Chainsaw for turners

[Mike Goetzke]

I have a 16" John Deer 38cc that is maybe 9 years old. Only used around the yard. I just started turning and will be looking to get wood at a good price by cutting it myself. I saw Menard's is having a sale on the 40cc Poulan 18" WildThing for $98. Will this be a good upgrade or not?

Thanks

[Bob Bergstrom]

Displacement is almost the same, bar is the same, but i would suspect there would be a lot more plastic in the Poulan. If the Deer is working I would pass and save for something a little stronger.

[Brian Kent]

Only an uninformed opinion. I would look into getting the John Deere serviced at a local dealer and find out if 38cc is enough to handle an 18" bar. If so, you might replace the bar and chain and get a better tool for less money in the John Deere.

[Brian Ashton]

Years ago when I worked for my brothers tree service I had large quality wood pieces coming out my ears for turning and access numerous stihl and husky chainsaws of all sizes… However my choice of chainsaw for working those pieces was an electric. They have more than enough power and the largest benefit is you can use them indoors while a piece is mounted on the lathe without polluting the rest of the house with oily and extremely smelly exhaust. They also have the convenience of no hassle plug and play. They wouldn't survive a fall out of the tree from 20 feet like a stihl 020 will from 60 but for cutting up and trimming turing stock they're more than adequate.

[Fred Perreault]

A good saw should last 7-10 years for occasional yard work and for your wood turning purposes. Stihl and Husqvarna are top rated by professionals all around. I have used Stihls for 25 years, and chainsaws in general for over 40 years and never been disappointed in Stihl. More power means an easier, longer life. The bar should be nearly as long as the swing of your lathe in order to easily create your blanks. A bigger swing might make the electrics somewhat less usefull, but I have never used them much do to inconvenience. Care of the bar and chain is essential, and would probably be replaced at least once in a 10 year lifetime. There are less expensive saws that are overrated for their bar length and potential power, but like most things, you will get what you pay for. Much depends on your personal needs and budget, but I would recommend Stihl and Husqvarna first. I have a Stihl 018 with 14" bar, a Stihl MS 260 with 16" bar, and a Stihl MS 270 with 18" bar. They all handle their respective bar and chain well, but my next bar and chain for the MS 270 will be 20" for my Powermatic 3520. Big lathe, big trees, big saw, big bar, adequate power. It makes life easy.

[Dennis Ford]

I have owned a couple of the Poulan "Wildthings"; one lasted a long time, the second one was worn out quickly after "Rita" blew down some large trees in the yard. I have a Husky 455 now and it is a better saw. If you are not doing any falling and only using it to cut up turning blanks, a "Wildthing" is definitely worth the money. When it wears out, don't bother taking it to a shop; just get another saw.

[phil harold]

I have owned a couple of the Poulan "Wildthings"; one lasted a long time, the second one was worn out quickly after "Rita" blew down some large trees in the yard. I have a Husky 455 now and it is a better saw. If you are not doing any falling and only using it to cut up turning blanks, a "Wildthing" is definitely worth the money. When it wears out, don't bother taking it to a shop; just get another saw.

I have a Wild thing for 9 years now
starts all the time
I think the 18 bar taxes it when cutting down my ash trees on the farm
Put a 16" bar in
I bought it a a disposable saw expect one or two years out of it
Surprise Surprise!

[Richard Coers]

Horribly undersized in my opinion. I have two saws, a Stihl 029 (56.5 cc) Farm Boss with a 20" bar, and a Husky 3120 (118.8 cc) with a 36" bar. The Husky is of course overkill, unless you are cutting 3'-4' diameter logs into slabs or big blanks. I was harvesting a lot of urban timber for a while. Love that saw, sounds like a dirt bike till it starts to eat the wood. You bury the bucking teeth into the log, then pull with both hands. You can't stall it! I can only run it for about 45 minutes at a time now that I'm over 60 years old. It weighs 23 pounds without the bar. That Poulan is a throw away machine, best saved for pruning. Bury that bar in hard maple for a couple of hours, and it won't last long. It will have really small chains, so small curls in the cut. Hope time isn't important to you because it will be really slow!

[Scott Hackler]

Save up and get a "real" saw from a Stihl of Husqvarna dealer There is a reason that Poulan 18" cost $98 and my Husqvarna 8" cost $360! I owned a Poulan 16" once and it was good for very small limbs or pruning. Most saws can handle crosscutting but, it won't be strong enough to rip a log in half. My Husqvarna will rip a log in half without any trouble, very quickly.

[Scott Hackler]

I forgot to add that the HUsqvarna and Stihl saws at the big box stores are NOT the same as the same brands sold by authorized dealers. I did a lot of research when shopping for my saw and found out that the versions at Lowes, Home Depot..ect, are a light duty saw made for occational trimming. They are a step above Poulan or Craftsman, but not meant to be taxed by doing things like ripping hardwood logs for turning.

[Joe Bradshaw]

I have 5 Stihls, 4 gas and one electric. The MS170 I have is good for small work. The 2 034s with 18" bars are good, altho they are starting to show their age(15 + yrs). My o44 with a 24' bar is a monster. I get tired just thinking about using it. I bought the elec. for a shop saw. Plugging a cord is easier than pulling a starting cord, I'm almost 70, so anything that makes life a little easier for me is a winner.
Joe

[Michael Stafford]

I haven't been able to save up enough to afford one of those gasoline powered chainsaws. I am still using this model.

Chain saw.jpg

Of course you don't need much of a chainsaw when your lathe looks like mine.

Cheap lathe.jpg

Ya'll be good now ya hear.

[charlie knighton]

i saw on antique roadshow, a harley davidson bycylce powering a grinder, you need to add to your collection Big Mike, i think they have it at nashville store

[Adrian Anguiano]

I would say 40cc would be minimum, and I would say get a bar thats longer than the diameter of the tree you will be cutting so the bar wont be buried in the wood. The saw will cut much better, at higher rpms, if the saw bar is longer than the tree diameter. But keep in mind, the longer the bar, the more cc's you need to keep that high rpm.

I have an Echo Chainsaw and it starts every time on the 3rd pull of the chain. Great saws.

[Mike Goetzke]

Thanks for all the great info! Seems like it will be best to save my pennies for a bigger higher quality saw (I do see a BF special on the Husqvarna 450E 18" 50cc for $255 - more than double the Poulan though). I did notice that my John Deer 16" saw is a commercial grade so maybe I'll tune her up and get some more work out of it for right now.


Thanks,

Mike