Bill Edgar
ArboristSite Lurker
I have been fishing around this site for a few days and thought I would post a few questions. I am an inexperienced sawyer at best but I have been around chainsaws most of my life. When I was about 11 my grandfather and I started clearing 80 acres in southwest Missouri. We started with a log truck and cut sawlogs off of it till all the big stuff was gone. Then we sold the truck, bought a flatbed and started cutting cord wood for a charcoal kiln. By the time I was in high school we were cutting firewood in a pick-up truck. When I graduated and moved away it was an excellent cattle pasture. No heavy equipment touched that land.
I rarely used the saws, I got to do the fun stuff, brush piling, loading, servicing and refueling the saws then carrying them back to the woods. So that is my experience with chainsaws, until about 4 years ago when I ran on to a 038AV in a pawn shop for $80. I thought “I need a saw” so I bought it. I replaced the oiler worm gear and cut a few ricks of firewood with it.
2 years ago I got the opportunity to buy an overgrown 40 acres here in Oklahoma and I thought maybe I could do like my grandfather and I did when I was younger. I bought the land, grabbed the 038 and went to work. The timber down here is a little smaller than up in Missouri but there are some good sized post oaks and red oaks. Most of it is hickory and blackjack, with quite a bit of cedar. My idea is to have the red oaks sawed into flooring for the house, and to sell some cedar logs and make fence posts with the little stuff. Then sell the junk oak and hickory as firewood.
After about 6 months of using the 038 it really became a chore to use. It is awfully heavy and stopped idling. It also would take a half dozen pulls to start when it would die. It became pretty exhausting. So I went up to the local Stihl shop to see if I could have it worked on. He raved about what a great saw it was, then said it was older than I was and that we could never find parts for it. He then sold me a new MS290 with the advice that it won’t last a lifetime like the 038 and is not nearly has powerful but it will not wear me out and cut anything as long as I don’t burn the clutch up. (I know I am a sucker)
Fast forward to last weekend, I was out clearing a bunch of brush and elm saplings. I would take the 290 and cut down stuff too big for the brush hog then set the saw out of the way and mow down the brush. You know what happened next, WHAM, I ran over the saw with the brush hog. It disintegrated; I had to pick up the pieces in a 5 gallon bucket. Back at the house, I was consoling myself in a few beers when I thought, “I wonder if the 038 will start?” I walked out to the barn and grabbed the 038 which had been sitting on the shelf for over a year in a puddle of bar oil. I put fresh gas in it and pulled it about a dozen times before it busted off. (Note: Alcohol and saws don’t mix I know but the 038 was missing its bar and chain) I reved it up a few times. Man, I had forgotten how well that thing would run it is no comparison to the 290. I set the saw on the ground and it promptly died. I grabbed the pull rope and it broke.
So oops I destroyed my new saw and I am starting over from scratch. Do you think I should fix up the 038? Now that I know I can actually get parts for it, I was thinking instead of buying another midrange saw I would buy a small saw and restore the 038 for the big stuff. I borrowed a cheapy little echo from a buddy once and that thing was a dream to cut firewood with. If you think that is a good idea do you have any recommendations on a good small saw, new or used? I’m not set on a Stihl. My grandpa used to carry around a big Husqvarna 4?? XP all day and I don’t know how he did it. There is an 028 on craigslist here for $200? Should I go smaller there is also an 011? The echo was tiny and had a 14 inch bar on it and was a breeze to use.
I rarely used the saws, I got to do the fun stuff, brush piling, loading, servicing and refueling the saws then carrying them back to the woods. So that is my experience with chainsaws, until about 4 years ago when I ran on to a 038AV in a pawn shop for $80. I thought “I need a saw” so I bought it. I replaced the oiler worm gear and cut a few ricks of firewood with it.
2 years ago I got the opportunity to buy an overgrown 40 acres here in Oklahoma and I thought maybe I could do like my grandfather and I did when I was younger. I bought the land, grabbed the 038 and went to work. The timber down here is a little smaller than up in Missouri but there are some good sized post oaks and red oaks. Most of it is hickory and blackjack, with quite a bit of cedar. My idea is to have the red oaks sawed into flooring for the house, and to sell some cedar logs and make fence posts with the little stuff. Then sell the junk oak and hickory as firewood.
After about 6 months of using the 038 it really became a chore to use. It is awfully heavy and stopped idling. It also would take a half dozen pulls to start when it would die. It became pretty exhausting. So I went up to the local Stihl shop to see if I could have it worked on. He raved about what a great saw it was, then said it was older than I was and that we could never find parts for it. He then sold me a new MS290 with the advice that it won’t last a lifetime like the 038 and is not nearly has powerful but it will not wear me out and cut anything as long as I don’t burn the clutch up. (I know I am a sucker)
Fast forward to last weekend, I was out clearing a bunch of brush and elm saplings. I would take the 290 and cut down stuff too big for the brush hog then set the saw out of the way and mow down the brush. You know what happened next, WHAM, I ran over the saw with the brush hog. It disintegrated; I had to pick up the pieces in a 5 gallon bucket. Back at the house, I was consoling myself in a few beers when I thought, “I wonder if the 038 will start?” I walked out to the barn and grabbed the 038 which had been sitting on the shelf for over a year in a puddle of bar oil. I put fresh gas in it and pulled it about a dozen times before it busted off. (Note: Alcohol and saws don’t mix I know but the 038 was missing its bar and chain) I reved it up a few times. Man, I had forgotten how well that thing would run it is no comparison to the 290. I set the saw on the ground and it promptly died. I grabbed the pull rope and it broke.
So oops I destroyed my new saw and I am starting over from scratch. Do you think I should fix up the 038? Now that I know I can actually get parts for it, I was thinking instead of buying another midrange saw I would buy a small saw and restore the 038 for the big stuff. I borrowed a cheapy little echo from a buddy once and that thing was a dream to cut firewood with. If you think that is a good idea do you have any recommendations on a good small saw, new or used? I’m not set on a Stihl. My grandpa used to carry around a big Husqvarna 4?? XP all day and I don’t know how he did it. There is an 028 on craigslist here for $200? Should I go smaller there is also an 011? The echo was tiny and had a 14 inch bar on it and was a breeze to use.
