Anyone know about chainsaws?

[Daedalus454]

My grandfather passed away last weekend, and among other things, he left me two small chainsaws. I know nothing about chainsaws, and I know for a fact that it has been at least 6 years since either of them ran.

Can anyone tell me anything about these chainsaws?

One is a Homelite:

The other is a McCulloch:

Thanks in advance.

 

[Blaine B.]

They cut stuff.

 

[Smittty9785]

dont cut any body parts off. well at least none of your own body parts that is. who cares if its someone else you dont like. especially if he/she is already dead. easier to hide the evidence.

 

[swbooking]

Sorry to hear about your Grandfather...

Truthfully, they are nothing special. I used to work on Stihls and we get the occasional McCulloch and Homelite, and they were just a pain to work on and hard to get parts for. They might be worth more since they are a little older but im not entirely sure. For the most part they are a standard Home Depot / Lowes style chain saw.

 

[pats95xj]

Sure the new Homelites and McHulluchs are absolute crap. But the ones you have are the ones many now collect and rebuild, both used to be very good companies before they became chinese crap. I dont know how much but they might be worth some money now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/HOMELITE-XL-12-...ryZ20538QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[4LowandGo]

If you don't know much about them you might want to just take them to a local small engine repair shop. Sometimes it doesn't take much to get old saws running fairly well. They might just need new spark plugs and a carb cleanout. If there is any old gas in the carb, lines or tank then it will gum up and go bad.

It is really hit or miss sometimes to find a good small engine repair shop (that won't charge the crap out of you). I usually look for a few in the phonebook and check them out in person. Good luck on the old saws. I would guess that it would mean a lot to you to have them running. I hope they work well.

 

[Jeepm@n]

I own the older big brother to your Homelite. That thing is what I call the "widow maker". It's a good chainsaw and has cut about 75-100 cords of wood. Those of you that don't know what a cord of wood is lets just say one cord takes about 3 hours to cut split and stack. That chainsaw when it starts to get dull will tell you by bucking right at you so be sure to stand to the side if that thing, because when it kicks back you will not be able to stop it.

 

[Gerr]

my advice is to find a local landscape company and find out who they use for their small machines, ours has a in house crew that also takes in side jobs after hours and Ive seen them resurrect more than a couple older saws like yours.
The saws you have are fairly generic but in their day were good saws I would get them fixed up and made to run and keep them as you will not find that level of quality in the stores now days. I actually have a homelite like yours and it works plenty well for my use but I couldn't pass up the deal I got on a new poulan pro and that thing is just plain bad ass.

 

[fubar XJ]

Many old saws are of better quality and durability compared to newer ones. Take them in to a chainsaw/small engine repair shop, have them clean/tune them up, put a couple of new chains on or at least sharpen the old ones, they should serve you well for years. I have a Stihl I bought at a pawn shop about 15 years ago, it must be 25+ years old. It works great for occasional firewood and fallen tree trail cutting, and it was cheap.

 

[98XJSport]

My father had an old stihl longer than Ive been alive. He finally killed it maybe 3 years ago, and has gone through about a saw a year, different brands. Don't make em like they used to.

 

[RichP]

Decent saws both due to their age before they started making them cheaply over in China. Chinese stuff uses cast metal parts, our old stuff that we built here used forged metal parts, big difference. You can futz around with them yourself, make up a gallon mix of oil/gas, pour it in and set the choke, then start pulling, if it kicks then back the choke off a bit and pull some more.
I've had decent luck by dumping in pure carb cleaner in the tank, and giving it a few pulls to get the cleaner thru the carb and then let it sit for a while and soak in, then dump the cleaner out into a can and put the mix in then try the starting procedure. They are pretty simple machines more or less.
As for safety, never use the tip to cut, keep the wood being cut as close to the saw body as possible. You will know the chain needs sharpening when it start cutting off to the side on an angle. Also the bar gets lubricated, there should be separate screw out plug that you pour bar oil into.
I would just drop them both off and have a new chain and tune up done, let the shop worry about starting it. It is very handy to have a good running sharp one around.

 

[willy51]

Well, my family has owned and operated a tree trimming buisness in LA since 1946. I am familiar with both of those saws. My dad used to give me 20 bucks a saw for everyone i could resurect out of spare parts. The homelite is a great saw. As long as you have a little bit of compression and a good spark, it should run just about forever. I would say take the carb off and BRIEFLY soak it in model airplane gas. That will get most of the junk gas out of it. while its soaking you can spin over the motor with the plug out and check spark. If you can start it with the bar off you will want to check the clutch and the oiler. if either are bad you have a paper weight. If your in the LA area some time, you could bring them by my shop and i could go thru them if you like. Even cut you a new chain if you like.
Mike

 

[Matthew Currie]

I have one of those Homelites. Actually, I have a couple, but I have one that works ( I have a lot of chainsaws. I like chainsaws....). Someone gave it to me a couple of years ago in need of a little fuel line TLC, and I spent a couple of hours tuning it up. My usual saw is a much newer and nicer big Stihl, but I keep one of those Homelites at my lake camp, and whenever I need to cut something I can pretty well count on it working.

It's hard to decide whether or not to put money and parts into repairing one of these if it's not working, but if it is working or almost working, I'd say it's worth keeping. It's a good quality saw, much better than the homeowner grade junk you buy nowadays. Power is adequate, and though it's a little heavy by modern standards, it's no monster, and I think a little weight makes it safer to handle. It takes a rich mix (16 to one, I think) so it's a bit stinky, it has a manual chain oiler which you have to remember to use, and it does not have any hint of kickback protection, but if you're careful it will cut lots and lots of wood. I put in a lot of hours on one of those Homelites as a teenager. I'm still alive and have all my body parts, but I must put in the usual caution here that this saw dates from a time before window screens came with cautions not to use them as a baby gate, and before the peanut packets warned that they might contain nuts. It's a serious woodcutting machine from a time when it was expected that the user would take it seriously, learn to use it, and accept the considerable risk.

If you do keep it I recommend getting, if possible, a modern bar and chain. A roller tip bar and a newer style chain will cut a little easier and kick back a little less than the old round chipper chain. If you do keep the chipper chain, keep it deadly sharp to avoid kickback (see Jeepm@n's caution there), and also because it will pull crooked when it gets dull, and if you have a plain tipped bar it will heat up and go slack and pull even worse.

I don't know about the precise model of McCullogh there, but I think it's new enough to be past the "golden age" of McCullogh. Some time in the late 60's they came out with some new models which were very light and powerful for their size, but had a great tendency to fall apart and to leak irreparably. If it's working, it might be worth keeping going, but I wouldn't put much effort into that one.