We got a wood stove in December and have been heating with it all winter. One thing I drastically underestimated was how much wood we were going to go through. I'm up to 8 truckloads so far, and will probably need a couple more before the weather warms up enough to stop burning. On the upside, it's been saving me between $200-$250 per month in heating bills, it provides peace of mind if the power ever goes out, and it makes the house a lot more comfy.

One thing I do need is a new chain saw. I have an old 42cc Poulan Pro w/ 18" bar that I bought about 15 years ago just to clean up downed limbs and small trees around our half-acre yard. Honestly, it's been a solid tool for that purpose. It still starts and runs reliably and does just fine with little stuff provided you keep the chain sharp, but it just doesn't have the balls to cut through bigger logs without bogging down. I need a saw with more power.

The two I've been looking at are the Stihl MS261 and the Husky 550XP. My son recently acquired a MS261 with a 20" bar, and it's a super nice saw. It weighs about the same as my Poulan but has significantly more power and has no trouble getting through a 16-18" log, even denser hardwoods.

In all honesty, I probably ought to just get another Stihl just because I know it'll do the job and then we'll have commonality for parts, chains, etc. But I want to look at all the options, and I've read that the Husky 550 is a solid competitor to the 261. Both saws are rated at 4hp, but on dyno tests the Husky made 4.75 compared to Stihl at 4.25, and there are supposedly some differences in the chain design as well that allow the Husky to cut faster. The Husqvarna can also be had for about $100 less and has a longer warranty.

The Stihl felt pretty good in the hand...I have yet to be able to find a 550 to put hands on. Both have good reputations for quality. I'm just trying to do all my homework before I go drop the cash on one or the other.

Either the Stihl 261 or the Husky 550 will do the job. You won't go wrong with either model.

Dealer support is a part of the equation. In my neck of the woods, Husky dealer support is very rare. For those of us who aren't in the heavy professional logging regions of the Pacific Northwest, most Husky dealers aren't full service shops. In my area there are many Stihl dealers that don't do service work, but I have a number of options for Stihl dealers that service and repair their saws. If you use a saw regularly, eventually it will need some type of service -- worn out parts, broken parts, stupid actions by the dude on the throttle trigger.

Husky saws tend to produce a little more power than their spec sheets. Stihl saws tend to be right on spec sheets. A slightly more powerful saw will save a second or three on bucking one log. In the overall scheme of felling, trimming, and bucking -- seconds don't matter much. Not even over the course of a dawn-to-dusk day. Minutes matter over the course of a day. If you absolutely need cutting speed, then jump to a 60, 70, or 80+ cc engine. Then get used to running a larger, heavier saw.

Some folks gripe about the electronic carb controls on modern saws. I think they are absolutely fantastic, as the saws self-adjust to temperature and altitude changes. But sometimes the electronics go wonky and the saws don't run well. All it takes is the manufacturer-prescribed reset procedure, and then the electronics go from brain-dead to yeehaw. IMO Stihl has the electronics down a little better than Husky. Husky has the electronics down better than the rest.

Warranty means little to me. If my gas saws need work, they go to the shop. All work on my gas saws has been long after the warranty period, and the service work has never been related to manufacturing issues.

There are many chain options, with each type cutting a little different than the others. Full comp, skip tooth, semi-skip, full chisel, semi-chisel, carbide tooth, low profile, narrow & wide gages, whatever. And different filing methods -- round file, square file, hex file. The cutting differences between chains tend to be insignificant compared to the sharpness of given chains. Sharp chains slice through wood. Dull chains rub through wood.

My Stihl 261 is the most pleasant gas saw I've used. It just works. It's not as powerful as our bigger saws, but it does the job on reasonably-sized trees. FWIW, I maintain some 120 acres of forest on our family ranch.

Thanks Fritz, I was hoping you would chime in because I know you have a ton of experience with this stuff. Your use case is a lot heavier duty than mine, and I'm not typically spending a full day behind the saw. It usually takes me under 2 hours to fill the 8' bed of my truck with one of the younger kids working as a gopher. If Noah comes along with his saw and a second gopher, we can get his S10 and my 2500 filled up in about an hour and a half. And that's with my underpowered Poulan and the crappy Craftsman that he was using before he got the Stihl.

