I'm looking for a chainsaw, and see they range in price from a couple hundred to over $1K.

It will be used primarily for cutting firewood from downed old growth oaks and maples (~40-70' tall and averaging ~1.5-2.5' diameter). So I probably don't need the highest powered thing out there, but it will be used for more than hedge trimming.

I'm looking for a gas model. Can anyone suggest the minimum bar length, HP & CC's I should be looking for? I'd like to spend less than $400, if possible - those puppies are pricey.

Thanks!

 

You should see my collection




Before I answer:

Who will be using this the most? You or HLL? Do either of you have any experience using one? For anything more than trimming brush?


If not, do you know someone that has experience?


Do you know anything about maintenance for a chainsaw?


I'm gonna go ahead and assume "no" for all of the above

 

:P

Definitely HLL. I can't be trusted with heavy machinery capable of chopping my head off.

Yes, he has experience with cutting up downed trees, though not with taking them down.

Happily, my mom & her husband live on a 250 acre farm with lots of forest, so he taught HLL how to use his, and will be happy to help out in the future if needed.

I know nothing about maintenance.

 

Stihl is one of the top brands, as with anything buying a lesser stead may work short term but when you need to repair it twice a year the value proposition shifts pretty wildly.

 

Don't hold the end with the chain.

 

I bought the Homelite from Home Depot 20 in. years ago for about $200.

Long story short, after an ice storm and branches down, I almost killed myself sawing a branch off. The end was already on the ground, but when the saw cut through enough of branch still attached to the tree, it came down like an atomic bomb.

Just looking at the branch, the remaining force didn't register until it was almost too late.

 

I agree - I'd rather spend a bit more up front and only buy it once, than spend additional money replacing a bad purchase down the road.

Are you sure? I could swear it was the other way around...

 

hmmmm...you raise a valid point......I might be wrong....let me check with the mesican guy who does the yard....I'll let ya know for sure. :wink:

 

That would be super duper helpful - thanks!

 

Ok...turns out the mesican guy and I have a bit of a communication problem.

I said "chainsaw", and he gave me a blank stare.

He then said "check, Senor".....so I handed him the monthly check for the landscape services.

Sorry, I guess I'm not much help on this one.

 

Thanks ever so much for trying to be helpful.

 

Was cutting wood with my brother the past few hours



I agree with Dougler, don't cheap out and buy a crappy brand. You'll hate life in the long run. In my lifetime, my family has owned pretty much every brand you can imagine. As far as performance and reliability, Poulan has been the worst, Stihl and Husqvarna have been the best IMO and I would recommend the latter.

And for what you're doing, you aren't going to need anything special. No where near $1k is needed

Our main chainsaws have 20" and 24" bars. The 20 is for cutting medium sized logs and trees, and the 24 is for massive logs and trees.

For the weakness you'll be cutting, I would suggest a 17" or 18" and no bigger. Will be good for brush and medium sized logs. You can easily get a good one for under $400...I'm thinking more around $200 - $300.

I suggest going to a store and picking up a bunch of different sizes and bar lengths and just getting the feel for them while picturing the types of logs you'll be cutting. Check the prices and try to find a better price online.

If it feels too heavy, it probably is. They'll wear you out if you use them for long.

What brand does your step-Dad have? Does he work on it and do the maintenance himself? If you buy the same brand, it'll most likely have the same features and be easy to work on. If he doesn't, see what he does for maintenance/repair because it will be necessary. There will be people in your area that will service them if you know where to look.

The maintenance really isn't hard and can be self taught, but repair might be if you guys have no clue. Keep in mind things like you'll eventually have to sharpen the chain, replace the chain from wear and tear or breaking it, etc. It's a simple machine, but you will have problems.

 

Now imagine being a noob and trying to cut a giant, standing tree in the woods surrounded by other standing trees without somebody experienced there to help you.

