I've just been given a tree (in bits) for my woodburner. It's going to need
more cutting, perhaps 100 or so cuts of 4 to 6 inches. What are the relative
merits of the £100 or so entry level electrics against the £150 or so petrols
(apart from the obvious). (I'm pretty experienced with other power tools and
know about the need for safety kit.) I know I could hire one but I just like
collecting toys!

Whats the obvious ??

I had an electric for a while, it coped with demolishing a hedge and a small
apple tree but don't know if it would be up to tackling a full grown oak.
Biggest problem I found was that the chain got blunt very quickly. It was
pretty easy to resharpen but a pain when you are halfway through a job.
Probably didn't help it when I tried cutting roots in situ though

Personally if I was to get one again I think I would go for petrol. At least
if you decide to help yourself to further logs from the wild (with
permission of course) you won't have to trail 20 miles of cable behind you



--

Remove BRAIN before replying
"OldScrawn" wrote in message
...
I've just been given a tree (in bits) for my woodburner. It's going to
need
more cutting, perhaps 100 or so cuts of 4 to 6 inches. What are the
relative
merits of the £100 or so entry level electrics against the £150 or so
petrols
(apart from the obvious). (I'm pretty experienced with other power tools
and
know about the need for safety kit.) I know I could hire one but I just
like
collecting toys!

OldScrawn wrote:

I've just been given a tree (in bits) for my woodburner. It's going to need
more cutting, perhaps 100 or so cuts of 4 to 6 inches. What are the relative
merits of the £100 or so entry level electrics against the £150 or so petrols
(apart from the obvious). (I'm pretty experienced with other power tools and
know about the need for safety kit.) I know I could hire one but I just like
collecting toys!

If you're sure you won't ever want to use it where you can't get
power, go for mains. They're quieter and cheaper, and you won't
need to worry about mixing up twostroke juice.

But if there's any chance at all you might want to use it away
from the house, get a petrol.

--
Grunff

Grunff wrote:

OldScrawn wrote:

I've just been given a tree (in bits) for my woodburner. It's going to
need
more cutting, perhaps 100 or so cuts of 4 to 6 inches. What are the
relative
merits of the £100 or so entry level electrics against the £150 or so
petrols
(apart from the obvious). (I'm pretty experienced with other power
tools and
know about the need for safety kit.) I know I could hire one but I
just like
collecting toys!


If you're sure you won't ever want to use it where you can't get power,
go for mains. They're quieter and cheaper, and you won't need to worry
about mixing up twostroke juice.

But if there's any chance at all you might want to use it away from the
house, get a petrol.


Secinded to a T. Electric are just as good, (in smaller sizes) as long
as you have access to the sparky stuff.

I had an electric for a while, it coped with demolishing a hedge and a
small
apple tree but don't know if it would be up to tackling a full grown oak.
Biggest problem I found was that the chain got blunt very quickly.

I don't think this problem is confined to electric saws. Either will blunt
just as easily.

Rob Graham

On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 21:09:12 +0100, Grunff wrote:

But if there's any chance at all you might want to use it away
from the house, get a petrol.

Ah but this chap likes collecting toys. Get electric and buy a genny
for use away from the house. B-)

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Dave Liquorice wrote:

Ah but this chap likes collecting toys. Get electric and buy a genny
for use away from the house. B-)

Now *that* is lateral thinking.

--
Grunff

OldScrawn wrote:

I've just been given a tree (in bits) for my woodburner. It's going to need
more cutting, perhaps 100 or so cuts of 4 to 6 inches. What are the relative
merits of the £100 or so entry level electrics against the £150 or so petrols

If you go for the electric one then try to find one with a decent amount
of power (i.e. 1800W - 2KW). I borrowed a 1300W one a while ago, and
just did not have enough grunt on anything except the smallest logs.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 10:27:56 +0100, Grunff wrote:

Dave Liquorice wrote:

Ah but this chap likes collecting toys. Get electric and buy a genny
for use away from the house. B-)

Now *that* is lateral thinking.


... and you could go for nice big corded power tools ;-)



..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Firstly, go to a local small retailer which does repairs (most mower
places do chainsaws) and get some decent advice and don't go to the
sheds as they have some stuff which is so bad it staggers me. You'll
pay not much more but get a decent machine and some after-sales.

In addition to what has already been said, petrol has more to go wrong
but will generally be more powerful and will last longer and has no
cables to cut.
You can also use an electric indoors (no fumes) - don't laugh -
cutting logs in the dry (a garage, barn or suchlike) beats cutting
them in the snow!. Just make sure you protect your ears and lungs even
more as dust and noise is worse in a confined space.
Apart from this, I would say go for the petrol - you will be glad of
the extra power/flexibility one day.

You should sharpen them every time you refill the chain oil. Again,
your local place can sharpen more badly worn chains for you and sell
you a good quality spare.

