Volunteer said:
My Sunday School class is putting together a chain saw crew to start traveling to storm areas to help people out. My question is what size/brand saws would we need to acquire? I was thinking about MS390 or Husky 365. I already have 018c and 025 and was wanting to get a bigger saw also. I will acquire a total of approx 6 saws. Recommendations will be appreciated.
If I needed six saws to clean up storm damage and was thinking Stihl or Husky, I'd go with something like two good hand saws, three 350s, and a 372xp/385xp/MS460/MS660 (maybe a used 288xp or 046?). A 3cu in saw with a 16" bar would be better for limbing than a 4cu in saw with a longer bar and can still buck wood a little over 2' in diameter. One larger saw might be needed to get the wood safely on the ground and buck the larger stuff.
IMHO, a MS390 or 365 is going to be heavier and more expensive than needed for most of the work and not quite big enough for some. No sense spending extra $$ and wear out the volunteers carrying around heavier saws than needed for the job.
Don't forget six pair of chaps, six eye/ear/head protection helmets, a half dozen extra loops of 16" chain for the 350s, an extra bar, a couple of file guides, a couple air filters, a few dozen 3/16" files, a dozen 7/32" files, a dozen raker files, a dozen gallons of bar oil, a bunch of 2 gallon gas cans, etc. Perhaps you could get a business to donate some consumables to the church if you buy all the saws and chaps from them?