Electric chainsaw

[cqaigy2]

Yikes! I bought my wife a Mickey Mouse watch some years ago, but she's never used a chainsaw.

 

[greggyy]

Down here we have many corded and cordless options.

My plug in one has oregon chain and bar and will do everything a 58cc saw will do, just quieter, if you have power close by...... I like yo use it around home when solar is producing power....

Cordless, have an 18v ryobi, it is ok for pruning, but you cannuse a recip for that, you have to be 36v or so to get the chain moving fast enough imo......

 

[deezler]

We heat with firewood, anywhere from 2-4 full cords per winter. I am pretty busy and value my time, so efficient firewood processing is a must. Currently only have my hand-me-down Stihl MS310, which has been an incredibly awesome and reliable saw for my needs.

A buddy came over last night and brought his new EZgo 56V battery powered saw with a narrow 18" bar on it. The saw was light and well balanced, seemed pretty well built, and felt torquey on first bite into a 15" ash log that I had just pulled out of the woods up to my log pile.

But... it could not sustain a full bore cut in the hard ash wood. It would bog down easily and then stop suddenly, presumably for motor/overload protection.

So that answered the question for me, anyway. I do still want a battery powered saw to have on hand for trimming or emergency use. But I'm fully convinced that one could never replace my MS310 for full days of hard use processing firewood. Or did I just sample a weaker one out of the options available?

 

[PILOON]

So that answered the question for me, anyway. I do still want a battery powered saw to have on hand for trimming or emergency use.

Then comes the usual battery problem!
The day U need it, the battery is self depleted from sitting idle.

What is needed is an intelligent battery tender of some sort like they sell for car batteries.
Guess that might be an upcoming device.

 

[Rebeldad1]

Maybe you need to give us a little more information on whats being cut up...

Bought a DEWALT DCCS620P1 for my wife. It might be small but its a animal. The battery life is impressive as well. It easily replaced our Stihl MS170. She loves it.
if you already have some Dewalt 20 volt stuff it would be a great fit

 

[cqaigy2]

We heat with firewood, anywhere from 2-4 full cords per winter. I am pretty busy and value my time, so efficient firewood processing is a must. Currently only have my hand-me-down Stihl MS310, which has been an incredibly awesome and reliable saw for my needs.

A buddy came over last night and brought his new EZgo 56V battery powered saw with a narrow 18" bar on it. The saw was light and well balanced, seemed pretty well built, and felt torquey on first bite into a 15" ash log that I had just pulled out of the woods up to my log pile.

But... it could not sustain a full bore cut in the hard ash wood. It would bog down easily and then stop suddenly, presumably for motor/overload protection.

So that answered the question for me, anyway. I do still want a battery powered saw to have on hand for trimming or emergency use. But I'm fully convinced that one could never replace my MS310 for full days of hard use processing firewood. Or did I just sample a weaker one out of the options available?

In my case. I have a small 025 stihl, and 120volt ac chainsaw. I've noticed with the gas saw, i can easily hear the engine running and adjust my feed rate based on the saw engine sound and i imagine all the hours of running gas saws doesn't hurst. When i first started to use the 120volt, i didn't/couldn't gage motor speed well and bogged it down and a few times pulled enough amps that it tripped the gfci outlet. Now that i've gotten more used to the electric saw i rarely bog it down. The gas saw had some muffler work done on it and i carb tuned too, so it throws chips pretty good for a little saw, and it cuts faster than the electric saw. Weight is slightly in favor for the electric, and all i have to do is put bar oil in and sharpen the chain though the bar mount isn't as robust as the gas saw.

 

[deezler]

I see multiple references to the Dewalt DCCS620 here. Since I already have multipled 20v dewalt tools.... this is pretty appealing. It sounds kinda dinky with just a 12" bar, but I guess that Is kind the point! For cutting smaller stuff only.

Slightly off topic but I'm headed to HomeDepot right after work today to pick up the DCPS620, their pole saw. I bought a corded pole saw from Harbor Freight with the $59 coupon a couple years back, and then realized how stupid it was to deal with extension cords when trying to cut limbs around the house, and that I couldn't use it on 95% of my property outside of the extension cord range, LOL.

 

[dmoerman]

I have a Kobalt battery powered chain saw, from Lowes.. It's terrific. The same battery can run a leaf blower, a lawn mower, and half a dozen other tools. No gasoline, no oil, no pulling on ropes. Stick in the battery, push the button, and it's running. Obviously not for the professional. The saw will run for about 2 hours (that's two hours running), before you need to recharge. If you are going to do a LOT of sawing (or mowing, whatever) you probably need two batteries. One in the saw/mower/whatever, and the other in the charger. It will recharge a dead battery in about an hour and a half.

 

[John_Mc]

I have a Kobalt battery powered chain saw, from Lowes.. It's terrific. The same battery can run a leaf blower, a lawn mower, and half a dozen other tools. No gasoline, no oil, no pulling on ropes. Stick in the battery, push the button, and it's running. Obviously not for the professional. The saw will run for about 2 hours (that's two hours running), before you need to recharge. If you are going to do a LOT of sawing (or mowing, whatever) you probably need two batteries. One in the saw/mower/whatever, and the other in the charger. It will recharge a dead battery in about an hour and a half.

No oil? "Stick in the battery, push the button, and it's running"? I hope you are still using bar oil.

