Own three chain saws if possible.

[aquacanis]

I thought the advice given to me about my new saw was excellent and wanted to
pass this on.  The reply to "my new saw" post was telling me that I finally got smart
and bought a small saw and work smart not hard. 
Here is what I thought about after reading this:  If you work in the woods a lot and
cut many sized trees you really should have at least two if not three saws.  Use the biggest one (probably 64cc or bigger) only when you need a big saw.  The intermediate saw for
most of your felling and a little guy like I just bought for liming and saplings. 
I now own a Makita DSC6420 "big boy" with a 20" bar, a Husky 55 rancher intermediate saw, with an18" bar, and the little 33 cc Tanaka, with a 16" bar.  I think it makes a good three saw combination to work with the smallest saw that will safely do the job and will finally let me work smarter, not harder.

[T Welsh]

I do tree removal for a living! be prepared is the best advise for anyone cutting. the one size fits all falls short really fast. problems arise when you least expect them! saw wont start,hit a rock,saw not big enough. it goes on and on.I take an approach like this, all my saws are ready to go. 020T with 14" bar for small stuff,044 with 24" bar for limbing and an066 with a 36" bar for felling. Its not rocket science and you always fail some where down the line. know what you are up against and go at it. bucking a 30" log with a 20" bar gets old fast,but do it with a 36" and you blow right through it. a lot of people have forgotten two little words(common sense) trust me ,we have 2 workers that have none, and I am always trying to teach them to be prepared, and they continue to amaze me at being stupid or they just do not care. a phase came to mind just now! (you cant fix stupid) best advise is to be prepared(old boy scout moto) and yes I was one! Tim

[Troublermaker]

I like having at least 3 saws. That way may be I would have at least 1 running saw when I was going to do some cutting.

[thecfarm]

Thanks to the FF I have 2 now.       One is used to cut and saw the tree up,a 372 Husky and the other one is used for limbing,a Efco 152.

[Ironwood]

T Welsh,

 Well the good news is your NOT training your future competition, or if yo uare they wont be for long (natural selection and all)

 Ironwood

[clww]

My current 3 "favorite" saws for my side job of tree removal:
028 Wood Boss w/ 16"-20" bar
MS361 w/ 20"-24" bar
084 w/ 36"-60" bar

[WDH]

You have to have more than one saw so that you can use one to free up the other one that you got stuck in a log  .

[Ironwood]

I will add: Sets of twos, 394XP's, 372XP's, 338XP's/


 Ironwood

[mikerat]

I have a argument for a fourth saw that doesn't run, I have three 36, 24, 18 and a 16 that don't run. The other day I was at my cabin and had a siatic (spelling?) nerve come loose in my leg. I was hurting real bad and crawled to the house and laid on a rug. 15 minutes later my 83 year old office worker neighbor came over and asked if I could cut up a tree that just fell across their driveway, I explained my situation and the neighbor stated that he would just cut it himself if I would let him use a smaller saw. In the 15 years I have known him I have only seen him run a mixed drink ice crusher so I was real worried, my saws were in the toolbox in the truck and the only saw that he could see in my shed was a old 021 that hadn't  run in years. I gave him the 021 and said it's a great saw good luck! He came back later and said he couldn't get it started and his wife made him call a local tree service. Thank God!

Mike

[mrcaptainbob]

I like this thread! And WDH hit it for me. I used to have an 031AV but donated it to my son when I got the MS310. My son had long ago repaired the bummed and n/a coli, so it was working fine. Good for him. the 310 got severely damaged and has since been rebuilt. In the mean time, son donated the 031 back to me! At the same time, a neighbor asked me if I wanted his old 031AV!! Heck yeah! I will have that up and running in a couple months. So....two great saws already and a third on the way! I like it!

[mad murdock]

Another take on the 3 saw equation.  I have a 372XP for bread and butter work, a Poulan "wild thing" for light work, and detail work, and a Mac 10-10 auto that needs fixed, so when I get it going, I can use it and appreciate the Husky all the more! Don't get me wrong though, that old Mac is a good saw.  Just not as easy on the ears, or hands as the Husky.  I will keep the Mac going for old time sake, one of the first saws I ran in the woods was a Mac 10-10.  Cut a LOT of wood with it, and it still kept going.  I wish McCulloch was still in production.  Now the name is owned by some Chinese company and they sell junk under the once good name.

[sablatnic]

The first two saws are the hardest to get, then the rest will just come  :-)

[T Welsh]

Saw,s are like gun,s!! you can never have enough of them. Tim

[clww]

Saw,s are like gun,s!! you can never have enough of them. Tim

Amen!

[NCFarmboy]

Saw,s are like gun,s!! you can never have enough of them. Tim

Long on saws 60-70 running 25-30 project, short on guns only 14.  It was easier to count guns, harder to count saws in my head.   Smallest is O&R 1hp.  largest is DolMak 6401 w/BBK with everything in between.  As stated can't have enuf!!!
Shep

[maple flats]

I only have 2 but will have a third next year. I have a Husky 365 with a 34" bar and a Husky 359 with a 18" and a 20" bar. Will have a good trim saw next year. The 359 gets heavy for limbing and the 365 only comes out if a 20" bar isn't long enough. I think I'll look for a 14" quality saw for trimming. I do like Huskies but will consider others too, just not a Poulan, tried them several times, too short lived.

[T Welsh]

Shep, ya crazy, I am jealous now!! I have hobbies that tend to get carried away sometimes,but 60 to 70 saw,s,I would have to build another garage.(could happen) Tim

[aquacanis]

Well thanks for all the response.  I was in the woods for the last four days and
believe me the little 33cc saw felt real good by the end of the day.  I was felling and
trimming out in an area of nothing bigger than five inches and it sure as hell beat lugging my 55 rancher all day.  It was plenty big enough for the job at hand and I was not as
worn out at the end of the day.  I must admit you wouldn't want to cut 15 to 20 inch trees with it.  But that is not what it is made for.  Work smarter, not harder.

