Advice on Purchasing a New Chain Saw

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I'M SO CONFUSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:surprised3:
:laughing:

I'll unconfuse you. A high quality handsaw will do a great job, cost less, be less maintenance, and be safer. Every pro arborist has a quiver of chainsaws, but they still buy silky-grade handsaws for small stuff.

You'll likely have the handsaw for life and not be able to wear it out.
 
the funny thing is ,we all have every thing there is to cut wood.pole saw, hand saw ,chain saw, electric chainsaw,saw mill, and cordless stuff, etc
 
the funny thing is ,we all have every thing there is to cut wood.pole saw, hand saw ,chain saw, electric chainsaw,saw mill, and cordless stuff, etc

Yeah, once you get a few items, you get a few more, and a few more, etc. I started out with just a Husq 445 to cut down a couple rotten trees. This was after looking over all the crap saws at Sears, Menards, and a few other places. Stihl, was just too damned expensive. Toyed with getting a Dolmar 50-90cc saw, but it was just massive overkill for a couple of mostly dead silver maples, and there was no local retailer. Found a Husq dealer up north of town, and it just kinda went crazy from there.

Got a fiskars hatchet, a pole saw, a bow saw, found an electric chainsaw in some junk, ran that one into a ground, and got a craftsman electric 20amp circuit breaker tripping saw. Then as I got down to just stumps, then got some long drill bits, more and more potassium nitrate to dissolve said stumps, got some ryobi drills, and some impact drivers, some impact rated spade bits to go with the impact drivers, bigger drills, bigger bits, then a really big drill for the really big ship auger bits, bigger bits.... Just happened to pick up a $14 electric chainsaw at Aldi, which ended up there and on the discount rack due to some snafu.

From there more ryobi tools, a "turkey cutter" craftsman sawzall, a two handed ryobi sawzall, a heavy duty dewalt sawzall for cutting through nails and repair with carbide blades like this. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Diablo-N...de-Tipped-Metal-Recip-Blade-DS0014S/203464896 A ryobi circular saw, then an LED work area light, a black n decker weed whacker because it was cheaper to get a replacement battery for a different cordless drill by buying the whole things on sale, then a cordless shopvac to clean up the mess from all the chainsaw sharpening, then a Dolmar 6100, then a bigger weed whacker, and since it was a universal, got a cultivator/till head.

And that doesn't include the various side gadgets like rotary tools to sharpen the chainsaws. Then a hitachi cordless rotary/drill combo because it was cheaper as a closeout, then another closeout tool because I could get more batteries cheaper that way...

Also got a small hotdog air compressor to blow out the chainsaw, then a really big air compressor(21 gallon), because it was $129 on sale, and the smaller, crappier specs version cost more. Then an air stapler/nailer, and a 2 1/2 inch 16 ga nailer, because it was on closeout for $30 at the place where I was getting more chainsaw stuff, and a palm nailer/hammer because it was kinda cool, and cheap.

So, that's kinda of a downward spiral of tool addiction. ;P Also got a cordless ryobi sander, and a corded one. Already had two oscillating tools, which worked pretty good for cleaning up and refinishing a hardwood floor. Because carpeting in a kitchen is just retarded.

Not to mention the milage of damned extension cords, from 16-10 gauge. All the various sawzall blades, oscillating tool blades, what seems to be a ream of abrasive pads leftover from the floor project. 5 gallon buckets of nails, screws, bolts.

Then got a longer pole saw, because the new place had harder to reach trees...
 
Yeah, once you get a few items, you get a few more, and a few more, etc. I started out with just a Husq 445 to cut down a couple rotten trees. This was after looking over all the crap saws at Sears, Menards, and a few other places. Stihl, was just too damned expensive. Toyed with getting a Dolmar 50-90cc saw, but it was just massive overkill for a couple of mostly dead silver maples, and there was no local retailer. Found a Husq dealer up north of town, and it just kinda went crazy from there.

Got a fiskars hatchet, a pole saw, a bow saw, found an electric chainsaw in some junk, ran that one into a ground, and got a craftsman electric 20amp circuit breaker tripping saw. Then as I got down to just stumps, then got some long drill bits, more and more potassium nitrate to dissolve said stumps, got some ryobi drills, and some impact drivers, some impact rated spade bits to go with the impact drivers, bigger drills, bigger bits, then a really big drill for the really big ship auger bits, bigger bits.... Just happened to pick up a $14 electric chainsaw at Aldi, which ended up there and on the discount rack due to some snafu.

