Jonsered

[Maine logger88]

Anyone know when jonsered will be phased out? I just recently heard about this. Too bad I always liked jonsered saws 

[ButchC]

Dunno? I did notice that the major retailer of them around these parts (TSC) has switched to Husqvarna and wondered what was going on.

[mike_belben]

Im not sure that there was a lot of point to keeping them separate.  In my experience a jonsky is just a red husqvarna.  I didnt get the impression that there was much of a higher end to it either, like say toyota/lexus.  So why buy a jonsered if its just a husky.  

Are there any models in production that suggest otherwise?  I havent worked on all of them. 

[Pclem]

I always was partial to jonsereds before they changed with emissions. I bought a 2156 and a 2171 both with heated handles knowing they were going to change. I do like the straight top handle vs husky for a felling sight. There's just something about the look and feel that I always appreciated. I will miss them if they go

[Caloren]

First time I ever saw a Jonsered was a couple years ago when TSC changed to them from Husky, now they are switching back? Always wondered why they changed in the first place.

[Maine logger88]

Im not sure that there was a lot of point to keeping them separate.  In my experience a jonsky is just a red husqvarna.  I didnt get the impression that there was much of a higher end to it either, like say toyota/lexus.  So why buy a jonsered if its just a husky.  

Are there any models in production that suggest otherwise?  I havent worked on all of them.

Yeah I mean it's not that big of a deal I don't mind husky's but I did always like the jonsered handlebar a little better and I always liked the looks of the red and black saws. 

[celliott]

Most models are being replaced, the brand name is switching to red max. So you can still get like a 2188 or 2172, it'll just be a redmax 2188, with stickers to match. 
I don't know which ones will carry over though.

[Maine logger88]

I wonder what the motive is of doing that? I can't imagine taking a fairly well know brand and turning it into a relatively unknown brand l. Doesn't make sense to me I guess 

[DelawhereJoe]

Tractor Supply cut Jonsered because most people don't know who or what they are, so theres sales suffered. Low sales equal time to change companies to something that will sell. There supplier purchased all the unsold saws back at cost. I was talking to a store manager one day and thats what they told me.

[Maine logger88]

Around here most everyone knows about jonsered probably a regional thing

[mike_belben]

I always loved my 2155 until it burned up and i discovered it was just a husky 350.  Have a box full of those too now. 

[Skeans1]

Jonsered left out here in the 80's and even then you didn't really see them, it's pretty much either husky or stihl

[knuckledragger]

One of my favorite fraunk-n-Steen saws is the 266/630. I've put several of these two saws together. In my opinion the Jonsered has a racier look about it. I suppose husqvarna sells a substantial amount more units than does Jonsered. Also, the new saw technology e.g. fuel injection may have had bearing on the decision. Hate to see such reputable name go. A local saw dealer has been selling redmax saws. I asked him what he thought about the redmax . He seems to think they will be a popular saw eventually.

[sawguy21]

Jonsereds is not well known here, the previous distributor put little effort in marketing them in the west although they are very popular in eastern Canada. I doubt the wisdom of rebadging them as Redmax, a name hardly known to others than  professional landscapers, but we will have to see if it works.

[barbender]

Jonsered was a very popular saw here in years past, but with mechanization really cutting the number of saws in the woods, and some distributor issues, it looks like their days are numbered. Our local fleet store used to just carry Jonsered saws, now they have both Husky and Stihl and the Jonsereds are pushed off in a corner.

[knuckledragger]

I believe you summed it all up barbender. Husqvarna and Stihl are out there and Jonsereds are pushed off in the corner. Well, I got a corner for them.

[jocco]

Pretty much as we speak. What is in the pipeline is it. Yes TSC went back to Husky. There is going to be red max (same distributors) and they will have 2172 2188 2253 2255 and a few smaller home owner ones. No 2258/2260. Red max will have there large landscape line up. There is supposed to be a few Jonsered small saws for box stores but no dealers (much like Poulan). Apparently after the Tilton situation they put a big push on with TSC and also introduced mowers and snow blowers but sales did not meet the goals. Red max had a much bigger share of landscape equipment market.

