....buy a saw with a compression release. My large Professional series saw is easier to start than my light weight 250 series, because the big saw has compression release.
I didn't know that electric starters were still being made. I've seen somenback 40
Years. Left handed saws and diesels too
Compression release is the way to go
Also, what's your starting procedure?
Full choke
Chain brake set
Push compression release
Put saw on the ground
Toe in the rear handle
Hand on front handle
Pull starter handle until you feel the dogs catch
Pull with intent
How old is the saw?
Fresh gas?
Tuned and cleaned?
If it's time to buy a new saw and yours still has life you may get a teeeeny bit on trade-in. If you want to sell it let me know offline. I host an arborist discussion forum. We have a 'Treebay' forum for selling gear
Great list. I cringe when I watch people using the "drop and swing" method to start, holding the saw by the left hand near their legs and without setting the brake.
Based on my experience is with Stihl saws (I have three, I don't know if the same procedure is best for other saws), I would add one thing: pull several times with the choke on until you hear the saw fire one "blip". This usually takes me two or three pulls. Then release the choke (flip the run/choke lever up one notch) and pull once to start.
I do have two 250s, one with the easier to start feature. (These are 10 years old so I don't know how today's easy start models compare.) The one I have is incredibly easy to pull. Each pull of the starter rope has almost no resistance -it feels like it's winding up a spring. Then after three or four gentle pulls the mechanism releases and the saw starts. On this saw, one round with the choke on and one with it flipped off and the saw starts every time.
I use my saws fairly frequently. If used rarely, it might be best to start and run the saw occasionally.
I use only Stihl oil with stabilizer in fresh non-ethanol gasoline.
BTW, where there is electrical power, a Stihl electric is an excellent option. No pulls, no mixing gas, always starts, quiet, stops almost instantly. I even use mine inside the shop on occasion.
Is this one of the pro saws or the mid-line farm and ranch stuff? The mid-line stuff is a pain to start if the book is not followed EXACTLY on cold start...at first sign of life, back to 'start throttle' (mid-choke) or plan on spending some quality time with the pull cord.
I need a big saw and one I can pack into the woods. I traded a Husky for a Stihl 250 for my packing and limbing saw. I hated the single bolt bar attachment on the Husky, but it started easy and reliable. I soon regretted the trade. With no compression release the engine on the 250 would fire when trying to start and disconnect my wrist from its arm. And it started poorly taking a multitude of pulls.
However, I have come to terms with the saw. First was don't pull more than 3 times with choke on for it was prone to flooding if pulled a lot with choke on. Second was to pull slowly and that seemed to stop the "kick back". It now starts reliably either because my technique has improved or it is broken in. But I will never buy another saw without compression release.
We can thank EPA for the reluctant starting. They think chain saws contribute some significant amount of pollution relative to cars and trucks.
When my backpack leaf blower gets flooded it is very difficult to restart. So I came up with this approach. I unscrew then remove the pull start mechanism. That exposes the nut that holds the rest of the pull start mechanism. I then use my cordless drill. A few seconds with the cordless drill and it always starts, no matter how badly it had been flooded.
The tree cutting forums discuss the adjustments. Some saw the mixtures are too lean because of the regulations and can cause overheating and premature wear. There is a stop at the adjustment screw that can be modified so you can adjust the mixture to what runs better.
I have never experience the starting kick you mentioned in in my 250 or other chainsaws. I pull fast for both priming with the choke and for starting. The only explanation I can think of is perhaps there is something out of adjustment on your saw. Or there is something different in the way you mix the gas.
My big Stihl has a compression release but 1/2 the time I don't use it, especially when the saw is warm. It does take a bit more pull. Maybe I built up my saw starting arm by throwing bales of hay and playing Liszt on the piano. Ha.
I've seen this from a distance. Any chance of a picture or two? I think the one I .saw was a leaf blower or a Homelite joke of a chain saw, but it worked. Explain a bii more.
Locking the saw at three points -outer thigh, handle under inner thigh and handle - is taught in the logger classes here in E TN. I was never fond of starting saw on ground but I understand the philosophy behind it. It's just that finding level ground in the E. TN. woods is impossible
The two handed jerk was suited for persons larger than myself so this unsafe technique never had any attraction.
John, I also have found the "blip" approach to starting my 25+ year old Stihl a godsend for aggravation-free starting. Before then, I never knew what was in store for me (or my arm) when I needed the saw. Don't remember when I heard or read about that tip, but it sure made a difference. Jim
That may be one of the biggest factors in the start/no-start equation. I have an elderly Stihl 029 Super and if it has been sitting for six months (which it often does) it might take some juggling and twelve+ pulls to get in going. If it was started yesterday it might take two or three. I don't actually know if this saw has compression release but I suspect that it doesn't -- sometimes it fights back pretty hard when I pull the handle. It certainly doesn't have any manual control for that function but I don't know if it might be automatic.
I hate trying to start a saw on the ground. I almost always wear steel-toed boots, which means I can't secure the handle--they don't fit in there. Then, when I try to pull, the saw will spin any which way. No thanks. I hold the big handle in my left hand out in front of me with the bar pointed to the left. Set choke, compression release, make sure the saw is on, and pull the cord as I push the saw down with my left hand--that counters any "catches" in the pull. I don't set the blade brake, either--that's just one more thing the engine has to overcome to start, and I want the brake to work when I need it, not wear out prematurely from using it every time I start the saw.
I know, this isn't recommended stuff, but it works for me. It's a smooth motion, and smooth is safe.
If it was the timber cutting classes would teach it.
1. There is no justifiable reason to start the saw without the break on. Nor should you move without the break on. Wear on the clutch or more difficulty starting is simply not a significant factor starting a safer way.
