Chainsaw Excitement!!!

[KatOD]

Ok, I think I can justify getting a chainsaw (half acre garden at an angle, quite overgrown and live in countryside).

I am disproportionately excited about the prospect but have never owned/used one before.

Can a slightly more experienced person advise on best ones to go for and essential safety gear please? (Can prob afford electric one unless you can advise a reasonable petrol one).

Thanks!

Do you have a lot of trees to cut down? If not i would go for a hedgetrimmer. Something like this

www.stihl.co.uk/STIHL-Products/0600/Hedge-trimmers-long-reach-hedge-trimmers-and-pole-pruners.aspx

I'd go for a hedgetrimmer as well, chainsaws give me the willies. We've got one, but my dd, who works with them, has gone on chainsaw courses and made us promise not to use it until we got steel capped boots, goggles, a hardhat and special chainsaw trousers.

Hmmmm. Ok maybe I'll cool my boots and see how much I can do with my trusty hedge trimmer then... Seeing as the last time I used it I managed to cut through my iPod headphones without noticing maybe I should wait a while for the chainsaw....

I wouldn't bother with an electric chainsaw tbh, it won't do much you can't do with a manual saw or a hedgetrimmer.

We use our chainsaw a lot, but it does require a lot of maintenance (or it will die/kill you), so we only use it for things we really couldn't do otherwise, i.e. chopping down very big trees. For everything else we use a hedgetrimmer, brushcutter or manual saw.

we are also occasional chainsaw users and it is treated with HUGE respect. You should have the full safety gear. What happens here (and don't do as I do..) is that it is a petrol chainsaw which is only used with goggles, leather gloves, ear defenders and full clothing. And only with two feet on the ground and with someone else here and watching. The stunt work up a ladder is for the professionals.

bought second hand (it is a B and Q one). Got the instructions and found the chain had been fitted backwards! Learn about kick back and chain brakes too.

or just pay someone insured and qualified!

ps don't use earbuds with power tools. If the music is loud enough to be heard above the tool, you are blowing out your hearing.

The title of this thread sounds like the name of a racehorse, or greyhound.