Educate me on chainsaws

[slim_boy_fat]

That's where the real skill is

Reading the tree.

^^^ This. An 'unbalanced' tree [[more growth on one side than the other] can spin like a whirling dervish in the falling.

 

[MCKDAVID]

top bars, are off the shelf here, no contraints as far as I know, personally never had the need for one, but get them through for service fairly regularly, mostly pros though, gardeners etc.

 

[brewdexta]

I now use a Stihl MSA 120C battery chainsaw, and just bought a Stihl FSA 57 strimmer that uses the same batteries, so now have two batteries, use one, charge one. The chainsaw can cut about half an IBC of logs before needing a recharge on their AK20 8aH battery. I've used it on trees up to about 10 -12" diameter. If I need to fell anything bigger I'll get a tree surgeon in. I mainly use it for coppicing.

My Husqvarna petrol chainsaw and Stihl and Honda strimmers are going on the bay, too much messing about with fuel and trying to start the damn things for my occasional use.

Only two petrol machines I will have left will be the chipper and jet wash. I'm messing with the chipper now, probably stale fuel/gummed up carb.

 

[skotl]

I mentioned buying this in another thread, but didn't come back with any kind of review so here it is: highly recommended, and the sharpening unit seems to work very well.
I got through a few dozen creosote-soaked sleepers on a single chain, and you could tell the difference after it started to get dull and then a couple of seconds pressing the sharpener button brought it back to life.

I'm very well aware that there are people with tons more experience of chainsaws than I do, and many of them are very comfortable sharpening a chain with a variety of tools.
But for the total novice like me, this was very easy to use and very effective (click pic for linky).

 

[James1979]

top bars, are off the shelf here, no contraints as far as I know, personally never had the need for one, but get them through for service fairly regularly, mostly pros though, gardeners etc.

They were like that 20 years ago if I remember. They had the ms190t which you couldn’t get here. On a booze run to Calais I bought a load from Auchan and flogged them back in Norfolk. They were about half the price of the 200t at the time. Pointy bar nose if I remember and a curved handle. Nice to use.

 

[Ross365]

I have an ancient Black and Decker 240V chainsaw which I love and get's the job done if you don't rush it. I also have a petrol Ryobi which has always been a total PIA!!!

As we go to E10 petrol, be wary of buying small petrol engines . I'm a total amateur, but following the info you can find on the web, never had a problem with getting trees to come down in the right direction.

 

[MCKDAVID]

.....My Husqvarna petrol chainsaw and Stihl and Honda strimmers are going on the bay, too much messing about with fuel and trying to start the damn things for my occasional use.

that sums up the majority of them frankly, the ones that are regularly used, get fairly heavy use and are rarely a problem, just worn out when they come in.... it's the ones that sit in the shed for 11 and 3/4 months a year and get dragged out for the firewood run..., then bizzarely it'll no start, but it was fine last time I used it etc... hear that pretty much daily round about september / october, as they get the firewood dropped off, and need to store it all... keeps me busy though

as Ross said, only going to get worse as this crap petrol is more and more ethanol...

 

[MetalMonkey]

That's where the real skill is

Reading the tree. Deciding which way it can be persuaded to fall.

My old man made me pick a direction.

Estimate the height and stick a marker in the ground.

Very rare not to hit the mark.

Used to do a lot of site clearance for developers and dropped 100s a day

Some of these pros are insanely precise, but the ones that impress me the most are the climbers that can rig it and bring it down in controlled sections - takes some balls to be up in the air sawing through the thing you are strapped to while it is bouncing about.
I try and stick to the easy stuff where there isn't much chance of damage if it doesn't go quite to plan. But still need to have a good idea of how it is going to fall, with an escape plan and some ropes if in any doubt.

The last one I did was a very sick pine 3 foot away from a building with a back lean over it. It was covered in Ivy that was as thick as the trunk in places.
I had to top it off at about 40 foot before dropping it so it didn't crush a fence. Open cut, guide ropes and wedges - dropped perfectly, but extremely nerve wracking.

I have a 100ft poplar that must be 6 feet across at the base overhanging a road and powerline which needs to be cut back - a pro will be doing that one for sure!

