Had a blow down in a random wind storm resulting in a large white oak that fell across my front yard. While I know a lot of people love their "Pro-Saws"... my Stihl MS 250 and MS 390 have performed amazing so far cutting up this tree. I am about to fire up the Dolmar to take down the largest sections of the trunk. I think a tree company in my area would have quoted quite a bit to clean up the mess from this big tree, so consider my saws a great investment at this time. I have too many trees in my yard, while I am annoyed by the damage to the grass ultimately, I am happy to have a lot of firewood and that I had a chance to use my saws.
My last main workhorse saw was a ported 029 that had an 039 top end on it. It was more than adequate for 90% of what I cut. Nice score and even better that you don’t have to go far to get it
A friend of mine that has done tree work his whole life, loves his 250. It’s not the first homeowner saw he’s been enamored with. Whatever works for you is best. Congrats on the easy score!
Nice straight tree to exercise the saws on. Great two saw combo. As long as you're content with them there's nothing wrong with that. I ran nothing but a 290 (farm/ranch level saw) as my sole woodcutter for years and it treated me well. Its all the fine folks here that got me hooked on pro level saws.
The leaves look like a red oak. Either way that's a nice straight tree without too big of a crown so you'll get lots of nice splits. "Pro saws" are nice but I cut plenty of wood with a 31cc and 49cc before I got one.
White oak is my favorite. Clamshell Stihls are good saws as long as they don’t need to be rebuilt. I’ve had both a 390 and 250 and that’s a great combo but the 390 was a little heavy for an old guy my age.
Nothing wrong with a plastic case saw as long as it’s properly cared for. No likes for the fact that you lost a yard tree but that’ll make excellent heat when the time comes.
I cut a couple trainloads of firewood with a second hand 029 and an ms290 that I bought new several years after I bought the 029. I took the 029 to Mexico to give to my father in law a couple of years ago and it finally gave up the ghost this fall. Rebuilt it with an 039 top end and going strong again. I would hate to guess how many cords that saw has cut in its lifetime. Didn’t realize I needed pro saws until I stumbled on this thread several years ago. Still fire up the 290 occasionally just to keep it going. Thanks everyone for convincing me that I needed an arsenal of pro saws to cut the 4-5 cords that I burn annually.
