New Chainsaw - Any Recommendations

Stihl and poulan are excellent saws .the poulan is good for lite work and small trimming because its lite.stihl is good for larger cutting and last forever as long as you look after them.when you live on 100 acres with 90% wooded area this is a commom chore.i have owened both for over 20 years.

scotts74birds said:

Never thought I would see a Canadian asking about chainsaws. Thought that was a DNA thing! LOL. Anyway, great advice here from everyone. Stihl, Husky, and McCullah are good choices. But one idea. My good friend, who is Canadian, buys only older saws from the 80's, and earlier. He rehabs them, and swears the durability is better than ANY brand that can be bought now, short of a professional grade.

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Hahahaha Point taken Scott! Fact is where I grew up some of my best friends houses were heated with wood but they don't put the big kids on a chainsaw they hand us a maul and get to splitting (now because the kids are too damn lazy everyone just rents splitters) I use to look forward to a long day of splitting/piling and then sauna and beers it was awesome hard work and as much as it kicked my *** it made me proud!

I did wind up reaching out to a few of my good buddies around here for some more advice though, best friend former small engine mechanic, other good friend co-worker use to work forestry in Longlac and another work associate has a side arborist business... all said Stihl and said Husky would be their second choice but quality has gone a bit downhill with their newer saws. I asked about Jonsered and essentially they said the Jonsered reviews that have gone around have all been based on how good the local authorized dealer is... if you get good service then people were happy with the saw but for one's where service wasn't convenient that affected their input.

I also don't doubt what you say about buying the older saws and better quality.... this sounds like my old man... he finally got tired of fixing his snowblower after 34 years and bought a new one... new one lasted 5 years and he's back using the old one! lol. His Garden Tiller also just died after 48 years! That's when they built em!

My Canadian friend also rebuilt his 1976 Sears Craftsman 2-stage snow blower. This thing is a monster! You couldn't buy one this good at any price nowdays.

If you buy a cheap saw or a homeowner brand name you will be sorry you will be shaking for a week..these are the brands to get..by the way I have been swinging a chainsaw since I was a kid with my dad...In your order of preference...Husqvarna, Jonsared, Stihl, Dolmar...any of these in a semi professional or entry professional model will last your lifetime..I prefer the Husky or Jonsared spring vibration dampening also make sure you use the proper size bar, some dealers will put the biggest bar on the saw they can to impress would be buyers, your saw then will be unbalanced and underpowered because of that bar.. I also prefer full chisel chain, this however has a tendency to kick back a little more so if you are just starting maybe use a semi chisel chain.. Happy new year..

You sure make it worth will replying to your post i dont know where you get them. I bet the vibration makes it purr like a kitten