Don't let HLL do this unless he is taught. Cutting large standing trees is a whole 'nother animal, not to mention doing it with different obstacles in the way. It probably won't end well

 

Thanks so much, Scotty. It's good to know the 18" is enough even for larger trees. I think taking down standing trees will be a rarity, and we would definitely recruit some of our farm family to help us city folk! Our builder is taking care of all the clearing. Mostly we need to cut and move a lot of deadfall to clean up areas to use and to keep up our supply of firewood.

I don't know what kind my stepdad has - I'll have to ask him. I'm trying to help my mother in law, who's planning to buy him one for his birthday. Sounds like I can tell her a $300-350 GC should do the trick.


Now to figure out where to tell her to purchase the GC...

 

A blade smaller than that can still work, you'll just cut a log slower..but you'll eventually get through it. Blade size, weight, and power make a huge difference for people like me and my brother, but you guys will be cutting a tiny fraction of the wood we do, so keep that in mind.

The type of wood you cut and the amount of decomposition will make a huge difference as well. Sounds like you'll be cutting a lot of rotting wood, so it'll be like butter. We cut mostly Osage Orange since our place is covered in it, which is one of the hardest woods in the world, meaning we need bigger and more powerful saws. Seasoned Oak will probably be the hardest wood you'll run into.

Running a chainsaw is kind of a self-taught, trial-and-error skill. He'll have moments like Professor above, or cut a log off onto his foot, almost get cut, etc. But you'll be fine...just make sure you're within ear shot while he's working. Youtube will probably have some technique/safety vids if needed.

And yeah, definitely have your Mom get insight from him before buying anything! Perhaps buy the same make/model for the reasons I gave in the other post?

For what small jobs you guys will be doing, the biggest thing you'll need to worry about is overspending


EDIT: How far away will your parents be? Perhaps share a saw and split the cost?

 

Awesome - thanks! They're an 1.5 hours away - it's really not practical to share. Besides, I think my step-dad's is pretty nice. He watches HLL like a hawk any time he uses it. We've got enough work to do that we don't want to worry about dulling his chain or having to get it back and forth. Great advice - thanks!

If it matters, some of the trees we'll need to be cut will be fresh oaks that are cleared from the home site. They're rolling them 100 yards or so away from the build site and leaving them. We'll be cutting them to a more manageable size to move them further and stack for later. They'll be moved to one of my favorite spots near the house, and I don't want them sitting there.

 

1.5 from the new place?!? Here I thought they were closer.

Yeah, sharing wouldn't be a good idea then. Why is your step-dad getting a new one? Maybe buy the old one off of him if it's in decent shape?


Cutting green oak vs. seasoned oak will be night and day, so I recommend cutting and stacking sooner rather than later from the time they're cut.

Oh, and here you claim to be a tree-hugging , when you're having a bunch of nice oak trees cut down! For shame...that's a lot of squirrel food and habitat gone :shakehead :P

 

Step-dad is not getting a new one...I'm confused? Have you been drinking?



Good to know about the timing, too. I'll crack the

As for the trees...right? Would you believe I feel a little guilty? One of the trees that has to come down for the home site is just gorgeous. I'm very sad to lose it. We're having them take a 30' radius around the house, per the builder's advice. Some would say we should even take more, given the height of the trees. We're losing far more for the driveway than for the house.

Oh yeah, as for the distance..they're an hour & 15 minutes away now, and we're moving about 10 minutes further out. They're out in MD. Wish they were a little closer...

 

This got me. I carried "stepdad" onto the next sentence when you said him


I understand the 30 foot radius, but don't see it as completely necessary, especially if there are some really nice trees, like oak. Sure there's the chance of them falling on the house, but that's low, and cleaning the gutters might suck. Remember, not having to work around the trees will be beneficial to the builder, so he has a motive

My parents house is surrounded by trees and have never had one hit the house in its 20 years of existence. The few that we've noticed dying were taken down before they had a chance to fall. Besides lightning, a healthy tree will not just topple over.

And just have a really winding driveway...that's not hard to do, right?? :P

 

I can see how that would happen. Sorry!

