Went and cut that tree up at my BIL's work this afternoon. It was a decent-sized walnut, but the trunk divided into three pretty low down, so it was divided into sections that were about 16-18" in diameter. It was also very much alive. It's going to have to season for a while before it can be split.

My wife and the boys helped...we cleaned up all the brush and filled my 8 foot truck bed completely full of logs in just over an hour. It was probably overloaded, but we took it slow and made it home. I went through two tanks of gas in the saw, and it did awesome...cut right through stuff that used the full length of the bar.

I think you made a good choice, 92.

I replaced my slightly smaller Stihl and a larger Echo saw with a Stihl 261 a couple years ago and it's worked out well for me. I have both 20" and 18" bars but mostly use the 20, and more than I want lately!

A wind storm came through and broke and uprooted trees throughout much of the property. An awful lot is pine but there's more deciduous trees for firewood (mostly cherry and maple) than I could heat with in two lifetimes.

Once in a while I would benefit from a larger saw but for 98% of what I cut this little Stihl works great and I really appreciate the light weight. A few images from the last week.




This nice cherry I hope to sell rather than burn.




More pine.


Stuck the saw in this cherry, it's pretty nice but along the road so the mills won't want it.

I cut a decent amount of wood since that pays the bills. I have a variety of Stihl saws big and small. I love the 261 its truly a great saw for lots of projects as its decently powerful and light weight. But it really isn't powerful enough for big bars without paying attention to your cutting rate. I run 3/8 pitch on everything and there is no way that 20" or even 18" bars are the correct size for the power output of a 261. That doesn't mean you can't do it (I run 18" on my 261 so its common with what I run on my 361 and 362) but you have to cut at the rate that the saw is in an effecient cutting part of the power curve. That may limit how much of the bar is used and the rate of cutting.

Ridewv, those are some big trees! My joints and back ache for you, just looking at those pictures.

The downside to not having my own property is that I don't have a built-in supply of firewood and am dependent on other sources to keep me supplied. On the upside, I only have to deal with the jobs that I want, and can turn down the ones that I don't want to tackle. If it's more than what I can easily get done with an 18" bar, it's not something I want to deal with!

92, my back and joints sure have been aching and that's in spite of the gas saw, tractor, and splitter which do most of the work. I can't imagine doing this with a hand saw, horse, and ax like my grandfather's generation and prior would have had to.

Today I took a break from trees and ran the weed eater then Barb came over with concord grape plants and a paw paw tree to plant. Afterwards we walked a couple trails where we saw more trees down including the first downed oak, quite a large white oak.

The 261, tractor, and my back will be getting a workout with all this.

Yeah, I know that feeling. If it's not one thing it's another. This weekend it was that way here, too...spent 6 hours at work on my day off Friday, and then when I got home I cut and split most of the woodpile, then Saturday cut up a tree, mowed the lawn, tilled the garden, changed the oil in the car, and rotated the tires. I'm looking forward to going back to work tomorrow to get a break!

Just called four eastern Iowa Stihl dealers.

No 550's in stock.

Stihl dealers or Husqvarna dealers? The 550 is Husqvarna and Stihl has an MS500i

D O H !

I had a Husqvarna, it rarely started after 5 pulls. I gave it to my SIL and he threw it out.
Stihl, was the replacement and it never failed me.