[knuckledragger]

The local dealer has been very pleased with his redmax sales. I don't know the # on the redmax. He tells me it's a575 just red and black. The price is a third less than it's Husq counterpart. I'm thinking bout buying one just to see what all the fuss is about.

[HolmenTree]

Jonsereds heydays in the North American market was all of the 1970's into the 1980's when Electrolux partnered them up with Partner around 1980 and 1982 with the 630/162Husky.

1970's the Tilton family established Jonsereds all the way from the eastern seaboard right up to the Rocky mountains.
Early '70s a fellow named Wendell Walker in Oregon had a high ranking job with Omark Oregon and saw the opportunity to start up a Jonsereds distributorship in the PNW.
Another fellow who was also a ex Omark employee from the 1960's named Ray Carlton outfitted Jonsereds with his saw chain right across North America.
Jonsereds had a good run starting wayback in 1949.

[knuckledragger]

See, that's why I pay attention to your posts holmantree. You are full of good information. That said, do you have an opinion on the redmax saw yet? I'm really thinking bout buying one. The one I looked at yesterday is a $500 saw and looks like a 575 husq which is double that in price. Really the only thing holding me back is I got to many saws as it is, plus explaining to my wife why I spent $500 on a saw I'm just trying out for fun.

[HolmenTree]

Knuckledragger, I can't comment on the Redmax as I have no experience with them.
Yes I had the same problem with too many saws. I pretty well culled the herd of all my older saws by selling them off.
I'm looking towards the future with the up and coming new models to buy.
But I do have a soft spot in my heart for this old Jonsereds 80 from the 1970's.
Found these pics of a 80 on Facebook some young guys restored.
They didn't get the silver color scheme quite right on the sprocket cover , no Jonsereds 80 decal and they mistakenly put a 621 air filter cover on it.
But nevertheless a great saw from days gone by.


 

[woodsdog2015]

 That is a beautiful looking saw.

[ButchC]

Pretty much as we speak. What is in the pipeline is it. Yes TSC went back to Husky. There is going to be red max (same distributors) and they will have 2172 2188 2253 2255 and a few smaller home owner ones. No 2258/2260. Red max will have there large landscape line up. There is supposed to be a few Jonsered small saws for box stores but no dealers (much like Poulan). Apparently after the Tilton situation they put a big push on with TSC and also introduced mowers and snow blowers but sales did not meet the goals. Red max had a much bigger share of landscape equipment market.

Not sure how they are affected nationally but TSC is systematically being put in a world of hurt  by Rural King in our part of the country. Anywhere they put up a store the local TSC turns into a ghost town.  RK stocks a LOT of Echo, a lot of Poulan and a little bit of Husqvarna.  TSC has had several decent home owner saw lines over the years but screws the deal up every time and they will screw this one up too.   When they dropped the Cub Cadet saws 10 years ago and liquidated all the inventory I bought a 60 CC saw for  $150 and flipped it on Ebay and made a quick $150  I was hoping to get a 2166 for $50, :D

[HolmenTree]

Found some more photos of a Jonsereds beauty.
XF 110cc introduced in 1960, discontinued in 1969.
This one's only 1of 5 in the U.S. and it runs.


 

 

[wild262]

That one there makes my mouth water Holmen. :laugh:

[knuckledragger]

I'm sure it's a good thing the two of us aren't living near each other holmentree. I would most likely make a pest outta myself. Forgive me for placing an a where an e should be in your name in previous posts. Anyway, I'm not a vintage saw collector but I could be turned to one easy enough. That 'ol Jonsered is a very nice piece. I've got three or four 630s & a couple of 625s. Makes me want restore a Jonsered while I am able to get parts.

[wild262]

             If you like Jonsereds, check out Spike60's saw college videos on U-tube.  He has increditable knowledge pertaining to them.  I lik'em myself.

