What was your first chainsaw?

[village-moron]

I just want to know what kind of saw the first one you ever had was, or still is.I had a mcculloch mac130 with a 14" bar and chain.

[Stephen_Wiley]

I voted McCulllough because I could not remember the brand name of an an oddball I once owned.  Original saws which I have since trashed, given away or sold were;

McCulllough
pro-6.......[2], mini macs........[6], 10-10's......[3], 10-20.........[2], older Mac.....[ 3xxx].

David Bradley  two but I don't remember the model #'s

Homelite
XL..........[2],  professional 550  

[magic]

I had a Stihl MS 310, was a great saw power to weight ratio wasn't very good but it still cut pretty good.  Have traded that one in for the MS 360 and I am in the procees of trading that one in for a MS 460.  I have always wanted to try a Husky but I love Stihl.

[Mark M]

My grandpa had a Mac Super 33. It was a gear drive and the crankshaft rotated perpendicular to the chain. My dad's first saw was a Lombard, and later he got a Landcaster or something like that. I was an ugly aqua-green if I remember right. Both were a lot of trouble and hard to start. When I was about 17 my dad, uncle, and I cut some pulp. We had a 30 cord contract with Boise Cascade in Int'l Falls. We used that old Super 33 and a little Homelite with about a 12 inch blade. The only way we could start that Homelite was to pour gas in the spark plug hole. I found that if we took the muffler off we could squirt gas right on top of the piston with an oil can. We also used a 1920's John Deer GP tractor to skid. Worked a good part of the winter cutting some big popple and skidding it about 1/4 mile, one log at a time. Everything was always broke down (even the log chains) and by the time we finally got the logs to the paper mill we were in the hole by $100.

[Stan]

I sure don't remember the model number of the first McCollough saw I had. The second one was a Poulan Pro, its on the back porch if you have to know the model. Since then two Husky 51s.

[Ianab]

Inherited a Promac from my Dad when he retired from the farm, and it had had a pretty hard life..
Traded it on a Stihl 310 when the starter cord broke at a most inconvenient time.
Stihl is much better saw, even if it's one of the semi-pro models. I probably only use it on average an hour a week and it has performed well. It's a good all round general purpose part time saw and is sold as such. The pro saws are lighter, more powerfull, more durable.. and more expensive  :-/
BTW I should get my nearly new 066 Magnum this week  
For those big Macrocarpa Cypruss that the MS310 is scared of...

Ian.
 P.S.  Next Poll should be 'whats your current favourite saw?', but lets run this one for a while and see what the difference is ;)

[Norm]

I voted the McCullough since it was the 2nd saw I owned but knew what it was. When the dutch elm disease came through our farm it killed tons of trees. I was about 14 and we had a green monster that had a manual oiler. I would go out and saw standing dead elms. They were huge and it's a wonder I didn't kill myself.

[OneWithWood]

I voted 'other'.  The first chain saw I used with any regularity was a borrowed Poulon.  I believe the first saw I actually purchased was a Craftsman self-sharpening unit.  I believe the saw was manufactured by Roper.  The self sharpening attachment was a joke.  Traded that saw for a simplicity roto tiller.  My second purchase was a Stihl 038 Pro.  That was a great saw.  Unfortunately when alchohol was first added to gasoline I ended up with some by mistake.  Melted the piston to the bore.  Replaced that saw with an 038 AVS Farm Boss.  Still a good saw but not quite the same.  I still use the 038 AVS regularly.  I recently purchased a Stihl 440 MS.  Faster and lighter than the 038.  With a 25" bar it has become the prime felling saw.

[MrMoo]

Husky 51 runs great...just keeps cuttin.

[WV_hillbilly]

   My first  saw was a Stihl 028 super.  Great saw and it still is running good  . I have had 0 problems with this saw.  

[SasquatchMan]

Ianab, you've got stuff that a 310 is scared of?  You don't live ANYWHERE near me!

[rebocardo]

14 inch electric remington!

[woodmills1]

stihl 045 farm boss, bought used in 1975.  Stihl have it with a log wizard on it.

[Corley5]

Husky 65 was the first saw I could call my own and the first and only saw to bite me and it did it twice.  28 stitches in my left hand middle finger and a furrow across my left thigh another time.  Still got that saw around the farm somewhere and it will run.  They came from the factory without a chain brake and would make your hands tingle from the vibration.  They were good cutting saws.  First saw I bought new was a 2094 Jonsered.  I've also got a 49sp around and also had a Jonsered 70E for a while.  Those 70s were a good saw.  Heavy by todays standard but nice saws.
  Grandpa Bob had the first chainsaw in the neighborhood.  It was a BIG old McCulloch.  I don't know what model but it was big.  That first year he cut wood for everyone in the neighborhood with it.  Musta been an awful job but better than a crosscut and a buzz rig.  I guess

[jtmccallum]

Still own McCullough Pro 10-10.  Still runs pretty good.  Can be tiring on the hands and wrists. That's why my dad gave it to me after owning it 2-3 yrs.  1st. saw I used was a Mono, heavy saw that never started when you needed it and spent more time in the shop than in the woods.  What Norm F. said about dead elm trees.  I don't know anybody  who was hurt cutting them, but a lot of really dead ones were cut by my dad and other farmers in our area.

