CARING FOR YOUR EQUIPMENT

[whatsapoop]

New here ........ just wondering ........ how do YOU care for your equipment. Asking because I've been online and in pawn shops looking for a bigger saw than my MS271 for more than a month. IF I can find an MS462 or 661 they are like beaten to death ..... crushed cowlings, smashed handles, deep scratches, vent holes broken out ....... look like they have been thrown into a concrete tumbler with an 8" concrete block and let go for about an hour, just totally trashed externally. I know saws (mine included) get scratched, scuffed, dinged and sometimes minor exterior cowling cracks thru normal everyday usage but man, these things are just in terrible shape. For me that appearance is a red flag ...... if the owner doesn't care for the exterior, what does the interior look like!!? Not willing to spend hard money on something that hasn't had the love that it deserves, and that goes for all tools, not just chainsaws. Throwing equipment into the back of a truck or trailer without caring how it rides is just ridiculous. What's your opinion?

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

If you want as new- buy new.
A lot of what you will likely be seeing in pawn shops are saws that have been employer owned and employee used- if you do not have the money invested in it, don't own it, you don't care about it too much. Or they have been someones money earner and used to the end of their economic life- but because they are a popular model of a popular brand- they still command a large price tag and are deemed a saleable item even if they look fit for the trash can.
Sometimes you luck in, sometimes you luck out with secondhand saws- sometimes they have spent a long time sliding, bouncing and smacking into pickup bed walls to look pretty rough, but inside they are almost like new. It is a bonus if sellers will let you pull mufflers and look at pistons through exhaust ports- if they won't then you walk away or start lowballing.