[Real1shepherd]

Jonsered left out here in the 80’s and even then you didn’t really see them, it’s pretty much either husky or stihl

That's very true from my experience as well. When I hit the loggin' shows in WA & OR in the middle 70's it was Stihl & Husky....then Husky later. I didn't see my first J'reds until I moved to CO and logged there up on the Grand Mesa. Got a totally rebuilt 80, which is still running strong to this day and I've been collecting them about the last 15 yrs.
However, a lot of J'reds were sold by Tilton Equip of Portland. I heard about them, but immediately said the same thing the other fallers said, "What about parts??" That wasn't a problem in CO because there was a good dealer in Montrose. I've been stockpiling parts and saws for yrs....when I go on a job now I'll take at least four vintage saws just to cover my back. On an especially bad day once I got down to the last saw. Just bad luck, it happens. 98% of the time if I start the job with my old 80, I finish the job with the same saw......unless I need a larger saw.

Dealer network for J'reds was always spotty. Unlike Husky back then, you couldn't just start a dealership in your garage. Some parts of the country like MN, Michigan, Wisconsin, Main, Vermont, NY had rabid users and decent  dealerships. My opinion of the old J'reds is that the pro line saws will last you your lifetime and indeed they have for most owners that kept them. Only reason people bail on these olds saw is that they are completely unsupported for parts-NLA.

People can go on forever about how when Electrolux Group AB bought Jonsereds and then became Jonsered....that the Jonsered saws had a slight edge over Husky. The only difference were the handles and oil/gas tank configuration. Anything else about them running 'better' is just confabulation. The last true pro Jonsereds was the 910E.  
Kevin

[Real1shepherd]

            If you like Jonsereds, check out Spike60's saw college videos on U-tube.  He has increditable knowledge pertaining to them.  I lik'em myself.

Totally agree. I've had a lot of fun watching their vids and listening to comments about the older J'reds.

However, I wouldn't follow them out into the woods and seek felling and bucking techniques from them. They just enjoy as a hobby.
Kevin

[HolmenTree]

As I mentioned earlier on in this thread,  in 1971 Wendell Walker a high ranking marketing executive at Omark's Oregon Sawchain division jumped ship and introduced Jonsereds to western U.S.
His distributorship was Scotsco Inc. Portland, Oregon.
They had the 50, 621, 80 and big bore 110 but it took until 1974 to introduce the new improved 111S.
90 came in 1976.

[stan064]

I had a 70 E back in the 80s, was a fine saw,sold it and got my 064,just picked up another 70E from a friend and am using it now with my other saw.always wanted a 451E, just like the style of those saws back then!

[Fishnuts2]

My first experience with Jonsereds was in the late '70s when my Father in law bought a couple of 49SPs.  They were so smooth and quiet that I had to look down to check the chips coming out.  But I was used to making firewood with my 1-10 Mac.  NOT smooth, and certainly NOT quiet!

I have quite a collection of them now, as I enjoy having great performing saws that a lot of folks around here have never seen or heard of.

[Grizzly]

When I had my saw shop (it was a short time) I sold Jonsered. The traveler at the time was a very helpful fellow and ready to help with a customer day or anything else I needed to make saws move. He represented Josa from Quebec. I never saw or heard from a Stihl or Husky rep. That was my experience. As far as differences, my customers said that they liked the Jonsered handle for felling cause a part of it was 90° to the bar or something like that and that the plastic housing wasn't so boxlike and didn't hang up on debris like branches and such. Except for those two items they couldn't have cared what brand name they had Husquavarna or Jonsered. Parts were all interchangeable and for most the part #'s were identical. I saw very few Stihl's and the story I got from customers was that they didn't like to start below -20°F. The store 90 miles from me sold Stihl and seemed to do quite well but he did say that he sold about 3 times more Husky's than Stihl's. That's the extent of my knowledge. I shut down on the last day of 2000 and went back trucking.