From there more ryobi tools, a "turkey cutter" craftsman sawzall, a two handed ryobi sawzall, a heavy duty dewalt sawzall for cutting through nails and repair with carbide blades like this. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Diablo-N...de-Tipped-Metal-Recip-Blade-DS0014S/203464896 A ryobi circular saw, then an LED work area light, a black n decker weed whacker because it was cheaper to get a replacement battery for a different cordless drill by buying the whole things on sale, then a cordless shopvac to clean up the mess from all the chainsaw sharpening, then a Dolmar 6100, then a bigger weed whacker, and since it was a universal, got a cultivator/till head.

And that doesn't include the various side gadgets like rotary tools to sharpen the chainsaws. Then a hitachi cordless rotary/drill combo because it was cheaper as a closeout, then another closeout tool because I could get more batteries cheaper that way...

Also got a small hotdog air compressor to blow out the chainsaw, then a really big air compressor(21 gallon), because it was $129 on sale, and the smaller, crappier specs version cost more. Then an air stapler/nailer, and a 2 1/2 inch 16 ga nailer, because it was on closeout for $30 at the place where I was getting more chainsaw stuff, and a palm nailer/hammer because it was kinda cool, and cheap.

So, that's kinda of a downward spiral of tool addiction. ;P Also got a cordless ryobi sander, and a corded one. Already had two oscillating tools, which worked pretty good for cleaning up and refinishing a hardwood floor. Because carpeting in a kitchen is just retarded.

Not to mention the milage of damned extension cords, from 16-10 gauge. All the various sawzall blades, oscillating tool blades, what seems to be a ream of abrasive pads leftover from the floor project. 5 gallon buckets of nails, screws, bolts.

Then got a longer pole saw, because the new place had harder to reach trees...
Call me retarded, but I have carpet in my kitchen and I love it. :p I also have a very good carpet shampooer.
:thisthreadisworthlesswithoutpictures:
Okay, so your list of tools is impressive. I have a list of sewing/arts/craft tools and supplies that are equally impressive. I don't need another addicting hobby. :rolleyes:
 
So. I just tried out the pruning saw on a couple of two inch trees that I have whittled down with pruners to about three feet tall. Cut them level with the ground.
(Pretty sure they'll sprout back up if I don't dig up the roots, or spray with Round-up)
The entire time I was sawing, I was thinking, "Zip, Zip with a chain saw and I'd be done."

I think what's making me hesitate with the chain saw is too many moving parts. It seems like you need to be a mechanic to operate one.
I like the sawzall idea best so far.
 
Call me retarded, but I have carpet in my kitchen and I love it. :p I also have a very good carpet shampooer.
:thisthreadisworthlesswithoutpictures:
Okay, so your list of tools is impressive. I have a list of sewing/arts/craft tools and supplies that are equally impressive. I don't need another addicting hobby. :rolleyes:

Pics of the tool piles eh? :D

DSC00007.JPG DSC00067.JPG DSC00062.JPG DSC00071.JPG DSC00056.JPG DSC00059.JPG DSC00066.JPG DSC00011.JPG DSC00010.JPG DSC00061.JPG

There you have it, the horrors of the tool room. :D
 
That's an OCD nightmare! What do you do when you want to find something?:laughing:

There's sort of a method to the madness. Certain types of tools are either toted up together(usually rarely used stuff), more commonly used tools are grouped in the same toolbags together depending on the sort of work I'd be doing with them. More bulky items get organized into buckets, and of course, due to the nature of life in general, an oddball job ends up with tools pulled from all over ending up in a pile until I can sort them back out again. ;)
 
There's sort of a method to the madness. Certain types of tools are either toted up together(usually rarely used stuff), more commonly used tools are grouped in the same toolbags together depending on the sort of work I'd be doing with them. More bulky items get organized into buckets, and of course, due to the nature of life in general, an oddball job ends up with tools pulled from all over ending up in a pile until I can sort them back out again. ;)
I've got news... that's not "organized" :laughing:
 

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