by Rick Forrester
Chain sawing is critical to maintaining the trail to remove downed trees blocking the trail or cutting overhanging branches presenting a safety hazard to bicyclist, or access hazard (we try to maintain 12 feet over the trail for emergency vehicle access). As we have several models (mostly Stihl) stored in the various tool caches, I thought it might be good to explain a little of the coding for the Stihl chainsaws.
All Stihl chainsaws start with the letters “MS” which comes from the German word “Motorsäge” that means “chainsaw”. Some models are MSA or MSE. MSA means it is a battery powered saw and MSE means it is an electric saw. MS by itself means it is a gas powered saw.
Next comes a three number code. Prior to year 2000, chainsaws usually began with a zero like the MS 025. After year 2000, the number was moved to the end of the three number code. For example, the MS 025 became the MS 250.
The “new” first number (post-yr 2000) generally represents the engine displacement, and models range from 100 series (eg. MS 170) that have 23.6-31.9 cc engines all the way to 800 series that have 121 cc engines.
The second number is coupled with the first number to give the general model design features.
Information for this article was excerpted from an article published by Hutson Equipment and written by Austin Gordon.
