Picked up a Makita from Home depo

[Tony H]

Thanks to some of the gang here I found out the HD rental sells the saws for a reasonable price after they haqve been in the fleet for a while.
I have a MS250 18" and it works great for limbing and cutting up to say 16" or so but having run into a fair amount of larger stuff it seemed like an larger saw would be a good addition. I have looked for the past several months for a used saw after pricing some of the new Stihls 36x 390 and while they would be nice it's just too much cash for the amount I would need it.
What I found was folks are real proud of those used saws also and when I read about the Makita it looked like it might be a good fit . I called around and found one of the local stores has one a couple years old only rented out 24 times and in nice shape came with an new bar the old bar 2 new chains the manual and chain adjustment wrench for 215.00 so I brought it home today.
Cut a bunch of oak and mulberry and the chain got dull pretty fast but the saw worked well.
It sure powers thru the bigger stuff with out bogging like the 250 does. Who ever said the extra 2lb wouldn't matter because they were young and strong should give it a try use the 250 then switch to the DSC6401 it's a very big difference .
While I would have liked to get another Stihl I think the Makita will fit the bill just fine and at a lot lower cost.

 

[webie]

Yep 2 lbs is huge when carried around for a few hours . Also depends on the saws ergonomics , Some saws are just much easier to use all day with less fatigue . I find it much easier to use my 361 longer in the day then I do my 026 just because it has a much better antivibration set up on it .

 

[thinkxingu]

It's not too bad here, but on other sites people are always hackin' away at those looking to save weight. But I tell ya, I choose the 250 for limbing over my 361 every time! 2 pounds is a big difference over the course of a few hours.

S

 

[webie]

I agree I would also grab my 026 for limbing , Guess I was thinking bucking at the time I wrote that . Heck I have days when I am cutting down and brushing out and I know I wont see anything more than about 12 inches all i take is the 260 pro .

 

[LLigetfa]

What a bunch of weekend warrior wimps. When I worked on pipeline construction, I'd put in 12 to 18 hour days lugging my 65 cc saw all day. I've been on the one saw plan all my life.

 

[smokinj]

It's not too bad here, but on other sites people are always hackin' away at those looking to save weight. But I tell ya, I choose the 250 for limbing over my 361 every time! 2 pounds is a big difference over the course of a few hours.

S

lol 250 is a nice saw but "it is what it is" 45cc home owner.....comparing it to a 361 just doesn't compute.....2 lbs for 2 horses is a burden I will take and carry it all day long.

 

[webie]

It's not too bad here, but on other sites people are always hackin' away at those looking to save weight. But I tell ya, I choose the 250 for limbing over my 361 every time! 2 pounds is a big difference over the course of a few hours.

S

lol 250 is a nice saw but "it is what it is" 45cc home owner.....comparing it to a 361 just doesn't compute.....2 lbs for 2 horses is a burden I will take and carry it all day long.

It may be a homeowner saw and my brother has an 025 which when he got that I laughed at him but I can tell you he has cut one heck of a pile of wood with that saw year in and year out , And I am talking 8-10 cord a year .

 

[smokinj]

It's not too bad here, but on other sites people are always hackin' away at those looking to save weight. But I tell ya, I choose the 250 for limbing over my 361 every time! 2 pounds is a big difference over the course of a few hours.

S

lol 250 is a nice saw but "it is what it is" 45cc home owner.....comparing it to a 361 just doesn't compute.....2 lbs for 2 horses is a burden I will take and carry it all day long.

It may be a homeowner saw and my brother has an 025 which when he got that I laughed at him but I can tell you he has cut one heck of a pile of wood with that saw year in and year out , And I am talking 8-10 cord a year .

I am not knocking it just not proping it up to be somthing its not. I am doing a little more than 8-10 cords a year so a 250 "is what it is" and it darn sure is not a 361 nor wood it be any good for limbing on the jobs I do thats all..good home owner saw.Far as that goes a 260pro or 180 wouldnt hack it....

 

[BrotherBart]

What a bunch of weekend warrior wimps. When I worked on pipeline construction, I'd put in 12 to 18 hour days lugging my 65 cc saw all day. I've been on the one saw plan all my life.

Barefoot. Uphill. Both ways. In the snow.

 

[JustWood]

What a bunch of weekend warrior wimps. When I worked on pipeline construction, I'd put in 12 to 18 hour days lugging my 65 cc saw all day. I've been on the one saw plan all my life.

I agree, my climbing saw before I got out of the biz was an 026 pro w/12" bar.. Try that 50 feet off the ground on spikes all day long!
My felling saw is a 066mag w/20" bar. Try that for 8 hours on 10,000 MBF and a tri axel load or 2 of wood.
You guys are pussies complaining about 4-5 cord a year with a MINI MAC! 2lbs, PFFFFFFFTTT!!

