OT - Electric Chainsaws Any Good?

Never fear, those two should line up pretty soon. :)

Chris

That most likely comes from German consumer laws. Put Sears over there with their "6 maximum developed horsepower" shop-vac and see how long it is before they are heavily fined"

Chris

Mine works fine as long as I stay within power cord range. It also goes on a pole and makes a bonzer pole saw. Got it from HF. Bugs

Electric chainsaws work just fine but they are not built as tou gh as gas ones. My Remington 16in has stripped out a plastic gear twice, ($14) and broken another part($10). I wouldn't buy another Remington. Local Sears has a 16" for 60 bucks on sale right now.Looks to be made of better materials I cut some pretty big logs with that other one both fresh and dry and it never bogged down, Just finally broke.

Talked to a Sthil dealer yesterday who mentioned the electrics have a narrower blade and are more prone to breakage unless only light cuts are made. Is that the case with the 220Q?? Was also wondering what type of sawing you did with it.

Laurie Forbes

what your dealer said is not true. I use the saw to cut large bowl blanks out of "urban lumber" - e.g. tree stumps/trunks - so if I find a 36 inch diamter trunk, I'll cut a 36 inch length of it, and then split it lengthwise. I've had no trouble cutting full bar length with this saw. In doing research for it, I found a lumber company that uses them - they bring a portable generator to the job site and use the electric saws - they say it greatly reduces fatigue and noise and pollution, and that the saws last longer, etc.

It is certainly true that the $40 electric chain saws are not good for much except cutting 3 inch branches - as I noted before, I went through a full dozen of them, each replaced by OSH under warranty before I said "this is obviously not working out, let's just call it quits" and bought the Sthil - I tried both of the electric Sthils (180 and 220) - the 220 had better features, and a higher price - having gone through a dozen cheapies, I decided to splurge. I think it was the right decision.

Interesting.

Excellent - someone also mentioned the advantage of being able to use it in the basement (haul a log inside during winter and cut it up indoors) :)

Thanks...........

Laurie Forbes

I wouldn't be without one. For limbs under 6" it works just fine, and you don't have to mess with fuel, and you can start and stop as needed. It's also a good bit quieter. For $40 how can you go wrong?

- - Rex Burkheimer Fort Worth TX

Laurie Forbes wrote:

They are also handy for trimmng the bottom of a Christmas tree in your living room...though I use my Sawzall

Gunner

That long? I bought a Remington electric to use around the house because my Husqvarna is very loud. Within an hour the plastic studs that connect the housings in the chain area began to split. It still works due to a lot of patching but I'll never buy another one like it. I've found that I can file a bow saw to cut about as fast as an electric chain saw and much faster than a recip saw, even with a pruning blade. The bow saw pushes small branches down against the sawbuck instead of grabbing and lifting them like a chain saw.

A 4x6" metalcutting bandsaw with a 6-8 pitch blade at the highest speed isn't too bad for cutting firewood up to ~6". It doesn't cut terribly fast but you can work the saw with one hand and feed in a long trunk with the other hand more easily than with a chainsaw.

jw

. A little plug-in Remington won't do much work, and

I bought a 12" Remington in '85 to take down a poplar in the yard. The original chain plus two others yard sale chains are pretty much worn out by most of my neighbours so a couple years ago I invested in a new one for 12 bucks. I figure I saved over $100 by buying it in the first place and still have the tool when needed. If I lived in the country, or heated with wood, it would be totally inadequate, but for the average city dweller, it is the way to go. Gerry :-)} London, Canada