Free tools you've been given or found

[MISWFL]

Everyone loves free stuff, especially tools. What tools have you recently been given or found?

Florida is crazy with people putting valuable stuff out on the curb. I always try to cruise the neighborhoods looking for garbage piles the evening and early mornings before the trash gets picked up.

This week a scored a 10" chop saw, some bedframe angle iron and real brass head and foot bed boards. If I had room, I would have grabbed a few savable interior doors that were in the pile.

The saw works great and the blade is sharp. The only damage is a bent screw lock for the base. Made in China, but seems decent.

 

[sgtsandman]

I was given a Poulan Pro Chainsaw with an 18" bar. I've yet to take it to a shop to look at it. If you can get it to start, it won't idle. I can see why it was unloaded on me for the price of free.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I was given a Poulan Pro Chainsaw with an 18" bar. I've yet to take it to a shop to look at it. If you can get it to start, it won't idle. I can see why it was unloaded on me for the price of free.

Don't bother taking it to a shop, they'll charge you $100 for anything they do... I just say that because the Poulan saw sells for $150 new so it's just not worth it to go to a shop... Honestly it's probably the regulator diaphragm in the carburetor if it's an older version, if it's one of the newer "strato" port saws with secondary air injection those carburetors are stupid complicated and a $20 carb on Amazon is the direction I'd go, they're stupid easy to change... unless the fuel line to the carb is shot... still not the end of the world, I can walk you through anything you need...

I've ended up with all sorts of good stuff over the years, nothing great "free" lately but it happens...

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I was given a Poulan Pro Chainsaw with an 18" bar. I've yet to take it to a shop to look at it. If you can get it to start, it won't idle. I can see why it was unloaded on me for the price of free.

Poulan saws seem strange to me. I got dad’s old Craftsman with a 20” bat(made by Poulan for Sears) years ago because when it needed a new bar and chain back when, Sears wanted almost as much as a new saw, so dad bought a Poulan instead and threw the Craftsman into the back of the shed. I was given the old Craftsman later and bought a bar and chain for it. That Craftsman is a beast, wish I had a stockpile of them.

Dad’s Poulan he replaced the Craftsman with is a 16” bar and the thing ran great for years but now doesn’t want to run right. Dad played with it awhile and now it collects dust in the shed. He bought a 20” Poulan Pro and that dumb thing despite us messing with it and a small engine mechanic messing with it, it still refuses to work correctly and even when it was running ok, that Craftsman would eat its lunch.

I’ve collected a few chainsaws over the years and last year fixed up a Mac saw for dad. Reviews said it’s a junk saw, but the cylinder looked pretty good. Took a bunch of cleaning up and a custom air filter but it works well for what dad does these days and he’s happy to have a Mac again (originally he had a Mac 10-10 before the Craftsman but it locked up and ended up disappearing over the years). Once I get my shop in order and some projects handled I may start dragging saws into my shop for winter projects.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I like the ~40cc Poulan saws, they're light and you can pick them up for stupid cheap at yard sales and such, they made LOTS of them... the '90's and newer ones that look almost identical for a while (like the Wild Thing, etc) with anti vibe handles and such help and parts are easier to come by... the '80's ones are somewhat more difficult to get parts for but I have a few of them, never tried very hard to get them going though...

The hard ones to get working right are the ones with two throttle plates so try to avoid those, the carb's aren't adjustable and both diaphragm's are on the same side of the carb so there's room for the other BS. The older ones with more standard Walbro or Zama carbs are easy to get parts for or whole carbs, I keep stock in the 3 different metering diaphragms for good measure since you can get 10 packs on Amazon cheap or multi packs that come with like 5 of each...

 

[Shran]

I absolutely hate Poulan saws. They're almost as bad as Weed Eater brand trimmers. I've had a couple dozen of the Wild Thing/Wood Shark/2150/etc come through the shop and they get me to waste hours of my life every single time. They always need fuel lines and carb work which is no big deal but then they won't hold a tune so plan on doing crank seals as well... and the air filters suck so scored pistons/cylinders are also common. Even if they're free, you will still have about $25 of parts and at least an hour or two of labor. Then you still need a new fuel cap because the stupid things always leak. On the plus side they are not real hard to work on.

My favorite cheap & free saws are old Homelites and Stihls. Homelites usually just need carb work and same with Stihls plus maybe fuel or impulse lines. Not a lot out there for aftermarket parts on those though. IMO they are both way better built and even if you spend a bit on a cheap saw, you'll have a lot less time into them and that's worth a lot to me. Echo's are good too. I picked up a Homelite 240 a couple weeks ago for $5 and all it needed was the spark plug connector crimped back on and the oil pump cleaned out... didn't even need carb work!

One I'd just stay away from entirely is modern McCulloch small saws. I hate those worse than Poulan (poor quality) AND they are a huge PITA to work on.

 

[Curious Hound]

I absolutely hate Poulan saws. They're almost as bad as Weed Eater brand trimmers. I've had a couple dozen of the Wild Thing/Wood Shark/2150/etc come through the shop and they get me to waste hours of my life every single time. They always need fuel lines and carb work which is no big deal but then they won't hold a tune so plan on doing crank seals as well... and the air filters suck so scored pistons/cylinders are also common. Even if they're free, you will still have about $25 of parts and at least an hour or two of labor. Then you still need a new fuel cap because the stupid things always leak. On the plus side they are not real hard to work on.

My favorite cheap & free saws are old Homelites and Stihls. Homelites usually just need carb work and same with Stihls plus maybe fuel or impulse lines. Not a lot out there for aftermarket parts on those though. IMO they are both way better built and even if you spend a bit on a cheap saw, you'll have a lot less time into them and that's worth a lot to me. Echo's are good too. I picked up a Homelite 240 a couple weeks ago for $5 and all it needed was the spark plug connector crimped back on and the oil pump cleaned out... didn't even need carb work!

One I'd just stay away from entirely is modern McCulloch small saws. I hate those worse than Poulan (poor quality) AND they are a huge PITA to work on.

I had a small Homelite many years ago. Left it in a plastic case on the back patio and it got filled up with rain. Found it a few weeks later. Disassembled, cleaned, replaced a few parts and it ran like a champ. Few years later, gifted it to my brother. As far as I know, it still runs.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Homelite's my preference as well but they're more rare since Walmart carried Poulan/Weedeater (same brand). I like the old Homelite XL saws, top handle is just so handy but anymore I just use battery saws unless I'm doing a bunch... Any of the McCulloch Eager Beaver saws I would just avoid... I finally got some real saws recently so I'm running a 50cc Echo and a 65cc ish Husqvarna...