Do all new Huskies and Stihl’s have them these days? Gosh I hate them. Briefly looked at a few hardware Husky saws today. No pro saws, which is what I want. The Jonsered I looked at the other day had a straight handle and I like that a lot better it seems. Sort of matched my old Stihl’s....but I’m in need of a modern saw. Something 60-70 CC and possibly a good trim saw...one hand saw. Going to look at some Echo saws as well, but it will be hard to leave Stihl.
Near to far Husky 562, Dolmar 9000, Stihl 026 and Husky 572. I have nothing new in a Stihl. Are you talking about the kink in the 562?
Nope...talking about the top of the handle (left) in relation to the bar. Just feels weird. That Stihl appears to have a straight handle, like my 041 and my S10, as does the Dolmar. I looked at a leftover Jonsered and it also has what I would like. Just not sure about the brand. Always heard they made good saws, but the dealer has one left. His new line is Red Max and I’m not sure how good they are or who owns them or who makes them. Been a Stihl guy all of my life, but I’m no pro.
Yeah...It’s probably the thread I started. Didn’t realize they might be part of Husky though. Seems I read something that Red Max was Japanese. Could have been misinformation though. I was just in Makita website (used to be Dolmar I guess). They look like heavy built saws and plenty of models with heated handles, not that I need that. Just a nice feature. Not sure I could tell if the handles were straight though. Hard to see in the pictures. Would like to see them in person.
I get what you are saying. I've found that it seems you are forced to get the wrap to keep things straight. Doesn't bother me on saws smaller than 4 cube.
That would be fine. Was considering a full wrap anyhow. Does anyone know if the factory handle can be swapped out for the wrap on any brand saw? Would be nice to be able to interchange them if needed.
Some models can be ordered but Stihl is awful proud of them. They are stupid expensive. I did buy a new old school 461 and Bailey's has a nice wrap handle for it, aftermarket, which I bought. And it's straight, I like it.
I changed a couple of years ago to Jonesred. Higher rpms, easier starting and have (knock on wood) trouble free. OWB requires a saw and they have done the job well. Also a little lighter which I appreciate at the end (heck even the start of the day!).
OWB?? Not sure what that means. (Outdoor wood boiler, maybe?) I have a chance to buy a Jonsered 2172. Glanced at it. Appeared to be a nice saw, but needed a better look and to put it in my hands. Not sure if they had any trouble with them. I had heard some saws had bad bearings in them...just not sure if it was the 2172 or not. I sort of liked that saw.
That would be perfect. I like them straight, but never had a wrap and being a natural lefty who used a saw as it is designed there are certain times I’d like to have extra handle on certain cuts.
We use to HAVE to have them if you were a faller. Safety issues mostly. The wrap allows you to fall on the hight side of the tree or away from say a big drop off on draw cutting. Helps with fatigue too. I ruined a 044 right off the shelf when they first came out because it didn't have a wrap. I was cutting up a log deck and an oldtimer told me to get a wrap on it. Didn't listen ofcourse and the saw fell off the deck and broke it off its mounts. That cost me several days worth of work profits.
Exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Experience like that. Thanks!! Yes, fatigue is but one issue I have noticed when falling and at times even when bucking. The main reason is I have woods, on small hill by mountain standards, but it is really steep going up from the creek. Some of it will have to be laid across the creek over a 6ft concrete wall and into my yard. Some of it is leaning heavily l, some not. Some of the leaning stuff I’m going to try and lay alongside the hill even though the lean is heavy to the creek. Used to cut a lot with my dad years ago when I was young when there was no internet...long before. Cut my share of small stuff for a weekend warrior, but recently, the last several months, been watching a lot of western fallers on YouTube and have come to learn a lot and have “tree-mendous” ... get it LOL ... respect for those guys. Never really had to wedge any trees over, but will be putting it to the test, hopefully. With my previous experience and the many years with and watching my dad and grandpa and now with some newly learned information I think I can accomplish cutting the few trees I need to cut. I’m trying to keep as much of it out of the creek as I can so I can take the tractor close to it on the hill to hook some cables to it from up on flat ground. Have some 28” standing dead ash I’d like to save before it rots as well as some big living red and white oaks I want to thin out. A few 3 foot Osage as well, which we don’t see much of anymore in these parts. All the fence rows are gone now. Used to cut some large elm too. Man when that stuff was standing dead it was like cutting iron, sparks just flying off it and Osage. So yeah, I need at least a 60cc saw in my mind and the 70CC will be even better. Maybe some of you might suggest a smaller lighter saw? Been out of the loop a long time. I’m at that $.50 mark and most of my experience was being much younger. We used to cut and sell a lot of wood. Mostly very large oak tree tops from logging that we had access to back in the 70’s and early 80’s.
You know, the internet is really something. I’d most likely never gotten a chance to watch any pro fallers felling giant trees had it not been for YouTube. Certainly won’t make me a pro, and don’t care to be, but it has given me a chance to see it. Man if I could have only seen those videos when I was young. Most likely would have left the east coast and mid-west.
Sounds like a big job. I remember having to do a short falling school when I was in the Air Force. I had to relearn different falling techniques for hardwoods. We ended up cutting more than I had figured, because after several strorms and a few hurricanes it was up the CES to clean everything up. Funny story, I didn't like how the air force civil servant who's job it was to grind our chain. He truly didn't know what to do, so I being a young cocky lad whipped out a file and showed the shop how to do it. Man did my chains cut well.......for about five minutes. I had to relearn the best angles for hardwood on my own. We had no one else to teach us. All of our training manuals were written by NCO's and officers that had no idea. I seldom bore cut up here, I learned you had to down yonder. Only thing I recommend other than working very very slowly is to get a saw that will cut and cut right now. Don't skimp on the cubes. You know all this more than I do, the job jusitifies the big power. Excellent reason to splurge on yourself.
When talking about the owner of our local saw shop, Rope turned me towards youtube for finding saw builder. I have been amazed on what is on there. A lot of it is different than what I remeber and what still occurs, but the history stuff is nostalgic. Nice to see the history isn't lost. We were made out to be terribly people in the 80's. People from off were spiking our trees and killing loggers.
Does anyone know the last date of manufacture for the 2172Jred? I’m not sure when Redmax, or whatever they call them, took over. My dealer has one Jred left, the one I looked at. It seems that is a pro saw, but I’m not sure the Redmax saws are. If they are not, then the Redmax will be out. I did locate a pro dealer, via the internet, for Makita pro saws that is very close to me. Had no idea until I looked. I here these were once Dolmar, which had an excellent reputation, but I’ve not heard anything of the Makita reliability, power, or resale. Lots of heated handles, large air filters, and wrapped handled models, very high rpm’s as well.
The newer redmax saws are identical to the jreds. Just the stickers are different. 2172 is the same saw as a current 372 husky
