How long do your saws last?

I've heard the stories for years but can't subscribe to them regarding gasoline and oil .I've cooked one saw in my lifetime which was my fault .Primed it after a rebuild with straight gas .It was a mistake simple as that.I would suggest more of them get cooked by air leaks than gasoline or oil being defective .Many people are not aware of when an air leak is happening because it often comes on slowly .They blame the gas and keep on running them until one day it just stops .
Back when I was a teenager we ran those things with either motor oil or outboard motor boat oil and never had a problem .They smoked a little bit but never once burned one up .--just saying
I always butter up bearings in two stroke oil when I assemble. I noticed it does wonders when you start them up after rebuild.
I have a oil can with fuel to squirt, but on rare occasions I spray a bit carb cleaner in airfilter. It seem to have better affect if you spray in filter rather than straight in throat (regardless of what you spray).
I see enough here on daily basis to be sure of what I think of oils and fuels. Its pretty clear when you had customers that keep track of costs and use gas from station and switch to Aspen. They make money of it, thats for sure. Less repairs, less worries, less volume fuel used/year, saw run the same or better and fuel is more stable.
Its not high amounts we talk of here, saws are pretty cheap in comparison.
One customer bought two saws same year and still had money left to catch up to prior years costs.
 
You guys must have shitty pump gas over there. People complain about our gas in the USA but at least around here it isn't a problem. We have 10% ethanol in the gas but it has been that way for 30 years and everything I own was built after the ethanol change, so it is designed to handle ethanol. I have over a dozen saws and many of them sit for weeks or months between uses (a half dozen saws on each bucket truck plus a couple spares). I have never run a saw dry before putting it away and I rarely have any fuel related issues.

All my saws require a minor adjustment twice per year when the refineries switch between summer and winter blends but if you are aware of the cause then it's easy to deal with it. Too many guys will keep revving their saws wide open when they are running lean hoping they will magically start running right again. But in the meantime they are cooking their pistons.

People also claim ethanol eats rubber parts in the carbs. My own experience can be summed up with one particular incident. A dozen years ago the primer bulb disintegrated on my string trimmer. I went to the mower shop and bought two, and stuck the spare in a small parts drawer. Six months ago the replacement primer bulb split again. I still had a spare! I put the spare on the trimmer and pressed it 3 times, it crumbled under my finger like a potato chip. It had never touched a drop of fuel and crumbled in the exact same time as the one on the trimmer soaked in fuel for 12 years.
 
I also don’t buy into the ethanol thing. I think our gas is shit but I think the parts aren’t built to last anymore. Say what you want about the orange Stihl mix. I’ve ran that for 25 years. Just recently switched to the ultra( grey or silver bottles). Still going through saws. Dealer keeps trying to sell me the ultra when I take in a blown saw. I tell him to check my purchase history. Either the guys can’t mix it right, we just use the hell out of them, or shit ain’t built to last. Any way I look at it, it’s still on the low end of cost. I’ll have the breakdown of my totals for the year soon and I bet the $3k I spent on saws is the lower end of my expenses. This is coming from my “side work” side. Full time gig the numbers are much higher but I’m willing to bet still a minor expense.
 
Orange bottle Stihl oil is marginal at best. Really crappy stuff and not much better than the generic hardware store crap. Stihl does make good mix oil but they charge well for it. Get the grey bottle, not the orange.

This is for mix oil, not bar oil. Bar lube is a one-time-use drip lubrication system with 100% loss. It basically has to last one or two times around the bar and it's gone. I use the cheapest I can find. Currently using Tractor Supply bar oil that I bought for $7 per gallon.

I caught it on sale at TSC last fall at $6/gallon....I bought 32 gallons over the course of several trips.
 
Yeah, that's about how much I use per year. Been stocking up when it goes on sale in January for several years now.
 