 

[JustWood]

What a bunch of weekend warrior wimps. When I worked on pipeline construction, I'd put in 12 to 18 hour days lugging my 65 cc saw all day. I've been on the one saw plan all my life.

Barefoot. Uphill. Both ways. In the snow.

If thats the case then I did it with 1st degree lacerations, on a salt brined road carrying 100 lbs of sand and spreading it in front of me for better traction at 30 below.

 

[LLigetfa]

What a bunch of weekend warrior wimps. When I worked on pipeline construction, I'd put in 12 to 18 hour days lugging my 65 cc saw all day. I've been on the one saw plan all my life.

Barefoot. Uphill. Both ways. In the snow.

Well... never barefoot but ja, uphill and in deep snow too.

 

[jmhpsu93]

What a bunch of weekend warrior wimps. When I worked on pipeline construction, I'd put in 12 to 18 hour days lugging my 65 cc saw all day. I've been on the one saw plan all my life.

Barefoot. Uphill. Both ways. In the snow.

BB, you got a beer spit out laughing on that one.

 

[smokinj]

What a bunch of weekend warrior wimps. When I worked on pipeline construction, I'd put in 12 to 18 hour days lugging my 65 cc saw all day. I've been on the one saw plan all my life.

I agree, my climbing saw before I got out of the biz was an 026 pro w/12" bar.. Try that 50 feet off the ground on spikes all day long!
My felling saw is a 066mag w/20" bar. Try that for 8 hours on 10,000 MBF and a tri axel load or 2 of wood.
You guys are pussies complaining about 4-5 cord a year with a MINI MAC! 2lbs, PFFFFFFFTTT!!

lmao

 

[Georgiadave]

And with only a stick of stove wood to fight off the wolves!

 

[Tony H]

And with only a stick of stove wood to fight off the wolves!

I heard he threatened the wolves with that big saw and had them pulling logs out of the woods 18 hours a day barefoot in the snow pulling backwards uphill and debarking in their spare time.

Sounds like one of Dad's stories from the old country .... Got up at 4am and had to shoot an animal for dinner then milk the cows then walk to school up hill both ways with no shoes and on the way home had to swim the creek or get shot at by the farmer .
After getting home from school had to feed the chickens and goats milk the cows cook dinner wash the dishes and do homework.
But they were allowed to hunt out the bedroom window upstairs.
(We found the creek and it's only 3 feet deep so we think he might have made the swimming part up.) :bug:

 

[thinkxingu]

I don't get the whole 'tough-guy-I'll-carry-more-weight-for-nothing-and-criticize-other-smarter-people-for-saving-their-backs-and-energy-thereby-making-cutting-safer' thing. Sure, my dad worked three jobs most of his life, but he did it to get me through college so's I wouldn't have to work three jobs my whole life! Of course, he's got two messed-up shoulders, a real bad hernia, junk wrists, tweaked back, one bad knee, and a whole lot of scars. I work 7 hours/day walking back and forth in my classroom inspiring my students to not do what my father HAD to.

S

 

[smokinj]

I don't get the whole 'tough-guy-I'll-carry-more-weight-for-nothing-and-criticize-other-smarter-people-for-saving-their-backs-and-energy-thereby-making-cutting-safer' thing. Sure, my dad worked three jobs most of his life, but he did it to get me through college so's I wouldn't have to work three jobs my whole life! Of course, he's got two messed-up shoulders, a real bad hernia, junk wrists, tweaked back, one bad knee, and a whole lot of scars. I work 7 hours/day walking back and forth in my classroom inspiring my students to not do what my father HAD to.

S

nothing to do with tuff guy! 250 at one most the trees I do is the old knife to a gun fight...the criticizeism ist personal 250 just not the right saw for evey ocassion....the 180 and 260 wasnt enough for what I dont think the 250 would be any better than a 260.With that said I cut a lot of wood and the life span of the home owner saw just not the right fit..


"I work 7 hours/day walking back and forth in my classroom inspiring my students to not do what my father HAD to".




Then I bet the 250 works great for you....

 

[Tony H]

I don't get the whole 'tough-guy-I'll-carry-more-weight-for-nothing-and-criticize-other-smarter-people-for-saving-their-backs-and-energy-thereby-making-cutting-safer' thing. Sure, my dad worked three jobs most of his life, but he did it to get me through college so's I wouldn't have to work three jobs my whole life! Of course, he's got two messed-up shoulders, a real bad hernia, junk wrists, tweaked back, one bad knee, and a whole lot of scars. I work 7 hours/day walking back and forth in my classroom inspiring my students to not do what my father HAD to.

