hi guys, does anyone know anything about cordless chainsaws ? i have been looking at 12 – 14 inch stihl and huscqvarna ? battery chainsaws. i want to use them to carry up the hills to clear a few trees blown down across some of my favourite single track. are they powerful enough for 8 – 10” diameter fallen trees, and does the battery last the stated 30 minutes ? any thoughts on the best make ?

What is the advantage over a petrol saw? Not narking, just curious why you’d want one over a petrol. Quieter for secret sawing perhaps?.

I have a Ryobi battery chainsaw for just this purpose, also a bit of occasional log sawing in my garden, and its fine.
I wanted it as its much less powerful than a petrol saw for a novice like me.

All my drills are Ryobi too, so the batteries are interchangeable

I carry a decent folding saw with me, it’s amazing what you can get through.

Interested in this too, but agree with jambo that good folding saws are amazing!

but agree with jambo that good folding saws are amazing!

what makes a good folding saw? last few I’ve had have been, well….shite.

yes, i should have said, i love my wee folding saw. and its amazing what you can manage to clear with one.. however i’m talking about stuff too big for that. a mate brought his two chain saws one day; a small 12” one and a regular one. we hauled both up the hill. could’nt get the big one to start and I was amazed at what we managed to cut with the wee one.
i thought a battery saw would be easier to start ( my previous experience with a petrol one was endless trouble getting it started ) , quieter to use ( partly for the reasons stated in the above post !) , and a bit lighter to carry up the hills.
I don’t need to clear a whole hillside by the way, just the odd troublesome tree that blocks the trail.
how big a diameter log can the ryoba deal with

I never used one of the cordless ones, but have seen the battery powered Stihls in the store.

I’m in the US, and the cordless MSA 160 C-BQ costs about the same as a similar sized mid-grade gas saw, the MS 192 C-E.

My concern about the cordless saw would be battery durability. Gas saws can be repaired and maintained and will last many years if not used frequently. But all rechargeable batteries have a lifespan, and the battery may not hold a charge at all in a number of years, even if properly maintained.

I’d go gas unless you need stealth!

Edit – the battery one looks like it is heavier, too..

😕 Sorry to be boring but don’t forget you stihl (sorry couldn’t help myself) need all the PPE no matter what power source.
Have you thought about using a wire saw with 2 people ?

If it’s just for the occasional tree, get yourself a 24″ bow saw, will cost about a tenner from a hardware store, and a big black bag and stash it at yer trails. Save a fortune, and much safer, and that’s coming from someone who has a chainsaw.

what makes a good folding saw? last few I’ve had have been, well….shite.

Bahco Laplander

Never found a bow saw to be much cop, and they’re not easy to carry, now my Silky Fox Gomtaro is a thing of joy (they also do a folder). I got a 240mm fixed blade unit, that fits in my bag:

Silky Fox Gomtaro 240mm by z1ppy2, on Flickr

In the pack by z1ppy2, on Flickr

and I can saw stuff this big or bigger with a bit of time & effort. This my old saw, I was comparing them, the Silky’s much better:

Stuff I saw.. by z1ppy2, on Flickr

Bahco Laplander is a nice folder for light work but the blade’s too small for anything bigger than branches/brashing. Do like my big bowsaw, completely impractical for bike carrying but when there’s a tree the size of henry rollins’ neck down on your trails, accept no substitute 🙂

I mostly use one of these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/190900331624?lpid=83&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=83&ff19=0

Which is surprisingly good considering the price, and stows in a normal camelbak. Handle comes loose from time to time is all, but it cuts pretty well. But i keep meaning to get a better one.

If you want something more compact that can still do a decent sized tree, consider a hand chainsaw, but they take some time to get the knack of and I broke the handles off both of mine faster than I was happy with. But on the plus side, bystanders always want a go 😉

As above, a good folder or bow saw – and get a sweat on.

Biggest I’ve cut with the ryobi is 7″

A folding saw is a lot less likely to chop your arm/leg off than a chain saw.

I also thought more powerful chainsaws were safer as they are less likely to snag?

Be careful!

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiBm3FwQ6_U[/video]

I have a Ryobi battery chainsaw for just this purpose, also a bit of occasional log sawing in my garden, and its fine.

Plus 1 – Good bit of kit

+1 for a Silky.
You’d be surprised what you can get through.
Mine’s a folding F180 model and is pretty good, but obviously the longer the better if you’re standing on the ground.

