quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
About 3/4 of chainsaw maintenance is bar/chain, and electric won’t let you escape that.

Absolutely.

I regularly touch up my chains with a Timberline sharpener. Assuming I haven't hit a rock, buried the bar in old dirty wood, or bounced the tip off the ground -- generally sharpen every other tank for gas saws and every other battery for the Ego. Which means with just about daily use. Keeping the rakers at the correct height is important, too.

Battery saws require more attention to the chain, as they just don't have a gas engine's torque to power through wood with a dull chain. Ego (and others) try to mitigate a battery saw's lower power by using narrow kerf chains, which reduces the amount of wood the saw must remove with each cut.

The type of wood also affects cutting. Live softwood trees are generally easy to cut. Old & dry hardwood doesn't cut so quickly. Old pine wood with crystalized sap is a chore. A sharp chain is really important for tough wood.

When I bugger up a chain by hitting a rock or when I can no longer keep the chain cutting straight via my own sharpening, the chain goes to a professional to properly grind the teeth.

I lost a lot of live oak limbs during the last freeze. This wasn't a logging operation, but the Ego chainsaw handled this just fine. It took just over 1 4amp hour battery charge to cut this pile. Still like my Stihls, and used my gas pole saw quite a bit for the high stuff. If you don't have a saw for around the house, this one works pretty well.