Wednesday, July 23, 2008

I bought a chainsaw

Where I come from you don't buy chainsaws, its a practice which simply isn't done, nobody buys a chainsaw. Okay so everybody has a chainsaw, you might wonder where they come from. At camp we have 2 right now, and I had one at home. One at camp was my grandfathers, I dunno where he got it but Dad and I didn't buy it. Dad's big Echo fell out of a truck one day in front of the house. No joke, I remember telling him "hey, theres a chainsaw in the road". Nobody every claimed it so he's had it for years and years.
My other chainsaw was Uncle Reg's which I sort of aquired right after he died. We HAD an old Remington on the farm at one point, my cousins had filled the gas with bar and chain oil... Dad and I drained that out and we got it running. Then somebody (hmmm) stole it... I wonder if it'll come back when they get drunk and fill it with bar and chain oil again?
So anyway the saw I had is just a little one, 14" bar, little engine, good for cutting brush or limbs but no good for real serious work. So I drove up to Jaffrey to Coll's and bought a Husqvarna 445. I bought a Husky because thats what they sell and have sold for years. Theres also several other places to buy Huskys or to get somebody to work on them. I was concerned about parts and service availablity so this seems like a good choice.
Some people say I should have bought a Sthil but the nearest Sthil dealer of any quality is in Leominster. Leominster is farther away and as its in MA you have to pay sales tax. Jaffrey is in tax free New Hampshire.
Some people would say I should have gotten a Rancher 455 but those run $100-$150 more than I paid for the 445. The 455 is a great saw but I just don't need that much saw. I'd be very surprised if I ever managed to wear out the 445... If I'm lucky I'll cut 4 cords in a year and that'd be a big year for me...

Anyway, the first use last Sunday shows the 445 to be fantastic for my needs. I've never used a saw that cut with so little effort on my part. I just line it up, pull the trigger and it blows through the log. I move over a bit and repeat... What more could I ask for?

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