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Are we down to 2 big saws?

Started by old2stroke, November 30, 2015, 11:05:10 AM

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old2stroke

A survey of the internet shows that in current production, there are only 2 manufacturers of big displacement saws with Stihl(121.6cc) being the leader followed by Husky(118.8cc).  Jonsered(87.9cc) and Echo(80.7cc) are still hanging in there, but Poulan(50cc), Homelite(42cc) and Remington(55cc) have been reduced to making saws for the box store shoppers, which isn't a bad thing if you want a small saw.
In the early days of chainsaws, Homelite, McCulloch, and Pioneer all made big saws that dominated pulpwood production in the boreal forests of the Canadian shield. Maybe Remington was in there too.  They all made good saws and it's a shame that all of them aren't still in the market.  I have 3 Homelites, 3 Pioneers, and even a couple of those evil little Miny-Mac 110s that are all around 40 years old and still running fine today.
Not too many saws.  Not enough storage space.

SLawyer Dave

I believe it is mainly to do with the contraction of the Forestry Industry as a whole.  We have fewer and fewer people working in the industry, that need those large saws.  Combine that with the advent and now widespread use of the feller/buncher, and multiple manufacturers just are not going to be able to sell enough of the large displacement saws to make it profitable.  So the one or two that remain, are the largest manufacturers, who can best survive low profit margins.  Stihl and Husky have also both prioritized this part of their business.  They have actively been trying to grow their market shares with professional loggers by giving discounts, sales incentives, and other perks to large logging outfits that use their equipment.   

Jhenderson

How many pro users do you know that run a 100cc saw? I don't know any. Maybe that's because a modern 70 cc saw will work circles around a 100cc saw of 30-40 years ago.

sandsawmill14

Quote from: Jhenderson on November 30, 2015, 07:09:37 PM
How many pro users do you know that run a 100cc saw? I don't know any. Maybe that's because a modern 70 cc saw will work circles around a 100cc saw of 30-40 years ago.
this is true but as said before "there is no replacement for displacement"  ;D
hudson 228, lucky knuckleboom,stihl 038 064 441 magnum

Ianab

Lack of big trees that require a huge saw.

A lot of arborists will still carry one for those big removal jobs, and locally there are some old pines and cypress that needs a big bar to handle.

Buddy used to use a 3120 as a firewood saw, with a 5 ft bar, AND had cut a couple of trees from both sides with that.  :D

But I would guess they would be less than 1% of the market?
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

sablatnic

I don't know how many 100cc users I know, but I only know 6 - 8 big saw users, and they are not loggers but arborists, tree remowers or whatever.

JohnG28

The allure of lugging around an 880 or 3120, fully fueled, full of oil, with 5 or 6 ft of bar and chain through the woods would be gone about 50' from the truck I'd imagine! Let alone tree to tree or on some rough terrain.  Having it sit in the back of the truck for the occasional big tree in a tree service I can see though.  Not like it's going far and time is money.  Flushing big stumps would also be a place where the big saws will shine.  If an 80 or 90 cc saw can take down the same tree though, odds are it will be faster than the big bore saws.  Even a 90 cc saw is going to turn more rpm's in most cases.  A while back I wanted a 90 cc saw, but since getting my 460 (76.5cc) I don't even have much want for one, other than a toy that is!  :D
Stihl MS361, 460 & 200T, Jonsered 490, Jonsereds 90, Husky 350 & 142, Homelite XL and Super XL

CR888

As mentioned above the old growth timber that requires such saws that run 5ft plus bars is simply not availably any more like years past. The few areas that have such wood are protected. The game has changed big time. It was never a sustainable business model to harvest trees that take several hundred years to grow. Nowadays faster growing small to medium stands seem to be what's being harvested. Doing what loggers did in the past, could land you in jail these days.

Al_Smith

I've got 4 saws over 100cc and am "custodial" for an additional 084 Stihl that belongs to an arborist friend of mine .I'm the only one in the past 5 or 6 years who has ran that saw.

I think what might be considered a "big" saw would be the Stihl MS 660 or Husqvarna 395 being in the 90 cc range .Both rated for 36" bars which they do rather well with .

Generally more of what a person might find is in the 60 to 80 cc range .

Then look at like this, large saws seem to last forever .Why, because they don't get used that much .

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