Hi all. I've been lurking on this site for a few days and wanted to post some background and a question.
I'm new to chainsaws. Actually, I don't even have mine yet. I won an Ebay auction for a new Echo CS-400, but haven't yet received it. I did do some research and even handled some other brands (inlcluding several Husqvarna models), but the Echo CS-370 and 400 just "spoke" to me I guess. So I thought I'd go with the bigger model.
This urge to finally acquire a saw (after 40 years of life in WY and MT) came after the power company recently removed two of my large cottonwood trees. I asked them to leave the larger branches and stumps for me. So I now have what appears to be several chords' worth of firewood. They cut most of the limbs and trunks in about 2-3 foot lenghts. I have a small, new (uninstalled) woodstove with a 14" door. So I need to chop these things up to about 1 foot lengths. Most of the wood are limbs, roughly 6" in diameter. Those are the reason I picked a smaller saw. There are some trunk peices in the 2.5' diameter range. But I figure that I'll deal with those later, after I've practiced on the small limbs.
I am contemplating getting a 16" Oregon blade and chain and installing that right-off, even before trying the standard 18" set that comes on the CS-400. Would you recommend doing that? I've heard that it might give me more control and power to use the shorter blade. Is this correct?
Sorry for asking such a noob question and sorry for such a long post. I hate being a noob...
I'm new to chainsaws. Actually, I don't even have mine yet. I won an Ebay auction for a new Echo CS-400, but haven't yet received it. I did do some research and even handled some other brands (inlcluding several Husqvarna models), but the Echo CS-370 and 400 just "spoke" to me I guess. So I thought I'd go with the bigger model.
This urge to finally acquire a saw (after 40 years of life in WY and MT) came after the power company recently removed two of my large cottonwood trees. I asked them to leave the larger branches and stumps for me. So I now have what appears to be several chords' worth of firewood. They cut most of the limbs and trunks in about 2-3 foot lenghts. I have a small, new (uninstalled) woodstove with a 14" door. So I need to chop these things up to about 1 foot lengths. Most of the wood are limbs, roughly 6" in diameter. Those are the reason I picked a smaller saw. There are some trunk peices in the 2.5' diameter range. But I figure that I'll deal with those later, after I've practiced on the small limbs.
I am contemplating getting a 16" Oregon blade and chain and installing that right-off, even before trying the standard 18" set that comes on the CS-400. Would you recommend doing that? I've heard that it might give me more control and power to use the shorter blade. Is this correct?
Sorry for asking such a noob question and sorry for such a long post. I hate being a noob...