[mad murdock]

That is a fact! work smarter not harder, indeed.  I have in my hammer drawer at work, 4 different sizes of ball peen hammers, a 2 oz, a 8 oz, a 12 oz and a 20 oz.  People laugh when they see that dinky 2 oz ball peen, and jokingly ask, "what are you going to use that thing for?".  The first time they need a hammer to tap on a hard to reach bolt, or if they need to make a custom gasket or some such thing, they reply (after using it), "man, that thing is handy!  I need to get me one for my box!".  Besides the 3 chainsaws, I have 3 flavors of axes, 2 mauls and 3 different crosscut saws!  The right tool for the task at hand, makes light work all around!

[Spike60]

Once you've been bitten by the CAD bug, it's hard to talk about how many saws you should really have.    Two is a minimum for sure though. Getting stuck, hitting a rock, broken rope. So many things can stop you from working if you only have one.

3 is nicer, and you can spread them out size wise for more versatility. The range of that spread really depends on what size wood you find yourself cutting.

Small-Medium-Large to me translates to 346-372-288, and 2153-670-930 type saws. Roughly a 50cc-70cc-90cc spread. My cutting is mostly firewood, consisting of both tops and drops from a buddy's logging sites. The larger saws are necessary to me for both bucking and  halving/quartering the larger chunks that I don't feel like lifting.

A smaller saw than a 346, if not necessary, can be a nice thing to have if you're doing lots of small work. The differences in saw weights seem to become more noticeable the longer you work. A 242XP is a real sweet saw, and small top handle jobs also have their own place.

[Mike_Barcaskey]

three saws that are always in the truck
MS200
361
660

oh, did I say I have three ms200's

[clww]

That's as bad as me with three 028s!
16,18, 20" bars.

[T Welsh]

One thing I forgot to tell you guys, that my most used saw is an older 044 that I interchange 18" 24" and 36" bars on. I like the weight of the saw, is heavy enough to let the saw head feed through while cutting and light enough to carry in the woods. after working with a good friend cutting timber for a week and trudging through the woods all day his saw ran out of gas on the next to last tree, so he grabbed mine and right away he smiled,after felling the last 2 and made the remark. why did you let me carry the 3120 all week long. I told him in case we got attacked by a bear! bars are cheaper than saw heads. so instead of buying 3 saws. buy a small and heavy duty medium saw with different bars. Tim

[John Mc]

OUCH! Somebody is actually carrying around a 3120 all day? (and on the east coast - no huge redwoods out here)

[T Welsh]

John Mc, Really good friend that also owns his own tree service,he is just starting out (8yrs.) and does great work, very talented and safe. I have almost 22 years on him!! he now carrys an 066 with a 36" bar and he like a surgeon with it. some of the best cuts I,ve seen! ( except mine of course )  Tim

[John Mc]

I wasn't trying to knock his skills. I'm sure he's great at what he does. I just can't see trudging through the woods with 23 pounds of saw (and that's just PHO. no fuel, oil, bar & chain). There's not much timber cutting in the east that requires 119cc / 8.4 Hp of saw (when you say trudging through the woods all day, I'm assuming he's not using it for milling, or bucking things up on the landing.) If he wasn't in great shape to start with, he will be after a couple weeks of cutting with that saw.

I'll admit, I'm at the opposite extreme. I tend to carry the lighter saws, and shorter bars. I figure I'd rather carry less weight around all day, even if it means I have to go at the occasional tree from both sides to get it down.

Sounds as though your friend is in his low 30's? Maybe I'd be lugging heavier if I were 15+ years younger. Then again, I've got some nagging neck and upper back injuries (wrestling in High School and College) that get aggravated by sawing - the heavier the saw, the worse it gets.

John Mc

[WDH]

Wrestling in High School aggravated me too.

[T Welsh]

John, I knew your were not knocking him. and yes he is in his late 30,s we where logging an old junk yard and in the back where some monster white and red oaks 36" small ends. so carrying around big saw,s was a must. and by the end of the day I was beat. his ego had a little to do with it(bigger saw syndrome) but he taught himself a lesson when he pinched his saw bucking a white oak, and had to grab mine to release his,said this thing feels like a toy,until he fired it up and ran it turned around to me and said this does everything mine does but weighs half.( all I did was smile) didnt want to bruise his ego to bad. he learned that a scalpel is better than an axe. still to this day when we work together I ask where,s the 3120? he say,s collecting dust on the bench. Tim

[acco1840]

Yep. Three saws. One you are using, One in the shop getting fixed and the other one somewhere between!

[John Mc]

Yep. Three saws. One you are using, One in the shop getting fixed and the other one somewhere between!

What about the one stuck in the tree?

[acco1840]

Forgot about that one!! That's where you need 2 bars for the same saw.......unbolt the powerhead, leave the bar in the cut......

[T Welsh]

Had a friend get one stuck in a tree, he came back the next day to find a bar stuck in a tree!(reminder) take the power head off. Tim

[aquacanis]

Yup,  I got my 55 rancher hung up about 5 years ago.  I was just beside a dirt road dead end.  I red flagged the tree and took the head off.  Last time I ever cut with one saw.  Period.  Drove 38 miles to get my other saw and had a friend come up with his saw also to
finish fell the tree.  Amazing what happens when you try to fell alone with one saw!!

[Knute]

3 saws is a good idea. You may get 2 stuck in the same log as I did once.