I have used the replacement Ego battery saw now for 5 half-days and 1 full day. It works well. The new Ego definitely pumps oil to the bar & chain. Looking back, the old saw wasn't pumping oil well for the last couple of months. The new motor seems to work about the same. The new chain is great, and really sharp. With sharp teeth and great lubrication, the Ego cuts quite well. Batteries are lasting longer.

Here's from the full day with the new Ego -- load #5 of 9 for that day. The wood on the old blowdown is getting a little soft, so I used the Ego up until the log diameter matched the 16" of the bar. I'll use a Stihl for the rest of the cutting. All of this wood will be thrown away, as it has been invaded by ants. I trimmed the lower part of the dead standing tree with the Ego. Not looking forward to felling this one; furthermore, we'll probably throw away most of its wood.

I first used the Ego in September 2019, on the following tree, which was snapped by snow/wind in March or April 2019. Used both the EGO and the 310, with the 310 for the larger cuts. IIRC, I filled the truck with 3.5 loads of bucked logs and branches -- 2 for the Stihl and 1.5 for the Ego. It took me most of the day to complete this one tree, and I was sold on the Ego's capabilities right then and there. Since then, I've used the Ego for the majority of the storm cleanup. I doubt my sister has cut with either of Stihls in the 2 years she's had a 14" bar Ego.

Our 400 acres of ranch land is anything but flat, even though it's in the "plains" of Colorado. Maybe 150' or more elevation difference between the highest and lowest points. With sandy soil and a few big rain storms each year, we have a bunch of erosion gullies. My great-great relatives used a couple of biggest gullies trash dumps. We now fill them with unwanted wood and chopped yucca to stop the almost inevitable erosion. Our gully-clogging efforts are making a difference.

With the 2019 storms, we now have more firewood than we can ever possibly use. Much of the wood will rot, so it might as well rot in gullies.

I worked on our property about 40 days in the September 2019 thru August 2020 year. Probably 7-8 days were for pastures -- weed control, yucca removal, and fence repair. The remaining 32-ish days were spent on the 200 acres of forest. Maybe 5-6 days using the Stihl saw, which leaves about 27 days with the Ego. When I work half days, I usually shoot rifles in the afternoon. Half days generally result in 4-6 truckloads of branches and/or bucked logs. When the terrain doesn't allow the truck to haul stuff away, I hand-drag logs/branches to nearby gullies -- with essentially the same amount of work accomplished. Full days generally result in 7-9 truckloads hauled.

I've stepped up the work level for the September 2020 to August 2021 year. I'll finish with at least 45 days at the ranch. Looks like only 6 days for pasture work, leaving 39 for the woods. Again, maybe 5-6 days using the Stihl, resulting in 33-34 days with the Ego saw. Which is why I now have 3 batteries. This means that over the past 2 years I used the Ego for 50-something days before the oiling system crapped out, and receiving the warranty replacement saw.

Not counting the seasonal creek that runs through our land, this is our largest erosion gully. It runs for maybe 500 yards, but almost disappears for a hundred yards in the middle where the terrain flattens out. Many of the truckloads of wood were dumped here. The initial wood-clogged portion is about 75 yards long. The gully was originally 10-12 yards wide and 6-7 feet deep. For the first 40-50 yards there is a compacted layer of yucca bushes that's about 1 foot thick -- but the top layers are tree debris. For size reference, that truck is 55 yards from the head of the gully.



From the opposite direction:


Here's a small branch of the main gully. 15 yards long, 3 yards wide, 4-5 feet deep.

Here's the bottom end of the main erosion gully, before it joins the seasonal creek. This picture shows about 32 yards of the gully. It varies in width, from 10 to 16 yards. It's roughly 9-11 feet deep. I estimate that the bottom 1/3 of the biomass in this gully is compressed yucca. There is a line of limbs on the banks for another 25 yards past the trees, but this isn't visible in the photo.



I estimate that 90+ percent of the branches & trunks in the above gully pictures were cut with my original Ego saw.

In 2019/20 we bucked, split, and hauled off 6 cords of firewood. Of the bucking, the Stihl 390 probably did about 3 cords, 2 cords with the Stihl 310, and 1 cord with the Ego. The diameter of the bucked logs varied greatly. This is the leftover single-length logs from 2019/20 -- it's our next stuff to split and haul off. All the smaller pieces were cut with the Ego, and the largest dozen or so were cut with the Stihl 310.

