New Chain Saw

[jon_norstog]

I managed to get through my life up to now with had tools for cutting up trees and making firewood. The same right shoulder re-injury that has me thinking about changing my approach to home defense has made it painfully difficult to use a handsaw. I have been using Ryobi electric tools for a while and have a few of their batteries already, so I bought their most powerful electric chainsaw. It is a 16" bar model, 40 volts and 5 amp hours battery.

I used it to bring down a couple tall, skinny dead cherry trees in a little grove on my place. The saw cut that hard cherry wood like a hot knife going thru butter, These were not forest monarchs but they were a good size for firewood and I probably got a half-cord out of the two trees, plus a half wheelbarrow of sawdust for my strawberries.

The saw balances pretty well, it is easy on and easy off, you can cut something, lay the saw down, pick it up and cut some more without having to yank on a pull cord. No pullcord! That is the most likely part of a gasoline 'saw to give you a problem! If you wear earmuffs, the saw is absolutely not bothersome either.

That hard cherry wood did take the new off the chain ... that's what the file is for. The battery lasted me about 3 hours of steady (but not continuous) cutting and the saw itself never showed any signs of overheating. You would want to stick with a gas-powered model for working in the woods, or if you were on a long hunting trip and needed to make firewood ...

It is a powerful saw, get careless and you could cut off your foot before you felt the pain!

jn

[togor]

Well glad to hear that for light jobs the electric saw gets the job done without aggravation. But I am in no hurry to part company with 3 Husqvarna saws I run. 2 for 20 years now, and one for about 10. The older saws, the carburators are set up just right (slightly on the rich side) to last a long time. The newer one, they were starting to make it harder for the owner to tweak the mixture--blame California I guess--so I had to grind a custom screwdriver for that.

In some parts of the country, 2-stroke engines are considered the work of the devil himself. But out in the middle of the woods around here, in the snowy winter, nothing else makes sense. Still they preset them leaner and leaner to get by the emissions rules, with the result that bearing burnout becomes a issue. So use good gas, no ethanol, some sea foam to keep varnish down, and let them run a little rich.

But back to new-fangled electrics. I'm okay with LED bulbs (just not in the oven), and if a battery-powered chain saw becomes a practical thing for homeowners, maybe that is for the good. Harley has a EV motorcycle, which I am told is an amazing ride. I guess as electrical engineer maybe I should keep an open mind too.

[lyman]

I'm off the buy once cry once crowd,

Stihl, we have 4 of them and a couple weed eaters, and a leaf blower that is 25+ yrs old

all run like they are supposed to,

did have a Husky weed eater that was my Dad's
it sat for a few years , but fresh fuel and it fired right up,

lasted maybe 5 yrs for me (not sure how long Dad had it before he passed)

[Allen]

After having Poulan and Husqvarna saws I too went with Stihl only. Think I have 5 or 6 of them. They can sit up all year, sometimes 2 or 3 years and still start OK. The smaller ones outperform the larger ones in use and reliability. The larger ones I have all have compression release problems while starting.

Battery technology is always improving. In the past with all the cordless tools I bought I ended up getting burned. As the short lived batteries died the tools were still good but the manufacturers came out with stronger/better/cheaper made batteries and stopped production on the ones I needed. Makita was the only exception to this.

The first 4 stroke weedeater I bought was a Ryobi. It was a huge POS. If you could get it to run it was so slow you could practically count the string RPM's. I now have Stihl weedeaters 2-2-stroke and 1-4-stroke. All run great, in fact for the longest time I didn't know the 4-stroke was a 4-stroke. I thought it was a misprint. You mix the oil with the gas like any 2-stroke and that's all the lube it gets. Unlike the Ryobi there is no crankcase oil system.

I bring this up, not putting down any particular make, Ryobi was just one of the first and I'm sure they are much better now, but I'm comparing this to the battery improvements that seem to be occurring along the same path as the 4-strokes.

Years ago I bought a Makita combo 9.6V (largest they had at the time) drill, circular saw and flashlight. The drill worked fine--I used it a lot. The saw took a 4" thin 1/16" thick blade. With a full charge on a new battery it would cut a pine 1x6 in two. That's it--dead battery. Pretty much useless.

I look forward to buying battery powered tools and zero turn mowers in the future. I just want to wait till the best/largest/greatest comes along. So far every time I consider one I find something better. Sounds like you did OK with your 40V Ryobi purchase.

