Tell me the saw I need.

Hawk619

Ok, here is my story.....

I am not in the tree cutting buissness at all. I'm a professional firefighter, I do some Firefighting competitions a few times a year and part of the comp includes ventilating roofs, walls, etc with a chainsaw. The saw I use is one we have a work, a Stihl, but have know idea what size etc. I want to buy my own saw.....but heres the deal......I like to spark up the fans, not that I need a "Hot Saw".....but I WANT a bad ass saw that is also practicle to use on a regular basis. Not sure which way to go because other than knowing the basics of a chainsaw.....I have no idea the different combinations out there. All I know is I like the big pipe and a loud saw! LOL.

Any advise would be greatly appriciated!

Eric Frei

I'll message Romeo, and Wojo.

I'd say your work saw is the Stihl ms460 rescue saw, nice solid performer, pipe and tweak that baby you got some some serious saw.

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Hawk619

I wish I could tell you but the saw is roughed up so I cant tell, lol.

Thanks for paaing it on, cant wait to hear there opinions!

ScottWojo

Hello,

Welcome to the site.

Two things you can do to immediately gain serious noticeable gains.

Replace the front muffler cover with a modified Dual Port Muffler. (some guy on eBay sells really nice ones at an affordable price)

Replace the piston and cylinder with a Baileys Big Bore kit. This will make your 460 the same power as a stock 660. Sell your old Piston and cylinder on eBay to pay for some of your expense here.

After this, you enter cylinder modifications. Setting squish, porting and polishing the cylinder, advancing the timing all will get you more performance percentages. But the first two steps are giving you probably 30-35% more than stock.

Scott.

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ScottWojo HP Modified Chainsaw Mufflers| GB Bar and Chain Distributor.

Hawk619

TY Scott for the advise, will do so! Still in limbo on what saw to buy. Will have to ask around to see who could do the porting, etc. But I think I saw the guy you were talking about who sells the mufflers,

Well, going batch down the hachit and get ready for Ike! Sure wish I had my saw!

Knotahippie

I like huskies, nice and light, cut quick too. Might be a little too much plastic for what your doin?

I got a Stihl 036 pro, my favorite, had it for about 9 yrs...

aphid

i hope you know what your doing with a saw. the 460 is an animal that (stock out of the box) used improperly could end your career as a firefighter. stihl puts together a saw that is tested tough and ready to work. i'm sure the rescue saw has more r&d being that saving lives are on the line. i think it is right we ask God to bless all firefighters including those that touched our souls on 9/11.

newguy18

Husky 51,20" bar sharp chain,mine has seen trunk diameters over 6'.

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old schooler

playfordtree

MS 460






GAME OVER!

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Euthanizing South Australian Trees
since 2007

Hawk619

Aphid, yes I do know what I'm doing with a saw. Been a firefighter for 18yrs and part of the Haz-Mat and RIP team. The RIP team did mostly ventilating.

Now, my expierence on cutting trees is limited other than cutting trees to get to victims and a few of trees on my property. I do respect the power of tools and safety is always first on my list.

I do appriciate all this info, looks like it will be either the Stihl or Huskie.

Shipping out to the West side of Louisisana to help witht the clean up.

Romeo

Howdy Hawk, I don't know much about vent saws but I do know racing.

Lets see, chain mods are OUT since you are using carbide rescue chain.

For one, I would find out what your work saw is based off of. I believe that cutters edge uses huskys (orange) or jonsereds (red). If its a Stihl MS460 rescue it will be orange/white two tone. You might want to stick with what you have been using for various reasons (comfort, predictability, etc.) or just so you can rob the bar and chain off of your work saw to compete.


Torque will win the day on a rescue saw, I would look at building a saw from a 395XP Husqvarna or a MS660 Stihl, the bars and chains will interchange from the smaller rescue models of the same brand (husqvarna and jonsered are interchangeable with each other).

As far as modding the saw, you will need to remove the logging spikes and I would suggest replacing them with a shield like the rescue saws come with. A nice big starter handle is a must. You might want to set up a simulated roof to test on, try changing sprocket size from a 7 to 8 pin and see if it cuts faster, maybe even a custom 9 pin, who knows???. One of Scotts mufflers would help you out allot. You could even go as far as to do a good woods port and gain a ton of power.

Let us know what you end up deciding to do.

Sean

Col2y

im a volunteer firefighter and our hall just bought a new husky vent saw its a 572 i think but i could be mistaken, only used it once and didnt really have time to be looking it over standing on a burning roof if you know what im saying but we tried both the stilh and the husky on demo before we bought, hands down husky wins