It's funny, but my mother is pushing for a 60' radius, so this is our compromise. The builder did tell us the schools of thought on clearing or not are split pretty much 50/50.

We get some huge wind storms, and my mom's house has had some really close calls, as it's totally surrounded by trees. It's more the large branches coming down they've had issues with, though they lost some pretty massive healthy trees in the wake of hurricane Ivan. They were just uprooted. When the ground is saturated and we have big coastal storms, it's not at all uncommon for healthy trees to uproot.

Our house is in a more sheltered location than theirs, though...in a bit of a valley, while theirs is up on a hill.

Sometimes compromise really is just easier. But honestly, there are so many frikkin trees on this property, the ones we'll be taking down are really only a drop in the bucket. And I'd like to have some sunlight. I plan to plant some shorter flowering trees closer to the house. I'll also need some light for my veggie garden and berry bushes. And a little bit of lawn is good, too.

Our driveway will be very winding. It has to be to avoid a steep little ravine on the front of the property. Because of the lay of the land there's a section of driveway that only has a very narrow area where it can run before things open up again. So that part is set in stone. For the rest, he'll avoid as many big trees as possible (he knows how I feel about it, and is of a surprisingly similar mindset). They're pretty dense in some areas, so we can't avoid them altogether, but he'll dodge the biggies.

 

My dad's had a Husqvarna for years, and it still works great. With the large natural area in their yard, we usually take out at least one tree or huge bush a year. I've also used it to take out several trees in my yard over the years, too. Maintenance is simple, but it can't be ignored. The best advice I can offer is to always have a spare chain laying around and ready to go.

 

That's one thing I never considered was hurricanes over that way

And this answered my next question about the shelter thing. Tough decision either way I guess...every option has its pros and cons!

Good luck with it all though. I guess we strayed a bit from the chainsaw talk (shocker!)

Keep us updated! I wanna see what you get so I can judge it and laugh at its puniness

 

Looks like Husqvarna is a good option - they have tons of models to choose from, so we should be able to find something appropriate.

Thanks for all the good advice, this helps me suggest a GC amount, and if he gets all manly and wants to go bigger, he can pay the extra.

 

man everytime i think of chainsaws i think of this....

 

Doom...nice!

 

With the land we have now we decided the same as you... time to invest in good equipment. We bought a bunch of Stihl stuff, but for the blower and chainsaw, decided on Echo.

We purchased a 20" Echo (can't remember exactly which one... but think it was the CS550P) from wisesales.com. This is where we got our blower from as well. Site came highly recommended from two different friends who own landscaping companies for sales and service.

So far I've used it to cut down some good trees, but also do cut some up that already fell. We haven't made more then a dozen fires since it's been warm, but we just used what we cut up and still have plenty left. The chainsaw is great, has a kickback guard and brake which is nice, but it's also pretty light. Maintenance appears pretty simple, so not too worried about it.

We love it and would highly recommend it to anyone looking. Think we spent $375 or somewhere in there (shipping is free from that site). I too wanted to be under $400 and this fit the bill...

 

Thanks jb - always helpful on the home stuff!

It turns out we have a Stihl dealership about 3 minutes away. We'll probably end up getting him the same as my step-dad's, which is this one: http://www.stihlusa.com/chainsaws/MS290.html

If he wants to exchange it, he can, but they don't sell gift certificates, from what I can gather (got a few "uhhhh..not sure" and long pauses in there, so I may find out otherwise when I go in).

Thanks for all the help!

 

Aww it's so cuuuute


That will be fine. Any warranty? If not, I'm sure they'll work on them and help with maintenance if needed.

It also says it's their best selling model, meaning parts will be cheaper than others and easy to find.

Are you the one deciding on bar length? Not sure if this will help, but I snapped a picture the other day so you could get an idea. Top is the 24" bar, and the bottom is the 20".

The 20" will do those size logs and larger with ease, especially soft wood like that maple.

 

Punk. I don't know about the warranty - will find out when I go pick one up.

