Bill wrote:


Maybe. I can't say I recollect seeing a "girly" chainsaw, but I don't
doubt you that they exist. My chainsaw is electric ($79), but it has
already done more work than I thought it was capable of doing--mainly
including 1/3 of a big Silver Maple. The wind left that part on the
ground, the rest cost $900 to have taken down. Admittedly, if I had
it to do over, I might have rented a more powerful chainsaw like you
have for that job. But I already owned the electric one.


To be fair - I don't know what a "girly" chainsaw is either. That's just
how my wife described what she wanted. I think she was thinking of
something very small, not very powerful, easy to use, that she could use to
cut up limbs that fell into the yard. I figure that's exactly what I bought
her...

As for the electric chainsaw - I have one too. It's one that a fellow
brought back into the Home Depot when I worked there because the piece of
junk would not cut. I had to look at it before the clerk could accept it
for a return, and I showed the fellow why it would not cut. He had taken
the chain off, and then put it back on backwards. You won't believe how
many times I saw that when I worked there! Anyway, he had clearly hit a
stone or something because the cutters were curled right over. As a
courtesy, I installed the chain the right way, grabbed a file and sharpened
the cutters to brand new condition and explained to him how to do this kind
of thing. Wouldn't you know, after all that he still wanted a replacement
saw, so we sent him out with one. I had to wait 48 hours after we marked
down his returned/used saw before I could buy it as an employee, but as soon
as the time was up, I bought it.

We live in a log home and remodeling exterior walls in any way requires a
chainsaw. Small, quiet (a relative term...), exhaust-free saws are far more
preferable to real chainsaws. This little electric would not stand up to
any real wood work, and it's easy to tell when using it, but for inside work
it can't be beat. Kept sharp, it will cut through a log twice the length of
the bar, but these things really are not meant for that kind of work on any
sort of routine basis. I'd kill mine in a day if I tried to do that with
it. Inside the house though, or for a quick cut of something out in the
garage - it is great. Damn thing would kill you from the vibrations if you
used it for any amount of time though.

--

-Mike-