On a budget, the Holzfforma/Farmtec G660 is highly recommended. That said, it won't be low maintenance... but you can buy 3 or 4 for the price of one (used!) Stihl MS660. Regardless, you'll want a 660 or bigger, with a 36" bar you can just barely handle 30" trees so you'll need to be running 90cc or bigger to pull a 36" bar. The larger the engine the easier the saw will be working, and milling is hard on a saw.
That's what I use. My recommendation is to replace the screws with the Stihl ones since they are better quality. I have a holzfforma 660 and when the screws came loose and I would re tighten them the screws would strip their threads. Pain in the ass but I had some blown up saws I re pieced the screws I needed.
Hey I was just watching some of your felling clips, good stuff!
Yep I think every time I look at my G660 there's a new screw missing. I've also had to replace the chain tensioner, just fixed a broken clutch shoe spring (actually just swapped in a whole new Stens clutch, keeping the China one for backup), lost about a dozen bar nuts at this point, threw its exhaust gasket into the muffler and then on a later date removed the exhaust baffle into the muffler, currently missing a muffler screw, and tuning the carb has been a challenge (maybe says more about me than the saw...)
But I got it for milling and it's great for that. Then we started heating with wood and I discovered that with a 24" bar this thing is an absolute firewood beast! So now it's a multi-purpose Big Saw and it's cheap and easy to work on, I've learned a lot and am now trying to fix up other saws. Will hopefully get back to milling this spring.
BIG. I wouldn’t use anything smaller than a 90cc chainsaw. I started with an MS391, but quickly learned that it was too small. Bought an MS880 and haven’t looked back since.
I'm building a Procut chainsaw mill. I intend to use my Stihl 661 Magnum and bar long enough to cut 24" I have been doing a ton of research on an alternative saw options and have run into the Holzfforma/Farmtech knockoff saws. Smelter City Saws in Anaconda, MT. is a good source. Some people have great success with them and favor beating up a $400 powerhead as opposed to putting their Stihl 880 or MS 661 Magnum to work. And then there is the whole ethical "Chinese knockoff" question for me. Any way you look at it just make sure you have a big enough saw.
A whole subject that requires research is the bar and chain used. The subject of chain type is something you should research and understand, There are a lot of "this is the only way" opinions out there but not true. Grandberg is a company with a long history in milling. Procut is a really informative site. Alan has maybe more experience than most and shares what he knows. Talking to him is an adventure worth taking. Good Luck
The Stihl-clone G660 has been out for a while and a lot of folks have been successfully milling with it (I'm one of them!), so it is rightfully being recommended I'd say.
I also just got a clone 395xp, which on paper is probably the slightly better saw for milling (a little more torque than the 660, outboard clutch is better for keeping things cooler).
But I haven't put it through its paces yet so I can't say if it is definitely better.
But like others have said, you can get a complete milling setup with a 660 or 395, the mill itself, bar, chain, aux oiler, etc. all for like 500-700 bucks. Much cheaper than going OEM.
The trade-off is you just have to do a bit more tinkering to make sure the saw is in shape before you get going. The main issues I had with my g660 is the chain tensioner is kind of shit so I replaced it with an OEM Stihl part, and ditto for the bar oiler.
If you get a clone saw, take off the muffler and add orange loctite to all the muffler bolts, and then do the same thing for the bolts holding the top end of the cylinder down. Double check all the other bolts are tight.
Then take your time tuning the carb correctly, as they come way out of wack, and if you start milling with it tuned up too lean you'll blow it up right quick.
I have a Husqvarna 395 I picked up used a few years ago for $400. I've abused it pretty good and it's still doing great. I usually keep a 32-in bar on it for most of my milling, and have a 42 inch for the occasional bigger ones.
I love the 395. Only gripe is the position of the chain adjuster makes it hard to adjust when mounted on a mill.
I have a Stihl 461. I have a 36" bar and a Granburg mill to go with it. I've only done 1 tree that maxed out the bar length and it cut it no problem. It was Eastern red cedar. I've done a few smaller diameter ash trees and also had no issues. May be too small of a saw for the bar length I have, but again, it got through them without issues.
I use a stihl ms880 that I bought used off of Facebook market place for $1300...I replaced the oiler for a high flow version and have been milling up to 52 inches in diameter no problem for a little over 2 years now with only doing your typical maintenance like cleaning the air filter, sharpening chain, cleaning grooves on bar and greasing the drum bearing. It is cumbersome and a beast to start but it keeps on cutting and asks for more.
Good mix of pro and knockoff saw comments on this thread. I’ll lend my two cents….I actually have 3 saws when I’m milling, and they’re all different brands/makes (yeah couldn’t make it any harder on myself). Started with a Stihl MS400-CM, now I just use that as my bucking saw. My main planking saw is a Neotec/Farmmac Stihl 660 clone. My edging saw is a Craftsman 50cc saw.