 

[Roger Williams]

Hello all, I worked for 25 years for the Forestry Commission as a mechanic and believe me, heard many stories about chainsaws and their usage. I worked on probably thousands of them, but would never consider felling a tree myself , because I didnt have any training apart from a cross cutting course.
So, If you are in any doubt, get someone who knows what they are doing to do it for you.
Lastly, one of our felling gang told me something to remember, when a chain cuts through bone, the gap it leaves wont heal very well being about a 1/4 of an inch wide......

 

[daf45]

I'll echo what everyone else says - they are dangerous things and not toys.
Buy a decent hand saw or an axe...
IF you must have one just for this job electric is the way to go (meaning mains not cordless - spend the difference on PPE)
If you put a rough location in your profile you might even have got an offer of assistance / tuition

 

[Moose McAlpine]

My nan's asked me to cut a couple more trees down for her, I usually use a reciprocating saw with a big blade but these ones are maybe 8" diameter at the base so I'd like a quicker alternative.

An 8" tree can still have some substantial weight and can do a lot of damage if it falls the wrong way. Whereabouts is it? There's a few tree surgeons on here, or worth asking on ArbTalk.

Is it a case of "If you have to ask..." and I should just stick with the recip saw?

Yes and no. It's worth at least getting a bit of instruction from someone familiar with them before use. While a chainsaw course is "ideal" it's expensive.

Certain PPE is essential when using them though. As much fun as they are to use, they're dangerous in many ways. A while ago i took a little chunk out of my thumb just handling a newly-sharpened chain.

 

[Migmac]

For the one or two small trees your going to fell, buy a bushman.

The org I work for are trying to get away from letting staff use chainsaws, they much prefer to get in contractors in and let them take all the risk. Oh the org I work for is a forestry company!

 

[Maker]

Turns out I'd been bigging it up in my head a bit, it was 8" at the base but quite quickly split into much smaller limbs, actually did a lot of it with loppers. Wouldn't have wanted a shiny new chainsaw inhaling dirt cutting right at the bottom either, crappy old recip with a big blade did just fine.

 

[pedrobedro]

Round here they put it on freecycle, firewood for collection just needs cutting down I've had a few like that.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Okay cheers everyone, sounds like it's not worth bothering. I'll admit I was partially looking for an excuse to buy new tools. I'll have a hunt for the recip blades.

Buy proper "green wood" blades

 

[Pete.]

I have an ancient Black and Decker 240V chainsaw which I love and get's the job done if you don't rush it. I also have a petrol Ryobi which has always been a total PIA!!!

As we go to E10 petrol, be wary of buying small petrol engines . I'm a total amateur, but following the info you can find on the web, never had a problem with getting trees to come down in the right direction.

I borrowed a brand new one of those about 28-30yrs ago and used it to cut down a couple of huge sycamore, a cherry and some smaller trees. Getting the sycamore down meant climbing the tree and lopping bits off until it was small enough to drop (which essentially had it to little more than head height. I'd had no training and precious little 'proper' PPE but nothing untoward happened.

Gotta admit I wasn't too impressed with the chainsaw when I got my hands on it but once I started using it I found it to be very handy.

 

[gaz1]

HSE require that you are trained to use equipment for business use, no such requirements are needed for personal private use of maintaining your trees.

HSE recommend that all chainsaws are used with 2 hands due to possible kick back, which is sensible, but top handle chainsaws are designed to be used one or two handed.

dosnt matter in my eyes do your homework and check everything before use

watch drill it in only takes one mistake with a chainsaw and limbs are lost in seconds

main one respect the machine

 

[zzr1200]

dosnt matter in my eyes do your homework and check everything before use

watch drill it in only takes one mistake with a chainsaw and limbs are lost in seconds

main one respect the machine

I totally agree, but a lot of H&S recommendations (not legal requirements) are now more about ligation liability limitation for a company, more than common sense.

Hence a top handled chainsaw which is primarily designed to be one handed in a tree, is regarded as a dangerous tool. Which it can be, but used correctly is safe.

Remember you are supposed to have three points of contact at all times, when off the ground, I've never seen a three armed tree surgeon.

If a homeowner pops into the local large DIY store he can buy a chainsaw off the shelf, not one of the stores staff will have any formal training. Your more likely to be advised correctly by the local agri dealer, who will probably still sell you a saw and try to sell you some ppe as well.

 

[Bornfree]

I would go for a Stihl ms880.

 

[zzr1200]

I would go for a Stihl ms880.

So would I if i had a 6ft diameter bow to lop off, but they dont do a top handle kit for it.....shame...
....