First chainsaw!

[OnlyStihl]

I felt kinda dumb pinching my chain three times in a row, but I learned how to not do that anymore.

I heat my home exclusively with the wood stove, so I cut a lot, and have been for the last 12 year. I still make mistakes. Rarely the same mistake, but there are so so many ways to f'things up badly.

Are you running 3/8s on the 20" bar. If not consider upgrading. The .325 is small and the saw can (mine does) easily handle the larger chain if you decide to run a skip chain.

 

[hacskaroly]

I also run 3/8 skip on my 261.

 

[Khntr85]

The 261 is awesome I don’t even use my 362 anymore, 461 and 261 great combo!!

 

[the 28inch mac man]

A 261 is a good purchase. A little mod that will really make that saw perform is to upgrade the .325 to 3/8 pitch chain. Changing the sprocket on the cluch is super easy. What size bar do you have on it? If you are using the saw for falling trees I would run a 24 inch bar. If you are just using the saw for cutting trees up I would run a 18 inch bar.

 

[the 28inch mac man]

I heat my home exclusively with the wood stove, so I cut a lot, and have been for the last 12 year. I still make mistakes. Rarely the same mistake, but there are so so many ways to f'things up badly.

Are you running 3/8s on the 20" bar. If not consider upgrading. The .325 is small and the saw can (mine does) easily handle the larger chain if you decide to run a skip chain.

No need to run skip. Heck I run full comp on a 026 and it handles it great.

 

[tps3443]

I bought some 26RS chains. I think these are full chisel?

 

[Squareground3691]

I bought some 26RS chains. I think these are full chisel? View attachment 427930

Yes ,

 

[whitesnake]

These kick back videos have worried me. Now I’m looking back at this tree I cut up feeling very blessed. So I am ordering some gear. I’m about to start cutting a lot once I start clearing my lot.


It was absolutely filthy. But I keep my stuff super clean and I’m just OCD like that. One of the biggest helps was sealing the factory exhaust leak. If I would have ran it in some wood with that leak, there would be saw dust caked everywhere in places we can’t reach without taking the saw apart. I just used a tooth brush, a paint brush, and some waterless car wash spray. Also, If you

look at most peoples dirty saws, they have a gunk under the muffler and around the cylinder head, this tells me they all leak exhaust I think. And that oil is a dirt magnet. We’re already slinging bar oil everywhere, no need for two oil sources lol.

Waterless wash…oh boy we got a detailer on our hands lol. Detailers are def ocd! I love my rinseless wash for lots of things.

 

[tps3443]

I have some Honda h

Waterless wash…oh boy we got a detailer on our hands lol. Detailers are def ocd! I love my rinseless wash for lots of things.

Not really in to detailing. Just first thing I found to spray it with. I do like to keep nice things clean though!

 

[the 28inch mac man]

I have some Honda h


Not really in to detailing. Just first thing I found to spray it with. I do like to keep nice things clean though!

Same here. I blow my saws out with compressed air and give them a good wipe down . If you are worried about kick back get a longer bar. The shorter the bar the worse kick back becomes. Also if you have a longer bar you aren't always bending over to cut little wood.

 

[tps3443]

Same here. I blow my saws out with compressed air and give them a good wipe down . If you are worried about kick back get a longer bar. The shorter the bar the worse kick back becomes. Also if you have a longer bar you aren't always bending over to cut little wood.

I run a 20” so it might be okay. I have not experienced any kick back at all so far. But I was using the green chain. I haven’t tried the yellow RS chains yet.

 

[tps3443]

Do you guys run any hour meters? I just
Bought a hour/rpm gauge for my saw. Seems smart to have for tuning, and also knowing how much usage is actually on the saw. Let’s go for 2,000 hours!!! I have always been curious how many hours a Pro saw can go when it is maintained meticulously and kept super super clean. We’ll see.

 

[the 28inch mac man]

Do you guys run any hour meters? I just
Bought a hour/rpm gauge for my saw. Seems smart to have for tuning, and also knowing how much usage is actually on the saw. Let’s go for 2,000 hours!!! I have always been curious how many hours a Pro saw can go when it is maintained meticulously and kept super super clean. We’ll see.

Keep the saw running on the rich side and it will run for ever. I've run 20 inch bars on some of my saws and I don't like them. You have to bend over to cut anything. With 24 or28 inch bars you can cut without back pain all day! A good 28 inch bar isn't that heavy eather. PS kick back only occurs on the top third of the bar tip. As long as you avoid cutting with the bar tip and/or having the bar tip hit any thing during cuts you should be fine.

 

[tps3443]

Keep the saw running on the rich side and it will run for ever. I've run 20 inch bars on some of my saws and I don't like them. You have to bend over to cut anything. With 24 or28 inch bars you can cut without back pain all day! A good 28 inch bar isn't that heavy eather. PS kick back only occurs on the top third of the bar tip. As long as you avoid cutting with the bar tip and/or having the bar tip hit any thing during cuts you should be fine.

