I bought one of these of ebay, the CS-48 Professional. At £37.50 it was no where near the cheapest, I live buy the logic "buy cheap, buy twice". Anyway, despite me smiling at Verity very nicely, she let me have the first couple of turns. I tried it on a couple of wild cherry branches over hanging my lawn at home. This was the main reason for purchasing, we are trying to sell our house at the moment and it makes the garden look much bigger and maneageable, I digress. Branches were 6 - 7" in dia and not too high up, sawing was quite easy, and damn good exercise until the weight of the branch inevitably trapped the saw, luckily I had undercut a bit and could reach the now drooping branches and pull them down.
The clip that holds the throwing weight is far too flimsy and came apart the first time it got snagged and the ropes that attach to the chain are held together with a small steel crimp, one of which has come undone. Both of these are repairable, but it would have been a huge pain if I had been working higher up. On the whole I wouldn't recommend this particular saw due to it's high cost and penny pinching manufacture.
I will repair it and have another go, if anybody has any tips about not trapping the blade it would help.
Finally if anybody would like to buy an eight bedroom former B and B in open countryside in the Norfolk Broads with a huge garden and 300ish trees, let me know. I will throw in a high reach ladder and a bow saw.
Dave
