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Cordless Chainsaw
Hi all
I know from a quick read that a lot of you are not keen on cordless chainsaws for a number of different reasons, but I have to say that in my experience I personally feel that they do fill a valuable gap between loppers and a Petrol / Electric chainsaw. It may be my fault, but I don't get on with a bow saw for anything bigger than say 2.5" diameter, the cordless chain saw would do 2.5" with ease and cope with 3.5". I had a cheap brand cordless chainsaw from Argos this summer and it was great - it had limitations in branch size and battery life, but it became invaluable. Unfortunately last month it died on me and the two retailers that I know stocked them (Argos & B&Q) in the UK both say they are discontinued. Does anyone know if they are still sold in the UK anywhere, or does anyone in the UK have one that is sitting around that they want to sell, or is anyone going on hols to the US and want to bring me one back for a profit? :) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=4332030520 Cheers Kev |
"Kevin Walton" wrote in message om... Hi all I know from a quick read that a lot of you are not keen on cordless chainsaws for a number of different reasons, but I have to say that in my experience I personally feel that they do fill a valuable gap between loppers and a Petrol / Electric chainsaw. It may be my fault, but I don't get on with a bow saw for anything bigger than say 2.5" diameter, the cordless chain saw would do 2.5" with ease and cope with 3.5". Reciprocating electric saws are quite effective at dealing with limbs up to 2 or 3 inches diameter and are much safer than chain saws. [snip] Franz |
Franz Heymann wrote:
"Kevin Walton" wrote in message om... Hi all I know from a quick read that a lot of you are not keen on cordless chainsaws for a number of different reasons, but I have to say that in my experience I personally feel that they do fill a valuable gap between loppers and a Petrol / Electric chainsaw. It may be my fault, but I don't get on with a bow saw for anything bigger than say 2.5" diameter, the cordless chain saw would do 2.5" with ease and cope with 3.5". Reciprocating electric saws are quite effective at dealing with limbs up to 2 or 3 inches diameter and are much safer than chain saws. Having had the full ATB training course on chain saws, I'm horrified by what I see. Poor maintenance (or none), insufficient protective gear (or none), clumsy technique (or none). I seriously think there should be a licence to drive one of those things. I agree on the reciprocating saw; but on the other hand, a bow saw with a brand new blade is good enough for _most_ gardeners: what does it matter if it takes five minutes to cut through a branch instead of thirty seconds? If one needs a rest and a cup of tea half-way, well, why not? Mike.. |
In uk.d-i-y Kevin Walton wrote:
Hi all I know from a quick read that a lot of you are not keen on cordless chainsaws for a number of different reasons, but I have to say that in my experience I personally feel that they do fill a valuable gap between loppers and a Petrol / Electric chainsaw. It may be my fault, but I don't get on with a bow saw for anything bigger than say 2.5" diameter, the cordless chain saw would do 2.5" with ease and cope with 3.5". I had a cheap brand cordless chainsaw from Argos this summer and it was great - it had limitations in branch size and battery life, but it became invaluable. Unfortunately last month it died on me and the two retailers that I know stocked them (Argos & B&Q) in the UK both say they are discontinued. Does anyone know if they are still sold in the UK anywhere, or does anyone in the UK have one that is sitting around that they want to sell, or is anyone going on hols to the US and want to bring me one back for a profit? :) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=4332030520 I bought a cordless 'lopper' from B&Q recently which is actually a mini chainsaw. I wanted it for trimming bigg[ish] branches off trees up our (7 acre) garden where I can't get the mains powered chainsaw that I normally use. I've been quite impressed with it in practice, it will cut through 4" or even 5" oak tree branches without too much trouble. It won't do this for long of course but I don't need it to. It cost £50. You can get extra batteries for it. The charger turns itself off after charging which is a good plus as well. It's an 'own brand' B&Q. -- Chris Green |
wrote in message ...
