Chainsaw Woes

This bums me out to no end, but I was having chainsaw issues, and it turns out it’s kind of serious. We’re talking in the $150 dollar range of serious. I may have mentioned this in the past, but when I release the trigger of the saw, the chain doesn’t stop. This happens only after I’ve used it for about half an hour, so it’s not an idle adjustment issue, which would occur even when it’s cold. I took it in and they said it’s an air leak, which means taking the entire machine apart, resealing it, and then putting it back together. The saw itself probably cost about $400, so it’s a painful fix.

That does not mean, however, that it’s time to get a new one. As much as it pains me, I told them to fix it, because we need the saw, and it surely has many more years of life on it... I hope. When I first shopped around for chainsaws, I knew nothing, and listened to everyone around me who said get a Stihl or Husqavarna. The key seemed to be to get one that you can’t pronounce. Nobody really endorsed the Japanese brands, and I took that to heat. In retrospect, however, I wonder if Japanese was the way to go, because they may not have as much personality, but they are famously reliable.

Now if the Japanese brands were cheaper, I probably would have gone for it, but the one I looked at, Shindaiwa, was not, and I’m not sure how much Echos are. Either way, I went with Stihl, and it’s a nice saw, but maybe it’s like VWs, performance oriented but not necessarily the most reliable.

Oh well, no sense in dwelling on what’s already been done. If I ever got another saw, however, I might consider a Pacific Rim variety.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.