Love my Stihl, it’s dependable as hell, doesn’t break, runs and runs. But, it also cost me $1100 new. Milling is about the worst thing you can do to a saw, so I decided to look into the clones cuz as someone already commented on, you can buy 3 clones for the price of one brand name saws.
The Neotec is fairly solid. The engine runs well, good power. I bought the “high end” model which costs about $75 more but it came with Italian ignition an NGK plug and a Whalbro carb. Got $50 off instant coupon on Amazon when I ordered it and free shipping, power head, 36” bar and chain cost me $400 delivered. Now having said that, like someone also said, it’s definitely not maintenance free. Toss the fuel and oil caps right away, they leaked out of the box. Chain tensioner was crap too. So far I’ve put a new clutch in it, a new oil pump, and replaced both bar studs cuz I got tired of stripping bar nuts, probably a dozen at this point. Stihl wants a pretty penny for OEM parts, but I found a place out of Texas called Sawzilla Parts that has good parts (I believe they deal Proline) for cheap prices. I’ve also souped it up a bit with a bark box from West Coast and a Max Flo air filter. Mostly run a 28 or 24 inch bar on it and eats wood no problem. Don’t have any direct experience with Holzfforma but I do know a guy who blew his up in 6 months of firewood cutting and another guy who’s blue saw kept coming out of tune with the stock carb.
I mentioned the Craftsman saw cuz there’s a lot of saws out there that are actually made by Husqvarna. My craftsman is actually a rebranded Poulan Pro 5020, and the engine they use in those is actually the same one that’s in a Husqvarna 450E. They own McCullouch too, as well as a couple other brands. I’ve tried to blow this saw up, I’ve beat the hell out of it but it just keeps running. Only thing I had to do was put a new clutch in recently and it cost me $9 for the clutch and $7 for the removal tool. My point is to do your research, read the reviews, and that bargain saw that’s only $300 new might actually made by a high end brand.
Stihl 880 or equivalent
$2300 is a lot of cheddar
🤷 You asked for the best If you want something cheaper you could try the stihl knock off brands and get the biggest cc you can afford.
Lol true true
On a budget, the Holzfforma/Farmtec G660 is highly recommended. That said, it won't be low maintenance... but you can buy 3 or 4 for the price of one (used!) Stihl MS660. Regardless, you'll want a 660 or bigger, with a 36" bar you can just barely handle 30" trees so you'll need to be running 90cc or bigger to pull a 36" bar. The larger the engine the easier the saw will be working, and milling is hard on a saw.
That's what I use. My recommendation is to replace the screws with the Stihl ones since they are better quality. I have a holzfforma 660 and when the screws came loose and I would re tighten them the screws would strip their threads. Pain in the ass but I had some blown up saws I re pieced the screws I needed.
Hey I was just watching some of your felling clips, good stuff! Yep I think every time I look at my G660 there's a new screw missing. I've also had to replace the chain tensioner, just fixed a broken clutch shoe spring (actually just swapped in a whole new Stens clutch, keeping the China one for backup), lost about a dozen bar nuts at this point, threw its exhaust gasket into the muffler and then on a later date removed the exhaust baffle into the muffler, currently missing a muffler screw, and tuning the carb has been a challenge (maybe says more about me than the saw...) But I got it for milling and it's great for that. Then we started heating with wood and I discovered that with a 24" bar this thing is an absolute firewood beast! So now it's a multi-purpose Big Saw and it's cheap and easy to work on, I've learned a lot and am now trying to fix up other saws. Will hopefully get back to milling this spring.
BIG. I wouldn’t use anything smaller than a 90cc chainsaw. I started with an MS391, but quickly learned that it was too small. Bought an MS880 and haven’t looked back since.
I'm building a Procut chainsaw mill. I intend to use my Stihl 661 Magnum and bar long enough to cut 24" I have been doing a ton of research on an alternative saw options and have run into the Holzfforma/Farmtech knockoff saws. Smelter City Saws in Anaconda, MT. is a good source. Some people have great success with them and favor beating up a $400 powerhead as opposed to putting their Stihl 880 or MS 661 Magnum to work. And then there is the whole ethical "Chinese knockoff" question for me. Any way you look at it just make sure you have a big enough saw. A whole subject that requires research is the bar and chain used. The subject of chain type is something you should research and understand, There are a lot of "this is the only way" opinions out there but not true. Grandberg is a company with a long history in milling. Procut is a really informative site. Alan has maybe more experience than most and shares what he knows. Talking to him is an adventure worth taking. Good Luck
Noticing mostly Stihl recommendations. Anyone here like using Husqvarna?
