Entry level saw recommendations

Thanks, I retracted on the used one, though it looked pretty clean. And I think less likely I get the new one. It would be overkill for me, but if there was a cord of locust left, might sort of pay for itself.

 

Overkill maybe, but something reliable when you need it. Especially for those unforeseen scores and then the saw doesnt work when you go back. Horkn may be selling his 029. Decent saw for your needs.

 

What region of MD do you live?

 

029 is probably right up my alley. What bar length do you run on one of those?

it either that or muffler mod my ryobi, get a longer bar with a skip tooth.

 

Silver Spring, outside DC.

 

My 290 (more or less the same saw) came with a 16" and thats all i ever ran until i bought a 20" bar for it. 16", 18' & 20" are standard. I would run 16"

 

I would like to get the option of some more bar length. Anyone try a skip tooth on a med/low powered saw?

 

Im not sure such a chain exists. My only skip tooth is for my 36" bar

 

mrfancyplants
I have a Stihl 029 Super and it came with a 16"bar. I bought a 20" bar and skip chains from a member here and it works fine when I am cutting up larger trunks.

 

Well, I don't claim to have nearly as much experience as many others on here, but I have tried skip tooth on my 261 and some of my larger saws and I love it. I am running 3/8" skip on my 261 on a 20" lightweight bar and I think I will probably never go back to .325 full comp. Skip cuts just fine and less teeth to sharpen. Some people will say they are more grabby on small limbs and I cut a lot of small limbs, but anything is grabby if you touch the limb at idle and then rev up. Just pull the trigger before you enter the wood, and it's fine.

I pulled a stunt a couple of days ago, and needed to trim some wood between a wood post and a Red Cedar board I had ripped on fence, to get a better fit, and forgot I had already drove a nail through the board into the post. I realized it too late and bounced my 261 with skip round off of that nail, and I know I probably hit every tooth. I thought to myself, I am glad this is skip chain, as I will have less teeth to fix. What's crazy is the chain is still cutting fine, and I haven't even sharpened it yet. Haven't figured that one out yet. I should have trashed those teeth.

To tell you the truth, as I use up my chains, I am only going back with skip on pretty much all of my saws, and mostly square file, but full chisel, round filed skip, cuts just fine, IMHO. Now, that I have said that, I probably will still use some full house, occasionally on certain saws, but I really do like skip, especially for the cutting and ripping I have been doing lately.

Here's picture of a notch I cut with skip tooth to get a better fit on a badly bowed board I I had ripped.

 

Agreed. Homeowner saws may seem good until you use a better one. The 261 or husky 550.

 

Horkn, how much for the 029? Heavily used?

 

Yep, I think it probably better to buy the best saw you can afford, actually, this usually rings true for anything. But I must say, in the end, I have been quite impressed with my first saw, which is, I suppose a farm/ranch saw/maybe homeowner saw. It had some bugs in it, when I bought it, mismatched parts etc., which I talked about on another thread, but once I got it right, with correct parts, it's a cutting son of a gun. That's my Jonsered 2255, witch is a 55 cc or something close to that, saw. I don't like the single bar nut, but it's impresses me for what it is, although I am running square filed skip tooth chain on it now which gets it max potential, I guess.

 

No but I run a 20" bar on my Husky 2100 it really rips

 

There’s no such thing as overkill. Dead is dead, there are not various degrees of dead

 

Amen to bigger power less bar. Let’s not think about how much bar can it handle, but rather what’s the smallest bar I can use on this saw.

 

I hear you, but with only so much bar to work with, it limits the size of log I can attack. I did consider pre-noodling and cutting off chunks, but that would be a shame with locust because it is so easy to split, and so hard to keep a sharp chain.

 

Oh yea! I do have a 28" and a 36" bar for that saw also.

 

It's an 029 super, not the standard 029. So a few more CC's and power. I'll pm you.