S

nothing to do with tuff guy! 250 at one most the trees I do is the old knife to a gun fight...the criticizeism ist personal 250 just not the right saw for evey ocassion....the 180 and 260 wasnt enough for what I dont think the 250 would be any better than a 260.With that said I cut a lot of wood and the life span of the home owner saw just not the right fit..


"I work 7 hours/day walking back and forth in my classroom inspiring my students to not do what my father HAD to".




Then I bet the 250 works great for you....

Point taken I never ment to imply the 250 was anything other than a good saw for Me a homeowner cutting 10 cords a year to use.
I also looked at the Makita in the same light a larger more powerfull saw for Me to purchase at a low price.
If I were cutting wood for a profession my choices would certainly be different . When and if the time comes to replace the 250
I will look at the current offerings from Stihl in that size range and decide what model would work best for Me.

By the same token being in the computer networking business I have ended up with a network of six computers including two high powered Proliant servers , wireless network, wired network, four printers, and lots of spare parts all installed by me in my house.
While it serves my needs well it would be unusual to see such a setup in the non computer geek house.

 

[LLigetfa]

I don't get the whole 'tough-guy-I'll-carry-more-weight-for-nothing-and-criticize-other-smarter-people-for-saving-their-backs-and-energy-thereby-making-cutting-safer' thing.

Give me a break. Tough guy, working harder not smarter? Sheesh!

This is a wood burning forum, not a city boy tree service forum. The majority of the cutting processing firewood is bucking. There, the two extra pounds and the extra horses work FOR you, not against so the heavier saw IS working smarter. A wimpy saw would be more work in the long run. If you have arms like a Muppet, maybe spend a little more time in the gym.

The "smarter" way would be to buy your wood C/S/D or buy pellets. You could moonlight a second job and make way more money than what you save processing your own firewood.

My first saw was 55cc and I don't lament the lighter weight.

 

[JustWood]

I don't get the whole 'tough-guy-I'll-carry-more-weight-for-nothing-and-criticize-other-smarter-people-for-saving-their-backs-and-energy-thereby-making-cutting-safer' thing. Sure, my dad worked three jobs most of his life, but he did it to get me through college so's I wouldn't have to work three jobs my whole life! Of course, he's got two messed-up shoulders, a real bad hernia, junk wrists, tweaked back, one bad knee, and a whole lot of scars. I work 7 hours/day walking back and forth in my classroom inspiring my students to not do what my father HAD to.

S

Really! 2lbs??
I crap 2 lbs!
If carrying weight around all day was such a big concern people wood cut minus 5-10lb of clothing/shoes/safety/gear.

I'm starting to think the guys in the pellet room have more sack than some here in the wood room. Don't ever hear them complain about 40 lb bags.

2lbs ain't squat buy the saw you want!

Edit:
Holy schnikey's Lig we brain farted at the same time!

 

[thinkxingu]

LLigetfa,
I'm 5'7, 260 pounds and can squat 405 and press 315--gym work is not what I need, and that wasn't my point. For 90% of the cutting people mention here, the 250/270/280 are more than adequate, but once someone mentions weight savings there's immediately someone chiming in about being tougher than nails and weight doesn't matter, etc. The reality is, weight DOES matter--it's why lightweight hiking gear is made, lithium-ion tools boast their reduced weight, Timberland Pro boots use Titanium in their toes (some of you choose those over steel toe?), etc.

Oh, and reducing the work load is why people use splitters, tractors, quads, etc. If you use any of those, you're working smarter, not harder.

S

 

[JustWood]

Don't you think all that light weight hokuspokus is just a selling/fashion point! Just more BS a company can add to their catalog!

With your mindset every homeowner wood have a $150,000 firewood processor.

If you really want to reduce your workload learn how to sharpen and cut correctly. I see weekend wood jockeys using their chainsaw like a hacksaw , rocking back and forth like MC Hammer trying to get it to cut. Smoke flying off the bar cuz they are running a dull chain. If you sharpen correctLEE you should be able to drop the saw into a cut one handed and let it melt through the wood. NO rocking, NO hacksawing, and NO smoke.

2lbs , PFFFFTTTTTTTT!

AH phuqit, midass well turn up the oil! NOT!

 

[thinkxingu]

Agreed on the sharpening point--I've seen that many times. But I'll still take my now 18-pound backpack over the 25 I used to carry! Fashion be damned!

S

 

[webie]

Well then looks like I need to clean out the garage and get something like these 2 I could use the bigger one for felling and bucking the bigger stuff and throw the littler one around for brushing out .
(broken link removed to http://cgi.ebay.com/Stihl-880-and-660-with-3-bars-and-chains_W0QQitemZ170461053788QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Chainsaws?hash=item27b045435c)
What you guys think ?