During the snowy months of 2019/2020, I worked on 20-ish acre section almost exclusively with the Ego. I couldn't get into this section with a truck to haul out limbs -- somewhat steep terrain, snow over pine needles, lots of trees. Thus I had to drag/carry cut-up deadfall to the small erosion gullies. The are 8 small gullies in this section, varying from 50 to 100 yards long. They're pretty much choked with trimmings. Pictures of gullies 5, 6, and 7. The 4th photo has 10 trees that were snapped off by wind & snow. They're marked with orange flagging tape. I think that's gully #6 in the middle of the picture.

Thanks for these updates! This is interesting to read/watch!

Nice pictures. I used to live in Western WA State, Douglas Fir was the main firewood. Even here in WI I’ll mix in a little pine fairly often. This is mostly cuz it’s close, easy, & very free. If I’m tripping over it on the way to hickory, oak, maple, & ash, etc, into the pile it goes.

Yes, regardless of wood type, clean the chimney as required.

I looked into battery saws, for small stuff, EGO too. For now I’ll just stick with my 029 and 361 Pro. My 029 just got a new carb, running great.

For much of 2021 I've been working on one of our ugliest deadfall areas. It's the 4-5 acres pictured in the middle of the first page of this thread, and the area is right next to the seasonal creek. Until I started clearing things, there was too much garbage on the ground to haul out the logs/branches with a truck. So I just carried by hand or dragged the trimmings to edge of the creek. There are at least a couple dozen places where I deposited the trimmings. Here are the larger and easier-to-see piles. Some are just a couple yards across, others are the equivalent of many truckloads.

100% of this stuff was cut with the first Ego saw.





























The last one is among the largest, at about 14 yards long...so far.

Here's another blowdown . Measures 25" diameter at the base, estimated at 55 feet tall. Took me 2 days to complete -- 50/50 work with the Stihl 310 and the new Ego. I trimmed some of the lower branches with the Stihl, so I could get a side-by-side comparison of the Stihl and Ego. The 310 was used for most of the trunk. All the upper branches were cut with the new Ego. IIRC, I hauled 7 truckloads of branches from this pain-in-the-ass tree.











And what was salvaged for firewood from above the break in the middle of the tree. The 3 big ones with the Stihl 310, the rest were cut with the new Ego.



This tree was 115 years old.

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

One of our largest blowdowns in recent years. IIRC the estimated original height was 65 feet. The 9' tall stump is 31" in diameter at its base. The remaining log is 27' long, and 17" in diameter where cut. At this cut, IIRC there were 105 years of rings. I limbed this with the Ego and cut the trunk with my Stihl. Considering cutting 8-ish feet off the small end, hauling it over to the pasture shooting area, and using it for a PRS-style barrier.

When I first saw it on the ground, in March 2019.


A year later, after trimming all the branches with the original Ego saw. All cutting on the main trunk was done with the Stihl 310 -- which really isn't a big enough saw for that.




The current condition. The salvaged portions of the upper trunk and branches have been split, and are ready to be hauled off. Most of the remaining trunk has been stripped of bark -- so it will dry better, and to keep the ants away.

Damn with all that you might want to send the pics to Ego to show them how much work you got out of their gear!

Here's a tree that really suffered from the March 2019 storm. It's still alive today -- the remaining branches are green and look pretty good. Pretty amazing for a tree that's been zapped hard by lightning.

Three truckloads of branches from this cleanup, all cutting done with the original Ego saw. Photos from January 2020.

I like the Ford Pickup, looks good, still working hard...

Ego has a commercial line of equipment including a chainsaw.

https://egopowerplus.com/comme...le-chainsaw-csx3000/

The hip battery accessory is pretty cool, lighten up the saw with no battery on it and make the work even easier.

The old F150 is hanging on, but it's seen way better days. It needs a new carburetor. A family of mice made a nest in the ventilation system one winter, when we let it sit for a few months. It doesn't smell very good on hot days. But it works for now, and we'll wait until used truck prices return to normal before replacing it.

Interesting new heavier duty Ego saw. Probably not for us, but I suspect they'll have a market.
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Every tool has its best purpose, along with instances where the tool works OK, and where it just isn't adequate.

My Ego saw is definitely a tool, and not a toy.