[HolmenTree]

When I had my saw shop (it was a short time) I sold Jonsered. The traveler at the time was a very helpful fellow and ready to help with a customer day or anything else I needed to make saws move. He represented Josa from Quebec. That's the extent of my knowledge. I shut down on the last day of 2000 and went back trucking.

Grizzly. That was a great story, a part of your life you can be proud of.
Many years ago I had a chance to work for Josa/Jonsered.
While on vacation on the east coast I stopped in at their division in New Brunswick and had a good talk with the guy in charge. Knowing I couldn't speak French he offered me a job working Newfoundland and Labrador.

You may know a former Jonsered rep here in northern Manitoba named Greg Carswell, he owns a hunting and fishing lodge up here.  

Tawow Lodge - Northern Canada Hunting, Fishing, and Adventuring

[Grizzly]

Greg must have been before my time. My rep was a Ukrainian from Norquay, SK. I can't seem to pull his name out of my mind. Running that shop was a fantastic experience and customers were some of the best kind around.

[HolmenTree]

Greg must have been before my time. My rep was a Ukrainian from Norquay, SK. I can't seem to pull his name out of my mind. Running that shop was a fantastic experience and customers were some of the best kind around.

Yeah I met Jonsered rep Greg at the Prince Albert Winter Festival powersaw contest in February 1989.
Alot of saw reps from various companies showed up at the festival that year.
Husqvarna distributor Peter Holmquist owner of Pacific Equipment out of Vancouver,B.C. showed up with a first year 3120XP with full mods and tuned exhaust pipe. Peter is another Saskatchewan farm boy native.

[Real1shepherd]

Willard....you ever think about digitizing your Chainsaw Age collection and selling the copies? I'd pay good money for '77-'92. I think there might be lots of interested parties. Unless somebody has already done this?

Kevin

[HolmenTree]

Willard....you ever think about digitizing your Chainsaw Age collection and selling the copies? I'd pay good money for '77-'92. I think there might be lots of interested parties. Unless somebody has already done this?

Kevin

Kevin, 
actually the former editor/production manager still has a warehouse of the magazine in archives, magazines that were never shipped to dealers or were returned to sender.
He sold off all the 1950s, 1960s and 1970's not sure about the rest. 
I'm missing all of the 1950s, half of the 1960s and the years 1980, 1981 and 1988 issues
I lost contact of the guy, maybe he is doing a digital format of them .Sure would be nice and a moneymaker for him. 

[sawguy21]

I worked fior a Jonsered dealer in Edmonton for a time, I liked the fact they were easy to work on. Mostly 525 and 535 models but saw the occasional 630 and 920. Interesting that Peter Holmquist who I met on a few occasions was from Kinistino, my great uncle likely cut his hair. :D My great grandfather ran the pool hall after he retired from farming

[HolmenTree]

I worked fior a Jonsered dealer in Edmonton for a time, I liked the fact they were easy to work on. Mostly 525 and 535 models but saw the occasional 630 and 920. Interesting that Peter Holmquist who I met on a few occasions was from Kinistino, my great uncle likely cut his hair. :D My great grandfather ran the pool hall after he retired from farming

It is a small world.  It's a easy Google search to find videos of Peter Holmquist and his Vancouver, B.C. obituary from about 9 years ago.
He was born 1926 in Sweden but immigrated to Saskatchewan when a child. He was still a child when he left the Kinistino farm at 15 to go logging in Ontario then to B.C in1941.
After a serious logging accident he got into sales, first called Pioneer Pete then later Husqvarna Pete becoming one of the largest dealership and importer of Husqvarna into the PNW.
He had quite a storied life, was even once the world champion crosscut hand bucker.

[Real1shepherd]

Willard....you ever think about digitizing your Chainsaw Age collection and selling the copies? I'd pay good money for '77-'92. I think there might be lots of interested parties. Unless somebody has already done this?