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What do you saw mechanics say about breaking in a new saw. I was always told to let it run a tank on idle. I never went quite that long but I would do it for a bit and the take it easy on the saw for the first day. Then once when buying a new stilh446 I asked the dealer what I should do. He said there is no break in period. Let’r rip. I promptly blew that saw up in 6 hours. (They gave me a new one )
 
I've never had a problem with ethanol even on the old saws .They had plain old black Buna n seals .The newer replacement seals for Stihl as an example are a bluish color which I assumed just like the auto industry did are more robust to the effects of ethanol .This is not saying my carbs last for decades because they don't .I've rebuilt so many I can nearly do them blind folded .Some of the newer rebuild kits use more robust stuff and some don't .
The whole thing is none of my business what somebody uses in their saws .I don't get real exited about it and run off to the airport and buy AV gas or drive 90 miles to Lake Erie and buy marine gas .Which BTW is the closet to me there is . .
 
Well I say go for it then .I would consider it if I had a restored WW2 P-51 Mustang but I don't .I'm not certain if it would make that old classic Homelite 2100S in my avatar run any better or not .It shall remain a mystery .
 
Google it. Besides the lead sounds like new saws don't like it much. Looks like they offer non ethanol in your area as they do here at select gas stations.

I am another that has run ethanol blends for years with no problems. It will pick up water if it sits around but it supposed to be used in a month or so anyway.
 
That's my sense of things -- Ethanol isn't that bad, things have been adapted to its near-universal presence in the US. I think it was a red herring the saw shop was throwing out there. I have printed out a list of Kansas & Missouri stations with Ethanol-free gas, though:
https://pure-gas.org
 
Not saw related but about 4 years ago I took a trip to Colorado so a lady I've known for 35 years could see her new grandson .Plus to get out of a funk and pull my head out of my ass after Dar passed .Someplace in Illinois at a gas station that had about 20 pumps by not paying attention I unknowingly got race gas .It didn't take me long to figure that out as the price was jumping faster than the gallons .My heavens $4 something a gallon . I only got a couple of gallon ,duh
 
Little known fact, in the us, and I'm sure just about everywhere, all fuel comes from the same place in the area. There are pipelines that distribute gasoline and diesel in each general area (some are quite large areas btw) there is a very large tank farm, where trucks pick up fuel and take it to gas stations. The certain additive mixes including ethanol, depending on the brand, are added at this distribution hub. So the base feedstock is the same. That's why getting premium gas from a high dollar station (shell, bp, mobil, etc vs a Casey's or other discount store) is worth it in saws, because the additive mixes are much better. Even better if you can find a non ethanol premium somewhere. Diesel is the same, the smaller gas stations that cater to small trucks will not have the good stuff, and don't go through as much fuel as the big rig places, meaning their tanks are way more likely to have water issues because it basically just sits there. In either case, you are looking for high volume fuel sales, with premium admixtures, and ideally no bio or ethanol. If i had the room and was running equipment and trucks like most do, i would look very very hard into getting fuel delivery to a private tank, where i could specify exactly what i was using. That way you get fuel at a discount, fill at the yard, can run exactly what amounts of stabilizers and additives you want, can filter it as you fill, and can avoid spikes in fuel cost if you plan correctly. Many construction companies do exactly that, because it's easier to control fuel than deal with fuel issues in equipment. You can also get an off road grade if you have enough equipment to justify it, just don't run it on the road lol. You would need to run more than saws to justify it for gasoline, but if you have a gas stump grinder or chipper, you could probably do just fine. Just something to think about moving forward.
 
You guys must have shitty pump gas over there. People complain about our gas in the USA but at least around here it isn't a problem. We have 10% ethanol in the gas but it has been that way for 30 years and everything I own was built after the ethanol change, so it is designed to handle ethanol. I have over a dozen saws and many of them sit for weeks or months between uses (a half dozen saws on each bucket truck plus a couple spares). I have never run a saw dry before putting it away and I rarely have any fuel related issues.