(OldScrawn) wrote in message ...
I've just been given a tree (in bits) for my woodburner. It's going to need
more cutting, perhaps 100 or so cuts of 4 to 6 inches. What are the relative
merits of the £100 or so entry level electrics against the £150 or so petrols
(apart from the obvious). (I'm pretty experienced with other power tools and
know about the need for safety kit.) I know I could hire one but I just like
collecting toys!

"OldScrawn" wrote in message
...
I've just been given a tree (in bits) for my woodburner. It's going to
need
more cutting, perhaps 100 or so cuts of 4 to 6 inches. What are the
relative
merits of the £100 or so entry level electrics against the £150 or so
petrols
(apart from the obvious). (I'm pretty experienced with other power tools
and
know about the need for safety kit.) I know I could hire one but I just
like
collecting toys!
Buy a petrol for more power and no cable to drag around But you Must buy a
sharpening kit for the chain otherwise after the first half days cutting all
you'll produce is smoke!!

The Q

"JimM" wrote:

Hello JimM

J| I had an electric for a while, it coped with demolishing a
J| hedge and a small apple tree but don't know if it would be
J| up to tackling a full grown oak. Biggest problem I found was
J| that the chain got blunt very quickly. It was pretty easy to
J| resharpen but a pain when you are halfway through a
J| job. Probably didn't help it when I tried cutting roots in
J| situ though

That's the problem, and it's the same chain for petrol and electric
(though generally smaller pitch for electric). You wait until you have
to sharpen a 5' bar, that's over 10' of teeth that you have to get
absolutely equal or it won't cut at all!

J| Personally if I was to get one again I think I would go for
J| petrol. At least if you decide to help yourself to further
J| logs from the wild (with
J| permission of course) you won't have to trail 20 miles of
J| cable behind you

I've made it known in here before that I'm less than impressed with
the lack of safety features on low-end electric chainsaws. I consider
them far more dangerous than petrol ones.

--
Simon Avery, Dartmoor, UK
uk.d-i-y FAQ: http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/

(Alan Campbell) wrote:

Hello Alan

snip loads of chainsaw stuff I agree with

AC| You should sharpen them every time you refill the chain oil.

Not so.

With petrol chainsaws, you fill both oil and 2/stroke at the same
time. With electric you just fill the oil when required. Typically, at
full speed cutting either will last somewhere in the region of 30
minutes on a full tank of either, and if you're sharpening the chain
every 30 minutes you won't have much of a chain left after a day.
Logging (clean logs, off the ground) should go all day without
sharpening if you're careful.

The rule of thumb is simply "sharpen when it's not cutting as good as
it should". More often is wasteful, less often is dangerous. (Same
principle as a dull knife is more likely to cut you than a sharp one)

One thing not mentioned so far in this thread; overheating. Logging is
hard work for either type of saw. Electric ones may overheat without
frequent stoppages, and so might the cheaper petrol ones (pro grade
have better laid out cooling fins, ime). Can be overcome by frequent
cleaning of cooling fins (which ought to be checked when you do re-
oil!) especially in dirty conditions like logging.

Logging's also one of the more dangerous aspects to chainsaw use. Easy
to slip, temptation to hold log steady with foot, kickback and hitting
a log wrong so it flings back at goolie level.

--
Simon Avery, Dartmoor, UK
uk.d-i-y FAQ: http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/

Simon Avery wrote:
(Alan Campbell) wrote:

Hello Alan

snip loads of chainsaw stuff I agree with

AC| You should sharpen them every time you refill the chain oil.

Not so.

With petrol chainsaws, you fill both oil and 2/stroke at the same
time. With electric you just fill the oil when required. Typically, at
full speed cutting either will last somewhere in the region of 30
minutes on a full tank of either, and if you're sharpening the chain
every 30 minutes you won't have much of a chain left after a day.
Logging (clean logs, off the ground) should go all day without
sharpening if you're careful.

Yes, that's my experience with log cutting, the blade stays sharp for
a *very* long time. When it gets blunt it's nearly always because
I've hit something nasty (a nail or whatever) or because I've tried to
cut stuff too near the ground or have got to cut dirt/soil for some
other reason.


The rule of thumb is simply "sharpen when it's not cutting as good as
it should". More often is wasteful, less often is dangerous. (Same
principle as a dull knife is more likely to cut you than a sharp one)

One diagnostic for a blunt blade is that it produces sawdust rather
than wood chips. If you start getting anything other than chippings
then the blade is getting blunt.

--
Chris Green )

In article ,
wrote:

Yes, that's my experience with log cutting, the blade stays sharp
for a *very* long time. When it gets blunt it's nearly always
because I've hit something nasty (a nail or whatever) or because
I've tried to cut stuff too near the ground or have got to cut
dirt/soil for some other reason.

Absolutely. Too near the ground, or cutting dirty roots
off a stump is the best way to blunt a blade. Lending
it to a neighbour is another good way to blunt a blade.

I use a 1500W electric with a 12" blade. I like it
because the short blade puts a check on my ambitions
and the lack of welly forces me to take light cuts
*and* limits the force of a kickback.

--
Tony Williams. Change "nospam" to "ledelec" to email.