power tools- chainsaws?

[SpringHeeledJack]

I keep having to chop down branches that are a bit too thick for my loppers- or a bit too tough.

I'm slightly weedy and find a normal saw is a bit laborious- never been able to get the hang of it. Am currently tussling with a dead ceanothus and having a right game of it. Anyone using a chainsaw or similar on here? If so, which make/model?

I don't want anything hefty- just for casual use

tia

I put out a request on freecycle and found a lovely tree surgeon willing to lop off a few branches and chop some logs for a bacon sarnie.

I'll ask him

I use an electric chainsaw I bought from Lidl that does the job satisfactorily. They had them on offer a couple of weeks ago so they could possibly have some still in the shop if you have a look.

Mine is about three years old and all I've had to do is change the chain on it and it's still going strong.

I like it because it's nice and light for me to hold and much easier to use than the petrol ones.

thanks, both

I shall check out Lidl tomorrow- sounds just the job

What sort of normal saw are you using? If you're really talking about branches just a bit too big for loppers then a chainsaw sounds like massive overkill - a decent bowsaw, not too big, with a wet wood blade on it would be much more the thing, I would have thought. Bahco ones are good.

For really small stuff - say 1 to 2" diameter I'd tend to go even smaller than that, to a good pruning saw, which cuts on the pull. (The site I've linked to is US, but Bahco saws are pretty widely available.)

Mind you, I hate chainsaws, I don't have a full chainsaw certificate, but have been through quite a bit of safety training (did it with someone who was qualified to teach the certificate), and even so I'm not that keen on using one, and even less so to cut standing wood, as opposed to cutting up firewood on a sawhorse. Nasty dangerous things, chainsaws . You also need to file the blade, change the oil, etc etc, which all takes time.

I'm with Takvar - try a good bow saw for that kind of job. We've got a chain saw and my daughter, who works with them, made us promise not to use it until we'd bought the safety kit (trousers,boots, googles - not cheap) as she'd come across so many horror stories.

thanks for those

will investigate bow saw

ds is worried about having a chainsaw on the premises- he has what you might call an overactive imagination atm

at the moment am using a combination of loppers and this bugger, which is all I've got

it isn't much fun...

No wonder its hard work! Get a small bowsaw, make sure its got a green / wet wood blade & a decent pruning saw that cuts on the pull and it will all be very easy.

Do also be careful with the bowsaw as they are very sharp and also easy to cut yourself on (voice of painful experience here . . .).

I agree with Takver's second suggestion - a good sharp pruning saw. I'm small, elderly, and with very little upper body strength, and I can manage with ease anything up to about 4 inch diameter.

And if you're trying to work among branches, s pruning saw will be a lot easier to get into the position you need.

And don't forget how tiring it is to work with the sheer noise of a chainsaw.

There is no such thing as a minor chainsaw injury.

Think very carefully about whether this is the tool that you want.

The thread is 11 years old, the OP has probably got it sorted by now