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Petrol chainsaw


harrycatcat1
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the mrs and kids bought me a stilh ms170 about 3 years ago , i ran it for a while with a 12" bar , but now i run it with a 14" bar . i can honestly say that its the best power tool that ive ever owned , ive probably dropped around 50 trees with it , and ive probably used it to ring up 60 tons or more of wood for the fires , ive carved dozens of mushrooms and planters with it , and ive recently been using it to slab windfall oak , and to make benches. in all honesty , i expected it to last for one winter of log cutting but its been better than i could have ever imagined.

ive recently bought a 62cc chinese saw with a 24" bar, whilst it doesnt feel anywhere near as good as a stilh , it starts easily enough , and runs well , ill be trying it out over the next few weeks when i try to slab some larger oak logs.

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I've had a Stihl 170 since they first came out, gone through a fair number of chains. Cut a LOT of timber with it. My service engineer up graded it last time I needed a chain to a different bar and a proper chain, not the little 'non kick back' chain fitted as standard. These little saws where aimed at the hobby guy who just wanted to trim the odd bush/tree in his garden and cut up a few logs.  Can't fault them.  Whatever saw you have, pour in contaminated oil/fuel and the thing will get blocked up. Clean carefully around the filler caps before opening and make sure the funnel is also clean and free of debris.

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I'm a pro user of chainsaws a arborist by trade aka tree surgeon, so use saws every day  if you want a cheap tough reliable was with a bit of poke for its size the husqvarna 135, it's a 40cc saw 14 inch bar  2 year warranty there around £160 new i have had one since 2013 so if its lasted me 5 years and still going strong. Stihl quality is rather poor these days and the problem with the models below ms230  is they all have non adjustable oil flow pumps pre set and very weak flow rate thicker oil they don't like ok if on stihl bar oil nut its expensive. and i'm using saws that cost  from £160 to over a grand.

if anyone wants cheap chainsaw chains then go to northern arb supplies there chains are very good  and cheap  free delivery if you order 2 chains in one go. the chains hold their edge well are have oil holes on the drive links to help carry oil around the bar better 

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My 181 leaks chain oil on the garage floor if I leave it in the machine. (As per the recognised problem, just empty it out when not in use). 

The bigger machine (291) doesn’t drip any. 

I know quiet a few people with smaller stihl’s who’ve never had any problems.

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4 hours ago, harrycatcat1 said:

Just curious as why you think that Aldi would sell a substandard chainsaw and why it would be more dangerous than any other?

 I have several chainsaws from 12inch to 20inch.sthil and husqvarna one sthil is a 38v and must be twenty years old. I really can't understand how anyone can think they are getting a quality built machine for this price. When something lacks quality it is not safe. 

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7 minutes ago, bostonmick said:

 I have several chainsaws from 12inch to 20inch.sthil and husqvarna one sthil is a 38v and must be twenty years old. I really can't understand how anyone can think they are getting a quality built machine for this price. When something lacks quality it is not safe. 

A lot of folks either can't afford,or can't justify the cost of stihl or husky though mick , and most folks wouldn't be daft enough to think that cheap saws are of equal quality  , being cheap doesn't necessarily make them dangerous though ,a cheap Chinese saw that won't start wont do you much damage ?

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3 minutes ago, mel b3 said:

A lot of folks either can't afford,or can't justify the cost of stihl or husky though mick , and most folks wouldn't be daft enough to think that cheap saws are of equal quality  , being cheap doesn't necessarily make them dangerous though ,a cheap Chinese saw that won't start wont do you much damage ?

Can they afford to lose the use of a hand or worse. I have a brother in law who was a cheapo fan he bought a cheap saw the chain flew up and went across his face. He still has the scars today some thirty years later. And can't use one to this day. But each to their own. 

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2010 I bought a Chinese saw off eBay. £70 maybe? I spent more on trousers. 7 years later it gave up. Used for taking down a dozen 15’ leylandii trees, and halving another dozen.  Thereafter just sawing up firewood, not exactly heavy use after the initial tree felling. I figured I got value for money and no reliability issues. 

 

I bought another one and aside from knackering the chain (my fault), I’ve no issues so far.  That said if I had the cash or used chainsaws frequently I’d no doubt get a more expensive branded one. 

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Mick

kickback can happen with any saw, not just cheapos! Besides, you can have the best saw but use cheap chains- I’m no expert on chipper verses ripper chains etc.

