How to start a chainsaw?
When
we asked BJ to cut
up some firewood last
week I noticed he was starting the Stihl MS-211 chainsaw on the ground with his foot on the
handle.
It's a Stihl approved method, the handle is
made for foot placement, but a little awkward.
I showed him the stand up
starting method and he likes it better, but we had some trouble on the
second lesson. It took him a while to get the hang of holding the rope
end while "pushing" the saw downward resulting in a flooded engine. I
tried taking the spark plug out and drying it, but we had to end up
waiting till the next day for more tree cutting.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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I always use the foot method. Some chainsaws are less awkward than others; I prefer ones with a handle well designed to be held by a foot.
The stand up method means you are both holding the saw with just one hand, and moving it. Since it's designed to be controlled using 2 hands, this runs the risk of an uncontrolled movement, which could be dangerous.
That said, I'm also very happy to have last used a chainsaw over 7 years ago. I'm quite content using a hand saw for anything less than sawing up a winter's firewood.
I'm pretty new to chainsaws. When I bought my Stihl MS-181 C-BE last year, the Stihl dealer recommended never to start the saw standing up. There's far too great of a chance of injury doing it that way. It is very easy to start it hot that way, but because it is designed to be run using 2 hands, it is easy to allow the bar to move side to side. This can allow the blade to hit your leg.
My saw has Stihl's patented easy start system. There's a spring in the starting set up. I just apply steady pressure pulling the cord. It reaches a point where the spring lets go and cranks the engine over. Very easy to start, even when cold.