Chainsaw color war!

To be honest with you all I feel more safer using my chainsaw than using a skill saw. To perfectly blunt I belive you are taking more of a risk of injuring your self with older model, unsaftied saw's. The heavey ones, if you don't have back troubles after lugging one around for 6-8hrs a day bucking fire-wood your a lier. How many of you wear safty pants while cutting?? I hope all of you do! take away the safty pants, take away the chain brake and what do you have left, an accident waiting to happen, eventualy!!!!

Each saw make today has its share of lemons and bad apples, they have very diffrent features liked by diffrent operators, but the one thing thay all have same all across the board is "operator safty features"

Whats that syptom you get from operating power tools caused by all the vibration, white muscel disease???. This all explains why I sold my handme down homlite xl 76 to the first sucker i could find for $50 and why my grandpa's saw he gifted to me a pioneer sits on a self in the shop colecting dust, all fit for the musem, not for work!

Be safe!

I think I should make one out of the Arctic Cat 1000cc Triple liquid cooled! I suppose I could mount on our front end loader on the 1256 so it could actually be used.

Hope you don't mind the humor,
Steven

They've got a live show about 25 miles from here, hosted some sort of national (Stihl??) competition last year. Might have to block out some time to go see that...

Ancient Mac L16 (196?) ?
Homelite 955 gear drive (mark VII I think) 1976
Stihl 028 AVE Super (1982)
Husquavarna 51 (1997)
Monkey Wards 12" something. (198?)
Mac 797 Direct Drive. (196?)
4 or 5 others beyond recall.

The most awesome of them all was the old Mac 797.
8 cubic inches of direct drive power with a 42" bar. Not a homeowner saw.

You had to use compression release to start or you had busted knuckles.

It weighed a ton, and had a viscious, large pitch skip tooth chain... but I was young and strong and stupid...and it's wonder I didn't kill myself with it.

I don't think there were many (if any) factory saws or it's day (or now) that would stand with it for sheer cutting power and speed. Very surprisingly for a Mac, it usually started on the first or second pull... always.

Now that I'm older, weaker and wiser, I like the Husky 51 the best... the Stihl 028 right behind it on the list.

I got a real cheap tiny Homelite, was very light & nimble, wonderful for limbing. Not much power, but not much money either.

I got myself a smaller/midsized Stihl years ago, light, fairly strong, starts well, does everything I want.

Actually I liked all three, each had it's place & did it's job based on price vs performance.

So, what war???? :)

--->Paul

John Deere Consumer Products owned and made both Homelite and John Deere products until they sold the chainsaw , leafblower , and weedeater line to the same Hong Kong company that owns Ryobi .

The saws and weedeaters were made in Gastonia , NC and Clover , SC until they closed the plants in 1999 , they then moved to Chihuaha Mexico . Look closely and you will find a made in Mexico label on the saws , weadeaters , etc..

One of the John Deere engineers told me that the diference between the John Deere units and the Homelite units other than the color is that the John Deere units have better bearings .

The company I work for machined crankcases for the gas powered demolition saws . We made them in Red and Yellow .

I personally have a throw away Homelite that I use to limb and light work and a Husky 55 that I use for the big stuff .

Ford Man

• Deer vs. Homelite

The one that I saw was definately a Green Homelite .

The one you are showing looks like top quality !

I do know that the John Deere leaf blowers , weedeaters , and demolition saws ( MP88 and MP38 ) were all made by Homelite .

We used to make the MP38 crankcases in Homelite Red , John Deere Yellow , Atlas Copco Yellow , and a White that went to Europe . There was also a deep blue model at one time that was some type of anniversary saw .

If you ever see an MP88 demolition saw made after 1998 , our company machined the crankcase and fuel tank .

We also machined the Generator End Bells on 250,000 + of the Homelite and JD generators made in expectation of Y2K .

Ford Man

I'm the proud owner of a 30-year-old XL-98A demolition saw. I love it. How would you compare the quality to the newer MP-88? I know the new Homelite chainsaws' quality fell off a cliff, but I haven't heard anything about the industrial models.

We also made the gas tank/handle assembly for the MP88 saws . We went through a lot of r & d with JD to get a good product . This started out life as a chainsaw fuel tank . If you look at the MP88 demolition saw , you will see that the oil tank has a plug glued over it ! No need for an oiler with a demolition saw , we cut a notch to make a big gas tank and had the filler hole plugged .Now the gas tank/handle assembly went through a lot of leak tests through the mfg process . We lost about 10-15% due to leakage . JD was very strict ! They cannot afford a fire due to leakage !

