Got a John Deere made by Echo been in alot of use since 1980 I believe

I was about to make a recommendation. Then I realized that I had no idea of your budget. No matter. Find a 50-70cc professional husty or stihl. New or used, don't much matter, just know it will need service. Can you do it? Do you need to rely on a dealer? That, my friend is all you need to know to make a decision.

Lots of great ideas and options. Im going to do some research on the saws mentioned and do some shopping. Thanks for the help!

+1
Or MS250, the MS 261 is the commercial version of the MS 250 so just depends what your doing. Im on my 2nd 250 in 10 years or so but use them hard, have a 391 and a 460 for the bigger stuff also. My next one will be a 261. A buddy who cuts a lot has one and loves it for power vrs weight ratio.

Dolmar is another brand to look at. They did stop making saws last spring but parts should be available for many years and hopefully someone will start selling aftermarket parts for them. My 6100p is a very dependable saw and is perfectly matched with a 20" bar. It will also pull a 24" no problem.

ived owned huskys and stihl for the most part, 2 years ago i bought a echo cs590 with a 20" bar because i got sick of working on my husky 266xp and the husky was a absolute pain to pull start. ive used the echo for 100% of my firewood production (except when i pinch the saw then i run the husky 61 to get the echo out) for the last 2 years (30 cord because of storm damage on my 40) and it has done everything i have asked for it plus some, i would run the echo next to any other saw in its class. I recently inherited a stihl ms362 and granted i havent run it much but so far i like the way the echo feels and for the $400 i paid for the echo 2 years ago i would buy another if anything bad happened to my current one. I also sold the 266xp since the echo took its place.

saws i own:
husky 61 16" bar, 18" bar and 20" bar(older saw, seems heavy, tempermental to start)
husky 136 14" bar (rides on 4 wheeler a lot)
stihl ms362 20" bar (runs excellent but im not a fan of the kill switch and doesnt ballance well for me for some reason)
mcculloch (cant remember the model but its old and vibrates terribly, runs excellent, heavy)18" bar
craftsman model? 16" bar (given to me and sits in the cabinet but runs good just doesnt have the torque the others have)
echo cs590 20" bar (my go to saw, starts easily, seems balanced to me, more then enough power to do what i ask it)

I had 4 Stihl chainsaws in the past seems like when they needed worked on parts was no longer available. Got a Echo it starts on second or third pull at lease for 6 years. Something a Stihl never did for me.

I own both Stihl and Husky saws. The last saw i bought was the Husky 545. Got it last fall. So far its been a piece of junk. Ran fine until the cold weather hit. Then it got frustrating. Couldnt even cut firewood on the last trip out to the trapline. Its in the shop now on warranty. Hopefully they can fix it. A buddy had the same saw and he said his just wont run in the cold. They have that new electronic fuel system. The other Husky I have is the 455 Rancher. It has a plastic oiler gear that strips out on a regular basis.

Havent had those issues with Stihls. The Echos seem to have great reviews. I looked online and the 590 Echo is about $400 in the US. The same saw here is almost $1000 !

Stihl Co. is proprietary if that matters.
Translation, if you work on your own, you will be buying your parts from the dealer.
My huskys have a cold weather lever that lets warm air into carb area for running in the cold.
They also make cold weather mesh air filters for many brands.

I've owned a number of different brands of saws over the years. I liked Jonesred, but they don't make them anymore as far as I know. I've never owned a Husqvarna, but know people who do, and they swear by them. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one if I needed another saw.

Right now, I have three Stihls that I've had for quite a few years, an 036, 026, and a 260. They've been pretty much trouble free. But, I found it pays to only run the pre-mix that comes in a can. When I store them during the winter, I don't have to worry about adding fuel stabilizer.

My dad has a MS 261 that makes me cringe. Stihl makes good bars and chains. The rest of the saw is sketchy. Still looking for the perfect chainsaw.

Run, two more and I'll have enough, maybe.

I have a Stihl 291. I cut firewood for us for the last three years and have been pleased with it. I did discover, having been ignorant, the yellow RS chains cut hardwood much better than the one that came on it,green. Anyone with a lot of experience have anything to add about chain selection. I’m going to get a fresh new one to tackle a huge blown over oak.

You will find that a full chisel chain will cut better than a semi chisel, the downside is that they don't hold up to dirty wood as good. Stihl chains are a bit more expensive but hold an edge longer , next would be Oregon. I use Oregon chans for the most part as I buy the stuff on a reel and spin my own.

