Thread: Battery chainsaws

I have Milwauke with 16" bar. Bloody impressive. Also have late model Stihl (Petrol) which has sat still on the bench ever since! with the big battery its no lightweight and you do need muffs as its runs at about 100Db .But the enjoyable thing is that it is silent once its finished the cut & only needs the trigger to go again.

I got a toolshed brand just because I have that drill and driver. The 18v batteries fit their chainsaw. Takes 2 batteries. Had it a couple of years with no problems. Saw was about 180.00 and already had batteries. Can cut up about 4 x pallets for firewood before going flat. Good for garden pruning but not the sort of tool to cut down a pine tree.

I’ve also got a Stihl MSA200. In fact I have two.
I love it, awesome saw, battery seems to last forever. Chain saws aren’t popular in our neighbourhood, so aside from not mucking around with mixing fuel and cursing because it won’t start. Subtle tree trimming is very easy and no neighbours need be concerned ��

I’d happily sell the second one if anyone wants one. It’s practically brand new. You’d be hard pressed to know it’s been used.
I bought it used for a very good price to get a weed eater leaf blower and 2 batteries, someone was selling as a set.
If anyone’s interest me know.

Using a Stihl MSA220 for work, nice to use. Need 3 batteries to get me to the afternoon though.

+1 for the Stihl. Not mine, but spent a fair bit of time behind one. On pine the same diameter as the bar (14"?) get about 13-15 rings cut on one charge, then 40ish mins to charge, which allows enough time to move and split what you've just cut... maybe even enough time for a cuppa or a cold one too if you're handy on the axe.

The chain chatters a bit on the thicker stuff, which - the pros might know better - I think it's the small guage chain not clearing the chips fast enough? Just ease pressure off and it's away again.

Two batts would be ideal if it's for work, but ones good enough if not. I think the saw is about 4 years old and no problems at all with a decent amount of use. Def hard to go back to a petrol saw for small stuff.

Originally Posted by yeah_na_missed

+1 for the Stihl. Not mine, but spent a fair bit of time behind one. On pine the same diameter as the bar (14"?) get about 13-15 rings cut on one charge, then 40ish mins to charge, which allows enough time to move and split what you've just cut... maybe even enough time for a cuppa or a cold one too if you're handy on the axe.

The chain chatters a bit on the thicker stuff, which - the pros might know better - I think it's the small guage chain not clearing the chips fast enough? Just ease pressure off and it's away again.

Two batts would be ideal if it's for work, but ones good enough if not. I think the saw is about 4 years old and no problems at all with a decent amount of use. Def hard to go back to a petrol saw for small stuff.

You mention “ chatter” in the cut

Here’s a 592 with the rakers taken down too far

You can really hear it as he settles into the second cut

With the rakers filed down the teeth are biting off more fibre than they can clear through their gullet

“ chatter” also occurs when you have uneven length/angles on the cutting teeth so some teeth are taking more material than others

When cutting ——smooth is fast!!!

Last point…….. a lower powered saw accentuates any chain sharpening inaccuracy’s

https://youtube.com/shorts/yq9xUAuNkbw?feature=share

Originally Posted by 7mmsaum

You mention “ chatter” in the cut

Here’s a 592 with the rakers taken down too far

You can really hear it as he settles into the second cut

With the rakers filed down the teeth are biting off more fibre than they can clear through their gullet

“ chatter” also occurs when you have uneven length/angles on the cutting teeth so some teeth are taking more material than others

When cutting ——smooth is fast!!!

Last point…….. a lower powered saw accentuates any chain sharpening inaccuracy’s

https://youtube.com/shorts/yq9xUAuNkbw?feature=share

Thanks for this! Good to know, will have a look next time I'm behind it.

At risk of derailing the thread (sorry OP) but I've been taught run the back cut an inch or so higher than the scarf, creating a back-stop to prevent the trunk sliding off the back of the stump, but noticed this guy hasn't done that, but was just dropping a clear trunk. Is that still best-practise, or does it depend a bit on the situation.

get on utube and watch buckin billy ray....... hilarious but man he knows his shit when it comes to dropping a tree with precision.

I suspect with those guys that the exhaust on that saw might have had some work done too - seems to be the fashion in those parts. You're very right though re rakers and uneven teeth though, the numbers of chains I've seen that are almost new on the left side and below half on the right or vice versa is quite amazing - some of them fresh back from a shop grinder sharpen too! Bloody near impossible to get them to cut right like that, but take the high side back to where the low side is and reset the angles and raker heights and back cutting again. A lot of people reject the chains like that, but it doesn't take much work to reset the angles and lengths and get them going again. I had a ripping chain with 10deg top plates that had been burred a while back, elected to file it back to a standard crosscut as it took the least off the cutters. That wasn't much more work than sharpening a standard chain.

I think you can get away with a few angles off spec from what is 'right' provided the cutters are sharp and everything is equal, more so than if the lengths and raker heights are on the piss. Also, it seems that you need a few rings cut after a fresh sharpen before the chain settles back down again and works it's way back to being dull and needing a tickle up. I suspect on a fresh sharpen the teeth are biting a bit hard and then bouncing same as with the uneven raker heights, and it settles down after a few runs through timber.

a different battery will tell yo ustraight away if its your battery...

well......I learnt something new on that one..if pushing tree with digger etc you go BELOW the scarf so digger has something to push on..but you are correct,what you leave is called hindge wood. you DONT cut right through.

That distance between the scaff and back cut is very handy in controlling the direction of fall as well as stopping the base from kicking back towards you or any structure

I've used a hired Stihl battery chainsaw 3 years ago
.Was brilliant cutting 150 to 300mm pine h4 posts for house subfloor- having watched the vid Zimmer posted- and being an Ego mower owner and being amazed by that performance- I'd be going Ego chainsaw- I walk past them at the shop daily and am awaiting a time I need one

I have used a few.
Just for smaller occasional jobs the bigger ozito double battery one is hard to beat. Under $400 with batteries and will cut logs far bigger than it's bar length. Best thing is the 5 year replacement warranty. Battery life isn't super but a twin pack of 4ah batteries is only just over 100 bucks.

For anything that is getting used quite regularly it is hard to go past the Stihl saws. The company I used to work for had a couple and they done us well.
Haven't tried the Husqvarna ones.

Same. I have an Ozito twin battery at home and use Stihl at work. The Stihl is undoubtably the better saw but then the Ozito was about $200 for the skin. It has done a fair bit of work on firewood and around home and as @TLB said, the 5 year warranty is pretty good.