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Official MS261CM vs 550XP test

Started by HolmenTree, June 06, 2017, 10:46:34 PM

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PNWRusty

Quote from: HolmenTree on October 19, 2017, 10:03:30 AM
Well it's official. My newspaper ad from yesterday.
I spent over 40 years working on my own saws, now it's time to work on others. I'm open to any advice.


 

Very nice!

Make sure you get your first customer to pay in cash so you can pin the first dollar on the wall!

HolmenTree

Thanks Brad.
It's easy enough fixing and sharpening my own saws.
But the few homeowner saws that I just finished working on was not as easy as I thought.
This is whole new territory for me and yes "don't make promises" :D
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

HolmenTree

Quote from: PNWRusty on October 19, 2017, 04:46:51 PM
Quote from: HolmenTree on October 19, 2017, 10:03:30 AM
Well it's official. My newspaper ad from yesterday.
I spent over 40 years working on my own saws, now it's time to work on others. I'm open to any advice.


 

Very nice!

Make sure you get your first customer to pay in cash so you can pin the first dollar on the wall!
:D Will a check do?
All I can say is this should keep me busy through the 5 months of my off season. But the repair part is going to be very limited. I just want to spin up loops of chain off the roll, and get repeat business sharpening them. Not going to get rich :D
What I found out here locally the majority is just 4 different chain pitchs.
.050 .325 and 3/8
.058 .325 and 3/8.
Stihl and Husky makes that simple.
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

HolmenTree

I just finished sorting out many years of my used chain. Got almost 150 loops here with majority of it with 75% of cutter left.
.325 , 3/8 and .404.   half Stihl 1/4 Oregon 1/4 Husq
Mostly 20 24 32 inch.

Will just sell it off over the years hopefully just to get the customer in the door.
A loop of new Stihl 33RS is selling up here for over .60 cents a DL


 
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

ehp

WOW, here I buy stihl 33RS chain for .33 a driver from either dealers here , same thing with bars, price wrote on them is Crazy but they sell to me for a lot less

DelawhereJoe

Last I checked here Stihl chain ran about 50 cents a drive link.
WD-40, DUCT TAPE, 024, 026, 362c-m, 041, homelite xl, JD 2510

HolmenTree

Quote from: ehp on October 19, 2017, 07:09:00 PM
WOW, here I buy stihl 33RS chain for .33 a driver from either dealers here , same thing with bars, price wrote on them is Crazy but they sell to me for a lot less
Ed, might be because you're right next door to Stihl Canada. Out West here and way up north shipping can be a deciding factor.
The local dealer sells Oregon Husqvarna chain quite a bit cheaper then the Stihl. But most customers here want the Stihl chain.
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

joe_indi

Currently  here 36RSC retails for around 23-25 cents (cdn) per drive link

thecfarm

HolmanTree,Good luck with the new business.
There are a A LOT and I mean A LOT of chain saw owners that have no idea how to sharpen a chain. I work in a hardware store and see it.  :o
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

gspren

Quote from: thecfarm on October 20, 2017, 06:03:02 AM
HolmanTree,Good luck with the new business.
There are a A LOT and I mean A LOT of chain saw owners that have no idea how to sharpen a chain. I work in a hardware store and see it.  :o

Last week I watched a guy with a big local tree service trying to file a chain and he was sawing back and forth with the file ends going up and down, this guy was in his 40s and looked like he was in charge. :o
Stihl 041, 044 & 261, Kubota 400 RTV, Kubota BX 2670, Ferris Zero turn

teakwood

National Stihl Timbersports Champion Costa Rica 2018

HolmenTree

Quote from: gspren on October 20, 2017, 08:02:31 AM
Quote from: thecfarm on October 20, 2017, 06:03:02 AM
HolmanTree,Good luck with the new business.
There are a A LOT and I mean A LOT of chain saw owners that have no idea how to sharpen a chain. I work in a hardware store and see it.  :o

Last week I watched a guy with a big local tree service trying to file a chain and he was sawing back and forth with the file ends going up and down, this guy was in his 40s and looked like he was in charge. :o
gspren, thanks to my first 20 years in the workforce as a chainsaw forestry logger, then onto running my own tree service as a climbing arborist.
I have seen the competence of other tree service operators and their employees  operating and maintaining chainsaws.
Really makes me chuckle seeing their over inflated egos focused on the latest equipment and climbing techniques, but totally come at odds with the one piece of equipment that spells "production"....the Chainsaw. :)

Quote from: thecfarm on October 20, 2017, 06:03:02 AM
HolmanTree,Good luck with the new business.
There are a A LOT and I mean A LOT of chain saw owners that have no idea how to sharpen a chain. I work in a hardware store and see it.  :o
Thanks farm, yes I'm finding that as I'm getting into this new adventure.
A very fit lady in her 60's dropped off her little saw this afternoon to get it sharpened. She said "In 30 years my saw has never been sharpened, I'm so happy someone like you has taken the time to offer this service."

I told her "for $15 I'll have it cutting like new, I'll drop it off at your house tomorrow ".
Well after I had a closer look at it later on my bench I could see it's original mini 370 chain has almost all of it layer of chrome worn off! But she still kept it cutting, so rather then trying to sharpen it .I replaced it with a used loop of Stihl 63PM of mine and put a good edge on it with a 5/32" Stihl file.
She'll be happy. ;D


 
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

Maine372

does that little hose on the back screw onto the motomix can?

