Help with Husqvarna Choice for a Non-professional

[WSJ]

I cut firewood (not commercially) with a Husky 50 (16") and 55 (18") and an older Homelite XL350 (20").  Nothing wrong with the Homelite except that it's my Dad's and somewhat dated.  I want to get a mid-size Husky for use with a 20" bar and am torn between a 261 (which has been offered at a very good price by my local dealer since 261's aren't in the 2002 catalog) and a 365.

I had in mind that I needed a 4.0 cu. in. saw and that's the 365.  I can buy one off the Internet for ~$40-50 more than the local price on the 261.  The local shop wants ~$40 more than the Net dealer for the 365 (not surprisingly).  I'm strongly inclined to buy whichever from the local guy for all the usual reasons but could use some input on whether I really need to consider a 365 over the 261.  I expect the 261 will do everything I'll want, probably much better than the Homelite does now.

Anything really good or bad about either model that should influence my choice?  Thanks in advance.  
-WSJ

[Kevin]

Power wise I wouldn`t go anything lighter than 60cc range and not much over the 70cc range because of the weight factor.
My standard saw for felling,bucking and limbing is a Husqvarna 262,  a 62cc saw which is a great saw and has served me well for most applications where I am.
I have three saws so I have all the bases covered.  ;D

[TJACK]

I would go with the 261.  The power difference is not enough to notice unless in heavy cutting and the 261 turns more RPM's which means more speed. The 261 is 4.2 HP @ 13000 with the 365 is 4.6 HP @ 12500 RPM's.  I use a 372XP for felling and heavy cutting but most of my work is done with a 359 as it is a little lighter.  The Husky saw that really has my interest is the new 357XP with 4.4 HP @ 14000, it really screams.

Good Luck,

TJACK

[Reg]

I also cut "not professionally".
My first preference is for the biggest saw I can find.
My second preference is for the biggest saw I can afford.  :D
I have a ~10/12 year of Husky 2100 CD and a ~8/10 year old 288.  I am NOT particularly young or strong and as I said I am not doing this professionally - if I were I might want a lighter saw, but I feel the bigger saws are less prone to kickback and just CHEW wood like nothing else when asked.
FWIW, etc.

[Jeff]

Welcome Reg, tell us a little about yourself and where you're from.

[Jeff]

You too WSJ!

[WSJ]

Thanks all for the input.  After a really enjoyable week of agonizing over which saw to get I bought the 261 last Friday, partly because it'll serve my needs perfectly well and partly because I didn't have to break out the credit card for the next step (or two) up the line.

I ran 2 tanks of gas through it Saturday: cut up a green 15" dbh cherry, a 26" sugar maple I dropped last fall with the 50 and 16" bar (which was a bit of an adventure), a couple more down and dead 12-14" maples, and two dead/standing/very seasoned oaks (1 white & 1 red).

We had 2 saws going (I didn't manage all that on just 2 tanks of fuel) and I was pleased with the way the saw worked.  I had a cousin running the 55 with a new bar & chain (.325) and the 261 was an obvious step up and much lighter and higher revving than the old Homelite.  But I didn't feel like I was using some barely harnessed beast either, as opposed to a couple times when I used a friend's old 480 Husky with a 16" and 20", which was almost frightening.

Thanks again for the advice and insight.

Jeff B:  I'm a wetland ecologist for New York State.  We heat our house (big old farmhouse) and family camp in Pennsylvania (medium size old farmhouse) with wood and I keep both my dad and sister stocked on stove/fireplace wood.  Seems like most of my free time is spent either cutting wood, cutting grass, working on things that cut wood or grass, or hunting.  Thanks for the opportunity to take advantage of your excellent forum.  -WSJ

[Reg]

3 problems;

1)  I hate to see cherry go to firewood, or any tree in that size
2)  26 inch maples can be worth milling too, but if it was down for a year maybe not.
3)  I'm too far away to have come down and made furniture grade lumber from it for you.

OTOTH, if they were only good for firewood... slabs burn well and there's no splitting to do     :D

[Reg]

Hi Jeff,
Not much to tell about me, I'm in Hudson, Mass. which is about 35 miles west of Boston.
I cut firewood, custom mill and use slabs for fuel - this is part time, I have a day job.
I also dive (scuba), swim, waterski and golf - separately  

\Reg

[WSJ]

Reg:  Most of the wood I cut is either standing dead trees, blow downs, or tops left after logging.  And although cherry is OK to burn, I'd rather concentrate on a mix of hard maple and oaks (of which there're plenty on our property).  This cherry was one of two that got lightening blasted about a month ago.  It had split about 4 feet up from the base and was down; the other is still standing but won't live and I need to get it down while it's still green.

The big maple probably would have made a saw log or two.  It was alive when I dropped it but half the top had split out of it last summer, about 20 feet up.  I cut up the half that was on the ground and thought, "What the heck, this tree's got a bunch of wood in it and it'll be rotting from the top before it gets to a mill as a saw log."

How long is a cherry of any value as a lumber tree after blowing over?  We had the property (in northwest PA) selectively cut about 4 or 5 years ago (15" or greater hardwoods except for beech was what was cut) and there are still quite a few cherries left.  The soils are wet, clay-ey, rocky, and shallow and several cherry trees have blown down since.  I tend not to fool with them even for firewood after about 2 years (unlike oak) but don't have any idea as to their value or whether it's worth someone's time to salvage them.

I'm still working on red oak tops left over from the logging.  Those that are up in the air are still fine firewood.  The bark's slipped and some of them are starting to get a little punky on the outside but still worth cutting up.  -WSJ

[Ron Wenrich]

WSJ wrote:

"How long is a cherry of any value as a lumber tree after blowing over?  We had the property (in northwest PA) selectively cut about 4 or 5 years ago (15" or greater hardwoods except for beech was what was cut) and there are still quite a few cherries left."

The value in cherry is in the heartwood.  The sapwood can stain if it lays too long, but most often it is stained to match the darker heart.  A lot would depend on the time of year.  If it is dropped in fall, you could leave it lay well into late spring, with very little effect.

Why were the beech left on this job?  Did you give these specs or were they logger specs?  15" and greater is a diameter limit cut.  It is different than a selective harvest.

For an idea of how much a tree is worth, click on the toolbox to the left.  There you will find a tree value calculator.  This doesn't take into consideration veneer values.  

A 15" cherry is worth $100-125.  The 26" maple is around $250-300.  Thats assuming the measurement is at dbh and not at the stump.  Lumber value would be greater.

[WSJ]

Ron:  Thanks for the info.  My guess-timates of size were dbh but I didn't measure.

We had the logger leave the beech because we like them.  Our property, along with some adjacent timber company land, encompasses a long ridge where beech occur in decent numbers.  They don't occur as frequently in the valley or opposite ridge and we like the idea of having a maturing stand of beech as a benefit to wildlife.  Especially as there's no telling when our timber company neighbors will harvest their timber or that they'll leave any of their beech.  Their woods are considerably more mature than ours (they've got more big trees rotting away on the ground than we had cut) and I've been expecting them to start logging for years now.  -WSJ

[Jeff]

As far as I am concerned, leaving the beech trees cause you like them is the best reason in the world.