They trialled a couple of battery saws in one of our areas and they weren’t very impressed with them. Lacked power but that is coming from a petrol saw also the battery never lasted the full 30 minutes even from new. Plus don’t drop them in water they don’t like it 😉

I use a Silky for a lot of small stuff.

Pjm compared to what ?

Ive tried a couple of battery saws – makita and ryobi and both felt like i was using a turkey carver as oppose a chain saw was just no power when compared to even the small stihl we used to have of my neighbours makita wired electric saw.

Im thinking about a wired saw for my self for hacking

After a few uses a battery chain saw will only be as good as you’re chain sharpening ability, and that is a dark art!

The trails you want to clear, are they yours?
Think about PL insurance and land owners permissions if not.
Contact a local ranger and ask them to do it. They’ll likely have volunteer groups out all the time willing to get stuck in.
Tim

(oh, Stihl 150t keeps talking to me. Cute little top handled belter!)

hi tim, we are in northern ireland, i have been mountain biking in 3 local areas for the past 25 years. we are delighted with some really good purpose built trails just built. however i still enjoy the old natural ones and try to upkeep them .
the rangers or forestry workers are very scarce on the ground around here. a well used boundary path in castlewellan had been blocked for about 3 years despite many requests to the forestry park. a few people went in with chainsaws and cleared it in a few hours !
i take an hour or two , now and again to clear small trees etc. i don’t really envisage a lot of chainsawing, and i am respectful of their power and potential danger . at present i use a good folding saw, and as said above, it is amazing what it can cope with, however, i just thought a small cordless chainsaw could help with the occasional bigger trunk. thanks very much for the all the feedback. it looks as if i should get a new blade for the bandsaw !

I love that re-seating vid – stubborn bastid tree.

Bit silly strutting about with the engine running, though…

Bit silly strutting about with the engine running, though…

He didn’t give it much of a wide berth either. My main concern would be the saw getting caught when the tree flipped yanking it out of your hands…

He didn’t give it much of a wide berth either

That, too. My testicles started to crawl upwards…

For the OP – a silky will handle most situations and is a very light carry. Battery saws are continually improving, but require a fair investment. As a rough comparison, our commercial saws give about 45 minutes of running time on a tank (because you’re not flat-out the whole time). Ultimately, saw cutting performance is down to your ability to keep it sharp. A chainsaw is far easier to blunt than a silky.

Separating root plates is one of the more interesting jobs, scale it up to multiple stems on a windblown edge with compression and tension all over the place and it gets pretty exciting.
Root plates are great for hiding stuff under, never to be retrieved, like the boss’ lunch, or a carcass. Equally good are the ones full of water that can send a tidal wave.

If you definitely want something powered, a DeWalt reciprocating saw is excellent – with a couple of batteries, I was getting a couple of hours when cutting a very overgrown beech hedge earlier this year.

Fair enough OP.
I like the look of the Bosch Li-Ion one but it’s v. pricey.
http://www.bosch-garden.com/gb/en/garden-tools/garden-tools/ake-30-li-3165140559393-199952.jsp

I used to love clearing windblown sites, probably one of the most technical jobs to do and it makes a great nose when the root plates go back down,like timber says can be exciting. Warning boring bit, please don’t use power saws without PPE though.
Quite fancy a lecy saw for sneaky clearing though.

I think if I had a chainsaw, I might be tempted to go and clear the fallen trees on the alistair lees, and I would absolutely, definitely be killed.

what makes a good folding saw? last few I’ve had have been, well….shite.

TBH, I just buy whatever’s cheapest at my local (astronomically priced, French) DIY shop!

I’ve always found them to be brilliant. Will get through stuff up to maybe 4″ diameter in seconds and have used mine to cut through big fallen trees with diameters bigger than the length of the blade (although that takes some persistance!).

The thing to remember is:

Accidents with chainsaws are seldom trivial

My suggestion is to see what you can get done with a bow saw (with a new blade in it) first.

so – thanks for all the advice, i bought a greenwood blade off ebay for a 24″ bow saw. and this update is just to say how brilliant it is. it is amazing what you can get thro with just a bow saw. most of the fallen trees were soft wood conifers, so easy to saw. in only a few hours we have cleared a lot of good old trails that otherwise were unridable and would have become overgrown. after seeing how erratic i am with a bow saw when tired, I’m glad i didn’t have a chainsaw in my hands, limb amputation comes to mind !