To say I’ve had bad luck in the chainsaw department is a bit of an understatement. So far I’ve had two auction special saws die on me and now fall/winter is coming. So today at work I bought a saw … a Stihl MS260 with a 20 inch bar to be exact. As you can see from the video below it really does work! It just took a little to get it going for the first time.
Captain, who works on the Stihl side of the store, was nice enough to take the video for me. As I mentioned in the video, I think this saw will get me through the winter, and many more to come.
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Way to go Ethan! I know it cost a pretty penny but Stihls are great saws. Of all the brands we used when I worked for a local tree service Stihls always held there own and as far as I know they are still using some of them and it’s now 10 years later.
Good luck with it and don’t forget to get yourself some chaps. They seem a bit silly at first but once you realize they might just save one of your legs it all seems worth it.
We have a Husqvarna Rancher and like it. I think we’ve had it for 10 or 12 years but I’m not sure.
We used to sharpen our chains by hand and then once in a while took them in for machine sharpening. We got a machine sharpener that is bench mounted last year and have been very pleased with it. See:
http://flashweb.com/blog/2009/08/chainsaw-chain-sharpener.html
Work safely what ever saw you have. Wear chaps and all the good stuff.
Be safe, don’t drop start a saw.
Congrats, and that should make your fall wood harvest that much easier. A good chainsaw is priceless! Wish I had the wisdom to wear chaps when I was growing up, could have saved me some pain. And also, watch out for those exhausts, I have a permanent L shaped scar on my arm, burned right through my shirt. (don’t ask how my arm landed on the exhaust cause I don’t know).
Keep those safety tips and accident stories coming everyone!! I know Ethan is careful when he uses the saws, but I still don’t like them!!
Sincerely,
Ethan’s Wife 🙂
The “best” accident story I have is when I was cutting up some big pecan trees that had been knocked down by a tornado. I had an old, stretched (but still sharp) chain on the saw because the limbs were in a jumble on the ground and I didn’t want to ruin a good chain.
After a couple of hours, I had stopped to fill the chainsaw with fuel and chain oil one last time, and didn’t take the time to check if the chain needed tightening (those roller tip bars always fool you). A few minutes after I started cutting, the saw threw the chain, whipped it across my knee, ripped my jeans, and I felt what I thought was blood pouring down my leg.
After my heart had done a few back-flips, I found out that the “blood” was warm chain oil spurting out of the saw after the thrown chain had somehow knocked the filler cap loose.
The only thing to be learned from that is to check and tighten the chain every time you stop to fuel up the chainsaw, regularly check the tightness of the filler caps on the fuel and oil, throw away chains before they get stretched at all (helps your bar last longer too), and you are more likely to get hurt when you are tired (or “I’m not lazy, I’m just trying to stay safe by sitting in this comfy chair”).
The Stihl chainsaw rocks. I own 2 of them. You won’t be disappointed!
First off, let me add my “welcome back” to the ones already voiced on your last post…it’s good to hear from you again Ethan!
By the way, I second the chaps recommendation (cue painful memory music)…
My father and I were cutting fallen trees one October afternoon up in the hills above my home in NY. I was working the saw while Dad stacked the chunks for further splitting. At one point I reached a part of the trunk with several larger limbs still attached, which were in my way. In order to cut the limbs off, I had to hold them slightly out of the way, and I (naturally) chose to step on the limbs with one foot while cutting them off where they met the trunk.
This worked pretty good for the first few, but then I reached a stubborn branch and had to put a little more pressure on the saw to make the cut. At the perfect moment, the branch gave way and the saw slipped, slicing across my left shin! I felt a pretty good tug on my leg as the saw bit in, and some pain, but I was able to get the saw shut down and check out the damage.
All I was wearing was jeans, which were of course torn pretty good. When I pulled up my left pants leg, I saw where the saw had contacted my leg. It had taken the extremely thin layer of skin over my shin and “curly-cued” it. Amazingly, the saw never contacted bone…literally saving major damage and perhaps my leg by mere millimeters! God is good!
The best part of that story is that my dad took one look at my battle wound and told me to walk down to the house to tell my mom (about 1.5 miles) while he finished cutting up the tree! I know you don’t appreciate any ammo your wife is getting from these stories, or the money you are losing by having to buy a set of chaps, but I’m just trying to look out for your best interests (and your shins)!
Yup, Chaps are great. I try not to do any cutting without wearing them. Also a face screen with hearing protection. My toes sigh with relief when I put my steel toed and kevlar protected boots on also.. I have a couple of Sthils but my main saw is a Husky Rancher. Waiting for some one to invent the electric starter for a chainsaw!
It’s great to have a neighbor back!
I realize this is a very old post, but wondering how the Stihl is doing? I’m currently looking into new saws and asked on my blog over at https://oc-outdoors.blogspot.com/
Would you say the Stihl is worth the extra cost compared to some of the lesser known brands?
Kyle