I bought a cordless 'lopper' from B&Q recently which is actually a mini chainsaw. I wanted it for trimming bigg[ish] branches off trees up our (7 acre) garden where I can't get the mains powered chainsaw that I normally use. 7 acres. You ******* :) Alex |
In article ,
Mike Lyle wrote: Having had the full ATB training course on chain saws, I'm horrified by what I see. Poor maintenance (or none), insufficient protective gear (or none), clumsy technique (or none). I seriously think there should be a licence to drive one of those things. I agree on the reciprocating saw; but on the other hand, a bow saw with a brand new blade is good enough for _most_ gardeners: what does it matter if it takes five minutes to cut through a branch instead of thirty seconds? If one needs a rest and a cup of tea half-way, well, why not? Even for someone in fairly poor shape, 5 minutes with a bow saw is quite a branch! c. 9" diameter apple or c. 6" diameter hawthorn, I would reckon. Of course, I use a 30" bow saw with a blade in decent condition .... Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article , Mike Lyle wrote: [...] on the other hand, a bow saw with a brand new blade is good enough for _most_ gardeners: what does it matter if it takes five minutes to cut through a branch instead of thirty seconds? If one needs a rest and a cup of tea half-way, well, why not? Even for someone in fairly poor shape, 5 minutes with a bow saw is quite a branch! c. 9" diameter apple or c. 6" diameter hawthorn, I would reckon. Of course, I use a 30" bow saw with a blade in decent condition .... Su I'm just trying to put it in perspective. If one's got a lot to do, then a power tool may be the answer; but most people probably don't need petrol this, and electric that. Mike. |
Nick Maclaren wrote: In article , Mike Lyle wrote: Having had the full ATB training course on chain saws, I'm horrified by what I see. Poor maintenance (or none), insufficient protective gear (or none), clumsy technique (or none). I seriously think there should be a licence to drive one of those things. I agree on the reciprocating saw; but on the other hand, a bow saw with a brand new blade is good enough for _most_ gardeners: what does it matter if it takes five minutes to cut through a branch instead of thirty seconds? If one needs a rest and a cup of tea half-way, well, why not? It took me 2 days to reduce approx 12 Lawson Cypress that were possibly planted in 1953 from above almost ridge height of a two storey house to approx 10' in height. This included cutting the bits up to fit my trailer (8' x 4') and taking it to the tip (5 mile round trip). The trunks are approx 14" diameter at the thickest (not where I cut them!). To do this I used a 20 or 22" bow saw with a new green wood blade. My bigger bow saw was too clumsy to be effective. But I was knackered after all that and yes I really wish I had a chainsaw! Richard -- Real email address is RJS at BIGFOOT dot COM The information contained in this post may not be published in, or used by http://www.diyprojects.info |
"Mike Lyle" wrote in message ... Franz Heymann wrote: "Kevin Walton" wrote in message om... Hi all I know from a quick read that a lot of you are not keen on cordless chainsaws for a number of different reasons, but I have to say that in my experience I personally feel that they do fill a valuable gap between loppers and a Petrol / Electric chainsaw. It may be my fault, but I don't get on with a bow saw for anything bigger than say 2.5" diameter, the cordless chain saw would do 2.5" with ease and cope with 3.5". Reciprocating electric saws are quite effective at dealing with limbs up to 2 or 3 inches diameter and are much safer than chain saws. Having had the full ATB training course on chain saws, I'm horrified by what I see. Poor maintenance (or none), insufficient protective gear (or none), clumsy technique (or none). I seriously think there should be a licence to drive one of those things. I agree on the reciprocating saw; but on the other hand, a bow saw with a brand new blade is good enough for _most_ gardeners: what does it matter if it takes five minutes to cut through a branch instead of thirty seconds? If one needs a rest and a cup of tea half-way, well, why not? The trouble with bow saws is that the bow always seems to get in the way. Franz |
In article ,
Richard wrote: It took me 2 days to reduce approx 12 Lawson Cypress that were possibly planted in 1953 from above almost ridge height of a two storey house to approx 10' in height. This included cutting the bits up to fit my trailer (8' x 4') and taking it to the tip (5 mile round trip). The trunks are approx 14" diameter at the thickest (not where I cut them!). To do this I used a 20 or 22" bow saw with a new green wood blade. My bigger bow saw was too clumsy to be effective. But I was knackered after all that and yes I really wish I had a chainsaw! That's quite impressive. However, if you include the time for setting up and maintaining a chainsaw, my suspicion is that it would have been SLOWER. After all, it CAN only reduce the cutting time, and not the other aspects. The same would not be true if you did that once a fortnight. I agree that you would have got less tired, but think of how much you have improved your life expectancy :-) Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
In uk.d-i-y Kevin Walton wrote:
wrote in message ... I bought a cordless 'lopper' from B&Q recently which is actually a mini chainsaw. I wanted it for trimming bigg[ish] branches off trees up our (7 acre) garden where I can't get the mains powered chainsaw that I normally use. I've been quite impressed with it in practice, it will cut through 4" or even 5" oak tree branches without too much trouble. It won't do this for long of course but I don't need it to. It cost £50. You can get extra batteries for it. The charger turns itself off after charging which is a good plus as well. It's an 'own brand' B&Q. Thanks Chris, I assume your talking about this item: http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/produc...RODID=18 5962 Unfortunataly although it is still on the website it is now discontinued by B&Q - I have spoken to 1/2 a dozen B&Q stores and head office :( They might still have some at Ipswich (there was certainly more than one there when I bough mine a week or two ago). The one on the web site looks exactly like mine but claims to have "automatic chain lubricant". Mine just has a little sqeezy bottle of oil that you squirt on it at intervals. -- Chris Green |