The Ego is ideal for limbing and bucking where wood diameter is up to 8-9" in diameter. Especially with the smaller 2.5 Ah batteries, it's very easy to use when held at shoulder height -- and even when the saw is held straight-arm overhead. The Ego will cut wood up to its full bar length of 16", but it doesn't have the torque to do this efficiently. However, it does have the power to run the chain at respectable speeds, and it throws wood chips quite well. Extended bucking drains battery power, and I have no ability to recharge batteries in the field. So I have extra batteries.

Limbing our many acres of downed trees is a pain in the neck. The process often requires cutting only a few limbs, setting the saw down, untangling said limbs, tossing the cut limbs into the truck or hand-dragging them to a nearby gully, picking up the saw, rinse & repeat. With a gas saw, the saw is idling more than it's cutting. With a battery saw, the motor only runs when cutting.

My Stihl 310 has a 59cc engine and an 18" bar. In past years, it was our primary limbing saw, as it is much easier to hold at waist to shoulder heights. It's not fun to use above shoulder height, due to the weight and vibration. The 310 is in Stihl's Farm & Ranch line. It's not a professional saw that's meant to fell and buck big trees -- it just doesn't have the oomph with its mid-sized engine displacement. It cuts well to diameters of 16" to 18", however beyond that the moderate horsepower and torque shows. I recently bucked a tree that was 25" at its base. The 310 did it, but a larger saw would have done it better.

My BIL's Stihl 390 has a 64cc engine and a 20" bar. It's just enough difference to improve performance when felling and bucking the larger trees. It's still a Farm & Ranch line, therefore it doesn't just slice through 24" and larger logs. The 390 works OK for limbing when the trunk is flat on the ground, but raising the saw for extended periods isn't fun.

If I had to replace my 310 immediately, I would seriously consider a Stihl 362 or 400, both of which are from their Professional line. Of course, Stihl's professional line saws cost more than their Farm & Ranch line saws. So there's that to consider. We have a lot of big trees which sooner or later must be felled and bucked. If the Ego crapped out tomorrow, I'd buy another. Uncertain what my BIL would do to replace his 390 -- maybe a new 391.

I know of at least a dozen big trees that have died this summer. Trunks are in the 18-28" diameter ballpark. Most looked OK in the spring, but the needles turned in a hurry over the past couple of months. It's not like we need any more wood right now. It seems that I find another big dead tree almost every time I walk a part of the forest that I haven't yet cleaned up.

This one took a lightning strike 2 summers ago. I was opening a gate when it hit -- maybe 25 yards away. There were 4 cows under the tree, and I'm surprised none of them were injured. Hard to say if the cattle or I jumped more.... The tree is likely 50+ feet tall, with a 24" diameter trunk.



Maybe 50-60 yards directly behind the above tree is this beetle kill. Again, about 50+ feet tall, with an 18" diameter trunk.

No time for down-n-dirty work at the ranch this weekend. Only a couple of hours to stop by and assess pasture and forest work options for Labor Day weekend. I tried to document some of our largest recently-dead trees, and to develop priorities for cleanup. There are quite a few areas where we cannot yet drive a truck to the base of the trees to be felled, so it's either clear a path or let them stand for now. Pretty much any tree with a base diameter of at least 18" is at least 50-60 feet tall.

22" diameter at the base. It didn't lose very many branches from the March 2019 storm, so that wasn't the issue. Needles turned this spring. We can drive to this one, as I've cleared the area of branches and smaller trees.




29" in diameter. Needles turned in early summer. Minimal damage from the snowstorm. Currently can't get a truck closer than 150-ish yards.




24" in diameter. Needles turned in July. I removed a couple of old dead trees at its base over the 4th of July, and it looked fine then.




24" in diameter. Died in the spring of 2019. I suspect it was on its last legs at the time, and the snow did it in. The lower part of the big erosion gully is in its likely fall path, so this one will be relatively easy to deal with.

Right by our main "road". This top portion of this tree hasn't looked good for a couple of years, so I knew it was coming. 23" diameter.




Just behind the above tree, but hidden from view. 22" diameter. Started to turn brown just after the first of this year.




The right fork lost quite a few branches from the 2019 storm. Very little damage to the left fork. I used a step ladder to remove a bunch of the right fork's dead limbs, but it's hard to see that now. Needles began turning in June. The right fork is 22" in diameter, just above the split..




A behemoth that was directly exposed to the high winds in April 2019 -- snapped off the top half. The standing lower portion remained alive, but gave up the ghost last month. 36" diameter at the base.