Okay so I've used chainsaws both petrol and electric over the years without incident, I'm very aware of the dangers and always take care to set up, stand and balance correctly, use correctly, wear the right protection and concentrate on what I'm doing, not allowing myself to be distracted. I always cut on a trestle, never up a tree or ladder.
We are known locally as wood burners so every year we get given bits of tree and right now we've got some of a large mature ash to cut up and stack. After several hours hand-sawing the branches into 9" lengths and splitting I am left with the bits the tree surgeon didn't want; the big (2 ft wide) chunks from the trunk and branch junctions. Clearly he didn't want these because of the effort involved in splitting them!
So I've decided to go for a small chainsaw, which can deal with branches up to 6" diameter, as well as giving me a fighting chance of sorting the bigger chunks. My budget would be around £175.
Any thoughts or recommendations? Would a small petrol Stihl or Makita be capable of cutting the tough bits around branch junctions?
PS: Just read the "Affordable Chainsaw" post about 20 down from this; I can't justify £500 for a 24" or 36" saw and neither would I want one this big. As with that poster I will be cutting on the ground or a trestle only and can go at the big pieces from different directions
We are known locally as wood burners so every year we get given bits of tree and right now we've got some of a large mature ash to cut up and stack. After several hours hand-sawing the branches into 9" lengths and splitting I am left with the bits the tree surgeon didn't want; the big (2 ft wide) chunks from the trunk and branch junctions. Clearly he didn't want these because of the effort involved in splitting them!
So I've decided to go for a small chainsaw, which can deal with branches up to 6" diameter, as well as giving me a fighting chance of sorting the bigger chunks. My budget would be around £175.
Any thoughts or recommendations? Would a small petrol Stihl or Makita be capable of cutting the tough bits around branch junctions?
PS: Just read the "Affordable Chainsaw" post about 20 down from this; I can't justify £500 for a 24" or 36" saw and neither would I want one this big. As with that poster I will be cutting on the ground or a trestle only and can go at the big pieces from different directions