2. Just as convenient and effective, as what you describe, is the three point standing hold that will control the saw.
3. And always wear chaps.
4. The person that taught me to cut timber had an additional rule. Never run or start the saw without at least on foot on the ground. My neighbor, and emergency room physician, said may trips to his place involved chain saws and ladders.
I like the three point method on a cold saw. Once warmed up and easy to start, I sometimes just do the two hand jerk, though maybe I'm doing it differently than you're thinking of -- the bar is in roughly the same place as the 3 point method. I'm more likely to do the jerk start with my little saw than the big one - I can do it with either but if its not going to start on the first pull the big one will wear me out.
Sometimes I rest the saw on a log or stump to start, or if wearing all the fire department gear I do start it on the ground. Left hand leaning hard on the forward handle, right knee on the rear grip but lightly to keep it from swinging on the pull. I guess I have long enough arms to get away with this.
After cleaning the bar oil out of the gas tank. Got confused as to which end of the saw I was looking at when I filled it with bar oil...:-) Getting older by the year.
I have two Stihls, a 362 (60cc) and a 661 (92cc), and both have compression release. Perhaps you have the homeowners line? I'm not familiar with them. Compression release was designed for people who stop and start their saws all day, not to make it easier to start a saw at the beginning of the day. Do you know if your gas mix is fresh? Has the saw been sitting in a shed all winter? Do you use regular gas or ethanol-free gas? You might want to consider synthetic fuel if you don't use your saw a lot. Or additives to prolong the shelf life of fuel.
Do as you please...but...keep on drop-starting and sooner or later that saw will start on a drop and kick back on you...likely right across your face. I've made my living as an arborist. I've met more than one of my peers with a really ugly scar across his face from...
Your belief that you're going to either wear out the chainbrake or harm the motor aren't valid.
Where would a discussion here at WC go if a thread promoting making cross cuts on a table saw freehand go? Say 'Kickback' !
Oh...wear cut resistant leg protection too. Chainsaws make the worst cuts on flesh and the best cuts on wood
I know pros who've done that...uh...present company included! Haha!
Worse...using straight gas not mixed. I've heard that a saw will run for about three minutes before it melts together into A boat anchor or pilenofnspare
>>>Oh...wear cut resistant leg protection too. Chainsaws make the worst cuts on flesh and the best cuts on wood
I found a shallow 3" gash on my kevlar chainsaw chaps. I have no idea of when it happened. If I'd been wearing jeans I would have known.
I never understand when I see utility and tree service people work without safety equipment. Chaps, never. Hearing protection, never. Eye protection, almost never.
I also wear a hardhat with face and hearing protection. I bought three of these. One was cracked when a limb fell from an adjacent tree. (A neighbor went to the hospital for 17 stitches in his head from a dead limb from the tree he had retreated to maybe 20' from the one they were felling.)
When I start something new and potentially hazardous I like to research first. For example, I read everything I could find on ways to get killed on a tractor. There are some excellently effective ways I would have never dreamed of, one from something seemingly benign as driving through saplings or gently bumping into a tree. A neighbor's grandfather was killed stirring up a yellowjacket nest when he jumped off the tractor, tripped, and was crushed by the tire - now I wear long sleeves and a face net when bushhogging in the summer.
Likewise, there are ways to be injured, maimed, or killed with even a little chainsaw from Home Depot, from starting, to felling and limbing. One of my books covers the care of the saw and the care of the person, The Good Woodcutter's Guide by Dave Johnson:
I have many hours behind chainsaws, including a large Husqy (372xp), my only running saw. The ONLY time I have trouble with the saw jerking around is when I try to start it on the ground.
One thing I do, starting or sawing, is keep as many body parts out of the plane of the bar as possible, particularly the noggin. If it were to jerk on a start, it would pivot on my left hand harmlessly in front of me.
Roger on the chaps--I've been meaning to get a pair for a long time. Thankfully, the worst I've had happen was probably the first time I used a chain saw--the chain came off and slapped me in the leg, no damage to my jeans or flesh.
.......is to sway those that have not become set in their ways. To the silent majority, read the responses and come to your own conclusions. The pictures show manly professional loggers practicing their trade. I would be reluctant to call any one of them sissies for employing safe chain saw practices.
Anybody see the flawed logic in statements such as......I have done this unsafe act for XXX years and never had a problem. Hence, I can continue for YYY more years and be assured of the same result.
"Worse...using straight gas not mixed. I've heard that a saw will run for about three minutes before it melts together into A boat anchor or pilenofnspare "
It skips a bit at 2.45 minutes and then melts as you described. The saw shop put lawn mower gas in my saw.
I got a cut on my chaps the first day I wore them. I was carrying a saw that had not been started and stumbled on some brush. One of the fresh sharpened chisel teeth sliced across my thigh,..... but not into it. So now my chaps have a patch for all to see and assume I stupidly cut myself with a running saw.
BTW, your chaps my be Kevlar but it hardly matters. What stops the saw is all the fluff inside. It gets pulled into the sprocket and the chain stops. Have you ever cut into baler twine? Same phenomena. Amazing how little string it takes to stall the chain.
Let me make an analogy. Like I said, I find starting a saw on the ground to be unsafe because it jerks around when I pull the cord, so I do the drop start--no jerking. I'm not doing what I do to thumb my nose at "sissy" practices and beat my chest.
So here's my analogy:
Let's say you have a 12-foot wide chasm to jump that's certain death if you come up short. You know you can take a bit of a running start and make it no problem. But, just to be "safe", you don a parachute. Now, with the added weight, you can only just barely make it most of the time. Which is safer?
So, how long or how many times does someone have to apply their skill to a task, without injury, before it is deemed "safe"?
