I don't think there is one
I hope this doesn't end up in the chainsaw forum because I would like to hear from firewood folks. What is the best chainsaw for firewood.Right out of the box, fuel and oil, fire her up and cut.No mods or all that.Would like to hear all opinions
Really, I don't. Firewood, and I can only comment on eastern hardwoods, just comes in way too many sizes for a one saw plan. You can do it of course, but you'll be compromising all over the place. Unless you are completely and totally wasteful and never take any limbs and branches and only cut trunks. Or vice versa. You really need two different saws, a trim saw for that great pile of "don't need no splittin" size you can get from most hardwoods, and a beefier felling and bucking saw for the main trunk and the thicker parts of the branches.
With that said, I'll "echo" the sentiment on a 60 cc saw as the best possible compromise for a one saw plan. Because a good two saw plan, according to the bulk of the commentary I have read anyway, is 40-50 cc then a 70, so a 60 falls in there. Just have a couple/three bar sizes and loops with you then, say a sixteen and a twenty or even a twenty four.
I don't have the experience on all the various brands to pick one over another, so I won't. I will say this, I have cut a *lot* of firewood in my life with used smaller cheap saws. Saws that no one really wanted, ten and twenty buck saws.
Chain sharpness and technique is like adding 30 ccs, something like that, to your saw. I still to this day cut the bulk of my personal firewood with a 36cc "homeowner" saw! And I can and do cut upwards of twenty inch thick trunks with it, cutting from both sides. I burn around 4.5 to 5 cord a year, and last year cut around seven, as I am trying to build up the stash to several years in advance.
I just watch my chips. When they start getting smaller, I slow down, when they get to around half the size of what I was getting on the first cuts, that's it, I resharpen. And I don't even use the expensive "pro" chain, I run used old crappy homeowner safety chain (not kidding, I get them free or for like a buck outta the junk pile at the shop in town), I just file the rakers and safety link bumps down a scosh all the time. I give the cutters enough room to grab, but not be overly aggressive, no sense beating on a little engine like that.
Fuel mileage is *great* with the smaller saws as well, another bonus.
And I milk trees out, take a lot of the smaller stuff. What is left over is easy to run over with a rotary mower, that's my dividing line, down to what I can break with my hands or stomp with my boots, that's small enough to not matter mowing over it, and gives me a lot more wood per tree to take home, with another bonus of not needing to split so much to make my stacks big. Ya, takes a little more time, but I love sawing and running a lighter weight saw is a breeze.
Also I just don't like being wasteful, and I don't like branch piles anyplace, I look at them and go "yeech, one year from now will be a weed mess there". Don't need it, rather have nice pasture, and don't do burn piles, so I cut down to small size.
Right now on this whole farm I only have one small pile I need to go through again, cut some more out of it, and a small fence area I need to do the same to, the rest, you can't hardly tell where I have cut, because I leave so little. When I get done I want to be able to drive a tractor over the area and not worry about tires, snagging hydraulic lines, that sort of thing.
So..that's ME, it ain't YOU, your situation could be radically different, so only you can answer what size of saw you need. And there's a difference between "need" and "want" to consider as well.
How much do you cut? What species and size? How much time can you spend at the woodlot milking out a tree? How many cords a year do you need? What size do your burn pieces need to be? Can you afford a pro saw and then only use it for your own personal wood, so it will last a long time? If not, is used "good enough" and spend the savings someplace else, like truck fuel and insurance? New saws ain't cheap....Can you do all your own maintenance, or if it breaks, does it have to go to the sixty buck an hour shop?
And new saws today I definitely do NOT trust them as they come with stock carb settings. Not from anyone. Now maybe those new "autotune" carbs are spiffy, I just don't know, maybe those saws can be run stock with few issues. No experience with them at all.
If warranty is a good thing for you, the best out there I am aware of are echos and tanakas, five and seven years. AFAIK husky and stihl are only two years, and I forget makita/dolmar. Get one from a dealer, let them set it up, then run it as instructed, then have them retune it after how many tanks they suggest.
That is probably your best bet for a personal firewood one saw plan, if buying brand new.
Now buying used is totally different, your best bet there is any of the old traditional talked about pro saws where aftermarket parts are cheap and plentiful and all the little nuances have been well worked out already, so you have work arounds for the "gotchas".
I like your question, though, and would like an answer as well, but we have no real scientific independent reviews. A real review would consist of total tear downs, metallurgy testing, other stress testing, etc, magnafluxing of all the parts, and etc, right down to the last bolt and bearing. Plus analysis of over all design. Doesn't exist, no one does it.(well, the big companies do it but keep the results secret...) A real engineering review, just slap don't exist no place I have seen where any random joe saw buyer can see it.
The best we have to go on is anecdotal reports from people who can have HUGE differences in sawing technique and types of wood they cut, and "builders" who do a tear down and post some pics. And we have no idea on any of the this year model saws, the latest advanced designs, they haven't been out long enough to see if they will really hold up! They may cut like a banshee for a year or two, then turn out the framis valve blows and impacts the dojammer relay and ..whatever. who knoweth...
The most reliable would be..a modern cross cut with a good set of files and a set tool. Wouldn't be the fastest, but would be the most reliable, hands down.
uttahere2:
