What Saw

[jaoneill]

At 67 with every bone in your body hurting grabbing that lil Husky 142 becomes a habit. For sure before grabbing the 23 pound 65cc bad boy.
I can invest the extra 50 seconds. Save the energy for humping the rounds into the trailer.,

In 1977 I bought my first pro saw; a Pioneer P50, a 5 cu. in., (82cc) wood mowing SOB. I ran it with a 20" bar and kept the rakers filed down to almost nothing, it would turn trees into cordwood faster than my two teenage boys could load the trailer. I even used it for limbing, anything else was too darn slow. We used 15 plus cord a year and I couldn't bear to burn daylight fooling around cutting wood.

Somewhere around age 50 I bought a 50 cc "limbing" saw, that mostly sat in the trailer for the next ten years, until soft living and age caught up to me around age 60, when I began to occasionally use it for limbing. By age 65 I was only using the P50 on really big stuff, I would be whipped after using it for a couple of hours; the limbing saw was becoming my every day tool. I eventually realized that I was no longer a young buck and was sorely tempting fate so I bought a second pro model 50 cc saw (Jonsered 2152) and retired the big guy. A 20" bar is all the 2152 wants to handle but it does the job.

Like BrotherBart I am 67 and at this point that extra 50 seconds doesn't seem quite as big a deal as it did twenty years ago, and there is still some energy left at the end of the day.

 

[Jags]

a Pioneer P50,

That P50 was one helluva saw. Light? No! A sawdust chewing monster? Yes! Running a 20" bar - you don't need no stinkin' rakers.

 

[jaoneill]

That P50 was one helluva saw. Light? No! A sawdust chewing monster? Yes! Running a 20" bar - you don't need no stinkin' rakers.

Amen!

 

[jaoneill]

I should make a bit of a confession as far as my above post. A couple of months ago I dropped a 42" maple and was really missing the old P50. We have a section of these older 36"-48" maples, many of which are beginning to have issues and should come down. If I start cutting these monsters, and if I die when I ought to, they will provide our fire wood for as long as I am vertical. I did a bit of research and found that a Jonsered (pro model) 2172 (72cc) only weighs 1 1/2 pounds more than my newest 2152. 28" is the longest recommended bar so it should handle a 24" bar handily. So, as comfortable as I have become with the 2152's I fully expect to step the newer one down to an 18" bar, and trade the older one for a 2172 before next season. While I know that it won't have the snot of the old P50, I think it is a good compromise for an old guy.

 

[Jags]

While I know that it won't have the snot of the old P50

One of the things you will notice right away is the revs. The P50 was a slower RPM torque machine. The new saws spin like mad.

 

[claydogg84]

I should make a bit of a confession as far as my above post. A couple of months ago I dropped a 42" maple and was really missing the old P50. We have a section of these older 36"-48" maples, many of which are beginning to have issues and should come down. If I start cutting these monsters, and if I die when I ought to, they will provide our fire wood for as long as I am vertical. I did a bit of research and found that a Jonsered (pro model) 2172 (72cc) only weighs 1 1/2 pounds more than my newest 2152. 28" is the longest recommended bar so it should handle a 24" bar handily. So, as comfortable as I have become with the 2152's I fully expect to step the newer one down to an 18" bar, and trade the older one for a 2172 before next season. While I know that it won't have the snot of the old P50, I think it is a good compromise for an old guy.

How far north are you? There's a guy in CT selling a 2172 and he'll take $300 for it... I'm tempted to buy it but really don't need it.

 

[jaoneill]

I notice that with the smaller saws, but my guess is that the 2172 should cut like a banshee with a 20" and be able to handle a 24" for the bigger wood. Biggest plus is that is only marginally heavier than the 2152 with enough extra stuff to spin a longer chain; not sure what the P50 weighs, must be #20 plus.

 

[jaoneill]

How far north are you? There's a guy in CT selling a 2172 and he'll take $300 for it... I'm tempted to buy it but really don't need it.

300 miles north of Hillsdale, NY. If he was a bit closer I would jump on it but......

Do you have contact info for the CT guy?

 

[BrotherBart]

Specs on the P50.

http://www.acresinternet.com/cscc.n...06d054537105f1d288256b00001e38bb?OpenDocument

 

[jaoneill]

Specs on the P50.

Wrong manufacturer, but thank you, the link did get me to the correct one. The old beast weighs in at 21.9 lbs; 2172 is only 14.5 pounds

 

[jaoneill]

Specs on the P50.

http://www.acresinternet.com/cscc.n...06d054537105f1d288256b00001e38bb?OpenDocument

This is the correct one; no weight listed. Subsequent model P50HP, pretty close to the same saw was where I found the weight

 

[Jon1270]

I'd like to try a P50 some day; so far I've only read a bit about them. That said, I doubt it would ever supplant the 044 for me - 13 pounds and just shy of 71cc. Normally I use a 20 or 24" bar, but I recently tried a 28" bar running skip chain in red elm, and it did just fine.

 

[jaoneill]

I'd like to try a P50 some day

They manufactured the last of them in either '77 or '78. Pioneer was a Canadian manufacturer that catered to the logging profession. Although I still have mine, and my younger brother has one as well, by todays standards they were probably fairly limited in the number that were made.

PS: To give you a sense of the raw power and torque involved my came stock with a 36" bar and 3/8 chain