Help for aging woodcutters

[newoodguy78]

Wlmedley fwiw I bought a 550xp for my son to use, he loves doing firewood  
I personally run a 372 like yourself. That said the 550 has really impressed me for the size and weight of it and after about a year have had zero issues with it. Got it setup with a 20" bar I'm sure it would cut faster with a shorter one but  have no complaints. Kept sharp it really throws some chips. 
I'll second what the guys are saying about a pulp hook or pickaroon. I personally prefer a pulp hook but can see why some would choose a pickaroon. I think my preference is based on what I grew up with, my father always had a pulp hook around and just got accustomed to it. 
Good luck with what you decide to get. 

[Wlmedley]

NWG,thanks for the info about the saw. That's the saw I'll probably get. I had a 3400 Poulan for about 20 years and when it finally gave up the ghost I bought the 372 and have had it 25 years so I'm about due a new one. I've never had a pulp hook or a pickaroon but I noticed that the saw dealer had some pickaroons on the shelf with different length handles so I might try one. 

[beenthere]

Our sponsor Logrite  also has them. Helps the forum to give them support. 

[barbender]

I had a Stihl ms261cm. It is a nice, smooth little saw. Really smooth and torquey for a 50cc saw. 

I had a Husky 346xp before that. Even though that saw was a lemon, when it ran right I loved it. A lot of power for it's size, it revved high and cut like a light saber😊

I haven't run one of the 550's, but they sound similar to the 346 from what I've read.

Honestly, if I was looking for something that didn't wear me out, I'd lean towards the Stihl 261. You can get it in auto tune or not. Mine was autotune, and it worked flawlessly. With the decompression button, they crank really easy, and the smooth power they make is easy to use without wearing you out- you don't have to keep it revved up all the time, just roll into the throttle and away she goes👍

[doc henderson]

Try to elevate the wood to be cut so you are not bending over and using energy to work in an uncomfortable position.  I made a log holder with roller every 16 inches to cut my firewood round.  often, they stay on top, so I do not bend to pick them up.  then for big rounds I use the bucket or crane with tongs on the track loader to get them on the firewood table.

[Big_eddy]

If you are looking at the 550xp, look at the 545xp as well. Same 50cc, slightly detuned without some XP goodies, an easier pull starter, for a little less money. I got one for my son, and it's a great saw. Seems to have a bit more torque, but a touch less speed than the 550xp, but I've not run them back to back, just different days. @Spike60 can likely add more specifics.

As for your back, I +3/+4/+5 a pickaroon/hookaroon. My personal favourite is the Husqvarna one. I have it, a peavy mfg, and a Logrite, and the Husky has the best feel and best tip design IMO. The Husky handles are not good and you'll end up having to shorten or replace it over time, but the tip design sticks the best and releases easily.

And I'd seriously think about splitting horizontal only. I can't imagine how hard on the back it would be splitting smaller rounds vertically. Maybe set the largest rounds aside, to halve vertically at a different time.

[thecfarm]

Speaking of splitting.
I have not used my splitter in more then 10 years.
I have a OWB and all winter I have burned dead EWP in it. 
I did not cut much hardwood on the meadow last year, but will this year.
I cut some good size EWP, the 18 inch bar will not go all the way through the "log".
Most of the hardwood I cut is not even a 16 inches across.
When I cut on the meadow, most are not more then 16 inches on the stump. Most are a foot across after the stump.
I have been cutting my wood 4-6-8-10 inches wide, depends on the size of the wood.
The pine that is 18 inches gets cuts at 4 inches. It gets loaded into the bucket of the tractor and gets dumped in front of the OWB. Then I use a splitting maul to split if in half and I feed that into the OWB.
The "smaller" stuff maybe only 10 inches long, be it softwood or hardwood.
This seems to work better for me, less handling of the wood.

[Spike60]

Yes, the marketing wisdom when naming the "5" series models. 545, 555, and 565 are all the same displacement as their XP brothers. So Swamper, your 555 is a 60cc saw.    Not much difference noticed between them just cutting firewood. Maybe for the cookie and stop watch crowd. 545 and 550 are saws you can run a long time comfortably.

1st step, and perhaps the hardest when answering the original question is admitting that you need to adjust what you're doing in order to keep doing it. And while many of you have some great options equipment wise, I think most of us need to make those adjustments without a major investment. A lighter chainsaw is far more accessible than buying a tractor with a grapple.

For me, the simplest change is to take things in smaller bites. When splitting. I'll run 1 tank of fuel  through the splitter, vs finish the pile. Or maybe say I'm gonna go play on the wood pile for an hour, rather than all afternoon. If you don't overdue it, it's good exercise. No need to wear yourself out.

The other thing for me is to avoid lifting big heavy rounds, so I'll often split or rip them in half or quarters. Still need a big saw for that, for which I have a Jonsered 820 with 20" bar nicknamed "jack the ripper". A big saw doesn't feel so big in that role. It's when swinging a big saw to limb and break down tops that the weight can really bother you.