HolmenTree

Quote from: Maine372 on October 22, 2017, 09:26:56 PM
does that little hose on the back screw onto the motomix can?
Plugs into it's NOS tank :D
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

thecfarm

No wonder it don't cut good,the bars on upside down.  ;D
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

teakwood

National Stihl Timbersports Champion Costa Rica 2018

John Mc

You'd be surprised how many times I've had someone point out to me "your bar is upside down".

Even funnier is the guy returning a new chainsaw to Sears and arguing with the Sears employee that "it just won't cut. About all it will do is knock some bark off, and I have to lean on it to get it to do that. The sears guy is convinced this guy just doesn't know how to operate a chainsaw: the "blade" is sharp and the engine runs fine - so he starts telling him how to use a chainsaw. The customer gets *pithed: "I know how to use a chainsaw!"

My friend (retired director of the Forestry and Natural Resources program at a nearby technical education center) wanders over, observes the conversation for a bit, and then quietly observes: "you know, that saw would probably cut better if the chain wasn't on backwards."  (I'm guessing it must have come that way from Sears, because the customer did not know how to change a chain. My friend demonstrated it for him.)
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

HolmenTree

That's funny John!
I noticed something about the bar on this little 1970's-80's McCulloch electric saw. It had a layer of black teflon on it like on a frying pan.
This pic of it was before I sharpened and cleaned up this saw but the bar was quite "slippery ". Something that probably was a good idea on a consumer saw.


 
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

630red

best of luck Holmen,  all the years you have in forestry you should have had a repair shop years ago, all the best

HolmenTree

Quote from: 630red on October 27, 2017, 05:36:37 PM
best of luck Holmen,  all the years you have in forestry you should have had a repair shop years ago, all the best
Thanks 630red , yes I always dreamed of running a repair shop, after getting into operating a full time tree service was just too busy cutting and keeping my own equipment maintained.
Got myself setup with a good sawshop now and getting customers dailey  in my first 2 weeks operating.  Still finding time to do treework for the dwindling customers as the season is coming to a end.
Been filing alot of 23RS chain.
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

HolmenTree

Today With the big dump of snow yesterday and falling into a deep freeze temps, I'm officially putting the MS261 and 550XP into hibernation.
Finished up a couple mundane jobs with the 261 a few days ago before winter set in, didn't even think to take a few pics, only just one now from the end of my driveway.
With the colder temps the 261 nicely reset it's self very quick, just seemed like a little burp and then it was back to business.
Got the heat on in the saw shop and the only calls I'm getting is for chain sales, sharpening  and some light repairs.
Life is good I can get used to this.


 
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

HolmenTree

Well I'm happy to revive this thread. Presently it's January 9th 2018 and about mid way into my tree service winter off season.
I got a call from a customer yesterday to remove a couple of tall spruce near his cottage, one was hit by lightning last fall.

Well todays high is -6F (-21C) with windchill it feels like -22F (-30C) with 70% humidity. I just got back last weekend from a 2 week vacation in Mexico and it was 83F (28C) everyday :o

So I got the 550XP and MS261CM prepped this morning outfitted with their winter preheater kits. My 550XP came with the rewind housing winter cover, the 261 didn't so I have no choice to run it without it.
Here's some pics. Gotta go pickup my kids from school, will report about the saws and job in a bit.


  

  

 
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

HolmenTree

From 83F a couple of days ago in Mexico, to -22 below F windchill and 70% humidity and knee deep snow out at my customers cottage!

My report on the 2 saws goes like this.
Each saw only burnt about a half tank each of Stihl MotoMix fuel between the 2 trees cut. The trees were felled limbed and bucked up into 12" rounds.
The saws haven't run for almost 3 months and they both started up with 3 or 4 pulls. But when they fired to life the AutoTune and MTronic processors had to deal with the new much colder freezing temps. The MS261 took about a minute to warm up and adjusted nicely. But the 550XP 's processor took alot longer to register.
The 550 would first have a bad bog off idle then as it warmed up would back fire a bit. But after it felled the first tree and blocked about 10 rounds it ran perfect and was ready to work all day.

The MS261CM ll warmed up from freezing cold with no hesitation, just smoothly picked up throttle speed as I gradually worked the throttle. By the time it got into it's 2nd round of wood it had a very high peaky WOT.
The 550 was alot more cold blooded even though it had the rewind housing preheater cover....but both saws performed very well (and the 261 didn't have a preheater winter cover on the rewind housing.)

As my pics show I had 2 spruce to fell and cut up with no cleanup.
The tall spruce on the left in the first pic was badly damaged by lightning and with heavy side limb weight it posed a threat falling on the cottage.

It took my BigShot slingshot to install the anchored guy line side rope. The smaller spruce was in the path of the rope when I fell the tree, so it had to be felled first.

Second last pic shows the lightening damage.
The last pic shows where the lightening grounded to the green steel fence and the arc burnt a couple patches of paint off.

Oops photo gallery is currently off line.
Will post now before it times out and will post pics later. >:(
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

Kel71

83 , sounds like you had a nice vacation.
-22 I wouldn't have gone back. LOL

HolmenTree

Quote from: Kel71 on January 10, 2018, 12:17:37 PM
83 , sounds like you had a nice vacation.
-22 I wouldn't have gone back. LOL
Yep while my family and I were enjoying 83F it was in the -40 below with -50 below windchill range at home almost everyday.
I'll take the -22 below :D
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

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