British BBQ Society Forums

After several years of pleading, Mrs G says I can buy a small chainsaw. Woohoo! Partly because we have a small tree in our garden that needs chopping down I think.....

So I just wanted to see if anyone could advise on what to look out for / avoid. Any disadvantage to buying as cheap as possible, if all I'm using it for is sawing chunks of wood from logs? Any advantage / disadvantage to petrol over electric? Electric is cheaper - is it powerful enough?

To be honest it all depends on how much use and more importantly how well you will treat it. I use Stihl for all of my garden maintenance stuff and my 025 is still going with the years of being abused and putting in some serious hours. I would suggest buying quality and buying once in this instance.

I was worried that might be the case. I will be using it a fair bit, albeit only for cutting firewood (is it ok to oil them with cooking oil?). Stihl do seem to have a good rep, so I might save up for one, and in the meantime there is a local hire place that hires them for £12 a day so I might rent one to cut my current stocks. I've been struggling with a manual saw (I seem to have some sort of disability when it comes to sawing) or my jigsaw! Thanks for the advice.

If you buy a Stihl, buy from a reputable dealer. Believe it or not, there are fakes in the market!

Rob, you might be better off hiring one.

I bought a cheapish McCulloch once, then couldn't get any replacement chains. So had to scrap it.
I currently have a Stihl 181 with a 16" bar. That will cost at least a couple of hundred quid. That is not an investment for just a small tree.
Aris is right to say go to a proper dealer, although I didn't know there were fakes around, (except on ebay), but my dealer maintains the saw, and takes the p!$$ when I turn up with blunt chains. But he still resharpens them twice before throwing..
I do know of a person that uses cooking oil, gets through more chains than I do....
Best to use proper chain oil and plane off the contaminated wood ASAP.
As Toby said, if you really want one, spend the money and get a decent one.
Good luck.
Derek.

Check this out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf-unuPGifM

Nice one Aris.
Fair comment, cant argue with that one.

Derek.

Thanks Aris - I certainly won't buy a second hand Stihl then! There are a couple of authorised Stihl dealers in Sheffield, so I'll go get some prices.

I think I will rent one for the day to deal with my current stock of wood, and cut down this tree, then when I have some spare cash I'll fork out for a small electric one.

Has to be said there is a little part of me that is disappointed to get an electric one, 2 stroke motors are just so fun!

I had a one-off tree job to do some years ago - bought a cheap electic one or £40 or so. Did the job, used it a few more times since - has paid or itself. If I were to do such work often, I'd get a Stihl or Husqvarna.

More info on Stihl fakes

http://www.stihl.co.uk/stihl-warns-abou ... tions.aspx

Only advice I can give is
a) use chain saw oil it is especially formulated to stay on and in top condition through the high speed & rough usage, hopefully you wouldn't fry chips in it as that's not what it's designed for.
b) Be careful, whilst Tiny's feckitty feck dance is designed for hot coals which seldom remove body parts, I wouldn't want you to invent new steps for it (assuming you leave your legs intact )
Husqvarna do a really great chain saw oil, it may not be the cheapest but it was one of the best.