This is a great discussion though. Lots of good input from everybody.

[thecfarm]

Spike60, is right with a big saw limbing and doing the tops.
I push my trees, no limbs up into a pile. 
Then I cut the wood as needed.
I am usually no more then a cord ahead at any time through the winter months.
That's why I bought a OWB.
I had a woodstove in the house and had to get ahead on wood.
Now I cut as I need.
But still no all day sawing is needed for me. Well sawing it up for firewood. 
I may cut in the meadow for a day or cut dead EWP for a day. But that EWP means a lot of limbs to be cleaned up too and most times smaller stuff that the EWP might of knocked down due to a wind storm.
I used my small saw all last year, even cutting down some big EWP, but that is softwood and easy to cut.

[SwampDonkey]

Mines this model, and your right almost 60 cc. Although technically 59.8 cc, so my brain was thinking 55cc. 

https://www.husqvarna.com/ca-en/chainsaws/555-mp-125560603

Great saw, I wouldn't go any lower in class. I've had those lower models like the 545, never liked it.  

[barbender]

Ray, are you saying you cut the big logs in short rounds, like 4", and then split them? That's the solution I've come to on those big hogs that won't feed through the firewood processor and seem to pile up all over  the woodyard. Even as big cookies, they're too big to go through the door of the OWB so they get split once. Then they look like giant wooden Woodruff keys😊

I'm looking at 50 here shortly. I'm a little bit sliwer and stiffer then I used to be. I'm told this won't get better by those have went this way before me😊 

I split quite a bit of wood, probably 80 cords a year. The firewood processor has made that much easier obviously. But to me, the biggest thing is, don't keep letting the wood hit the ground if you don't have to. It's the bending over and lifting that gets me. So if you have a tractor or other front end loader, maybe take the time to build yourself some work savers that keep you from having to lift. 

I think it is DDW Oregon that has the tagline, "let the machines do the work". That one sticks in my head and I remind myself of this kind of thing all the time. I only have one body and it is way easier and cheaper to fix machines. 

Build yourself a cutting table of some sort. Get the log on the table, buck it into firewood lengths, and it sits their and waits for you instead of you having to compete with gravity for them. Roll it over, or lift it over at waist height, to your splitter.

Another thing I've been experimenting with, that I can't run through the processor efficiently (I've tried😁) is sawmill slabs. What I'm working on now is pallets that I've modified, so I can put a bundle of slabs on them and cut them to length. Then the pallet is picked up with the skid loader and carried to the next stage. 

Anything to keep from having to pick stuff up off of the ground.

[newoodguy78]

Barbender you're correct in thinking the 346 is very close to the 550. I replaced my 346 with the 550. If anything the 550 might have a little more zip but not a lot. 
Wlmedley if you get closer to buying one take a close look at what you want for a bar length. 
When I bought mine the price difference between a 545 and 550 was the cost of a 20" b&c and I believe a 16" b&c. Like was mentioned above looking at the tag the saws are pretty much identical. I opted for the 550 because it came setup with what I wanted for a bar. 

[Al_Smith]

I just went through this .325 and 3/8" chain with my neighbor .He was running a Dolmar/Makita of I think 54 cc's with a 16" 3/8" and a seven tooth rim .I had 40 year old Partner 5000 plus,49 cc  with a 16" .325 ,8 pin rim ..Smoked him .IMO the 3 cubers do better running the smaller chains but that's just an opinion .I might also add those tests were in both cottonwood and hard as a rock dead ash .Both chains were chisel .
I might addtionaly add speed isn't every thing .He's 52 and I'm 77 at the end of the more than likely he'd have more done than me,I gotta rest more often you know .

[hedgerow]

For me, the simplest change is to take things in smaller bites. When splitting. I'll run 1 tank of fuel  through the splitter, vs finish the pile. Or maybe say I'm gonna go play on the wood pile for an hour, rather than all afternoon. If you don't overdue it, it's good exercise. No need to wear yourself out

This is a great discussion though. Lots of good input from everybody.

This doesn't work for my firewood operation as my splitter has a ten gallon gas tank on it. I never say to my helpers we'll take a break when the splitter runs out of gas. 

[doc henderson]

my uncle Jerry has passed, but he still cut firewood as he got older, and often with younger friends and neighbors.  He would work till his saw ran out of gas.  One of his friends' younger sons realized jerry was not filling his saw full and told his dad.  they got a good laugh, and his son was told that Jerry could fill his saw as full as he wanted.  less time between breaks.

[Magicman]

Not chainsaw, but I have learned to keep a half 5 gallon jug of Diesel for the sawmill engine refill.  It much easier to lift 2 1/2 gallons and when empty, half fill it again from a full can.

When all 3 jugs are empty, I get two full and one half full. 