To make a long story short , the assembly looked pretty crude but testing was very effective . I saw a lot of saws that had been rejected and were scrap . They did not pass bad saws just to keep production numbers up so I think that the quality is there .

I liked the feel of the saws and would love to have one .

Right now , that part of the Homelite business is still up for sale so the future is up in the air .

I have a Homelite leafblower and an XL chainsaw . I bought the leafblower and it is great ! The saw is really handy for limbing and light work . Both of these are made in USA .

I have not tried any of the "Hecho in Mexico" stuff .

I have a Husky 55 . If I could have just 1 saw , it would be my Husky .

Ford Man

Branden

The Makita Dolmars will knock the socks off any equivalent priced Stihl or Husky in the sub 60cc class. But Stihl wins in the over 60cc class!!

Late '60s pukey Green-Tan (16" Allis-Chalmers/Poulan 195)
Laye '60s Orange (12" Craftsman/Poulan)
Early '70s Red (24" Homelite Super XL-924--Big bloody mother of a 6HP saw)
Another '70s Red (20" Homelite VI-123)
Late '70s Orange/White (20" Stihl 032av)

The Allis is a good saw, but a little rough. The Crapsman is nice and light, but the quality isn't there. The SXL-924 takes top honors from me. It is, without a doubt, the most sturdy chainsaw I've even used. It's also the heaviest at around 28 pounds. The VI-123 and 032av were both competing "comfort" (shock mounts, etc.) saws at the same time. Although the Homelite has a compression release, the Stihl walks away as the winner in that category. Not as solid, but better design.

Anyway, I use the 032av most often because it's a good mix of power, light weight, and quality. If we're talking about new saws, Stihl gets my vote. Husky would too, if there was a decent dealer in the area.

John

T_Bone

It that pretty normal for the rest of the saws out there? Or is it just mine? Suggestions?

I've usually cut 4 to 5 cords a year and will use one chain up a year. In 22yrs replaced 4 bars and a bunch of chains. I buy Oregon chain and bars as thats all I can usually find here. The wood is log pole pine and has more than normal amount of sand in the wood, Arizona desert here. But even when I was in Washington it went thru alot of chains.

I have a manual oiler that I give the bar a couple shots about every other cut.

T_Bone

What in the world are you doing with all that firewood in the Arizona desert? You importing winter now? And where are you finding the trees to cut it from? Climbing Baboquivari again? I remember pretty much nothing but cactus.

You must be getting a LOT of sand in that saw to have so much wear. If your bars are replaced due to enlarged chain slot, you could buy or make an adjuster. Bailey's offers an adjustable one that rides on the bar and makes the slot uniformly snug again.

I usually want the bar oil to run out the same time as the gas or only have 1/4 tank of bar oil left. Depending on how tight you're running the chain and with what type bar and roller or hard nose.

The type of bar oil you use can affect wear. Flip the bar over and clean the groves at least every other tank full. Pushing down on the bar and running a dull chain increases wear.

Mostly in my opinion, you're not oiling enough. My older Sachs / Dolmar 153 has in addition to the automatic oiler, a manual oiler. When in bigger timber or milling, I'll manualy give it some extra oil.
I've had real good service with Bailey's Woodsman Pro Bars [Cannon].

Hi VA Tom,
We have a potting soil company about 15 miles from the house that uses pine bark in there mix. They have to buy log ends along with the bark and they can't use the log ends. There about 6" to 12" and 4ft long. Then they get all kinds of small stuff. It's a firewood cutters dream. Arizona is pretty green for a desert. The wood does get it's sand during the summer storms and thats about the only draw back to this wood pile.

T_Bone

Steven

My best one, believe it or not, fastest thing I've owned so far is my red Shindaiwa 695, ((if memory serves on the model number, it's in the shed...)) Yes, while my retired Oregon logger wood cutting buddy is still getting out his Stihl, I have already cut a 1/2 cord of wood. This thing is amazing, ((with a sharp chain of course...)) Fuel efficient, and starts fairly easy. Even my buddy is amazed my this saw, he's died in the wool Stihl fan. I must admit that I was a little leary when I first purchased it, never hearing the name before and all, but it quite the saw.

Branden

WHAT IS A SNITKAWL?

I think Lumberjacks are students and alumni of Humboldt College.

I've owned both and like 'em both. Loggers in the Northwest use both also.

No problem with either. I don't think color wars can get a hold of chainsaws.

Unless some idiot liked those green ones (Pouland.)