How old were you when you first used a chain saw?

I respectfully disagree...... I killed a lot of trees with roper's. Problem was they recommend 16-1 and they snotted up their innards. They ran much better on around 28-1.

 

I lost more chains to fence rows than I could ever remember. Learned a lot as a kid doing that as a "self employed business man" lost my azz many times.

 

Actually I’m laughing in the pic cuz I knew the piece of chit wouldn’t start.

 

About 45 yrs ago, early teens, pulpwood (bow blade) chainsaw. I was running this saw (Pro Mac 610) in 1980, I was 17 then, (gave this saw to Armbru84 at Dennis's GTG last May, he got it running again).. started out with a Husky 65, had the tank, Super Wiz 55 Homelite and an old Stihl Farm Boss, before finally getting a new MS029 in 1997-98..

 

Something I always wondered since I see these bow saws on here occasionally...what is their specific purpose to have a bar like that?
I was 14 or 15 the first time I used a saw.

 

They work great for stacks of small wood when you have the spike on it. They just love to kick back though.

 

Back in the day, pulpwood was short length, 5-6' long, loaded on small to mid-size trucks, then hauled to railyard, loaded on cars to ship to paper mill. The bow saw made cutting the trees as they were laying on the ground easier, as it kept the saw from getting pinched. There is a narrow version used now to cut Christmas trees

 

in about 2013, I was 37. Prepping for our house we built with an insert. Started with a crappy box store Poulan 50/20 that didn’t make it through it’s warranty. Been a Stihl guy ever since!

 

I think 12, almost 35 years ago. Started out with a fantastic little Homelite top-handle with a 14" bar. That one bit the dust some years later when a contractor working at a neighbor's house asked to borrow it for something, then left it behind his truck, and backed over it.

The replacement was a 16" Poulan that was a poor saw.

For the big stuff, Dad used a 19" bar Montgomery Ward (Remington built), but I didn't use that one regularly until I was 15 or 16. I bought my first saw, an 18" Craftsman for $50 on clearance, when I was 17 or 18. It worked ok for many years.

Dad was thrilled to delegate the wood cutting to me, he never cared for it much. Better that way, he never wore any safety equipment, not even gloves, unless it was cold. He was pretty hard of hearing in his later years. I was more cowardly, I always put in ear plugs and wore safety glasses.

35 years later, I don't look forward to the work as much anymore. But, I still like almost $0 spent on natural gas for heat every winter. Plus, what else am I going to do with all this wood?

 

34 for me

 

Sometime in my teens. Craftsman with a 16” bar

 

I grew up a city kid. Married a farm girl. I think I was 35. I was kinda insulted when my in-laws got me chaps for Christmas, then I watched a couple YouTube videos. And was no longer insulted.


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Nice they were looking out for you. After all the years of running a saw, I finally got some chaps in June '19.

 

Was 15 or 16 when I first used my old man's JD 35 but seldom ran it. Ran a small Stihl(maybe an 025) in my mid 20s then my B_I_L bought me a ms271 in 2013. Been addicted to cutting firewood and chainsaws ever since.

 

I haven't the Craftsman/Roper for about 15 years. I always ran it on 35-1. It never gave us a problem and cut allot of wood.

 

Dad never let me run the saw growing up. I was too into dirt bikes to care. Been around his Huskys as far back as I can remember. Wasn't till I had my own place that I ran one. I'm guessing about 33-35ish. Now I have 12.

 

When I was 15 I transfered to an agricultural school and one my majors was forestry. We used to have to drop trees and buck them to the maximum straight logs for board feet. e.g. if you could get a 12 footer out of a Pine log it was much more valuable than a log you could only get an eight footer from. We got graded from felling to bucking. We ran Homelites back then at school, they had manual oilers. The teach would knot a chain, throw it on the table, and you would have 10 seconds to unknot it. It counted towards a quiz grade. It was a pass or fail quiz grade.

 

I bet now a days they wouldn't let a student run one. Liability.

 

Ya think? When some other kid was dropping a tree and being graded for it, we'd go out on the lake and cut ice blocks with the saws. Worst part of the fun, we had to load all the logs into the back of an old WWII army truck and take em back to school. Some of them logs took a bunch of us to get them in the back of the truck, heavy,heavy.

 

My first saw in 1979.