I've been sourcing a lot of stuff from the town dump, but I've also got access to several wooded properties that we're going to try to hit pretty hard in the spring so that we're ahead of the game next winter. My biggest frustration right now is that there's a lot of good bigger stuff that I have to leave behind because I either can't cut it at all or it takes forever and beats up the saw.

Servicing stuff doesn't really scare me. I do most of my own work and there's not much on an engine that I'm afraid to tear into. I do hate tiny little two-stroke carburators, but I've found that as long as you never let ethanol gas anywhere near them and use quality two-stroke oil, they don't really cause a lot of problems. I've changed sprockets and chain brakes before, and fixed the oiling system on the Poulan, so as long as I can get the parts pretty easily I'm not worried about service.

I guess I'll go out to the store today and try to put hands on the Husqvarna and see how it feels. I have the advantage of having already used the Stihl, so I know what I'd be getting there.

I’ve had an opportunity to run a friends 550XP a number of times in the last year and can compare it to mid sized Stihl and other Husqvarna saws.
The 550XP is very strong, and very tough to bog down with a sharp chain. It is light for the power, and to me, has significantly less vibration than any other saw I’ve run. I now own a new 545 Husqvarna which enjoys all of the features of the 550XP. Both are a do over if ever required.
Billy

Both are good saws. I keep a Stihl MS261 and MS500i on the bucket truck. My crew loves using the 261 because it is lightweight and powerful. Go with the brand that has the better dealer in your area.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
My biggest frustration right now is that there's a lot of good bigger stuff that I have to leave behind because I either can't cut it at all or it takes forever and beats up the saw.

How big are you talking? Both saws you mentioned are 50cc, 20" bar. But that's not going gain you much over the Poulan if you're looking to buck up larger rounds.

I'd take the struggle to find a local 550XP as a red flag that local dealer support will be very difficult should something go wrong and need warranty work. I buy Stihl as my local hardware store is a service center as well. Though, I've never needed service.

My 2 cents. I went down this road a long time ago as I needed to cut up a 36" tree that was in my yard. My Stihl 250 was getting the job done. But slowly and I was worried about the abuse to it. Since you have a 42cc saw already and access to a MS261. I'd recommend buying a 60 or even 70cc class saw. That way you can use it on the larger stuff and move to the Poulan for smaller tasks.

You could, [i]could,[/c] run a 24 inch bar on a 261 with a full skip chain . You'd want to upgrade the oiler.

I found a reasonably priced 70cc saw from a local saw mechanic that buys and fixes them. It runs great and I saved a TON of money over purchasing new. I keep a 24" bar on it.

quote:

How big are you talking?

Not that big. Our firebox is only 22", so I'm not looking for huge stuff. Yeah, we could split it but massive 3-5' diameter trunks are just too much work to bring home and deal with. The Poulan struggles with anything bigger than 12" or so around...it's just gutless. There's a lot of 12-18" stuff out there that I'd love to take but it's just not up to the task.

I just got back from visiting some local places and striking out everywhere on finding a 550. Rural King has pretty much every Stihl model imaginable in stock, though. I got to look at a 261 next to a bunch of consumer-grade Stihl models, and it's significantly nicer. It's also much nicer than every Husqvarna that I saw today, but all of those were consumer-grade models as well...so not really a fair comparison. I just found out that the local John Deere dealer also carries Husqvarna, so I'm going to run out there and see what they've got.

I have access to my son's 261 for the moment, but after next year he's probably moving to Alaska and taking it with him, so I'm going to need to get something of my own.

I don’t have experience with the 550XP, I own a 455 Rancher. For 5 years we lived in a house that was heated with wood, so I did a lot of cutting with it. That to say, I have nothing bad to say about Husqvarna, nor Stihl for that matter. Sounds like the advice given to choose the saw with the best saw shop is good advice.

Well, turns out the Deere dealer does not carry Husqvarna. They are in fact a full-service Stihl dealer with as complete a selection as Rural King, and identical pricing. Thankfully I saw the giant sign out front before I went in and talked to anybody, otherwise that could have been awkward.

