DaFattKidd said:
I have a few other questions as well: what are you burning this in, and how much wood are you planning on burning this year?
I just looked up the price on those saws and woah momma you dropped some dough on those bad boys. Is this something you do professionally? Those are some serious saws. Good luck and be safe with them.
I'll be using a Yukon Eagle Polar furnace to heat 4,500 sf and we are looking at putting a 1,600 sf addition on the house. If the furnace can heat the house and the addition, so be it. If not, we will go with a wood stove in the addition and a separate AC system. Anyway, I was told I need 4+ cords of wood a year, and then my dad is thinking about putting in a wood insert. So, I am guessing anywhere between 4 and 8 cords a year will be cut with my saws since my dad usually has POS saws.
Yeah, everybody has been giving me grief about what I spent on the saws. The HVAC guys that will be installing the AC on the furnace also gasped at the furnace price unitl they actually read about it. Ultimately, I am pretty cheap, which is the reason I do almost all the work on my cars, bikes, house, guns, rods, etc. Just to give you an example, I had to change the AC clutch on my car this year. I did it in April, but against my normal tendencies I didn't spend the $100 on the special tools needed to install the clutch. Well, the clutch coil came loose and broke. Had to replace that at a cost of $36. This time, I bought the specialized tools. The removal and installation of the clutch and clutch coil was that much smoother this time around and I am kicking myself for not spending the $100 the first time around. Initially, I was going to go with the MS250 occassional use saw and the MS 460, but decided to step both up a notch to the MS261, a professional use saw, and the MS 660. I am looking for longevity and dependability from the saws. Figured I would use the 18" bar for the majority of my cutting and the 25" MS660 for the really big stuff. Like I said, I do almost all the repairs on our cars. The addition we are contemplating is a 40x40 two story addition with living space upstairs and a garage/shop area for me underneath with 4 garage doors and a 12+ foot ceiling. I will also be installing a vehicle lift in there. The lift will run about $3,000. My father in-law questioned the vehicle lift, until I saved him about $700 on a vehicle repair. He was just up here last week and wanted me to change his antifreeze. When I had to slide under the car to drain the radiater he said "I can see how a lift would come in handy." I had to work under his car in Florida on a POS blanket when I did the repair that saved him $700.
I am convinced that time is money, and that if I buy the right tools for the job that allow me to do a quality job and get the job done quicker, then I am coming out ahead in the long run. For the most part, I always buy top of the line tools and the right tools for the job. I'm 40 and I am hoping these saws last until I am 70. I have things like a 2 stage 60 gallon compressor. Some of the best shotguns, hunting equipment. fishing equipment, etc. Ultimately, I think these saws cost me $250 to $300 more than the initial saws I wanted. If they save me 2 hours of cutting time over the initial saws I was going to buy, then they will have made up the difference in price as far as I am concerned. Thing is, it is tough to determine if they will save me that kind of time. Another example I can give you is my main hunting shotgun. I bought it 14 years ago and have used it a ton. It still works flawlessly. However, it was the best thing out when I bought it, and also the most expensive.