STIHL MS 400.1 On Trial with Willie Gordon

Willie Gordon Field Tests the new mid-range powerhouse STIHL MS 400.1 chainsaw

In March of this year, I had the opportunity to visit STIHL’s new facility, where I was presented with the chance to try their latest model, the STIHL MS 400.1 professional mid-range chainsaw.

80,000 Hours

That’s a remarkable amount of work hours for a single machine, the Norcar 600 owned by Erkki Rinne is taken well care of, it even has the original Diesel engine.
Kieran Anders Forestry

Kieran Anders is a forestry contractor working in the lake district. His work involves hand cutting and extracting timber using a skidder and tractor-trailer forwarder.
Promoting safety in the workplace

It is not possible to eliminate chain shot, but there are simple steps that can be taken to reduce the risk.
Glasfryn Fencing and Sawmill

Arwel takes great pride in the fact that the mill has no waste whatsoever, “the peelings are used for children’s playgrounds, gardens and for farm animals in barns in the winter and the sawdust has multiple uses in gardens and farms as well.
Keeping Timber Hauliers Safe

Timber hauliers need to encourage young blood in, and also look after the hauliers we have, we need make the sector a safe and positive place to work.

FIND US ON

Although I had a brief encounter with the saw during my visit, I was impressed by its lightweight, well-balanced design and powerful cutting capabilities.

However, I acknowledged that due to my advancing years, my chainsaw days are firmly behind me.

It is increasingly challenging to find skilled chainsaw operators, as most have retired or left the industry. However, there was one individual, Willie Gordon from Callander, who stood out to me as the ideal candidate to thoroughly evaluate this new chainsaw.

Willie is an old-school cutter, a designation that reflects his status as one of the few highly skilled grafters remaining in the field of forestry. He demonstrates dedication each day he spends working in the forest and maintains a positive attitude, noting that “no one would listen anyway” even if he did complain😊

As a second-generation cutter, Willie first worked alongside his father, Bill Gordon, as a young child, and one of his first roles was chokering trees for extraction by cable winch. This task requires significant physical effort and skill. Willie decided to pursue a career in forestry and has been felling trees professionally for over 30 years.

Over his career, he has used chainsaws manufactured by both STIHL and Husqvarna and has no brand loyalty to either; “whoever had the best chainsaw at the time is the one I would purchase.”

In the early days of woodcutting, remuneration was predominantly based on piecework. It was essential for chainsaws to possess a good power-to-weight ratio, have good balance, and demonstrate fuel efficiency and reliability. Most local chainsaw dealers offer a good selection of spare parts and accessories for both STIHL and Husqvarna professional chainsaws, and that is why these two brands have been the market leaders among professional users for many years.

Today, most chainsaw operators work on a day rate, as the type of work varies. The work mainly consists of cutting oversized and heavily branched trees in felling coupes that a harvester can’t process.

The introduction of the STIHL 500i model, which features fuel injection technology, has revolutionised the chainsaw industry. The outstanding power-to-weight ratio it offers is unprecedented. Furthermore, there has been a consistent absence of negative feedback regarding its performance capabilities. The only drawback associated with this chainsaw is its relatively higher fuel consumption when used for delimbing softwoods.

The STIHL MS 400.1 is a smaller, lighter midrange chainsaw with a displacement of 62.6cc, designed for felling medium-sized trees. It is compatible with guide bars of lengths 16 inches, 18 inches, or 20 inches.

Upon the arrival of the saw and the subsequent installation of the bar and chain, Willie was notably impressed by the saw’s weight and balance. However, he was disappointed with the timing, as his upcoming holiday would delay his opportunity to get hands-on with the saw for the next two weeks.

Once back at work, Willie was working in some large, heavily branched Sitka spruce, which are typically found on the edges of forest compartments, so this wasn’t ideal for the MS400.1, as it required a larger chainsaw. He was somewhat frustrated at not being able to use the saw, firstly due to holidays, and now the timber was just too large for a mid-range saw.

To date, Willie has had four days in optimum-sized timber with the STIHL MS 400.1 and is amazed at this saw’s performance.

When I saw him, he was grinning from ear to ear and pointed out that he loved the ergonomic design of the saw and it is the best snedding saw he has ever used.

He went on to add “I would swear it was a fuel-injected chainsaw as the power from the motor is immense. The acceleration is rapid, requiring only a slight touch of the throttle for it to respond instantly. There is no hint of any lag or stutter.”

It’s not often you hear such positivity, as there is usually a “but” or an “if only” when summarising the results, but Willie wasn’t finished with his praise just yet

“It’s perfectly balanced for felling and the rib pattern on the underside of the saw allows it to glide along the tree stem effortlessly when snedding branches. I find it hard to get my head around just how powerful it is for the weight of the saw”

I had checked up and the new STIHL MS 400.1 model is 300g lighter than its predecessor and has an increase of 4.1Nm of torque.

There are numerous other modifications, but another important one is the larger magnesium flywheel and improved muffler for extra cooling on hot days.

Now it was time for one of the most critical questions: fuel consumption.

“I have been using the STIHL MS 400.1 on around one-tonne average trees (the optimum size for this saw), and it is great on fuel. I like the 50% marker on the fuel tank so you can see how much fuel is left, it’s a pain snedding out three-quarters of the length of a long tree only to run out of fuel. There is enough walking in this job without creating even more! Another good point is being able to adjust the oil flow to the chain with the combi spanner if you need extra when cutting big pappy branches.”

Ease of maintenance is another important factor for operators

“Everything is easy to get to, and the air filter keeps pretty clean, so it doesn’t need cleaning too often. STIHL have a nice design with the lift-up flaps for easy opening and closing of the fuel and oil caps. The only negative point I have is that sawdust gets trapped between the exhaust and saw casing, but it is a two-minute job to clean it.”

“I love this saw and am looking forward to spending more time on the right-sized trees with it. So far, I don’t see anything that stands out that needs addressing. It is easy to start, hot or cold, has great geometry, plenty of power and is bloody good on fuel.”

“I just wish this saw had been around when I was felling on piecework, I would probably be retired and living in my villa in sunny Spain by now if it had 😊.”

I will catch up with Willie again next month, as he will have had more time to test it on optimum-sized trees.

However, so far, this saw has exceeded all of Willie’s expectations.