Yes, I'll be choosing. His parents live in FL and the gift was my idea when they asked what I thought he'd like, so I'm doing the shopping. I was planning on an 18 or 20. Probably the 20 for small price increase.

I was out on the property today looking at some of what has to come down. There are definitely some trees that are over 3' diameter, but not many. LOTS of down trees in one particular area we want to clean up. He'll have his work cut out.

What do you guys recommend in safety gear? I'm definitely buying him a helmet.

 

Helmet??

Didn't know logs could fly up from the ground


Steel toe boots for sure. Eye protection is smart...you might not get a chunk in your eye, but there is a ton of fine dust floating around that can irritate your eyes hours later. If cutting all day, use leather gloves to minimize the vibration on your hands. They'll ache less later on. I think I mentioned earlier, don't go out alone, always be within earshot of someone else. On a non-safety note, cutting in shorts will result in shoes full of saw dust and yellow stained socks for months

Really not much else you can do though, unless you want to invent some full leg and body armor. You just have to be really fuckin' careful and use common sense. Take your time, always know where your legs and feet are. Cut while facing the object straight on, with feet spread wide. Try not to cut across your body...if the saw comes through the wood and falls, the next thing it hits is your upper leg.

Look up info on kickback and be aware (youtube). Sure there's a kickback guard but it's not a failsafe.

Technique is also important for safety and the health of the saw. I had to bitch my brother's friend out the other day...he's a noob with a new saw and thinks he knows all. For him it was no throttle straight to full throttle, no matter what he was cutting. Imagine driving a car like that on a busy road with red lights every couple hundred feet.

He'll learn a lot about pinching the bar and chain and how to avoid it. Know the difference between cutting a log laying on the ground compared to a still attached tree that's bent over with tension on it. And last but not least, don't do anything with a chainsaw Professor would do.

Hmm, I think that's it

 

The helmet (more of a hard hat) has a little face screen that pops down to protect your eyes, noob. Also has ear protection built in. My step-dad has one.

No helmets on your planet, eh? This explains a lot about you, Snotty.

Otherwise good info. Thanks! :P

 

LOL... you two crack me up.

With the blower and the chainsaw I just use gloves, eye and ear protection. Nothing fancy, just slightly tinted (almost clear) glasses, and the headphone style ear protection. When using the blower I wear one of those litte white face masks as well. Not for the chainsaw though...

 

Is it black? Does it make you look like Darth Vader?

You know I gotta give you hell no matter what :P


Would you believe that in all the time I spent working in construction, very few people ever wore hard hats? And we had to work around brick layers all the time. It seems things like that are more relaxed in some places around here!


And I guess I do use ear protection while sawing if you count my headphones blasting heavy metal

 

Oooo...a blower. Now there's a great idea! Do want.

Nah, more like a minion!



I looked for teflon-coated bubble wrap, but couldn't find it, so settled for some teflon chaps, the helmet, and gloves. I'm pretty sure he has steel-toed boots.

As you can imagine, I've become something of a helmet proponent.


Oh, and a book. I bought him a book. :motherhen:

 

Boots, chaps, eye protection, hearing protection if you don't want to be hard of hearing for a few hours. Gloves are also nice. Large pry-bars to lift/roll logs if you get the bar pinched. Wedges can also come in handy. A come-along or some sort of mechanical advantage gear also helps.

One thing I will note and I learned the first time I ran a saw... your arm that is holding the saw will get VERY tired after prolonged cutting and you won't notice it right away. This is the dangerous part, always take breaks and make sure you are not super-fatigued, that's when the accidents happen.

As noted above, always know where your legs/feet are. Make sure you have good footing and an escape route. Beware of branches and crap that are under tension, they can pull some surprising bullshit tricks sometimes. I almost had a 6 inch branch take out my face the other day when it sprung loose. It didn't go the direction I expected but I was able to react since I knew something was about to go down.

 

Great advice, Tehvine - thank you!


My step-dad calls those trees & branches that are leaning "widow-makers." All that stored potential energy is no joke.