Best that anyone using saws can do is invest in proper PPE

As above, I use Northern Arb for bulk buying five chains at a time :-)

 

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1 hour ago, Cant hit them all said:

I'm a pro user of chainsaws a arborist by trade aka tree surgeon, so use saws every day  if you want a cheap tough reliable was with a bit of poke for its size the husqvarna 135, it's a 40cc saw 14 inch bar  2 year warranty there around £160 new i have had one since 2013 so if its lasted me 5 years and still going strong. Stihl quality is rather poor these days and the problem with the models below ms230  is they all have non adjustable oil flow pumps pre set and very weak flow rate thicker oil they don't like ok if on stihl bar oil nut its expensive. and i'm using saws that cost  from £160 to over a grand.

if anyone wants cheap chainsaw chains then go to northern arb supplies there chains are very good  and cheap  free delivery if you order 2 chains in one go. the chains hold their edge well are have oil holes on the drive links to help carry oil around the bar better 

Not a pro but I had a husky (free) from a pro and it was great even though it was old, eventually it died and I`m noe using an Aldi, we shall see......

 

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8 hours ago, Jaymo said:

Mick

kickback can happen with any saw, not just cheapos! Besides, you can have the best saw but use cheap chains- I’m no expert on chipper verses ripper chains etc.

Best that anyone using saws can do is invest in proper PPE

As above, I use Northern Arb for bulk buying five chains at a time :-)

 

It wasn't kick back. The chain called. E away from the saw/bar. He was very lucky not to lose the sight in one eye. The adjuster gave out under the vibration. Also all those saying the ms170 is no good should remember they are not made to fell trees they are more for trimming small stuff and are excellent for this. 

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11 hours ago, bostonmick said:

 I have several chainsaws from 12inch to 20inch.sthil and husqvarna one sthil is a 38v and must be twenty years old. I really can't understand how anyone can think they are getting a quality built machine for this price. When something lacks quality it is not safe. 

Some may say that certain cars are not quality, would you still say they are not safe?

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16 minutes ago, harrycatcat1 said:

Some may say that certain cars are not quality, would you still say they are not safe?

I think you are trying to stretch a point. Cars are an entirely different thing. But yes they are just as dangerous when they fail and you and your family are sitting on the side of a motorway waiting for recovery. As has proved fatal many times. Maybe you can explain how a product can be manufactured thousands of miles away be transported go through many distributors hands onto the retailer at under 80 pounds. Other than they are built with no regard to safety in use. But if you are happy with this stuff then crack on. 

Just a thought but as you mentioned cars. I would go back to the early suzuki jeeps. You know ow the ones that would roll over at roundabouts. 

Edited by bostonmick
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1 hour ago, bostonmick said:

I think you are trying to stretch a point. Cars are an entirely different thing. But yes they are just as dangerous when they fail and you and your family are sitting on the side of a motorway waiting for recovery. As has proved fatal many times. Maybe you can explain how a product can be manufactured thousands of miles away be transported go through many distributors hands onto the retailer at under 80 pounds. Other than they are built with no regard to safety in use. But if you are happy with this stuff then crack on. 

Just a thought but as you mentioned cars. I would go back to the early suzuki jeeps. You know ow the ones that would roll over at roundabouts. 

Didn't they suspend the sales of the Suzuki jeeps until they found out what the problem was ?. Iirc they discovered that the problem was the type of driver ,young lads etc .

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I bought a Bosch AKE40 electric chainsaw to cut up a fallen tree in the garden over 10 years ago. Since then it gets used occasionally and recently chopped up about 2 tonnes of logs. Combined with a maul and log grenade it's all I've ever needed for garden duties. I pay an experienced tree surgeon for the serious stuff. Do fancy a petrol saw but 2 stroke can be temperamental if used infrequently.

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7 minutes ago, mel b3 said:

Didn't they suspend the sales of the Suzuki jeeps until they found out what the problem was ?. Iirc they discovered that the problem was the type of driver ,young lads etc .

In no way a cop out by the makers then. 

I wonder what land rovers excuse would be for the poor quality and reliability of their products is. Perhaps because you used it. And yes for my sins I do own one. I am amazed at the recent surge of quality control experts we now have. With shotguns it seems that Beretta and browning are poor and less reliable. Yet the bargain basement stuff is top notch. To get quality you have to pay for it. That's a fact of life. 

Edited by bostonmick
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The funny thing is that this thread has encouraged me to lightly service my saws (fuel filter, air filter and spark plug - I do the blades after every use anyway).

 

I have a decent dealer locally and asked them about the parts. To quote - they carry just about every part for just about about every saw, in fact they could actually build the most popular saws from the parts they have in stock. 

 

You wont get that with unbranded stuff (although as I’ve mentioned, I have no issue with them....)