Kevin

Kevin,
actually the former editor/production manager still has a warehouse of the magazine in archives, magazines that were never shipped to dealers or were returned to sender.
He sold off all the 1950s, 1960s and 1970's not sure about the rest.
I'm missing all of the 1950s, half of the 1960s and the years 1980, 1981 and 1988 issues
I lost contact of the guy, maybe he is doing a digital format of them .Sure would be nice and a moneymaker for him.

Willard,
I've got a friend who says he can get actual copies or reprints from the family that put out Chainsaw Age. I'll let you know how that goes. This all started when AS got hacked and lost all your posted scans of the March, 1991 Jonsered 2094 review.

Thanks for 'repairing' my memory too...it was Scotsco I heard about while loggin' on the west coast, not Tilton as I stated. I even saw their store in Portland back in the day. Didn't make the Jonsereds plunge myself until I was loggin' in CO in the very early 80's.
Kevin

[HolmenTree]

Willard....you ever think about digitizing your Chainsaw Age collection and selling the copies? I'd pay good money for '77-'92. I think there might be lots of interested parties. Unless somebody has already done this?

Kevin

Kevin,
actually the former editor/production manager still has a warehouse of the magazine in archives, magazines that were never shipped to dealers or were returned to sender.
He sold off all the 1950s, 1960s and 1970's not sure about the rest.
I'm missing all of the 1950s, half of the 1960s and the years 1980, 1981 and 1988 issues
I lost contact of the guy, maybe he is doing a digital format of them .Sure would be nice and a moneymaker for him.

Willard,
I've got a friend who says he can get actual copies or reprints from the family that put out Chainsaw Age. I'll let you know how that goes. This all started when AS got hacked and lost all your posted scans of the March, 1991 Jonsered 2094 review.

Thanks for 'repairing' my memory too...it was Scotsco I heard about while loggin' on the west coast, not Tilton as I stated. I even saw their store in Portland back in the day. Didn't make the Jonsereds plunge myself until I was loggin' in CO in the very early 80's.
Kevin

Thanks Kevin, I may have to make another call for those magazines if their still available. 

[HolmenTree]

I worked fior a Jonsered dealer in Edmonton for a time, I liked the fact they were easy to work on. Mostly 525 and 535 models but saw the occasional 630 and 920. Interesting that Peter Holmquist who I met on a few occasions was from Kinistino, my great uncle likely cut his hair. :D My great grandfather ran the pool hall after he retired from farming

Roy, here's a 1982 video of Peter Uno Husqvarna Holmquist when he was 56.
Good life story when he started logging in the 1940's.
In 1973 when he was 47 years old he won the world championship single buck crosscut event at Hayward, Wisconsin.

With his ability to speak Swedish and owning a major Husqvarna dealership (distributor?) in the PNW the factory engineers listened to him about what design changes etc. were needed.

PETER' HUSQVARNA HOLMQUIST' AND FRIENDS AT 'SQUAMISH LOGGERS DAYS 25TH ANNIVERSARY' - YouTube

[zimraphail]

awsome video Thanks

[Logger RK]

I inherited a 920 super. It doesn't have the chain brake band on it. Looks like the rest of it's still intact. Does anyone know if different models used the same band? I can't find much info on it. I had a 70E back in The Day. 

[zimraphail]

Something of interest! We are getting ready to move inside of three weeks to bayfield county wis. Going tru old fileing cabnets, I found old paperwork from about 83 and 84 when I bought my first still strong Jonshreds 450! But I also have original books and brochures for 525, 630, and a history brochure! Pretty cool stuff and pristene! I beleive 690 brochure as well! Anyway it was cool to look over in my rush to pack!

[Bncyom33]

Yeah unfortunately now a days they are and were red Husqvarna's. I heard red max got them. Still love my real jred though. 70e. My little cs2152 is a great runner also.

[sawguy21]

RedMax is now owned by Husqvarna as well. They are shedding their box store lines, lots of volume but little or no profit and unfortunately J-red is taking it on the chin too. Except ffor Stihl, Echo and  Makita they pretty much control the hand held power equipment market.