Franz Heymann wrote:
"Mike Lyle" wrote [...] Having had the full ATB training course on chain saws, I'm horrified by what I see. Poor maintenance (or none), insufficient protective gear (or none), clumsy technique (or none). I seriously think there should be a licence to drive one of those things. I agree on the reciprocating saw; but on the other hand, a bow saw with a brand new blade is good enough for _most_ gardeners: what does it matter if it takes five minutes to cut through a branch instead of thirty seconds? If one needs a rest and a cup of tea half-way, well, why not? The trouble with bow saws is that the bow always seems to get in the way. Yes. Of course, one of those "triangular" frames will often let you in. Second, and this applies to chainsaws as well (in spades), inconvenient side branches need to be lopped away before one tackles the main job. This preliminary cleaning is as much for safety as for convenience; but it saves stress and effort, and quite often time too for the job as a whole. What you do about the awkward situation which always seems to crop up, where you find there just isn't a comfortable working position, I don't think the wit of man will ever discover. Patience helps! By the way, I did a nice little activity in the local school once. A slice of tree can photocopy very clearly, and after a few activities about trees in general, I issued a sheet to each child showing the rings of an ash I'd cut that morning: they then worked out the age of the tree, identified the sunny side and compass points, and marked the rings for significant dates such as their families' birth years. Good fun. Mike. |
Nick Maclaren wrote ".......Even for someone in fairly poor shape, 5
minutes with a bow saw is quite a branch! c. 9" diameter apple or c. 6" diameter hawthorn, I would reckon. Of course, I use a 30" bow saw with a blade in decent condition .." Two of us were able to cut through 9 inch oak branches, 1 of us at each end of the saw, in less than 20 seconds. If you use a 30inch bow saw with a Sandvik blade there is very little that you wont be able to cut easily. It's not worth the saving buying low cost blades. -- David Hill Abacus nurseries www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk |
In uk.d-i-y Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article , Richard wrote: It took me 2 days to reduce approx 12 Lawson Cypress that were possibly planted in 1953 from above almost ridge height of a two storey house to approx 10' in height. This included cutting the bits up to fit my trailer (8' x 4') and taking it to the tip (5 mile round trip). The trunks are approx 14" diameter at the thickest (not where I cut them!). To do this I used a 20 or 22" bow saw with a new green wood blade. My bigger bow saw was too clumsy to be effective. But I was knackered after all that and yes I really wish I had a chainsaw! That's quite impressive. However, if you include the time for setting up and maintaining a chainsaw, my suspicion is that it would have been SLOWER. After all, it CAN only reduce the cutting time, and not the other aspects. The same would not be true if you did that once a fortnight. An electric saw can be a bit quicker than petrol, as you don't need to do anything (until it gets blunt) much other than topping off the oil tank every now and then. No concerns about it starting, or ... |
"Kevin Walton" wrote in message
om... Hi all I know from a quick read that a lot of you are not keen on cordless chainsaws for a number of different reasons, but I have to say that in my experience I personally feel that they do fill a valuable gap between loppers and a Petrol / Electric chainsaw. It may be my fault, but I don't get on with a bow saw for anything bigger than say 2.5" diameter, the cordless chain saw would do 2.5" with ease and cope with 3.5". I had a cheap brand cordless chainsaw from Argos this summer and it was great - it had limitations in branch size and battery life, but it became invaluable. Unfortunately last month it died on me and the two retailers that I know stocked them (Argos & B&Q) in the UK both say they are discontinued. Does anyone know if they are still sold in the UK anywhere, or does anyone in the UK have one that is sitting around that they want to sell, or is anyone going on hols to the US and want to bring me one back for a profit? :) I've looked into this a bit, and you're right about Argos & B&Q discontinuing them. The Argos one was the Challenge Cordless Lopper (http://www.bat400.com/pics/challenge...ess-lopper.jpg) and the B&Q one was the Perfomance Power Cordless Lopper (http://www.bat400.com/pics/performan...ess-lopper.jpg) They both look similar to a Makita cordless pruner (also available from Dolmar) which has also been discontinued. (http://www.bat400.com/pics/makita-cordless-pruner.jpg) The two cheapies are clearly identical, and there are a few similarities with the Makita - check out the switch positions and the screw holes. I assume the build quality will be better on the Makita. I am beginning to wonder why they have all been discontinued. The Makita ones sometimes come up on ebay. Take a look at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3847884448 for an auction for one of these finishing on Friday lunchtime. HTH, Al |
I wrote:
