Your All Time Favorite Saw?

[OddInTheForrest]

I had a 1994 Stihl MS039 red handle for years. It was a beast, after lugging around a 181 and assorted old small partner saws in my younger days. Still remember my father, when i got the 039. It was old. And heavy. And we had no need for it in the lawncare company we had as a side gig. But a few weeks later, when we started a 400tree felling job, damned sure if the 039 was ok after all. I ported the exhaust, and ran it with a 15 or 20" B/C, all dependant of job. Really good with the 20". Ended up selling it to move onto something never a few years ago, but I still miss it from time to time. The only time I felt it was too heavy, was on a steep hill clearing job. The site had mostly smaller trees, less than 12", and only the occational larger (14-30"). So I did most of my work there with a 192 with a 12"B/C. All untill the day a 20" Birch decided to turn on its stump after the wind changed. I ran away from the saw, and came back to my 192 in the shape of a banana. Had to hike 30mins down to the car, get the 039 with the 15"B/C, and then back up. After the end of that day, I really could feel it. The girl was heavy ;)

[snobdds]

For me it's a Stihl 361.  Perfect balance, power, torque, and speed.  

[bannerd]

Im fond of the husky 2 series, I have not had my hands on the 3 series yet.  266, 272 are my go too.  I've heard some good things about the 372xp and the low clutch engagement.  Some day!

[Al_Smith]

I would have to say a Stihl 038 magnum which is very far from being a stock saw .That's just something I do ,tweak them a tad bit . ;) I might add in Ohio we have no chainsaw police and we can do anything we want with them and some of us do exactly that . ;D 

[Drifter2406]

Husky 365 Special, bought in 2004 and still going strong

[Oddman]

Husky 390XP tuned up by Jack Beelar, aka hotsaws101 over on youtube.
A very impressive piece of equipment, it truly saves alot of time and work when the job calls for a saw over 60cc.

[newoodguy78]

372xp with a 24" bar is my favorite. 

[sawguy21]

Very popular felling saw in this area.

[rusticretreater]

Husqvarna 562xp w/ 24 inch bar and auto tune.

[Guydreads]

Kind of a hard one for me. Overall I've got to say my slightly modded 2150 is my favorite. The muffler that's on it, and the muffler stud mod has made it an amazing saw. Throttle response is crazy, it pulls an 18 in full wood like it doesn't really care. I've even done light milling work on knotty pieces of wood. Never overheats, just an awesome saw. For felling it would be the Jonsered 2071/2171, and for a really good cheap saw the Craftsman S145. I own it on a different property from where I normally live and I've gotta say, it really packs a punch for 150 bucks. Starts second pull most days, light years ahead of Poulan for just a bit more. Not a pro saw by any means but we've felled probably 20 trees with it and it never cares. The 2150 also starts on 1 or 2 pulls without decomp. Never have gotten it to fire with decomp. Well, practically never. The 2071 if it hasn't run in a couple weeks takes 6-8 pulls so a bit more effort there. I love all my saws though, just the slight bits that matter.

[Walnut Beast]

372xp with a 24" bar is my favorite.

Very nice 👍. I've got the 371xp and runs like a champ

[Walnut Beast]

The little Husky 55 that was bought at the same time as the 371xp also runs like a champ. 

[Bncyom33]

The Jonsered 2152 I've had going on 11-12 years now. That is after I safety wired the muffler bolts, got tired of them backing out. It's light starts on at most 3 pulls and spins up something fierce. I sure do wish they never merged w/redmax. All good things must come to an end I guess.

[Foragefarmer]

Last I checked I have 22 chainsaws, a 046 and 372 are ported and I built a 044/046 hybrid. But I love the early 064 I have with the Bing carb.. I was lucky I found an NOS rebuild kit for it a few years ago. Rock solid idle and smooth power delivery in the cut. I got rid of my 066 cause I knew I would never run it. 

[ofarrell]

066 red light that was worked over by stihldoc in VA, over a decade ago.  I don't run it unless I have something really big to cut down for my sawmill.  It's silly the power that saw makes. 

[Bricklayer51]

026 its cut many cord of firewood

[Wlmedley]

Probably 40 years ago I bought a new 3400 Poulan chainsaw.Cut firewood and cleared property for 20years.Thought it was great.Fuel lines got rotten and sucked air.Ran it lean and ruined it.Replaced it with a 372xp husky and never looked back.

[moodnacreek]

041 because I never had an 038.

[Kodiakmac]

I am Stihl hanging on to my old 051 that I got awaaaaay back in the '70s.  Out of all the saws I've ever had it is the closest I ever came to "trouble free".  

I fire it up every now and then and man oh man, I can't believe I used to carry that thing for 8 or 10 hours a day.  

[moodnacreek]

One of my all time favorite chain saws is a Homelite 420 w/ simi bow bar [1957]. I have owned more chain saws than I can remember, the first was a Mac 47 and then a gilmer belt Homelite. These where hand me downs when I was a teenager. That Homelite wound up on a mini bike.

[Spike60]

Had to look those 2 up to see what they were. Couple loud old girls, huh?

[John Mc]

I am Stihl hanging on to my old 051 that I got awaaaaay back in the '70s.  Out of all the saws I've ever had it is the closest I ever came to "trouble free".  

I fire it up every now and then and man oh man, I can't believe I used to carry that thing for 8 or 10 hours a day.  

When I first quickly read that I thought you were referring to a Husqvarna 51. I was thinking Oh, come on, its 11 or 12 pounds what's the big deal?
Then I read a bit more closely "Stihl holding on" and 051. 23 pounds! yeah, that would get tiresome.

[moodnacreek]

The old gear drive saws where loud and smokey. The early McCullough had an open flywheel screen that would rub against your pants. These saws where 1/2" pitch chipper chain that was very easy to sharpen with a 1/4" file. There was chisel chain in those big pitches back then but we never saw that, probably a northwest or Canadian thing. I think the fuel mix was 1/2 pint #30 to the gallon of gas. And then the bar oilers where manual or both automatic and manual. These saws where heavy and slow. I remember a man with a brand new Remington light weight direct drive saw off a big branch without resting the saw on it or spiking in, I just stared.

[Al_Smith]

Not all gear drives are actually that slow .In my collection of oldies I have a McCulloch 650 gear drive circa 1966 I think .It has a two to one reduction and the saw engine will wind up to over 9,000 RPM .Oh  it is heavy though .Certainly not a trim the apple tree in the back yard type of saw .87 CC's of classic McCulloch .It uses 1/2 " chain which I have enough but I also have .404 sprockets for it .At the moment is has an 8 tooth 1/2"sprocket I modified to fit from a Homelite gear drive. It's on Mike's site . ----more ---

[Al_Smith]

You have to keep in mind 1/2" chain has a  big tooth with a big gullet .The rakers if memory serves are at 45 thou and the tooth rolls a really big chip .When that old 650 gets a good bite on say cotton wood ,green maple  it throws big fluffy chips like a  wood planer .You'd best get a good bite by hooking the dawg else it will try to drag you over the log.That saw is most likely one of the last of the gear drive era .