On Mon, 28 Dec 2015 13:00:58 -0500, Jack wrote:

On 12/27/2015 8:41 PM, wrote:

It'l rip your arm off if it doesn't start.
A shot of ether and the sucker starts like a champ.

Doesn't need ether - it USUALLY starts on the first or second pull.
But if it decides to balk instead, it snaps back with fury!!!!. I
won't start it on a ladder or in a tree. Too dangerous if it "gets
angry"

Makes a difference what oil you are running as well - and how much.
Doesn';t seem to.

I've had the same chain saw since around 1978. The first tree I cut up
it blew up. My neighbor, a farmer the first 20 years of life, owned a
two man auto repair shop the next 50 years, and a lawnmower repair shop
the next 25 years, told me my mistake was using the 50-1 chainsaw oil
mixture recommend by Sears. He said use regular 20w non-detergent in
something like 9-1 or 20-1, can't recall, it's written on my gas can in
the shed. He said it might smoke a bit, and be hard to start but it
will never freeze up. Arguing with a 95 year old dude that still worked
on small engines 9-9 6 days a week seemed silly, so I gave it a shot.

It was always hard to start, so didn't notice a difference, but learned
to use ether to get er running (even though I was often told ether would
hurt the engine)

I rebuilt the engine, took his advice, and now, almost 40 years later,
the saw still runs great. I haven't used it much lately, getting old,
but last I used it it still ran, and smoked like a champ...
I tend to use 40:1 instead of 50:1 so it does smoke - but it is close
to 50 years old and has never been apart. And other than the extreme
high compression kickback, it is NOT hard to start. I run ethanol free
premium, and even after sitting for 2 years with a full (sealed) tank,
it started on the second pull.

Also, as far as premium gas in a chainsaw, my guess is once you dump oil
in the gas, it doesn't matter much.
If 93 octane drops to 87, think where 87 goes!!!! The more oil, the
lower the octane - one advantage of the lighter mixes.