I called the last place listed on the Husqvarna website and they don't sell saws, just do parts and service. It's looking like I'll probably end up with the Stihl, which is just fine with me.

from a thread last year...at the altitude where this work was done, engines lose about 20% of their horsepower, compared to sea level.

A Stihl 261CM with a 16" bar is certainly capable of much work. Here's what mine did on a chilly day in January. The trees had diameters of 11 to 16 inches at the felling cuts, were 48 to 60 feet tall. Nothing huge, but the saw did the work without issues. A sharp chain is a key part of working efficiently. I vaguely recall burning 3 or 4 tanks of fuel that day. I know I sharpened the chain about half way through the process. It's a Stihl full-comp full chisel chain.

A clump of beetle kill trees before. I paint a yellow stripe on trees that I plan to fell.




5 trees from the above clump. I bucked the larger portions of the trunks to 6-foot lengths -- erosion control supplies.




Tree #6 -- before bucking



Tree #7 -- before bucking



Tree #8 -- before bucking

Reviving this two month old thread with an update.

After using my son's 261 pretty extensively, I'm in love with the saw. I've probably got 7 or 8 hours behind it now, and he has probably 4x that. It has done everything we've asked it to, and I haven't been able to get it to bog down in anything, even green hardwood, except a couple of times where I got it pinched. It makes easy work out of filling the truck bed with firewood, and does it in less than half the time of my underpowered Poulan. It's light, handy, starts easy and runs great.

Add to that the fact that I still haven't been able to find a Husqvarna 550 anywhere locally, today I went to Rural King and bought my own MS-261 C-M. Mine's got an 18" bar as opposed to my son's 20, but for what I'm using it for that ought to be more than enough, and it's a few less teeth to sharpen.

It's warming up to the point where I think we're pretty much done burning for the year for heat, and I got the woodshed built last week, so now I just need to fill it up before fall.

And because yes, I know, pics or it didn't happen...

Of course it couldn't be that easy.

I tried running the new saw tonight on some oversized logs I had on the woodpile, and it wasn't cutting like it should. I tried doing a reset on the mtronic system, which involved running the saw at idle for 30 seconds, then at WOT for another 30. During the WOT step, the bar started smoking so I shut it off. After it cooled off, the chain was so tight in the bar that the saw wouldn't turn it, almost like the chain brake was on (it wasn't).

Long story short, Rural King sold me a saw set up with a .325 sprocket, but a 3/8 chain and bar (it was assembled when I bought it...this is how it came off the shelf). The sprocket beat the hell out of the drive links, which is why the chain seized in the bar.

So I wasted an hour troubleshooting tonight (thankfully I had my son's saw with the .325 chain and bar to swap over, and compare part numbers with), destroyed a brand new chain, probably damaged the bar, hopefully didn't damage the sprocket, and tomorrow after work I get to spend my evening taking it back to Rural King to try and make them give me the right chain and bar, all so I can use my new $750 saw .

I ran a saw all afternoon, this time an EGO on smaller wood. I used the Stihl 400 a few days ago on larger wood.

I discussed chain/sprocket/bar pitch & gauge on another thread, likely last year. My Stihl dealer changed my 261 from .325 to 3/8, so I could use my 3/8 chains & bars on any of my three Stihl saws. A .325 setup cuts a little more efficiently due to the narrower kerf. A 3/8 setup is a little burlier and tends to bind less.

IMO your chain, sprocket, and bar must be replaced with new ones. I would not trust the original ones, regardless of how they look or what the shop states. Your clutch likely has suffered premature wear, and it should be carefully inspected.

This is a rookie mistake, which makes your shop suspect. If you have a Stihl Elite-class dealer nearby, I suggest switching to them. But after your current shop makes your saw new again.

At this point I'm kinda hoping they just take the whole thing back. I'll go across town and buy one from the John Deere dealer. And you better believe I'll go over the thing completely before I pay, too.

I'm so sick of rampant incompetence. I spent the last two weeks trying to get my money back from Ebay after the USPS lost or stole the contents of my package in transit, and the seller wouldn't respond. Then my uniform shirts that I've been waiting 4 months for finally showed up, and they were all wrong. I literally looked up the Blauer product numbers and gave them to him when I ordered (because he has a long history of getting stuff wrong), and he still screwed it up. You can't count on anybody for anything anymore.