I've looked into this a bit, and you're right about Argos & B&Q discontinuing them. The Argos one was the Challenge Cordless Lopper (http://www.bat400.com/pics/challenge...ess-lopper.jpg) and the B&Q one was the Perfomance Power Cordless Lopper (http://www.bat400.com/pics/performan...ess-lopper.jpg) They both look similar to a Makita cordless pruner (also available from Dolmar) which has also been discontinued. (http://www.bat400.com/pics/makita-cordless-pruner.jpg) The two cheapies are clearly identical, and there are a few similarities with the Makita - check out the switch positions and the screw holes. I assume the build quality will be better on the Makita. I am beginning to wonder why they have all been discontinued. The Makita ones sometimes come up on ebay. Take a look at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3847884448 for an auction for one of these finishing on Friday lunchtime. I also found this one: http://www.crocus.co.uk/?ContentType...sID=2000005129 Looks like Power Devil branding but I can't tell from the pic. Al |
In article , "Al Reynolds" writes: | | I am beginning to wonder why they have all been discontinued. The | Makita ones sometimes come up on ebay. Take a look at | http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3847884448 | for an auction for one of these finishing on Friday lunchtime. At a guess, safety regulations. It is possible (even likely) that the cordless ones escaped some regulations by an accident of wording, and the loophole has been closed. Bringing them up to regulations could well be too expensive, or make them unattractive to users. I make no comment on whether such regulations are justified or not; both types are widespread. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
In uk.d-i-y Al Reynolds wrote:
Does anyone know if they are still sold in the UK anywhere, or does anyone in the UK have one that is sitting around that they want to sell, or is anyone going on hols to the US and want to bring me one back for a profit? :) I've looked into this a bit, and you're right about Argos & B&Q discontinuing them. The Argos one was the Challenge Cordless Lopper (http://www.bat400.com/pics/challenge...ess-lopper.jpg) and the B&Q one was the Perfomance Power Cordless Lopper (http://www.bat400.com/pics/performan...ess-lopper.jpg) I was lucky to buy one just a couple of weeks ago then, I'm very pleased with it so far. I'll drop in and buy a second battery soon just in case they stop stocking them (though the battery is common to a lot of tools). They both look similar to a Makita cordless pruner (also available from Dolmar) which has also been discontinued. (http://www.bat400.com/pics/makita-cordless-pruner.jpg) The major difference is that the Makita is 12 volts and the B&Q is 18 volts, I don't know about the Argos one. -- Chris Green |
In uk.d-i-y Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article , "Al Reynolds" writes: | | I am beginning to wonder why they have all been discontinued. The | Makita ones sometimes come up on ebay. Take a look at | http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3847884448 | for an auction for one of these finishing on Friday lunchtime. At a guess, safety regulations. It is possible (even likely) that the cordless ones escaped some regulations by an accident of wording, and the loophole has been closed. Bringing them up to regulations could well be too expensive, or make them unattractive to users. I make no comment on whether such regulations are justified or not; both types are widespread. I can't see anything specifically more dangerous about the cordless chainsaws when compared with an 'ordinary' mains powered one or even a petrol engined one. The cordless loppers have the 'anti kickback' cover on the nose of the blade which is pretty stupid really, you'd have to be holding the thing with only one finger for it to be able to kick back to any significant extent. It just doesn't have the power to do anything serious if you're holding it firmly. Even my mains powered (rather old) B%D chainsaw doesn't really have the oomph to kick back seriously. I suppose it *might* be that the cordless loppers don't require training for commercial use but the other ones do. Anyone can buy any sort of chainsaw for their own use. -- Chris Green |
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"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
... In article , "Al Reynolds" writes: | | I am beginning to wonder why they have all been discontinued. The | Makita ones sometimes come up on ebay. Take a look at | http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3847884448 | for an auction for one of these finishing on Friday lunchtime. At a guess, safety regulations. It is possible (even likely) that the cordless ones escaped some regulations by an accident of wording, and the loophole has been closed. Bringing them up to regulations could well be too expensive, or make them unattractive to users. This is possible. I know that the Makita was classified as a cordless pruner rather than a chainsaw, so you didn't need the same employee chainsaw certificate. See http://www.fredshed.co.uk/makitacordlesschainsaw.htm for a description. Al |
wrote in message ...
The major difference is that the Makita is 12 volts and the B&Q is 18 volts, I don't know about the Argos one. Ah yes - hadn't spotted that. Al PS Can you sharpen a chainsaw or do you replace the chain? |
In uk.d-i-y Al Reynolds wrote:
wrote in message ... The major difference is that the Makita is 12 volts and the B&Q is 18 volts, I don't know about the Argos one. Ah yes - hadn't spotted that. Al PS Can you sharpen a chainsaw or do you replace the chain? I'm lazy, I send them off for sharpening. I have three chains for my mains powered chainsaw so I can send two at a time and still have the third working. If you have patience and/or the right tools it's a fairly simple job to sharpen a chainsaw chain. -- Chris Green |
If anyone is still listening to this thread there were (at least)
three of the B&Q Cordless loppers on the shelf at our local B&Q yesterday. That's the B&Q warehouse on the East side of Ipswich. -- Chris Green |
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