[Oregon_Rob]

Jonsered 801, still have it and it runs great. A bit heavy by todays standards, but I love that saw. It has unreal compression, have to be careful when starting it.
I do use my 372 most of the time though.

[AtLast]

Now I got a collection of mutts....a Jonsred....STHIL MS440...John Deere V50..Shindawa climbing saw and old old old Craftsmen...was my uncles....when he died I got it..it didnt run and needed ALOT of work so I fixed er up and us in ocasionally...mostly its a novility item Im about to pick up a STIHL 066...

[Duane_Moore]

 skilsaw 1620  type 1,  came with 2 bar's  12" & 16". still have it, runs good yet. use the 12" bar for triming,  Duane

[Sawyerfortyish]

My first saw was a hand me down Homelite XL 12. Then I tryed a used Echo that didn't last long I traded it for a 032 Stihl. What a saw  16yrs cuttin slabs in the mill everyday. Took it in to get rebuilt and got two more years out of it took it back to have it worked on again and they told me to stick it in a garbage can :'( I got my money out of it. I've been with Stihl ever since

[tony_marks]

  homelite super xl.. didnt know didly about saws except to sharpen.. thats when i first learned about rakers..
  i later lost the sharpen ability,, due to a stigmatism.[distorted vision]  just now gettin it back with a little help ,,from a roller guide..

[John_Boisselier]

Borrowed the money from my mom for a homelite super XL in '80 or '81 to go into the firewood business as a teenager.  Paid for the saw in a week, and went to sleep with numb arms and hands for nearly six months until I had the good sense to switch to a vibration dampened stihl 038.  Of course my little brother had the good sense to spend some of the first money he made working with me to get a vibe dampened 360 homelite.  The first day he got it he cut some softer wood with it, and it went through so much faster than he expected, that it went through and nicked his knee.  After stitches, we researched saw use safety, and started practising proper saw use stances.  i.e. no body parts to be in direct line of saw blade.  After a couple of years, we all graduated to the full pro stihls and full fledged logging, except for my youngest brother who after using the best switched out of contrariness to nickle and dime you to death huskies.  Of course, he's been using one of my stihl 460's for the past couple of months while his huskies cycle in and out of the shops.  I've used the huskies too, and they are every bit the saw the stihls are (if they aren't out of service for ignition switches, carburetor linkages, jambed clutches and chains, and miscellaneous other little time robbing won't work until fixed mishaps.)  Have fun.

[jokers]

My first was actually my grandfathers when I was very young. Don`t even know what it was other than it was red, metal, and very heavy. It also wouldn`t run for sh--. then an old Homelite circa late 50`s or early 60`s. I think it was a Zip. Then a Stihl 041AV, various orange Echos, Stihls, Solos, and now mostly Huskies because they cut fast and run everytime without all of the grief of the early 046`s snapping cranks and the crappy fuel and impulse lines on the Stihls. And Air Injection puts everyone else to shame.

I haven`t had any maintenance or durability issues with my Huskies, but then I maintain `em and treat them like an expensive precision tool.

Russ

[Tom]

Russ,
On the other end of the spectrum, I haven't had any problems with my Husky 61 either.  It has lived on the back of my truck, in the weather since it was new in 1993.  I keep the chain sharp and don't dog the clutch.  It has a solid nose bar that I clean the groove and oil holes when I notice no oil or happen to remember.  The ventilation holes in the engine cover get cleaned out on occassion.  I dig the oil, chips and dirt out with a screwdriver when needed and blast the saw clean with a stream from a garden hose every month or so.  I had a on-off switch break within two or three days of purchase and it was repaired for free. I had a carburator rebuild last year because the the gaskets hardened, I was told.  All in all, I'd say it's been a real good saw.  It cranks in 3 or 4 pulls cold and one pull hot.  It's seen some heavy duty sawing because I've used it to split big logs.  Live Oak is tough on any kind of saw.  It has felled a few trees and sawed a lot of firewood but its main job is bucking and trimming saw-logs. Run hot?  Nope. I do feel a little guilty for not cleaning it more often but it hasn't failed me yet. The adjustment screw for the bar has been missing for ages but I chose not to replace it when I was told that they regularly fall out.  I haven't seen many old husky's that still have them around here.

The orange color in the plastic fades.  Oh well!  I guess I can't have everything.

[jokers]

Hi Tom

Yours isn`t the only Husky that lives in the back of a truck and keeps on tickin`. I`ve had many saws that ended up looking like they were dragged down 20 miles of dirt road from use and transport, but all in all, I`m pretty good with not breaking things unless they are junk. My stuff gets worked as hard as any but never intentionally abused. Well almost never. Sometimes the tool at hand seems appropriate for something it wasn`t designed for.  ;D

Russ

[Minnesota_boy]

Tom,
You could have saved a lot of the fading of the plasitc if you moved up here.  With the saw in the back of the truck, it would have been covered in snow for half of each year.  :D