Need my first "big saw" advice on ms46x's?

Be careful about working 40+ hours/week, month after month for just one company and considering yourself a "subcontractor" instead of an "employee".
I learned that the hard way from the nice folks at Revenue Canada 32 years ago lol. Getting tax arrears settled up with them was not a happy life event.
 
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  • #278
Pelorus what did you experience with that? Ofcourse you would have to pay taxes on the income. But is it drastically different than having to pay fed, state, social, and medicaid taxes out of your pay check?
 
What happened was the employer was a cheapskate who didnt want to pay Workers Comp and other stuff. Or deduct Inc Tax from our pay cheques
He had us dummies register businesses while we worked for him. (which frequently were 60+ hours/week).
None of us dummies were setting aside $$$ to pay the taxman.
Might have been ok if we had been working for Tom, Dick and Harry.
But if you spend all your time working for just Harry, the IRS might disallow your "business expenses", as well as expecting you to pay your fair share of taxes.
It would do you well to find an employer who is on the up and up.
 
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Gotcha, What would be the expected % of taxes for a business? Say I did 50k between him and my own work. What is a safe figure to save for taxes in a business
 
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Taxes is so horrible in va that my 30k year was only 24k after taxes as an employee so even 20% saved is plentiful and do-able
 
Hiya…new guy here. Cool thread. I hope I can’t remember all the points I thought of reading it.
I have a chainsaw habit and came to learn more about felling. I can’t get the large power head and short bar thing (except for playing cutting cookies 🙃 )…if I only need a 20” bar, a 60cc or ported 55 will pull it…I like to match the bar to the wood and match the power head to the bar. That being said I sometimes run long bars as I find it’s easier for the bar to reach than for me to extend the saw. I have a Stihl 261 that I think I will sell as it is 16” and the rest of my saws are husky/Dolmar and the bars don’t interchange. I do see the value of a shorter bar in trees…I don’t climb but I use a bucket. Long bars get awkward. I may put together a video on that… afleetcommand on YouTube always gets my gears turning about it. I have relatively long arms, so I can maneuver a longer saw further than someone with shorter arms.

@TINYHULK I run a machine and welding shop and I’d hire you in a second. I’m glad to
see you are no longer being taken advantage of. My advice is to get real good at what you do, develop a good reputation to where you are in demand and can command good prices for subbing…then maybe sometime down the road start your own business. It’s a giant headache…
 
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Appreciate you David! Things have been going amazing with the new company. A couple weeks ago he put me in charge of the whole tree company (we also have a contracting and inground pool company). My weeks before taxes have been $1600-$1900. We are doing so much I have the option of side work and can’t even entertain the idea right now. My 500i came with a 20in bar. Looking back now that I’ve been using it for awhile. The 20in almost never gets used with this new company. We do a lot of removals and it just gets annoying in the tree. I love a 25in bar in the tree and a 32-36in on the ground. I have a 32 for my 500 aswell. I love the 261 personally. Convert it to 3/8 and run a skip tooth chain and they do real good with a 20in bar. Are you actually selling yours?
 
Remembering more…Congrats on the 500i!

some people say to have a saw every 20ccs…I tend to be every 5 or 10, eyeroll…I have to buy to try here in the desert…eventually I will pare it down.

One can do a lot with a 60cc, but I think a 50 and 70 is better…or 80cc that weighs about the same as a 70 such as your 5i. My most used saw lately is my 7900 ported by @huskihl . Lots of power and not too heavy like the 500i.

Edit : the same as the 500i - they are neck and neck 80cc saws as I understand it.
 
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Ha! I hadn’t noticed how old the last post was. Oh well, good deal.
Yes, the 261 is for sale. I bought it from funky Sawman on opeforum. He has talked about buying it back, but not sure if he’s going to.
 
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All stock or modded? DM me some details if you want. I find the 500i doesn’t really get too heavy for me. Mine is lightly modded (west coast saw kit). The exhaust really opens that saw and and makes it stronger than the 661 in my findings. Normally by the time I get done with my top handle I can get back in the bucket truck and drop a couple 8-12 footers if I can’t already drop the tree whole. Later this summer I’m gonna get huskihl to build me a 2511 and imma take it to a 1/4pitch and 16in bar
 
Previous post edited for clarity :

“Edit : (7900) the same as the 500i - they are neck and neck 80cc saws as I understand it.”

I am not as young and fit as you, luckily I don’t often have call to swing a big saw all day. I love my 395 and 3120 but the 7900 is my limit for something I can wield for a couple few hours.
 
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For a while I was thinking about purchasing a modded 261 with a full wrap handle for being my in tree saw after the top handle. How do you feel the power compares to a new 261c
 
TINYHULK said:
For a while I was thinking about purchasing a modded 261 with a full wrap handle for being my in tree saw after the top handle. How do you feel the power compares to a new 261c
Click to expand...
No idea…only stihl I’ve ever owned, and have only run it and my buddy’s ?250? And 661. I like that 661…

I will say the 261 I have is plenty snorty. I would keep it if I wasn’t getting a @huskil 346xp and it wasn’t an odd duck in my fleet for bars and chains.
 
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