Best economical chainsaw for Alaskan chainsaw milling.

[Charlie Stuart]

I currently have a home lite 360 chainsaw ive Benn milling smaller logs with however I have Some wide black walnut and I dont know how well my homelite will be at handling that with a longer bar. What would be the best chainsaw for milling stuff about 25 inches wide that is still economical. I am open to buying a used one Ideally something under 600, I just dont know how realistic that is.
thanks

 

[SmoothOperator1]

It's a tight budget, but not unrealistic. You can find some decent Stihl MS660 around that price, you could find a Echo CS-800P which is a slightly cheaper option. On the other hand, if you want something new, you can look for Chinese copies, I think these was one which was an exact copy of the Stihl. It may not outlive the real deal, but it should do the job for a while

 

[Deleted member 252]

I don't have much experience with clone saws, but that's what I'd be looking into if I couldn't swing a Husqy 3120xp, which I believe to be a great choice for dedicated mill work. I know a guy who uses Stihl clones at his business and has been happy with them.

 

[Leon Couper]

If you want to take my advice if it is going to be a chinese clone choose wisely.
I had one brought through Dick Smiths called a Certa 88cc which I will describe as
useless. Had to have a screw driver in my back pocket at times to keep it together
bitch of a thing to start, and for a 88cc chainsaw a 50cc stihl would eat it. Also
the chainspeed was a way to slow and would keep bogging. When a client comes
to my shed door with any chinese clone it is whats it doing and most times tell
them the scrap heaps a good place for them. Pretty sure they build them so
when they pack it in go buy another one. Everyone I have ever worked on be a chainsaw,
Blower, Linetrimmer or anything else with a clone engine will bite you along the
line somewhere. Think even if you go good secondhand like a Stihl or Hushy I would
go that way. You might think I am being a bit hush on the clones but when you
have dealt with the ammount I have you would know why I am going down this track.

 

[Deleted member 252]

If you want to take my advice if it is going to be a chinese clone choose wisely.
I had one brought through Dick Smiths called a Certa 88cc which I will describe as
useless. Had to have a screw driver in my back pocket at times to keep it together
bitch of a thing to start, and for a 88cc chainsaw a 50cc stihl would eat it. Also
the chainspeed was a way to slow and would keep bogging. When a client comes
to my shed door with any chinese clone it is whats it doing and most times tell
them the scrap heaps a good place for them. Pretty sure they build them so
when they pack it in go buy another one. Everyone I have ever worked on be a chainsaw,
Blower, Linetrimmer or anything else with a clone engine will bite you along the
line somewhere. Think even if you go good secondhand like a Stihl or Hushy I would
go that way. You might think I am being a bit hush on the clones but when you
have dealt with the ammount I have you would know why I am going down this track.

I'm kinda with you here. I guess I could see where one might be an economical choice, if it doesn't end up giving you fits, but I've never messed with one personally because I'm just not interested in Chinese clones. I have an adversion to the whole idea. Closest I came to one was a 50-60cc Dareal, that I was cutting in close proximity to, and I don't think it stayed in service too long.

 

[Charlie Stuart]

Thank you all for your feedback. I ended up buying a used Chinese clone of the huscky 3120 its alright I so think I should have bought an on brand saw but it was a pretty good deal it can be temperamental when starting the carburetor floods easy I had to learn to tune it with my minor tunning skills I made it run better. The company claims it has 120cc dont know if it be better to sell that one and buy a less powerful but a quality-built chainsaw.