As I mentioned my Bosch 1750W electric chainsaw died a while back. I
asked a local chap, Eric, €” who has a tree surgeon business €” for
advice, and I struck gold. I'd got it in my head that I needed a long
blade and a powerful machine. He gently steered me into one of his
storerooms, where he has approx 20 saws of various types. Once I'd used
a big machine of the type I thought I wanted I realised immediately that
it was too heavy and cumbersome for me. It would also be unnecessary.
He took me to a chainsaw shop where he is a major customer and I ended
up buying:
A Stihl MS-180 saw with 14" blade
5 litre chain oil
Plastic fuel can
5 litres petrol
Chainsaw file kit
Helmet
3 x 100mm two stroke oil
3 round chainsaw files
Chainsaw gloves

Eric gave me some ballistic nylon PPE.

Now I'm having lessons from him in chainsaw use and maintenance. Having
used chainsaws for 40 years I thought I had no more to learn. How wrong
I was. I'm astonished. There's so much more to this than I knew. I now
believe that no-one should use a chainsaw until they've been on a course.

Incidentally the new saw is such a pleasure to use. It absolutely flies
through hardwood and needs very little physical effort on my part. A
revelation after the electric one.

Bill