I have had Stihl and Husqvarne and would recommend both, I used the Husky alot when I lived up in the hills of Colorado and used the smaller lighter Stihl for cleanup. With the right fuel/oil I never had an issue

Stihl and Husqvarna are great saws. The Echo saws are also good. The EGo battery saws are really awesome for light/moderate use. Stay away from the Craftsman.

Recently had an oak tree go down in a storm. Tree about 12-14 in diameter, on my property close to neighbors line (no fence). I remark to him that I'm going to cut it up and haul off. He says he will help. I walk to my garage, gas up the old Stihl, fill the oil tank, and got it started. Gather up my safety glasses, ear plugs, etc and out to the tree. Neighbor has it already cut up into 24" pieces. I make a couple of cuts on a few of the larger chunks and I'm through. Neighbor has a DeWalt electric chain saw and it worked great. He swears by it and uses it frequently.

I am no professional but I have been maintaining my own properties for nearly 50 years. I have 20 acres of hardwoods in the UP of Michigan and about 5 in Ohio. Over the years I've thought I was saving money by buying inexpensive saws, Poulan, in particular. My usage is is heavy enough that I've killed 3 or 4 Poulan saws. I finally saw the light about 15 years ago and bought a Stihl 290, a fair size homeowner saw nicknamed "Farm Boss." It is mostly used for bigger jobs and cutting lots of firewood. I also bought a Stihl 170 for limbing and cleanup and it is the saw I use most often.

For the OP's purposes, I think the Stihl MS-170 16" would be adequate. Like others have suggested, using ethanol free gas and quality brand (Stihl) oil is recommended. Wearing safety equipment is also best practice. Except for quick obstacle removal when SXS trail riding I always wear chaps and a helmet with a face screen. Stihl dealers often have package deals and sales.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
So while he never let me use the Stihl, we dropped a lot of trees, so I know enough to know they almost never fall the way you want them to, because he and I weren't professionals. We took to tying rope around them and getting a pull on them with either the tractor, the ATV, or me just by hand using another tree as a pulley where we could to try and direct the fall, and even then, you can do all that and notch them correctly and still just never know when they're going to kick out funny.

There's both an art and science to felling trees. The best laid plans don't always produce the intended results, but with proper technique the odds of safe felling are substantially increased. I don't normally take progress pictures of the cutting process, but here's a 20" diameter 65' tall tree from last September. First, the notch, or face cut. I'm not a production cutter, so I don't need to salvage the greatest amount of board feet from a tree. I face cut fairly high, and I use a traditional notch -- not the upward-angling humbolt notch.



Then the back cut. I place wedges in the cut for two primary reasons.
1 -- So the tree doesn't sit back and pinch the bar. This was a very windy day, and if the wind changes to the wrong direction, even a tree leaning towards the face cut can pinch the saw.
2 -- You want to leave a "hinge" to control the tree's fall. Also known as "holding wood". You absolutely do not want to cut the hinge. If the tree doesn't fall on its own as the size of the hinge decreases, pounding wedges into the tree will push it over.



Yeehaw, the tree is down. Due to the heavy branch load on many of our mature ponderosa pines, they often bounce and roll when they land. Even on flat ground, as with this tree -- the butt bounced pretty hard to the right after landing. But it initially landed exactly where I was aiming. I could have put a stake 50 feet away from the base of the tree, and driven it into the ground with the trunk.


The stump shows the end result of the cuts. The left side 1/3 is where the notch was. The right side 1/2 is the back cut -- where the wedges were placed. The broken middle section was the holding wood. This holding wood hinge controls the direction of the fall. A good hinge is 90 degrees to the direction of the fall, and even in thickness. Dead wood is more brittle than live wood, and thus with this tree the hinge is around 3" thick. On a live and healthy tree of similar size, the hinge might be in the 1-2 inch ballpark.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
I have maybe a fifteen foot sweet acacia that's more gnarled branches than anything else, I'm going to have to take it apart by the limbs first, and then end up just sawing what's left of the trunk down. The first crotch is about five foot off the ground, so that one should be really easy (famous last words lol). May even be a good case for an electric pole saw.

The palms I need to take down are 20', give or take a couple feet.

Yeah, these are small trees. You don't need or want a large and powerful saw. A battery-powered saw will work. Just remember than even small trees -- cut improperly -- can mess you up.

