Had a wood burning stove installed a few weeks ago and am slowly building up my stock for the winter.

We have a tree in the garden that will be coming down this year and then want chopping up. We know a man who’ll cut it down and i can take care of cutting it up. I can also get wood from work that needs chopping to length/size and thought a chain saw would be what i’d need.

I’m thinking battery or petrol as i can also get wood from a farm but theres no plug sockets in the middle of their wood.

Not wanting anything too big so what would people recommend?

smallest petrol stihl

To be fair the stuff you cut down now probably won’t be for this winter but the one after. What’s the wood from work? Burning proper crap is just asking for trouble.

I have a petrol husqvarna. I think as a rank amateur (I include myself in this) you don’t want to be tackling anything much thicker than the bar length of the saw. It is possible but it should not be your first job you ever tackle!

Usual H&S caveat – chainsaws are potentially scary. I have access to some full on kit (table saws, planer thicknesses, plasma cutters, big routers etc) and I still think the chainsaw is the one that has me most concerned. Mainly because of the unpredictability of the stuff you will use it on. Safety gear is a must too. A course is not a bad plan and some brands (stihl) won’t sell to you unless you have a ticket.

It might be a baby electric jobbie is all you need to keep on top of your freebie wood and get someone else to chop up the tree.

+1 though remember it’s easier to use a larger more powerful saw for small jobs than a small saw on big ones.

And + lots on PPE and a bit of training. Local 1-day basic chainsaw use course was well worth it IMO.

The trees for next year at the earliest.

We get a fair bit of good clean timber brought in to work for disposal and its a case of getting that to size at the moment. We also get “green waste” in from some tree cutting people that includes branches.

All good on the PPE front, i’m HSE at work so look after all that anyway.

Just weary of how nasty these things can be.

All good on the PPE front, i’m HSE at work so look after all that anyway.

Chainsaw trousers? They are the big one for me in addition to the face guard/helmet. My sister in law had a boyfriend who was a tree surgeon. He hit a hidden nail buried in a tree and the saw bounced back into his face. He was never going to win any beauty contests after that.

Re the good clean timber – softwood or hardwood? Too much softwood is bad news for resin in the chimney reasons.

smallest petrol stihl

This.

From my limited experience you won’t be able to cut logs small enough with a chainsaw to fit in your stove so you’ll need a log splitter as well.

That depends on what he’s starting with: clean timber and green waste may be quite thin already. Maul and a tyre works well for splitting when necessary. Also my eBay saw horse has got a lot of admiring looks from passers-by when they see how efficient it makes the job!

We’ve got a Husky 135 which I think is one of their ‘occasional user’ models – we use it for coppicing and suchlike and the only problem we’ve had in a few years is the chain brake spring snapping but that’s an easy fix. PPE to the max though, and don’t ever be tempted to reach/cling/climb/balance/talk/look away while you’re using it.

Oh, and chain sharpening I think has overtaken wheel truing as my favourite cathartic ‘chore’. So satisfying when a newly sharpened chain cuts through a limb like butter when 10 minutes before it was a gnarly chewing smoking mess.

The clean timber is a mix of both though i’m keen not to start blocking things up with resins. Its untreated and not painted either.

Been looking at all the PPE for the last few days. We have hats, face shields and ear defenders at work.

Thanks for the hint about the log splitter

Edit:- trousers are noted as is the paying attention when using. Just looking for local training course now

On the chain sharpening thing, if you’d rather not bother then check out Oregon’s Power Sharp system – it’s a different tooth profile that you sharpen by fixing a grind stone to the bar then runnign the saw for a few seconds. I doubt it’d get much love from the pros but it’s probably better than the average DIY sharpened chain.

No amount of protective clothing can guard against lack of attention; using a chainsaw you have even less margin for error than when driving so you can’t afford to let your mind wander for a second. I know when I’m tired because I start making small mistakes. On top of that you need a good understanding of the principles and the dos and don’ts.

For the average wood burner owner a 14″ hobby saw is probably sufficient unless you plan to cut down a lot of mature trees. It’s not a fashionable brand but I bought a 35cc Ryobi with a 14″ bar and it’s perfectly adequate for cutting up branches and can even cope with trunks wider than 14″.

As somebody else wrote above a mawl (or maul) with a hickory handle is your next best friend as it does a superb job at splitting.

We tried burning larch, which was a mistake as we got a lot of tar dribbling back down the flue so now we stick to hardwoods only.

Yes softwoods contain more sap/resin/terpenes but if dried to below 20% MC they create no more creosote then hardwood. Dry it and burn it properly.

Stihl ms180

Oh and fiskars x27. [Thread closed]

You call fell some pretty big trees with a 14inch bar.
Maximum attention and respect are required, learn how a chain brake works before using one.

Another vote for the Stihl ms180 or ms181

Much better than the smaller 170.

I have a ms251cbe with an 18″ blade and it’s brilliant.

I also have a big 92cc MS660 with a 25″ bar.

By crikes it’s heavy!