"Robatoy" wrote in message
oups.com...
This just went on at a forum my buddy attends. Log building.xx.xx??
The consensus seems to be that if you buy either a Husqvarna or a
Stihl of sufficient blade-length and horsepower to suit your needs,
you can't go wrong.
He went for a Stihl, simply because of access to service in town.

His buying advice was: Select the best you can afford, then add $
100.00 and buy that one. *G* IIRC he bought a model 460-something. It
is supposed to have some features which make it work in cold weather.
I'll ask him.

Yep, get a bar at least two inches longer than the swing of your lathe so
you don't have to bury it in the length of log you're splitting up the
middle, with the danger that can pose. Then make sure you've got the
displacement to pull that length of chain.

I'm Stihl, second one, first having dumped its magneto after 15 years.
Trade was worth more than the cost of the part, and the parts on mine live
on in three neighborhood Stihls. FWIW, I'm in hardwood country, and the
piececutters are pretty much solid with Stihl. It has a "preheater" feature
which impedes the air intake for winter work. Never used it, having only
used the saw at -20 F, perhaps they mean colder than that.

Don't get safety chain for ripping turning blanks. Clogs too much. Get a
good chisel chain, or perhaps a skip-tooth. Skip tooth gives a bit more
feedback on crosscutting, so I'm staying with chisel.