Youtubers -- there's a video called the "world's best tree falling guide" or similar from the guys at guilty of treeson. Bigger trees than you have, and ways of felling you don't need to know. But the concepts are sound. The sawyers are arborists, with respectable skills. Understand that one of the guys (Jeb, IIRC) was killed last year by a widow maker branch, so even the good cutters experience bad things.

Bjarne Butler is a decent production faller out of Vancouver Island. He makes decent videos. Falls some very large and sketchy trees on steep mountainsides.

I would buy a Stihl because they have the best dealer network. You will eventually need a repair or parts and having a good dealer makes a difference.

Here's a tree that fell exactly where it had to go. The picture doesn't show the whole story -- of how there were many other trees surrounding the beetle kill. Trying to fall this one in any other direction would have resulted in a hung-up tree. And it would have really been a pain in the ass pulling it down with a truck or tractor.

I figured this tree had to fall within a foot of my aim point. As planned, it lightly brushed the branches of the live tree on the left, then lightly brushed the branches of the live tree on the right. Then a bullseye landing. 15 inch diameter, 50 feet tall. I took my time on the felling cuts, and they were almost perfect.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:

quote:

Originally posted by armme:
Not sure what "screw around" with the battery one means.

Well, let me speak plainly: It means I'm biased, based on nothing other than my own supposition. I have an electric leaf blower that's a total joke, and a two stroke Ryobi jet fan I bought back when I was drinking because it seemed like the thing to do, and it has been beyond impressive. I figured a chainsaw would be comparable, but I didn't factor in that a saw is not a leaf blower: critical error on my part. This is why I ask Sigforum things.

Project Farm compared electric chainsaws vs a Stihl gas. Some cuts the DeWalt and Makita cut through wood faster than the gas Stihl, and others the Stihl barely faster. Good electrics are very good option for suburbia, and my Ryobi 40V gets used and my gas Husqvarna doesn't get used. I just slap in a battery and go cut.

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:

I have a Stihl I've had for over 40 years. Great for the big stuff but hated the hassle of mixed gas and chain oil for small trees or branches.

Electric saws need bar oil too, no?

My dad likes his Stihl electric. It’s a trimming saw so he can keep his pygmy date palms looking nice and cut the fronds fallen from the royal palms to a size the yard waste people will take.

I have four Stihl gas saws, two in Florida and two in Michigan. The oldest is 45 years old, the other three are about 25 years old. I haven’t had any trouble getting them started and running after years of letting them sit even. I doubt those batteries will last that long.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: trapper189,

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:

I have a Stihl I've had for over 40 years. Great for the big stuff but hated the hassle of mixed gas and chain oil for small trees or branches.

Electric saws need bar oil too, no?

Yes, but the oil is a much bigger pain to put in the gas saw because of where the reservoir is located.

I’ll have to look at my dad’s the next time I’m over there. On mine, I put the saw on it’s side, turn the reservoir cap a 1/4 turn, fill with oil, replace the cap. Except the oldest one which has a threaded cap that might need the screwdriver spark plug tool to unscrew.

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:
Great for the big stuff but hated the hassle of mixed gas and chain oil for small trees or branches.

Yes, but the oil is a much bigger pain to put in the gas saw because of where the reservoir is located.

For 2-handed chain saws, the vast majority of them have the oil filler cap located on the forward left side of the powerhead. This is for both gas and battery saws. The oil filler cap is generally just forward of the wrap handle. Depending on the relative positions of the cap and the wrap handle, some oil cans/bottles present a filling challenge.

Gas filler caps are almost always located on the aft left side of the powerhead, just forward of the throttle grip. Thus, the gas cap is unobstructed, and gas is easier to fill than oil. This is illustrated on my picture in the middle of this thread's page 1.

^^^^

Adding to the more awkward access is the fact that chain oil doesn't flow like gas. Experience is a big help in filling the oil reservoir (duh).

Another vote for Stihl. I don't think they qualify as "budget", but IMO chain saws are an item you don't want to go cheap with.

quote:

Originally posted by fritz:

Get some chainsaw cut-resistance chaps, and use them. Get some instruction on running a chainsaw.

Preach it, brother. I learned my lesson the hard way.

I was *just* doing some trimming in the yard, nothing serious. So, why bother with adequate protective gear on a hot summer day? I wore shorts.

Halfway through a log, the chain snapped and wrapped around my leg. It could have been a lot worse, but the scar is a great reminder that 'stupid should hurt'.