Chainsaws with Pigtails
Text and photos by Neil Soderstrom

Most homeowners use a chainsaw only sporadically--whether to remove fallen trees or limbs, or to fell a tree and buck it into firewood lengths. Used only occasionally, gas saws can become hard-starting and rough running, owing to two factors: (1) stale gas formulated for another season and (2) old gas that has turned gooey inside the carburetor. Because gas-related saw maintenance takes time, people often neglect their saws and then curse them when they won't start. Today's electric chainsaws always start and they require virtually no maintenance, aside from keeping the chain sharp (a task also required for gas saws). Here are additional advantages.

Electric Advantages

• Electric chainsaws emit no exhaust fumes.
• They require no mixing or storing of flammables.
• They shut off when you release the trigger, providing welcome silence; whereas, gas saws continue idling while you move about and reposition logs.
• They tend to weigh a pound or two less than their gas counterparts. The three electrics I tested (see review below) all weighed about 10 pounds.
• Again, they start every time.

Electric Disadvantages

• The power cord limits your reach from an outlet--the higher the saw's amperage, the heavier the required wire gauge and the heavier the cord in diameter and pounds.
• It's inadvisable, owing to shock hazard, to work in rain or when soil and vegetation are wet.
• Dragging and repositioning a power cord can be a bother, and temperatures below 40°F dramatically reduce cord pliability.
• After a severe storm, you'll need to await return of electrical power to cut that tree limb off your car.

Power and Cord Length
Maximum cord length is dictated by a saw's amperage rating. Most outdoor circuits are 15-amp, and cord lengths lose amperage the longer they run from the source. Thus saw motors may overload and overheat unless cord is of sufficient gauge and shortness to maintain sufficient amperage. The smaller the gauge number, the heavier the cord. (Note: Outdoor rated cords are round-jacketed and stamped with a suffix of W or W-A, for Wet or Wet-Applications, as in SJTW or SJTW-A.)

Setup and Unique Features
Some electric saws arrive with bar and chain mounted--ready to plug-and-play, except for your need to add chain oil to the reservoir. Other new saws may require that you install the bar and chain. This task can be helpful long-term because it promotes an understanding of the relationship of those components in tensioning the saw chain properly. While installing bar and chain, you'll likely wish you had a third hand to keep all components in place and then test for proper chain tensioning and break-in according to your owner's manual.

Safety and Hearing Protection
Aside from obvious differences in hazards of gas saws (flammability) and electrics (shock), both types of saws pose essentially the same safety hazards.

Avoid cutting into your electrical cord and working in rain or on wet ground. Also important is a ground-fault-circuit interrupter (GFCI). A GFCI resembles a standard outlet except that it can shut off power within milliseconds of detecting a fault. You should test GFCIs before each use and then at least monthly.

Owner's manuals strongly warn of kickback, which is a violent upward arcing lurch of the bar and chain toward the user. For decades, kickback accounted for more than 25 percent of all chainsaw injuries requiring medical attention, which in the U.S. have fairly consistently approached 100,000 cases annually. Kickback results when chain traveling around the top half of the bar nose hits resistance, such as a log or branch. In that instant, saw torque impels the bar upward towards you. Even though manufacturers have redesigned chains and bars to reduce the force of kickback, the danger still exists.

While powered or coasting to a stop, saw chain can inflict serious wounds. Many sawyers get cut when they move about with a coasting chain or misinterpret stresses in fallen trees. You can eliminate coasting-chain hazards simply by waiting till the chain stops before you reposition the saw or walk with it.

Noise levels of 85 decibles (dB) and higher can over time irreparably damage small cells in the inner ear. Using an electronic decibel meter, I checked noise levels of the three saws I tested. They gave readings of 89-96 dB at ear level when cutting a dry locust log. Positioned near the saws themselves, the meter gave readings of 100-104 dB. So you need to protect your inner ear from intense noise, either with form-fitting earplugs or with cushioned earmuffs manufactured in accordance with ANSI S12.6-1997.

There are far too many safety factors to address in this article. As a minimum, read and heed safety precautions in your saw owner's manual.

Chain Sharpness
Chain sharpness is key to cutting efficiency, as well as the life of your chain, bar, and saw. Cutters usually dull the moment they hit grit, whether in the soil itself or adhering to a log, which usually becomes muddy, and therefore gritty, when dragged through dirt. Yet logs can also acquire grit from windblown dust and from rain falling through dusty atmosphere. If you see the slightest evidence of grit where you intend to make a cut, consider means of removing it--say, by using a hatchet or drawknife. A stiff wire brush can remove most grit from smooth bark. If you don't avoid such grit, your chain will soon begin cutting slowly or not at all, requiring that you either deliver the saw to a service center for a $5-$10 sharpening or sharpen it yourself.

To do your own sharpening, use one of various brands of sharpening jigs designed to guide rattail files at precise angles. Among the most precise of the affordable sharpeners are jigs that clamp over the bar and hold each cutter firmly while you stroke it with a round file. Cost: about $30.

Saw Testing
I've tested three electrics with dramatically different price points and features. So my goal wasn't to evaluate presumed equals, but simply to introduce the concept of electric saws.

Stihl 180C: I've used this 2.3 hp saw since 1997 to cut many cords of wood, and it's performed wonderfully. Complete with fast-stopping chain brake, it has a big 15-amp motor and a 16-inch bar. The manufacturer suggests 12- gauge cable to a maximum of 50 feet. I've used the 180C to cut through the notoriously dense, hard crotchwood of a 20-inch diameter maple. Although the 180C seems to have every bit as much torquing power as midsize gas saws, its chain (like that of all electrics) travels slower than that of gas saws. So you need to be a bit more patient with electrics as their chain works its way through wood. According to John Conway, at Conway's Lawn & Power Equipment in Red Hook, the 180C lists for about $370. The smaller 140C, $300. For a listing of Stihl dealers in our region, check www.stihl.com.

Husqvarna 316: This 2.2 hp 316 can be used with 14-gauge cable to a maximum of 50 feet. The 316 has the heft and solid feel that professional building contactors like, according to Hank Cottington, Tool Department Manager at Williams Lumber's Rhinebeck store. Hank also oversees tool purchases at six other Williams stores in our region (www.williamslumber.com). But this saw is also great for home use. The saw's chain brake activates conventionally when your left hand bumps against the left handguard. The brake also activates by inertia, should chain hang up on the topside of the bar, suddenly pushing the saw toward you. Cost: $229.

Remington 625-01: The largest of several Remington models marketed to the cost-conscious home market, this 3.5 hp saw offers surprising power for the price. It can be used with 12-gauge cable to a maximum of 150 feet.

Although virtually all other chainsaw manufacturers specify standard chain-and-bar oil with high viscosity (stickiness), Remington recommends standard SAE#30 motor oil for chain lubrication in temperatures of 30-75°F. Because the oil is gravity fed, you need to empty the oil tank after each work session; otherwise it will drain onto your storage surface. This saw seems more plastic and hollow sounding than the Stihl and Husqvarna yet appears sturdy enough for modest amounts of work each year. Cost: about $100. Smaller Remington electrics go for as little as $59.95 at Williams Lumber.

Neil Soderstrom is a writer, photographer, and book editor based in Wingdale, NY (www.agpix.com/soderstrom)