Anyone use an electric chainsaw?

[30378]

I have an ECHO elect chainsaw. My brush cutting is done when no one else is around. I appreciate when I take by booger hook off the go button it stops. Only thing I don't like about it is the chain jumps the bar too often. At 70+, elect is just safer for my application.

 

[FNSafari]

My wife has a Milwaukee 16" electric saw. Likes it very much. I like the fact that the battery fits many other Milwaukee tools in the 18 series....impact wrench, leaf blower, and on.

 

[FNSafari]

I have an ECHO elect chainsaw. My brush cutting is done when no one else is around. I appreciate when I take by booger hook off the go button it stops. Only thing I don't like about it is the chain jumps the bar too often. At 70+, elect is just safer for my application.

The universal fate with small saws and blades that take a small chain, whether gas or electric. The small bars flex a lot and its easy to throw a chain. The drive links are not very deep.

 

[DGP4]

I just use el cheapo Harbor Freight plug in chain saw for light work like that. As long as you keep the chain well-oiled and sharp, it will work just fine. I expected it to not last, but the darn cheap bugger is like a Timex. Takes a liking and keeps on ticking

 

[603Country]

We have a 12” Stihl battery saw. Easy to use, but it won’t do the serious work. I use a couple of Stihl gas saws for the big stuff. We live in the country, and I have 5 more trees to take down, and one is a big tree. Too much for a battery saw.

 

[Fuj]

My Dad had a Porter Cable 110 from back in the 60's. I used it thru
the 70's. Had to use a 12 gauge 15 ft. cord on it's own 20 amp circuit.
Cut a lot of wood for the wood stove with it. It ate thru commutator
brushes quickly.......All my other saws are all gas, and will stay that way,
but I will use my battery sawzall for limbing around the yard......I seen
somewhere that there was a kit for turning a Skill saw into a chain saw ??

 

[dave@aDave]

I gave my Husqvarna chainsaw to my son in law.
I now have a XGT 18" 40v Makita with 5.0 amp hour battery. It is a whole lot easier to start. Get the GCU04T1 model. It has the same bar adjustment the the gas models have. It is a lot better that the GCU05Z model which has problems.
You also need the correct battery charger (40 volts).
The whole outfit is a little pricey but the battery and charger can be used for other Makita 40 volt products.
I have no regrets with the Makita

 

[Bluefink4895]

20" gas Stihl for the big stuff...but in truth, a 12" Dewalt w/5 amp battery fulfills about 95% of my chainsaw needs nowadays. Mostly cutting smaller trees, limbing and cleaning up. Also for cutting and notching 4x4 posts and the like.
That and an electric pole saw. Which is super useful. Can't beat the convivence and easy of use of electric. And battery and motor technology continues to improve. More power, more life, smaller package. I think small gas engines have evolved as far as they can go.

Just got to keep those chains sharpened and well lubed.

 

[BigBolt]

I have a Stihl with a 36" bar it runs good had it for over 25 years. Recently bought a Milwaukie 16" battery chain saw. I have strictly use Milwaukie tools, so it made sense. I needed a smaller chain saw for the small jobs it ran a little over an hour before I needed to switch batteries. Cuts like butter and quiet no hearing protection needed. Uses standard bar oil to lube the chain.

 

[Link]

My wife has a 56v ego. It is what it is, works for light small jobs. Nothing like the smell of a 2 stroke smokin some Klotz oil.

 

[Bob3700]

Electric saws? We don’t need no “ Stinking Electric Saws”!!!!

 

[Jon Leary]

If so, what model, etc., I need one to cut some 18" split firewood down to a 9-10" length to fit in one of those Solo wood stoves/firepits. Have the ranger model, so all the suppliers around here cut it at around 18" or so.

I rented one last year They work great.

 

[jpx2rk]

Electric saws? We don’t need no “ Stinking Electric Saws”!!!!

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. LOL

Wife said she would not help me in the role of "Tim the Tool Man Taylor. LOL

 

[RubiconJoey]

I sold my Stihl MS250 and bought a Dewalt 60V with an 18" bar. The Stihl was an awesome saw, but I use it so infrequently that it was a pain to drain the gas every time I got done using it.