 

[MoKelly]

No oil? "Stick in the battery, push the button, and it's running"? I hope you are still using bar oil.

Ha. Yes - even battery saws need bar oil.

One of the manuals I read said you could even use kitchen oil in the machine. Never did that as my wife would not be pleased.

MoKelly

 

[John_Mc]

Ha. Yes - even battery saws need bar oil.

One of the manuals I read said you could even use kitchen oil in the machine. Never did that as my wife would not be pleased.

MoKelly

I know several folks who use canola oil in their chainsaws (gas or electric). I've tired it and it seems to lubricate better than the petroleum-based bar oils. Canola oil and some of the early "bio-based" commercial bar oils had one problem: if you left them sitting in the saw for an extended time, the oil would "set up" on the chain so stiff that you sometimes could not get it moving (by hand or with the engine) until you gave the chain a liberal dose of WD40 to loosen things up again. The stuff was kind of like the "crust" that develops over time in a cast-iron frying pan from baked on vegetable oil.

Modern Bio-based bar oils are mainly canola oil with some additives to prevent forming that baked-on crust. I've been using the Stihl BioPlus bar oil for years, since one of the properties where I regularly use a chainsaw requires it. It works well, and no problems with the saw, even if I leave it sitting for months. It's not cheap, but sinc eI have to use it on one property, I just use it all the time now.

 

[dmoerman]

Of course I use bar oil. But still, you know what I mean!

 

[John_Mc]

Of course I use bar oil. But still, you know what I mean!

I understand what you mean. However, you'd be surprised at how many people buy a battery saw and don't think about the bar oil. They do just plug in a battery and go... they just don't go for long without ruining their bar.

I currently have a couple of gas chainsaws. I recently added an electric chainsaw (Milwaukee M18 Fuel). It certainly is convenient for lighter work... and it's quiet. I sometimes start out the day with that when working in the woods in the early morning, so I don't disturb those living nearby. I'll clear saplings, or limb trees I took down earlier. I have to be careful though: with my gas saws, I'll run out of gas before running out of bar oil. If I start with a fully charged 12 AH battery in my Milwaukee, I'll run out of oil long before I run out of charge in the battery. I may have to switch to the 6 AH battery until I get used to checking on that more frequently.

 

[kenmbz]

I use a 8AH on the M18 pole saw. For the trimmer it last 60 minutes, so should get quit some time on the saw.

 

[Oaktree]

I have a 40V Lynx saw. It's perfect for small jobs...cleaning up downed limbs, trimming the occasional piece of firewood that's 2" too long to fit in the stove, etc. but it's too wimpy to do real work with. As someone else noted about a different brand battery saw, it's easy to bog it down and then it will just stop. Great supplement to my gas saw though, and glad I have it.
I have a corded saw too (was my wife's before we met)...will use it once in a while to cut up that odd piece of firewood that's a bit too long, but that's about it. Doesn't get much use since I got the HF one.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

I have the Milwaukee M18 saw. Heavy. Effective. My only complaint is the thin kerf bar and chain. It will derail if you just look at it funny. On the bright side you up your skills on avoiding pinches, but still, if the blade is heavy brush, it will derail easily. I plan to replace it with the normal Oregon bar and chain next time and see how it does. I've read that people do that. I'm not worried about power, and I have yet to drain the battery cutting wood. The string trimmer and blower will drain the batteries a lot faster than the chainsaw. But I don't cut firewood, I just have a steady stream of downed or standing trees to clear and only cut enough to make them ... "grapple-able". So, thin chain, thumbs down. Solid otherwise, thumbs up. Of course nothing about it is like a gas saw, but for my decades old rotator cuff injury, the electric saw saves me huge amounts of pain over the pull starts on gas saws.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Yes and Yes...

My Stihl 200 battery saw is very good... with two 300 batteries and the quick charge I can go as long as I want.

I also have a corded Stihl chainsaw... its a beast.

I have a few 110 v chain saws. But then, I came across s STIHL electric. This looks like a saw bar on a 9" angle grinder. Its a hoss.

 

[Midniteoyl]

LOL.. I bought the Atlas 40v from HF. Use it with a 80v battery. Only used it to clear low hanging or dropped branches so far, but that's what I bought it for - to sit on the tractor, and it works great for that.. Bought the 80v leaf blower for blowing things off too. Also works really good.

However:

 

[cqaigy2]

I'd take any one of those saws if they gave it to me and a supply of batteries.

Interesting the HF Atlas 40v will accept 80v batteries. Does it run faster with the higher voltage battery?

 

[newbury]

<snip>Bought a DEWALT DCCS620P1 for my wife. It might be small but its a animal. The battery life is impressive as well. It easily replaced our Stihl MS170. She loves it.
if you already have some Dewalt 20 volt stuff it would be a great fit

And that's a key point -
With batteries costing $10+ per AH it's a tradeoff to get another brand of battery.
I've had:
B&D 40V 14"
HF 40V 14"
DeWalt 20V 12"
I've about $3K worth of DeWalt 20v and Flexvolt tools and batteries, including the DeWalt 1800W Portable Power Station and Charger.
I've about $$6K of Stihl saws, several not in my sig.
It is difficult for me to transition to battery powered saws. But the DeWalt 20V at $99 hit the sweet spot. Basically it's a top handle with a handlebar.