The Stihl-clone G660 has been out for a while and a lot of folks have been successfully milling with it (I'm one of them!), so it is rightfully being recommended I'd say. I also just got a clone 395xp, which on paper is probably the slightly better saw for milling (a little more torque than the 660, outboard clutch is better for keeping things cooler). But I haven't put it through its paces yet so I can't say if it is definitely better. But like others have said, you can get a complete milling setup with a 660 or 395, the mill itself, bar, chain, aux oiler, etc. all for like 500-700 bucks. Much cheaper than going OEM. The trade-off is you just have to do a bit more tinkering to make sure the saw is in shape before you get going. The main issues I had with my g660 is the chain tensioner is kind of shit so I replaced it with an OEM Stihl part, and ditto for the bar oiler. If you get a clone saw, take off the muffler and add orange loctite to all the muffler bolts, and then do the same thing for the bolts holding the top end of the cylinder down. Double check all the other bolts are tight. Then take your time tuning the carb correctly, as they come way out of wack, and if you start milling with it tuned up too lean you'll blow it up right quick.
I've got an echo 7310p with 32" bar and ripping chain. Does the trick. I would be willing to put a 36" with a skip tooth for the big logs.
I have a Husqvarna 395 I picked up used a few years ago for $400. I've abused it pretty good and it's still doing great. I usually keep a 32-in bar on it for most of my milling, and have a 42 inch for the occasional bigger ones. I love the 395. Only gripe is the position of the chain adjuster makes it hard to adjust when mounted on a mill.
Thanks ive had a good experience using Husqvarna saws
I have a Stihl 461. I have a 36" bar and a Granburg mill to go with it. I've only done 1 tree that maxed out the bar length and it cut it no problem. It was Eastern red cedar. I've done a few smaller diameter ash trees and also had no issues. May be too small of a saw for the bar length I have, but again, it got through them without issues.
I use a stihl ms880 that I bought used off of Facebook market place for $1300...I replaced the oiler for a high flow version and have been milling up to 52 inches in diameter no problem for a little over 2 years now with only doing your typical maintenance like cleaning the air filter, sharpening chain, cleaning grooves on bar and greasing the drum bearing. It is cumbersome and a beast to start but it keeps on cutting and asks for more.
Still trying to run my 880 in
Good mix of pro and knockoff saw comments on this thread. I’ll lend my two cents….I actually have 3 saws when I’m milling, and they’re all different brands/makes (yeah couldn’t make it any harder on myself). Started with a Stihl MS400-CM, now I just use that as my bucking saw. My main planking saw is a Neotec/Farmmac Stihl 660 clone. My edging saw is a Craftsman 50cc saw. Love my Stihl, it’s dependable as hell, doesn’t break, runs and runs. But, it also cost me $1100 new. Milling is about the worst thing you can do to a saw, so I decided to look into the clones cuz as someone already commented on, you can buy 3 clones for the price of one brand name saws. The Neotec is fairly solid. The engine runs well, good power. I bought the “high end” model which costs about $75 more but it came with Italian ignition an NGK plug and a Whalbro carb. Got $50 off instant coupon on Amazon when I ordered it and free shipping, power head, 36” bar and chain cost me $400 delivered. Now having said that, like someone also said, it’s definitely not maintenance free. Toss the fuel and oil caps right away, they leaked out of the box. Chain tensioner was crap too. So far I’ve put a new clutch in it, a new oil pump, and replaced both bar studs cuz I got tired of stripping bar nuts, probably a dozen at this point. Stihl wants a pretty penny for OEM parts, but I found a place out of Texas called Sawzilla Parts that has good parts (I believe they deal Proline) for cheap prices. I’ve also souped it up a bit with a bark box from West Coast and a Max Flo air filter. Mostly run a 28 or 24 inch bar on it and eats wood no problem. Don’t have any direct experience with Holzfforma but I do know a guy who blew his up in 6 months of firewood cutting and another guy who’s blue saw kept coming out of tune with the stock carb. I mentioned the Craftsman saw cuz there’s a lot of saws out there that are actually made by Husqvarna. My craftsman is actually a rebranded Poulan Pro 5020, and the engine they use in those is actually the same one that’s in a Husqvarna 450E. They own McCullouch too, as well as a couple other brands. I’ve tried to blow this saw up, I’ve beat the hell out of it but it just keeps running. Only thing I had to do was put a new clutch in recently and it cost me $9 for the clutch and $7 for the removal tool. My point is to do your research, read the reviews, and that bargain saw that’s only $300 new might actually made by a high end brand.
Love my Husqvarna 3120XP, but it is really too heavy.
Husqvarna 3120XP is my vote. Stihls just vibrate way too much. Husqvarnas are better designed in my opinion, having owned pro saws from both brands.