Chainsaw confusion

[James M]

I'll get lynched for suggesting this because I get lynched wherever I suggest it, but I bought a Zomax off ebay for £35 2nd hand, they are only £95 new. I have abused it terribly and it's still going strong after who knows how many days and months of heavy use, it's got all the features of the expensive ones and spares are cheap - including replacement engines, it has 18 inch bar which is plenty big enough for me. And thats with veg oil instead of chain oil (cue another lynching).

You'll quickly end up spending more on chains, bars and sprockets than you did on the original saw. If mine ever blows up I'll just buy another for £95. Mind you, I'm not felling monster trees 8 hours a day every day. A foot at the base is what I'm mostly felling.

For a brush cutter I have a long handled Ryobi petrol strimmer with a brush cutter attachment blade, wicked thing but works on anything from heather, stunted trees to bracken. You can also get a mini chainsaw attachment for it which is VERY handy indeed for getting into gorse and dense lower branches. Non ryobi attachements fit it as well. The strimmer heads not very good though, so I use the brush cutter blade for everything.

[RichardKing]

See what you mean. Looked on Ebay, amazing.

They have the advantage of low production costs & just being able to copy or buy in the technology, without having to design & invent from scratch.

Dont know where it will all end !

[James M]

Actually, I had a look as well, it's not a Zomax but it's whatever the other brand name is for them now, and the price is down to £79.99 and the chap is apologising for having put his prices up recently!

£12 for a new piston, £4 for a new clutch, £25 for new bar and chain, £8 for a whole new carb! - can't grumble at that for most purposes. A chainsaw you can afford to have break down!

[Exeldama]

Thats really interesting. Im tempted to get that funny cheaper one. I havent the money to invest in something pricey whilst im starting out. Besides i havent loads to do.

Mainly logging fallen wood and some selective thinning of wee trees no0more than 6".

I am tempted to get a decent brush cutter though... are the Stihl fs400 ones as good as everyone seems to say and are they worth getting ex-council...i would have thought they were really bashed about. How much to pay.

[Darren]

I brought a Spear & Jackson brush cutter from Argos(about £80), I only use it for a few hours a year mainly to clear the rides. Starts easily.

[DaveTaz]

Husqvarna and Stihl are with out doubt the the best saws you can get, but they come at a price. My suggestion is to set yourself a budget and see which saws fit in to your price bracket, then see which of these will do the job you want it to do!

Personally, having used chainsaws for 24 years, I'd only ever go for a Husky or Stihl.

Another consideration is to locate your nearest dealers, quite often people buy from them what ever it is.

My local dealer was Husky (www.chainsawspecialist.co.uk) and they were fab at sorting out any issues, spares, etc. Look on the Arbtalk forum and you will see most pro users in the arboriculture world only seem to use Stihl!

In my experience you get what you pay for.

I used to have a landscape business which I started 15 years ago, spent £2250 on Husky machines back then (mower, brush-cutter, hedge cutter, chainsaw, leaf-blower). Still got hem all and all still going strong

[Ian in Northampton]

Chainsaws are cracking bits of kit and very adaptable - but if you are mostly felling 6" or less you might want to consider a bowsaw with a decent raker blade for felling and a hand axe for snedding/delimbing. Takes a little longer, doesn't need £250 or more in PPE and is immensely satisfying!

Cheap and cheerful saws are all very well - I'd suggest that however cheap the saw you still need pucker PPE which is fairly costly. A good course is also recommended and will cost the best part of £500 for a 4 or 5 day CS30/31

I mostly use a Sthil MS260 - with a 15" bar I can take down anything up to 30" - but for the small stuff I often revert to the bow saw or even a nice sharp pruning saw.

re James's comment about veg oil - most chain oil is mineral based and is a pollutant - far from ideal in woodlands especially if conservation is one of your objectives. I don't touch the stuff but use a plantoil chain oil (www.plantoil.co.uk). If straight veg oil works for you why not? It will break down in the soil a lot better than a mineral oil will!

Cheers

Ian

[tracy]

Nice to meet you Ian!

I totally agree about the PPE, last winter I snagged on a twig and my saw bounced into my trousers. My own mistake, standing too near, didn't rev hard enough for the twig I was after.... but still would have really damaged my leg. Felt really stupid and embarrassed and cross-- new trousers are expensive - but so thankful too!

[John H]

My Youtube link above shows how quickly it happens if you touch your leg with a chainsaw, luckily he had his PPE on.

[greyman]

Having played the "I can do it with out PPE" card many years ago I can show you the scars - and believe it or not I did it twice to boot! First time I was up on the hills felling a hollow ash and snicked my trousers on the over run and the second was stepping backward over some sawn logs with the chain too loose and on run down - I was luck most aren't. I have two nice sets of stitch marks on the top of my left kneecap.

PPE is worth the extra cost - and no heroics with buying top handled chain saws 'cos they look cool and you can use them with one hand - they even kill professionals