All my saws require a minor adjustment twice per year when the refineries switch between summer and winter blends but if you are aware of the cause then it's easy to deal with it. Too many guys will keep revving their saws wide open when they are running lean hoping they will magically start running right again. But in the meantime they are cooking their pistons.

People also claim ethanol eats rubber parts in the carbs. My own experience can be summed up with one particular incident. A dozen years ago the primer bulb disintegrated on my string trimmer. I went to the mower shop and bought two, and stuck the spare in a small parts drawer. Six months ago the replacement primer bulb split again. I still had a spare! I put the spare on the trimmer and pressed it 3 times, it crumbled under my finger like a potato chip. It had never touched a drop of fuel and crumbled in the exact same time as the one on the trimmer soaked in fuel for 12 years.

Yes.. Fuel in station here is crap and way more expensive then yours. I pay 16SEK/l. In other country's around us its better.
Europeans loose about 10-20% power in their cars and trucks so they often bring their own.

I know Ethanol is not the big bad wolf in fuel as many think. There is a lot of other stuff added to it way worse.
When it comes to saws oil is likely causing more issues than fuel. Well perhaps I should say the mix of fuel and oil...
Oils property's affect engine more than fuels property's.
 
If i had the room and was running equipment and trucks like most do, i would look very very hard into getting fuel delivery to a private tank, where i could specify exactly what i was using. That way you get fuel at a discount, fill at the yard, can run exactly what amounts of stabilizers and additives you want, can filter it as you fill, and can avoid spikes in fuel cost if you plan correctly. Many construction companies do exactly that, because it's easier to control fuel than deal with fuel issues in equipment. You can also get an off road grade if you have enough equipment to justify it, just don't run it on the road lol. You would need to run more than saws to justify it for gasoline, but if you have a gas stump grinder or chipper, you could probably do just fine. Just something to think about moving forward.
Thanks Kyle -- that's definitely in the plans here. Off road diesel and gas in 100 or 250 gal tanks, direct fuel delivery.
Probably a diesel Jerry Can in the near term: our local supermarket has fuel points that give you up to $1/gal discounts, so we can fill fuel tanks + cans + a Jerry can at a good rate.
 
I buys my saws and takes my chances , Try not fret about the fuel ... Local dealer that sent THREE Saws to the shop with water in the gas is now selling Ethanol Free at a ridiculous premium. I say frig it and buy cheap gas at 7-11
 
Remember the grocery store likely isn't a big rig fuel depot, so the fuel will likely be subpar. You might check with your local fuel delivery company and see if you can just show up with a drag tank to start.
 
Bread and butter I don't think anyone asked for here, but sometimes they ask if there is any beer. Can't cut firewood without beer!
They look at me like I am crazy when I inform them its a chainsaw shop... No beer.. No good drinking and running saws.

On this subject I must say I have been offered a lot of odd things as payment instead of money. Chickens was pretty popular a couple years back. Meat is something that is offered often.
 
That comment on gasoline feed stock is very true I can tell you from experience .Lima Ohio where I live is the geographical pipe line center of the world .It comes from and goes to all directions .One of the distribution terminals I worked on had different additives used for at least 6 different brands of gasoline all having slightly different formulations that was automatically added prior to loading on the big tanker trucks . So you really don't know if your gas is Shell,Marathon or Flying J .and you bought it at Walmart .Although I don't really know it's probably that way in the entire world .As Paul Harvey used to say--now the rest of the story .
 
Being just a on the side type shop. Guys walk in with beer, shine, etc etc.
Have taken guns, shine, fresh ground beef etc on trade on labor and saws. Even beer on a chain sharpen.
I know some firewood folks just aint got the $ for even my cash prices, let alone double or triple prices at the brand name shops.

I told one of my friends and customers. This is him.
Worked with the guy for about 28yrs. He also is getting ready to retire too in a few months.

We always have a good laugh and brews while I am working on his saws.

Pic hanging in shop has his name wrote on pocket.

lolshop.jpg
 
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