I don’t think it’s on the rich side right now. Honestly, I revved it a few times and it sounds like 15K or almost dang near 15K (Not sure if a stock 261 can even spin that high) No 4 stroking or sputtering whatsoever. The low speed and idle feel/sound amazing though. I will check when the hour/tach meter arrives today. I’ll probably just tune it to 13.8K maybe 14.0K. Hopefully it sputters a bit at that rpm. I’d rather not drop below 13k rpm. I’ll use some Honda HP2 at 50:1 once the 2 gallons of Motomix is gone.

 

[hacskaroly]

I don’t think it’s on the rich side right now. Honestly, I revved it a few times and it sounds like 15K or almost dang near 15K (Not sure if a stock 261 can even spin that high)

That sounds painfully high, I believe the owners manual states that 14,000 RPM is the cutoff range and have seen people post hitting that speed without a bar/chain on. Early on when I started working with saws, I was told to start a new saw and go full throttle (no warm up time and outside of wood) until bar and chain oil came out. That didn't feel right and soon stopped doing it that way.

From what I understand you ballpark tune the carb outside of wood (even with a tach), but will want to fine tune it once you start cutting...but I am still learning though, there are others here with more experience that can weigh in.

 

[tps3443]

I installed my Hour/Tach meter! I used a reamer to cut 3 tiny holes in the shroud. Wire is completely hidden! And you can see the rpm/hours when using the saw. I love it!

 

[the 28inch mac man]

I installed my Hour/Tach meter! I used a reamer to cut 3 tiny holes in the shroud. Wire is completely hidden! And you can see the rpm/hours when using the saw. I love it!

View attachment 428121View attachment 428120

Looks great ! I've never heard of putting a tack on a saw. I'm to old school most of my saws are 50+ years old so that is probbly why. I would run the saw super rich during break-in. I'm telling you, you need to run 3/8 chain on this beast! All chain even .325 can kick back, so why not run 3/8 and cut 2x as fast! PS .325 chain is a pain to sharpen.

 

[tps3443]

Looks great ! I've never heard of putting a tack on a saw. I'm to old school most of my saws are 50+ years old so that is probbly why. I would run the saw super rich during break-in. I'm telling you, you need to run 3/8 chain on this beast! All chain even .325 can kick back, so why not run 3/8 and cut 2x as fast! PS .325 chain is a pain to sharpen.

I only bought it for the hour meter function, saws don’t need tachs you are right there, but since it’s a 2 in 1 hour meter with a tach all in the same size, it’s really a no brainer to get the dual feature hour meter with tach just for the heck of it, I really wanted to mount the hour meter under the cover out of sight, but Stihl used every single bit of space, so there’s no extra room under the cover. If and when something happens to this saw though, break down, or won’t start, anything, I will know how many hours are on it, or for just general maintenance and replacing things at intervals. I have read Stihl Pro saws can run 2,000 hours. So I’m very curious to know some years from now. Same reason why I went with no Mtronic lol. I was thinking the manual carb adjust models have no extra points of possible failure.

Anyways, I have been thinking about 3/8 chains and using a longer bar. But it’s just a 261, so I don’t know how well it would handle all of that? I always thought 20” and .325 was the limits for a MS261 for a long life span. But I wouldn’t mind a 25” bar.

 

[the 28inch mac man]

I only bought it for the hour meter function, saws don’t need tachs you are right there, but since it’s a 2 in 1 hour meter with a tach all in the same size, it’s really a no brainer to get the dual feature hour meter with tach just for the heck of it, I really wanted to mount the hour meter under the cover out of sight, but Stihl used every single bit of space, so there’s no extra room under the cover. If and when something happens to this saw though, break down, or won’t start, anything, I will know how many hours are on it, or for just general maintenance and replacing things at intervals. I have read Stihl Pro saws can run 2,000 hours. So I’m very curious to know some years from now. Same reason why I went with no Mtronic lol. I was thinking the manual carb adjust models have no extra points of possible failure.

Anyways, I have been thinking about 3/8 chains and using a longer bar. But it’s just a 261, so I don’t know how well it would handle all of that? I always thought 20” and .325 was the limits for a MS261 for a long life span. But I wouldn’t mind a 25” bar.

A 261 would handle 3/8 no problem. Actuly with a more aggressive chain you will get more hours out of the saw sence it will keep the rpms down. I run 3/8 on a old stihl 026 and it has no problem handling it. A 026 is only a 49cc saw.

 

[OnlyStihl]

A 261 would handle 3/8 no problem. Actuly with a more aggressive chain you will get more hours out of the saw sence it will keep the rpms down. I run 3/8 on a old stihl 026 and it has no problem handling it. A 026 is only a 49cc saw.

For me, the 3/8s is easier to sharpen. Even more so with skip tooth.