I've used the Dewalr for a bunch for trimming limbs and even cutting out some overgrown bushes around the house. For those kinds of tasks, it's a little big but it's still really convenient to slap and battery in and go.

Just this past Sunday, the Bradford Pear tree (I hate these trees) split so I've spent the last two days after work cutting it up. The first day I spent a lot of time cutting the smaller branches off the main limbs. In 4 hours of trimming and stacking the branches into a pile, I still had a full bar of battery when I was done.

It was nice not having to stop and start the saw a bunch of times. I could trim a few limbs, set the saw down, drag the limbs to my burn pile, grab the saw and go again. While my Stihl started easily on the first pull when warm, it's just nice to squeeze the trigger and go. It's also really nice not needing ear plugs. Ear plugs are especially frustrating to wear for hours on end.

The second day I trimmed the remiaing branches and started cutting the larger limbs into manageable sizes. This is where the Dewalt started to show it's weakness. While it has a good amount of torque, it would stall in the larger branches if I let it take too big of a bite. It wasn't a big deal though, I just let off the trigger, lightened up on the cut and let it eat again. I also found the battery got quite warm and lost charge rather quickly while taking the larger cuts so frequently. I spent about an hour on the small branches and two cutting up the larger limbs. That was enough to completely kill the battery. While I wish I could have made the last few cuts I needed too, I'll be honest and say that I was ready for a break when the battery died.

Overall I'm very happy with my electric saw. If I had a second battery, there's no doubt the saw would last longer than I would cutting up a tree (given how I start/stop to stack/pile up the cut pieces).

I've included some photos to show how much work I was able to get done.

 

[jds holler]

Heck, if it's a one time or one year job -- if you've got an outlet handy get one of the cheap 110V chainsaws and git er done. Those things are cheap, like $49.95, and sufficient for whatcha need.

If you need a gas saw, well-- you need a gas saw. My picks are Stihl and Husky, and the new small ones are good and pretty inexpensive for what you get.

I've got nothing against battery saws, but a gas saw will make ya feel like a REAL man -- and we should all do that when we get the chance. jd

 

[JLT]

The convenience of a plug-in or battery-operated saw is clear, but neither can replace a gas-powered saw at this time. I used to own a plug-in for light trimming/limbing/clean-up and it did those jobs just fine, but when the job at hand is a 150-year-old oak uprooted by a storm and laying across your driveway, forget the battery and/or extension cords. A gas saw is required.

I used to cut and split 15 full cord of firewood every year and tended to over twenty wooded acres - mature pine, maple, cherry and ash - when we lived in upstate NY. That was an impossible job for an electric saw. I had seven Stihls but three of them did the bulk of the work, and I ran one or more of them every week. An MS361 (the 600cc sport bike of chainsaws), a hot-rodded MS440 and an old-school 076 for the really big stuff. That 076 was an incredible saw. I could barely get it to slow down levering through a cut with the bar buried in a trunk, never mind getting it to bog down or stall. Best felling saw I've ever used on big wood.

I gave the 076 and my back-ups to my neighbor in NY when we moved to Texas, but I kept the MS361 and the MS440. Lots of homeowners around here have battery or plug-in saws, but you might be surprised at how often I'm asked to help when a tree or limb of any size is causing a problem. I actually enjoy running a saw and I do my best to be a good neighbor, so it's all good, but advances in battery technology, while substantial, haven't come anywhere near to closing the gap with ICEs in many applications. This is one of those applications.

It's possible to dig a trench with a teaspoon, but why would you? Oh yeah, and I like the smell of burning pre-mix and the sound of an 85cc saw tuned to 13,300 rpm.

 

[markT]

All Bradford pears should be poisoned. They turn into Callary pears due to roots.
Three weeks ago I had a huge oak got wind blown and destroyed 3 vehicles. I’m having 5 more trees in my yard removed on Monday.
I have a MS 250 Stihl gas with 16 and 18” bars.