[Wlmedley]

Although I'm not nearly as frugal as I used to be before I retired most of the things I do have to make economic sense for me to feel good about doing them. I remember back in the 70s everyone was getting into the firewood craze and some spending more than they would probably ever save on heating. Example, new 4 wheel drive pickup,several new back glasses, saw ,splitter,stove ect. Then found out it was harder than they thought it would be and quit after a couple years. Where I live I've always had to have a chainsaw just to clear the land where I built my house and several outbuildings,garden space ect and sometimes to get fallen trees out of the road so I can get out. Now I need one for cutting trees to mill also. I don't have a front loader on my small tractor but I'm thinking about making some forks for the three point hitch. I used to cut and split in the woods where the tree was dropped but we don't have a lot of flat ground and it was sometimes a pain. I figure that over the years I have saved several thousand dollars on my heating bill and mostly enjoyed doing it. I'm pretty sure I'm way ahead when figuring costs versus savings and I'd feel better if I can keep it that way. I see a lot of people around here complaining about how much it costs to heat their house and have trees all around them and some in danger of trees falling on the house. I'm in the process of making sure none can fall on any of my buildings while I'm still able to cut them plus stay warm for a few more winters . Thanks for everyone's input. It helps more than you'll ever know.

[Wlmedley]

Doc,that's a pretty good idea. I could maybe just put a little bit of gas in my saw and splitter. My luck I'd forget about bar oil and burn my bar up 

[thecfarm]

I sat down with a cup of coffee to answer you and the power went out. It was a planned outage, they said we might be without power around 11-3. 
So I took a nap instead. 
Coffee was cold, had to heat that back up. 
I woke up and the power was on.
Yes, you are right about a woodruff key.
Starts out like an "O" ends up like a "D". 
I only split a couple at a time. No need to wear out my body splitting 4-5 at a time. 

[barbender]

I don't know what the chain was called that came stock on my Husky 346xp, but it was narrow kerf .325. Oregon 95vp? I think they've changed the name of it, and if you bought a new Husky it would have their version anyways. All that said, I really liked that chains. It cut great, and held an edge decent.

I like a semi chisel cutter. I learned in my log home building "experiment" that semi-chisel may not cut as fast (I can't really tell the difference) but it's not as grabby. Back to that smooth and easy to use bit. 

I've got chisel chains on my 562's but I'm really considering going to semi chisel.

I've said before how I used to follow motocross when I was a teen. One thing that struck me was when magazine guys would get a chance to ride a pro's "works" bike, nearly always they would come back with a report of how the bikes were just smooth. They went into it expecting radical levels of power, but usually they had just a bit more power. But it was smooth power, available over a wide rpm range. Smooth handling, smooth suspension. Well behaved, and easy to ride.

That's how you want your saw, too imo.

The Stihl ms261 is one of those saws. I used to have a Jonsered 2165, that made the same kind of power just bigger (and the sister saw to the Husky 365). Those saws make smooth power, that you don't even have to be wide open throttle to nip a limb. Just roll it up half throttle and vroom through the limb it goes. 

I remember marketing ads from Jonsered back in the day. Husky wouldn't even give the 365 the "xp" designation, but Jinsered marketed the 2165 as a pro sae ideal for hardwoodn because of the good low end power. These were before the saws were made "strato" designs. 

[Wlmedley]

Barbender, I have never owned a Stihl saw and wouldn't mind trying one but the Stihl dealer we have here leaves a lot to be desired. He's a pretty nice guy when you go in to buy something new but acts like he doesn't have time to be bothered if you come back for parts or service. I bought a small tractor from him years ago and haven't dealt with him since. I've bought a couple mowers and several weed eaters, from the Husqvarna dealer and I have always liked him. I bought my 372 Husqvarna in 2000 and all I have ever had to do was put a kit in the carburetor once and a few spark plugs. I know I don't use one near as much as a lot of you guys but it has cut quite a bit. When a company sales me a good product I try to stay with them. I did look at the spec's on the 261 and it looks pretty close to the 550 in weight and power although the Stihl is around a $100 more which it may be worth it. Guess I'll find out 

[barbender]

Bill, I'm really not trying to sway you one way or the other, just giving you an honest evaluation from my experience. The 261 was my first Stihl. It never had to go back to the shop. None of the dealers in my area impress me that much, so I just get what I want🤷 Those Husky 550xp's would be a fine saw as well, I'm sure. 

[upnut]

Brother(74) and I(71) have utilized ATV winches in various configurations to lift, drag, and pull chunks or logs of firewood in order to save our backs...


Also have been using a hookaroon and pickaroon, along with log tongs to manuever smaller rounds. My favorite saw for firewood is a Stihl 241, smallest pro saw I could find with a decompression relief. Tractor hydraulics are also a great aid...





Scott B.

[trapper]

my dealer said stihl made a mistake not selling the 241 in the us any more.  I love mine/

[Wlmedley]

Upnut, thanks for the pictures. Lots of good ideas. Barbender , I'm going to go look at the Stihl but not at the dealer I was talking about. May have to travel a little farther but I have plenty of time and I don't buy a new saw very often.