one and only one

   / one and only one #1  

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Foster, RI
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Mahindra 3016
I checked the archives for this question but could only go through two pages before I lost patience. This is a hard question for all of us chainsaw junkies. I have owned and sold a bunch of chainsaws stemming from my professional days and then from my chainsaw addiction days but I asked myself this question the other day when I was using my old and trusty 257 with a MM. For all of us guys cutting 5 to 10 cords per year: If you had to own just one chainsaw and it had to do all your duties from felling,bucking, limb removal etc, what would it be.?Let me start out by saying this is an impossible question for me to answer. No one felling and cutting should own just one chainsaw even for safeties sake where one chainsaw gets stuck and needs to be rescued with another. Lets just say the chainsaw you would always grab first and use for the entire harvesting process whether you were taking down and cutting up an 8"- 24" tree to limbing these babies and slicing rounds from them.
 
   / one and only one #2  
For me, it'd be a 346xp and I did just that from 2001 until 2010. 10-20 cords of oak per year, small time logging and a lot of logging road maintenance.

And for the record I rarely cut anything over 20-24". If I was into much larger wood, the 562xp would be my saw of choice.
 
   / one and only one #3  
I have always had just one saw for all my felling and bucking until last year. Ive owned husky, stihl , jonsered and poulan and my vote goes for my stihl ms361:)). Cut hundreds of cords 8"-24". Its been powerful , pretty light and trouble free. Now it has a little brother for limbing an ms180.
 
   / one and only one #4  
I have always had just one saw for all my felling and bucking until last year. Ive owned husky, stihl , jonsered and poulan and my vote goes for my stihl ms361:)). Cut hundreds of cords 8"-24". Its been powerful , pretty light and trouble free. Now it has a little brother for limbing an ms180.

038 Magnum for sure. Best saw ever made in my opinion. Stihl 361 is a good saw as far as current saws go.
 
   / one and only one
  • Thread Starter
#5  
For me, it'd be a 346xp and I did just that from 2001 until 2010. 10-20 cords of oak per year, small time logging and a lot of logging road maintenance.

And for the record I rarely cut anything over 20-24". If I was into much larger wood, the 562xp would be my saw of choice.

I'm surprised BG you didn't give the nod to the 357. I do suppose that would be my choice with an 18" bar. I have a proclivity to my 257 as well. Haven't met anything that would not cut either. I have/had all of the saws in your present arsenal with the exception of the 562. The 346 is a handy dandy saw but I have half of my stuff between 18 and 24" and is why I give the nod to the 57's.
 
   / one and only one #6  
For firewood production in 18-24" hardwoods I think I would stick with my 372 as doing a cut every 16" down a tree has the saw in the wood most of the time. But for all sorts of cutting, like doing cedar posts and firewood in smaller trees, I would get a 357 size saw as the 372 is overkill and gets heavy too fast.
 
   / one and only one #7  
Echo cs370
 
   / one and only one #9  
My area was logged 30 years ago. So I leave most of the largest trees. The ones I cut range between 5" and 20", with the majority in the 6" to 12" range. I cut 5 to 6 cords of my own plus another 2 or 3 helping a neighbour. I have a 20 year old Stihl 028 with 18" bar that often seems to out cut my neighbour's larger saws. I think because I sharpen mine more.

I have cut a few 24" trees with no problem. I have tried friends' larger saws and prefer mine. I may eventually get another saw. If I do, I'll look for one no heavier than mine and perhaps even lighter.

The main reason I'd like another saw is that I could use it for dicier work such as trimming out stumps, clearing brush for paths, etc,. I try to be careful doing that kind of work but it really is disappointing when I inevitably make that one strike in the dirt.

My conditions aren't too demanding so I can easily get by with one relatively small saw.
 
   / one and only one #10  
stihl ms 361 for me, good all around saw.
 
 
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