bits loose that will likely never heal. I would actually prefer a 70cc saw if I could start it without doing further irreparable damage to my shoulders. But I haven't found any easy-start big saws, so I'm looking at easy-start medium saws. I'm not sure how this thread turned into a discussion about a completely different class of saw.

So, what do you folks think about the Makita 6100? Are there other comparable saws that have similar power and that can be started without tearing slow-healing shoulder bits? I maybe haven't previously mentioned it, but at age 66, I don't necessarily need a saw that will survive another 20 years of all day every day usage. I'm cutting firewood and maintaining 9 steep rocky acres.

Hello gravy. I have new Makita EA6100P ,I been struggling to empty that 800ml gas tank ,its first gas tank. And as for starting goes,I switch the start lever to the most up position (choke) pull the cord slow to get as close to a full pull and do 2 times that with the choke position. After that just switch to middle position and it starts first time every time. The bottom lever position is to stop the chainsaw. As I said its brand new ,I barely emptied its first gas tank just cutting small branches 2 inch diameter at most plus idle and some revving ,not full throttle just middle . I haven't got wood to cut yet but for what I used it it's very "nervous" in the cut or revved in hand. It might have 4,7horses after all . I forgot to mention: this is my first ever chainsaw , I'm new to these wood cutting things. Struggle to find a way to break in the saw. Am using synthetic Motul 2T 800 offroad oil for premix with gas!
Was "aiming" for the EA7900p50 but am very thankfull I found this makita AT ALL since they aren't made anymore! Hard to find Makita chainsaws in Romania...So far I like this EA6100P as is. I bet it was the last one on sale in all country Will post here photos videos of actual log cutting later.

 

[Gabriel1982]

20" NK, I need to do some tweaking to get an 8 or 9 pin on the 24" bar which is actually 3/8" LoPro. I have run it on my ported 2156 (357xp) and was very happy.



Contrast that speed to this: (I should have been wearing chaps!!)

David, help me out with some advice on breaking in a new Makita EA6100P so far I almost used 1 tank of gas. Don't have yet wood to cut. Mostly firewood usually 10-20 inch diameter (50cm diameter logs). Maybe this year will get smaller size diameter for the sake of the brand new chainsaw...
So far I'm using 95 octane very fresh gas and 25-30ml of Motul 2T 800 offroad synthetic premix oil. Not revving the $hit out of it with no cutting but sadly that's all it's seen so far... Tommorow I'll try to use the rest of the 5 liter gas canister ,maybe 4 liters in there but might take me the whole day at best since this saw barely uses any gas... Hours and hours of either idle or revving up to the middle of the rpm range... Thanks.
P.s. second video was soo fast cutting... Impressive chainsaw that 3120...

 

[Gabriel1982]

25-30ml of oil to 1 liter of gasoline! Forgot to mention...

 

[Gabriel1982]

Hello fellow californian @calamari
I have a ported 6100. Most powerful, easiest starting saw there is to my knowledge.
I wouldn't worry too much about parts availability for a while. I figure there are enough of them floating around to find parts from our fellow forum members.
Here is a video another fellow made.

You mention in a youtube comment that breaking in the 6100 took the longest out of any saw. Just how long it took ? And how did you did it? I'm really new to gas saws and so far have burned just 1 tank of gas with Makita EA6100P... barely cut some 2 inch branches around the garden...
Screenshot with your comment is below

 

[Gabriel1982]

here's my EA6100P as for videos, I'll have to see where I can upload them. no google or youtube account

 

[calamari]

here's my EA6100P as for videos, I'll have to see where I can upload them. no google or youtube account

From just my own experience with my 6100, the most important thing with it when new was to bring it up to operating temp before you do any heavy cutting and then use it the way you intend to from then on. If you've run almost a tank of gas through it (amazing how long a tank lasts! It's easy to think something is wrong with the saw for a couple of seconds when it runs out because you've forgotten all about fuel by then) I don't think you need to do more than warm it up now and go. The engine has to be under a load to seat the rings properly. You can give it more frequent cool down periods at first but with a tank through it now I'd say it's no longer needed. You should put a load on it even if you're just cutting a few biscuits off a single log.
The saw calls for 89 octane gasoline. You don't gain anything by running a higher octane and only spend more money. It's only pennies but it's not needed.
The fuel tank is the whole handle assembly and bottom of the saw. It's made out of plastic and, although very tough, is subject to wear and cracking if you put the saw on the ground and put your foot through the handle to start it. I didn't figure out I was doing it wrong by pulling hard on the first two pulls to prime it with the choke and then yanking on the third one to start it. It's what I'd always done and it did start but the compression was high enough the pull made the saw unstable during the process. Then I saw a video on this site (It might have been from davidwyby) that showed him just making the first two pulls very slow with no more speed than what you'd use if you wanted to let the compression just leak past the piston, push the lever down to fast idle and pull it slowly again. Starts every time w/o my normal yanking and I can just hold it down with my hand on saw's handle so no potential damage to the plastic tank.
Tanks are still available and I'm going to buy one now to have a spare just in case.
Take great care in all other things. You've got a mad man loose in your neighborhood. Stay safe.

 

[Gabriel1982]

What "mad man in my neighbourhood"?! I was doing it as in manual ,starting it on the ground with the foot in the handle. But I discovered by chance I can start it cold or warm even in my right hand and pull with the left hand. It's a very easy to start chainsaw! Am impressed so far!
Next chainsaw will be 3120XP

 

[calamari]

What "mad man in my neighbourhood"?! I was doing it as in manual ,starting it on the ground with the foot in the handle. But I discovered by chance I can start it cold or warm even in my right hand and pull with the left hand. It's a very easy to start chainsaw! Am impressed so far!
Next chainsaw will be 3120XP

You say you're located in Romania. That has a common border with Ukraine. Putin is the mad man. There is a war in Ukraine.