Chainsaw Review: Sportsman 20 in. 52cc

I’m doing a lot of woodturning these days – bowls and such and that means I’m messing with a lot of timber/logs so I found myself in need of a chainsaw for preparing logs. Being a “bargain hunter”, I looked for a less expensive option than the name brand saws. At the time, Tractor Supply had an online sale for the Sportsman 20 in. 52cc Chainsaw (SKU:1722047) – only $99.00. Wow – said I!

The reviews for this Chinese manufactured saw are terrible – mostly due to starting difficulties. I figured I was smarter than a chainsaw – I know – that is a very dangerous bet!! I couldn’t turn down such a sweet deal when “similar” sized saws from the name brand manufacturers were going for nearly $500.

I ordered, it arrived. It looked like a reasonable piece of equipment – though certainly not “fancy” or “stylish”. Thankfully, I don’t think a “fast looking” chainsaw really matters. Mine started pretty easily and I put it to work around my shop for a few minutes. No issues.

A few days later, I took it on a timber harvesting trip into the mountains. Things started off just fine but within an hour or two the saw was becoming difficult to start.

I was at pretty high elevation as you can see here.

Back at home, I took a good look at it but didn’t see any issues. It seemed to run ok the couple times I used it. I assumed it was an elevation problem.

The first thing to fix was the fact that this saw cannot be adjusted for altitude – and I was using it at high altitude – 8,000′ MSL. It is advertised this way so this was not a surprise.

The carburetor is like any other chainsaw carburetor and had a high, low, and idle adjust screws. However; they did not have a screw head on them and could not be turned. Easy enough to fix!

I carefully removed them with needle nose pliers and filed a slot in each one. This slot was sized for a small screwdriver.

After adjusting the carb, it seemed to run ok.

Then, another trip to the mountains for more timber. It initially started ok but within an hour or two, I could barely start it. It would take 15 minutes of pulling on the rope, sweating, trying to get the choke/throttle set just perfectly, and huffing and puffing.

Eventually, I gave up and went home. Sure was a beautiful day though!!

At home, the pattern continued – it had become impossible to start – though it did occasionally fire and hint that it would like to run. So… the work began and I disassembled the saw.

The spark plug would spark and there was fuel. I even tried starting fluid. When it would not fire with starting fluid, I decided the problem was spark. It came with a spark plug brand that I had never seen (Torch?). A quick trip to the store and I had a brand new Champion spark plug in hand (like this one from Amazon). After installing it, the saw fired right up. Yep – a cheap spark plug that kind of worked but not very well. Ever since installing that new plug, the saw has fired right up. Crazy to think about a manufacturer wrecking a product like this and their reputation with a cheap spark plug.

I had one other issue. In the middle of a cutting session at home, it would start and run for about 5 seconds and then die. Finding this problem required a fair bit of disassembly but turned out to be one of the little fuel hoses connected to the primer bulb. It had fallen off the primer bulb fitting. After fixing that, the saw was back to operating properly.

I’ve now had the saw for a couple of months and have used it at least a few dozen times and three firewood harvesting trips in the mountains. It continues to work very well and starts easily. Hint: read what the owner’s manual suggest for a starting procedure – it does work.

The chain that came with the saw has some negative reviews so I purchased a quality Oregon chain (https://amzn.to/3BPuMaF) have at the ready. As of yet, I have not installed it as the original chain is working just fine. However; I do expect that it has a very limited life.

I’ve cut a pretty good quantity of Ponderosa Pine, Oak, and Juniper for woodturning bowls. This includes the obvious cross-grain cuts but also plenty of with the grain cuts (also called “noodling”).

At this stage, I would certainly buy the saw again for the price that I paid – along with a new plug. How long will it last? That remains to be seen.