Edited by markm
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2 hours ago, bostonmick said:

In no way a cop out by the makers then. 

I wonder what land rovers excuse would be for the poor quality and reliability of their products is. Perhaps because you used it. And yes for my sins I do own one. I am amazed at the recent surge of quality control experts we now have. With shotguns it seems that Beretta and browning are poor and less reliable. Yet the bargain basement stuff is top notch. To get quality you have to pay for it. That's a fact of life. 

Iirc ,it was the government that blocked the sales ,and the government that did the research.

It does stand to reason that more expensive things are more likely to be of good quality, but that still doesn't mean that cheap things suffer from safety issues.

I wrecked a couple of bosch electric chainsaws , and had tensioner failures on both of them ,both wrecked saws were down to me being a clumsy ham fisted oaf. 

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5 minutes ago, mel b3 said:

Iirc ,it was the government that blocked the sales ,and the government that did the research.

It does stand to reason that more expensive things are more likely to be of good quality, but that still doesn't mean that cheap things suffer from safety issues.

I wrecked a couple of bosch electric chainsaws , and had tensioner failures on both of them ,both wrecked saws were down to me being a clumsy ham fisted oaf. 

The Suzuki was built as a small off road vehicle. They certainly were off the road once they had laid down on roundabouts and bends. This does make me wonder why do I not see roundabouts littered with double decker buses as these are top heavy. Yet they can be thrown around the skid pan and still remain on their wheels. But back to the cheap chainsaws if you are happy with them that's all that matters. Just hope you don't live to regret it. 

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I've had a cheapy Chinese chainsaw (badged as Spear & Jackson) for about 10 years now. Cost me £70 odd, and has cut 30 or 40m3 of logs in that time. Bit hard to start sometimes but it keeps going, cuts well with a sharp chain and does the job fine for me. Never needed any parts for mine, so parts availability hasn't been an issue! Should imagine I could get an air filter and spark plug if I need...

Edited by sandspider
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20 hours ago, scotslad said:

 

I said earlier i wouldn't reccommend the cheap stihl/husky saws as are just rebadged with there stickers on.

 

Rebadged what, exactly?!

Stihl saws are 100% Stihl saws, the smaller 'homeowner' saws are very plastic, but they are still Stihls. They pride themselves on making everything in house - saws, bars and chains!

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3 hours ago, bostonmick said:

The Suzuki was built as a small off road vehicle. They certainly were off the road once they had laid down on roundabouts and bends. This does make me wonder why do I not see roundabouts littered with double decker buses as these are top heavy. Yet they can be thrown around the skid pan and still remain on their wheels. But back to the cheap chainsaws if you are happy with them that's all that matters. Just hope you don't live to regret it. 

A double decker can lean over more than you can before it falls over. Quite amazing. 

I once saw a small soft top suzuki fail to make it round a corner near me. It just flipped over like a child had kicked a toy. 

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3 hours ago, mel b3 said:

I wrecked a couple of bosch electric chainsaws , and had tensioner failures on both of them ,both wrecked saws were down to me being a clumsy ham fisted oaf. 

I disagree - I too wrecked a bosch the same way - having taken it apart the captive nut that holds the tensioning bolt is only in a thin plastic restraint so any less than full tight the bar slips.   So if there is any oil on the bar you cannot tighten sufficiently to grip without risking breaking the restraint.  I think this is a design failure not a user failure.

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To be fair most safety issues are operator errors, poor technique/lack of common sense/training or running chains too slack, under oiled, rakers at wrong hieght (esp too low), but on a very cheap chain saws these could be issues throu design or cheap materials.

Are u going to trust the chain tensioner to hold chain 100% tight all the time, or the chain catcher to actually catch the chain if only screwed into thin cheap plastic?

Inertia brake to come on that 1 time it needs too, or the chain brake to work with no drama's (i know on my cheapy saw chain break has to be very clean or else a pain so u end up not using it. which is not a clever thing to do)

Slack chain is 1 of the most dangerous things u can do, yet see plenty of farmers etc come out with a decent make of chainsaw yet chain hanging loose, so not solely down to saw brand

 

I'm not saying buy a pro saw or even a decent make (as i've said there budget saws are generally rubbish) but plenty of decent saw makes out there for 100+ quid, saws that should be reliable ish and have some spares and repair

A 70 quid saw is just a gamble wether u get a good 1 or not, if it breaks most will either chuck it and gamble again (dunno how many can find a recipt after 2-3 yrs?) but for an extra 20-50 quid u'd get a not bad little saw

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