I had to work till 6:00 today, but when I got home I crammed down some supper and then drove back in to town with the saw to take it back to Rural King. The manager said they don't normally take returns on Stihl equipment but they probably will in this case because of the nature of the problem. He wants his "Stihl guy" to look at it first to make sure that's actually the problem, though. I'm not super confident in the "Stihl guy's" abilities, since he's probably the one that put the wrong bar on it in the first place, but whatever.

So as it stands, they gave my saw, I have a receipt, and I have to go back in there again tomorrow for a resolution. I'm getting pretty sick and tired of jumping through hoops to fix other people's mistakes this month. Hopefully tomorrow I can get my money back and go across town to the Deere Dealer and get one that's right.

No call from RK this morning. It was my day off, but I still had to work, so I didn't get in there until 2:00. Tracked down the "Stihl guy", and he confirmed that they screwed up. I didn't get my refund, but I did get the right bar and chain. At this point I'm over it and just glad to have a working saw.

When I got home I cut and split the pile of maple that I have had sitting since the power company murdered my tree last year. They were just cutting stuff into small enough chunks to move, not necessarily to fit in a stove, so there was quite a bit of cutting left to do. I went through about a tank of gas and got about half a cord out of it. The saw ran great, and I didn't run into anything that the 18" bar couldn't handle.

My brother-in-law had a tree come down at work this weekend, and his boss said I can have it if I want it, so that'll be a project for tomorrow.

It's good that you have a working saw again. Confirm that you have matched bar-chain-sprocket. A 3/8" Stihl chain normally has a .050" gauge. A .325" Stihl chain normally has a .063" gauge. But not always, and other brands (Husky, Oregon) also have various combinations of pitch and gauge.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
I haven't been able to get it to bog down in anything...

I will address this later, as I'm heading out with the saws. But I've yet to use I saw that I can't bog down, when dogging in, even in moderate-sized wood for the saw. Even the professional fallers with large saws (Stihl 661 & 881, Husky 592) show some bogging in youtube videos.

Bogging down should be considered a continuum. When cutting large-ish logs, there's an RPM slowing from max horsepower to max torque -- that's not bogging, but rather knowing how to efficiently cut.

Slowing the RPMs a little below max torque -- but still high in the torque curve -- is still normal, and usually isn't considered bogging.

Slowing the RPMs noticeably below max torque is definitely bogging. It's not optimal for smaller displacement saws, but it's pretty common for larger displacement saws in big logs. Just look at youtube professional fallers doing the 20-30-40 degree angled face cuts. It even occurs with the really good cutters, like Bjarne Butler. Not on every tree, not on every video, and they're also very used to their saws' capabilities -- so they know when to reduce pressure on the dogs, and thus reducing the cutting speed.

Slowing the RPMs so much that the clutch kicks in is definitely bogging. I probably couldn't do this with a Stihl 881 and a 16" bar, but I am quite certain I could do that with Stihl 881 and a 36" bar -- buried in solid wood. And I've done it with every saw I've owned -- and I'm not limiting this to times when I've pinched the bar or clogged the bar channel with sawdust.

Good that you've got a saw to use. I missed this thread earlier, and would have recommended the Husky 555. I've had an old 55 Rancher for years (30ish) and it has been flawless. But, as I age and my low back gets worse, it is more difficult to bend over with the shorter bar for any length of time. To that end, I picked up a 555 a few years back and threw a 28" bar on it. All the power a guy could need, and you don't need to bend over. It's a wonderful saw - quiet, and much better vibration dampening than anything I've used in the past.

Husky - Stihl is a Ford - Chevy discussion. They are both fine saws. I'm sure you'll be happy with yours.

quote:

Slowing the RPMs so much that the clutch kicks in is definitely bogging.

That's what I meant by bogging. I definitely have had it slow as it digs in, but I haven't had it get to the point where it's not cutting or stopping altogether. That was a regular occurrence with the Poulan.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

I definitely gave the Husky a look. My brother has a 440 (IIRC) and has been very happy with it. They just don't have the local selection or dealer support around here to compete with Stihl.