Another thing is, stay away from the Stihl 2 stroke oil. It will leave more carbon deposits that a good racing oil. After having tried a few, I have settled on the oil made by Schaeffer. Its a full synthetic oil and leaves next to no carbon in the cylinder or exhaust. Makes a difference, more so if you leave the spark arrester in the muffler.

Just like knives, the more you keep after it, the easier it is to keep after.
Stihl chain is hard steel, Oregon a little softer, I like Carlton too.
Take the bar to dealer and tell what you want to do, and how, and how+often you sharpen.
And how experienced you are. He will be able to match you up frpm that and the numbers on the bar.
The higher dealer price is quickly offset by poke and hope on your own.

When I find chain I like, I buy multiples before they change them.
Then when those are used up and discontinued, the hunt starts again.

I have some husky x-cut to try out for first time soon.

There is one I forgot to mention. The Husky X cut. The older version of it was better than the current one, but its a good chain none the less. I think it is made by Oregon for Husky though and they just put their name on it.

There is more than one style of that Scoob. At least there was. Did I mention they change a lot lol.

I mentioned before. A demo on this at conventions would be great.
And the qualified demo guy cou;d sell a bunch.

maybe not a lot but I found what I like and how to make it work for me

https://www.baileysonline.com/chainsaws/chainsaw-chain.html

I like chisel chain , and the first argument your going to hear is , sure but it dulls faster

chain in sand , rock , dirt , ect ... dulls faster is a little misleading it isn't like you can stick your tip in the dirt 3 times with a chisel and 30 times with the semi
it might be more like the difference one run through he dirt vs 3 which I guess is 66% better
if you keep your tip out of the dirt and are cutting clean wood that wasn't skidded all over in the mud you can cut for several tanks of gas on a sharp chisel chain so why give up cutting efficiency. you can touch up your chain with a file after 3-4 tanks of gas and just keep going.

in Stihl terms
the Green RS is low vibration low kick back , you pay for lower kick back in cutting efficiency

the RM yellow has the warning for kick back

honestly both can kick back , it is like thinking there is a big added safety when only a little one exist , if you go prepared for potential kick back which is mostly just use good cutting form and watch your tip.


cutting speed is a function of 2 things chain speed and and chip size.

chip width doesn't change how fast you cut down , chip depth does so you see some bar chain combos for lower CC saws with a Narrow kerf so it takes less width to get more depth of cut less total wood displaced but all the wood you need to get through the log as long as it isn't a big one

you can tune your chain to the wood , you will see raker gauges that have a hard and soft wood slots on soft wood you can take a deeper chip than in hard wood without slowing down chain speed

so if you play with your rakers a bit you can find the sweet spot as fast as you can cut in your wood , green vs dry , hard vs soft all make a difference , if you try to take too much off at once it loads down the saw , take to little and you have a fine saw dust

it is called pulling chip for a reason you want to pull nice chip without bogging down the saw.

if you pay attention to the pitch of the sound your saw makes and keep the rpm up but keep pulling chip

bar length will play into it also the more chain your pulling the greater the load

say your cutting 16 inch wood and you have your 32 inch bar on , you have the same number of cutters in the wood with the same gauge chain be it 3/8 or .404 ,now if you have a saw that confidently runs a 32 in bar you probably won't notice much but if you know your going to be buckling <18 all day and you have an 18-20 inch bar you might want to put that on , it is also fewer cutters to sharpen and less expensive chain as well as being a little less drag on the saw

however if you run a 20 inch bar on your 50cc saw and find if you try and dig the dogs or push it bogs down , a 16 inch bar might make it cut faster for you and keep those RPM up and let you take a little deeper chip.

Years ago when i was logging I spent a year falling timber in Colorado. I had a Jonsred 920 super. It was the best saw I ever owned.

An interesting thing I learned down there was how they sharpened their saws. The crew was mostly Mexican and they sharpened their saws backwards. ( file going into the cutting edge rather than away from it) Their saws were razor sharp. Fast forward into the early 90s and I bought the woodbug chainsaw mill. A guy on Vancouver Island designed them. When I got the mill it came with a special chain sharpener and instructions. He advised sharpening the saw backwards too so I started doing it for the sawmill. Done right, a chainsaw sharpened this way will rip through an 18 inch log faster than I can walk. I dont sharpen that way for regular cutting though.

Thanks Pete……you’re not just a gun expert.