[Major Tom]

I won't buy battery operated lawn/garden equipment because the batteries have to be charged too often and usually power is for 30 minutes. Gas powered all the way for me! My Stihl chain saw runs perfectly after 20+ years!

[Johnny P]

My son gave me a Stihl battery powered chainsaw for Christmas. I have several huge oaks around the yard that occasionally drop dead limbs up to three or four inches in diameter. The battery powered saw is just right for this and absolutely amazed at the power. Haven't had my gas powered Stihl out since he gave it to me.

[Major Tom]

When considering buying battery powered lawn equipment, you must consider cost of battery replacement (if they are even available years later) and cost vs gas powered.
I'm not a part of the "green" club as put forth by the dimocrats!

[Allen]

Lots of comparison articles on these on YouTube including RPM's, noise, cost, and vs the gas saws.

[lyman]

When considering buying battery powered lawn equipment, you must consider cost of battery replacement (if they are even available years later) and cost vs gas powered.
I'm not a part of the "green" club as put forth by the dimocrats!

that's why I did not jump on the electric chainsaw ,

I have a Dewalt electric drill that I use too infrequent anymore, for what little I do , an old corded Black and Decker drill works great,

I could probably get by with a weedeater,, but this Stihl is 7 yrs old, and will likely last another 7+ years

[Johnny P]

The handiest thing I have around is a Craftsman battery powered circular saw. Just right for the places where no electricity was available. Wouldn't want to try and build a house with one, but was great for small maintenance jobs.

[dryheat]

If you use gas powered tools in AZ you need to know how to "summerize" them. Gas turns to varnish in months of 110F heat. I guess you can by little xxxx of "Arizona" gas for your power tools now. Everything I own now, except the quad (which I use Sea Foam in) runs on a wire or battery. I sure like my battery drills.

[Allen]

In one of my previous jobs we used battery drills in furniture manufacturing. The drills weren't used constantly but were used every day, throughout the day.

Battery drills were chosen because the cords from corded drills would have been cumbersome the way we had things laid out.

To keep the process going though we had at least 3x more batteries than drills. As batteries were being used some were always charging.

Structurally the triggers were the weakest link on carrying voltage like a fuse so they would burn out. We burned out a LOT of triggers.

[jon_norstog]

I've been using a Ryobi lawn mower for about 6 years now. We have a big yard and it takes one and a half batteries to mow the part we have in lawn grass. The native grass is too tough and too tall, I use an old-fashioned steel scythe for that. Our son-in-law gave us a Ryobi circular saw - it's just a 5" blade but comes in pretty handy working where it's too far to an outlet and I don't feel like unshipping an Xtension cord. My wife likes her Ryobi weed whip. The power head on that will take a tiller, which I have used to the point the power head is failing. Back to hand tools.

The chain saw really takes things to the next level. I'll be curious to see how long it lasts.

All the electric tools are easier on the ears than gasoline- or air-powered. I still wear the earmuffs, though. They are not THAT quiet.

jn

[Allen]

I have several chain saws. All of them are Stihl's. Some are large and for what I use them for nothing else will do. Problem is, even though they are Stihl's and probably the best gas saws, they are sometimes hard to get going. Depending upon the heat and humidity sometimes by the time you get one running you are completely exhausted and too tired to use it.

What I don't like about any chain saw is the blade. They aren't the easiest to sharpen, take a lot of time, and it seems like every little thing will dull them.

What I use now on the small stuff is my 18V DeWalt recip saw. Using only a 6" blade I can cut a 4" limb or tree. Slightly longer blades are available.

The blades are cheap, hold out well, and when they do dull you can toss them and install another in a matter of seconds.

For the homeowner with a small yard this is what I would use plus you can use the saw on metal like a hacksaw. They aren't fit for cutting straight line cuts though like on plywood. Your cut will look like a snake unless you take it very slow.

Since I've retired I've found a lot of stuff has grown up in the 3 yards I maintain, a lot of it just not big enough for the big gas saws so this is what works for me.

These are handy tools regardless of brand. Being battery powered makes all the difference sometimes between doing the job and not doing the job.

Also have a DeWalt 18V 1/2" impact wrench too. Like the saw, it is handy but has it's limitations against stronger tools.

Nice toys to have.

[Johnny P]

Use the Stihl 2 cycle oil and non-ethanol gas in my gas powered Stihls and never had a problem starting. Very seldom use my gas Stihl chainsaw, but it cranks every time.