More little saws .

Al Smith · Feb 28, 2009

Over the years a lot of little saws have made their way to the tree tops .Some were pretty good little machines ,some were not .

Some maybe were build for the professional and some were just inexpensive saws for the homeowner .

These three were must likely the better saws of yester year before much was done as far as a true climbers saw .

The left one is an Echo 302 S .It actually resembles in a way the design of a 200T in that it has a top carb and bottom exhaust .Not a true top handle but very light and surprisingly fast I might add ,surprised me .

The other two are the old standby Poulan s-25's in two colors . Many a trimmer used these old saws in the past .

Al Smith · Feb 28, 2009

By contrast the next three are most likely the worst ever used in the tree biz .Homelite two trigger XL -2 Poulan 1.9 and The infamous mini Mac 30 .

The Poulan is the best of the three. I would bet that more examples of the other two met an untimely demise being tossed out of a tree than all others combined .

Al Smith · Feb 28, 2009

The last two are more modern .Huskey 335 and Stihl 011 .

The 011 is not a top handle but still some how found its' way into the tree tops because of it's light weight .

Mercy I've found myself inundated with little saw lately .They must multiply or something .

SkwerI · Feb 28, 2009

Al, my very first chainsaw was an Echo 302s that I bought used from one of my lawn customers. He wanted $40 for it, I borrowed it long enough to go cut down a $50 tree for another customer and then brought him back the money for the saw. :lol:

Al Smith · Feb 28, 2009

The very first saw I ever owned was that orange s25 Poulan .I charged it on the card ,$139.95 .

It two days I had made my money back cutting firewood .Fact is that little thing was all I had for several years and it has paid for itself many times over. Poor people just have to do poor peoples way they say .

Little did I ever know at the time I would still have it some 30 plus years later .

gf beranek · Feb 28, 2009

The little Poulan's were really pipey running saws. I had a couple of them for about 10 years and gave them away to upgrade to a Homolite EZ super 25.

The EZ wasn't a bad little saw, but little things on it kept breaking. I can't say the same for the Poulan's though. They actually held up pretty good to riggors of climbing use.

Jonseredbred · Feb 28, 2009

I learned to climb with an old Pioneer, don't know the model but it vibrated.

Al Smith · Feb 28, 2009

We had one of those 2 cube Pioneers plus my S-25 in the mountains of Colorado to cut campfire wood with .Of course being over 10 thousand feet they had to be retuned but ran surprisingly well .The comical part was that both saws boiled the gas in the tanks .I never figured out why .

Jonseredbred · Feb 28, 2009

Most of the pioneers had vapor locking problems

Mr. Sir · Feb 28, 2009

My favorite was the two-trigger Homelite climbing saw. I think it was the Super EZ? Then I upgraded to the Jonsered 25? I loved those saws. They disappeared about 20 years ago and there wasn't a good climbing saw available until the 200T came out.

sawcollector · Feb 28, 2009

I have to agree with Al that the little Super 25DA in it's various forms was a good little saw in the day, but it is sad what Poulan did to themselves over time going after the mass merchant in-the-box sales for volume, leaving the dealers and quality behind.
I posted this over at Mangus site last year in a rant about Poulan:

There were several other paint jobs and badges for this saw: Graingers, Wright, and others I can't recall. Seems like someone had one in Silver.
But when I hold it out to one-hand it, it sure feels heavy compared to a 200T.

sawcollector · Feb 28, 2009

Mr. Sir said:
My favorite was the two-trigger Homelite climbing saw. I think it was the Super EZ? Then I upgraded to the Jonsered 25? I loved those saws. They disappeared about 20 years ago and there wasn't a good climbing saw available until the 200T came out.

Al had one in his first set of pics. Here is the one I recently got:

This saw started out with a mag housing like this one, then it was all plastic, in both a single and dual trigger setup. You were able to get good use out of it? As a saw repair person, not a user, I was never very impressed with any version of the XL 2.

Al Smith · Feb 28, 2009

Those itty little Homelite XL ,Xl 2 and super would scoot right along when they were new .The don't age well though .They have some type of duckbill valve or something for the oilers that gives up the ghost .

TSC sold those little things for 89 bucks on sale . People give those and the mini Macs away any more just to be rid of them .

Al Smith · Feb 28, 2009

Funny,I've never seen a Poulan larger than 46 cc .I know they made larger and some say they were pretty good saws for the time period .

This area has just always been Homelite and McCulloch back in the day and Stihl now of days .Others just didn't make it .

Dave Shepard · Feb 28, 2009

I wonder what climbers will say in 25 years about todays saws? Probably be nuclear powered.:roll:

Mr. Sir · Feb 28, 2009

sawcollector said:
Al had one in his first set of pics. Here is the one I recently got:

This saw started out with a mag housing like this one, then it was all plastic, in both a single and dual trigger setup. You were able to get good use out of it? As a saw repair person, not a user, I was never very impressed with any version of the XL 2.

Admittedly, they weren't the best running saw and they had a rather short life span, but those two triggers were the bomb.

Al Smith · Mar 1, 2009

I'm tellin you they ran just dandy maybe the first year out of the box but it was down hill after that . They were so cheap that what few tree trimmers that used either the little Homeys or mini Macs just shelved them when they acted up because the price to repair them almost exceeded the value .

At 89 bucks a pop they sold for nearly half of a Poulan s-25 which sold under the Poulan name for 169 .Funny though because Dayton sold the same thing painted orange for 30 bucks less .

The minis and metal cased XL's are a beech to work on .The damned things have a one piece shell around them .About like de shelling a turtle to get to the innards .

Cut4fun · Mar 1, 2009

I'm a fan of the little poulan TH too. Here is a XX and 2000 with NOS 12" hognose bar I found. I also have a like brand new out of the box 1800 with NOS 10" hognose bar for it that isnt in this pic. I took this pic to compare the XX to a 2000.
The 200T is smooth thanks to the AV and a fast revving saw. But I still like the feel of the poulans better. Something about the handle positioning on the 200T I just dont like. Plus the price of $589 for a 200T :|:

. Now if I worked 24/7 in a tree, 200T with its AV, but I dont. Each to their own and thats why we have a selection of saw to buy.

MasterBlaster · Mar 1, 2009

It's been a long time since I swung a green saw. Cool.

Al Smith · Mar 1, 2009

I've got a little red Craftsman/Poulan almost like the one in the bottom picture except it has thumb oiler as well as the pressure oiler .

Not really a bad little saw except it has a fixed main jet carb .The thing is light as a feather . That one I can one hand while it's a little tough any more to stiff arm the S-25 . No big deal for me anyway .Now of days I seldom climb a tree and have found it much easier to fly a bucket . If I get too old for that I'll just make a phone call .

rbtree · Mar 1, 2009

I ran the 302S saws for years. I'm sure they were a pound of more heavier than the S25DA, with much less power.

Gord · Mar 3, 2009

I remembered I had this pic from 7 or so years ago of all these saws that showed up when I went to help some friends cut some birches down. There's a few small saws represented, not sure what they all are.

Al Smith · Mar 3, 2009

The two on the end appear to be an MS 200T and an 011 .I have not a clue what all those red ones are .

Gord · Mar 3, 2009

I know that 011 is useless but I couldn't remember what the model number was.

MasterBlaster · Mar 3, 2009

I hate an 011. I wanted to call that one an 019.

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