Electric, Battery, or Gas: Which Is Best?
These three distinct types of chainsaws can prove advantageous for a variety of different projects. Your best product is determined by what your needs are.
Electric chainsaws
These can come with a lot of power. You choose what kind of wattage you want with your chainsaw. Electric chainsaws are available corded or cordless, and are often quieter than their gas-guzzling counterparts. Electric is often the preferred choice for homeowners residential projects. These products are great for cutting small trees, limbing, cutting firewood, and trimming branches.
Battery-powered chainsaws
Good cordless alternatives to the electric chainsaws with a cord. They offer tons of rechargeable power and can be used for lighter weight projects. If you need a chainsaw that can cut soft wood or cut branches at an angle, battery-powered is your best bet.
Gas chainsaws
Typically the most powerful as they use pure fuel to pump their engines and keep that motor revving like a sports car. These chainsaws are best for heavy cutting projects such as with trees or logs of wood. Consider gas chainsaws if you’re interested in cutting small to moderate trees, large logs, firewood, trims, or tree limbs.
Bar Guide
As a guide if you’re a homeowner and wanting a chainsaw for lightweight cutting, pruning and trimming, a small chainsaw with a bar length of 14″ and under will be sufficient. Step up to a chainsaw with a bar length of 16″ to 20″ for medium jobs. For heavy duty cutting you’re looking for a workhorse with a bar length between 22 and 36 inches. (Manufactures will recommend bar lengths for their individual models so take note of their guides)
Note: Chainsaws are more difficult to handle with longer bar lengths, especially if you’re using for lengthy periods at a time. User fatigue increases as the saw becomes heavier over time and it’s more difficult to maintain balance. This impacts your user safety.
Top handle chainsaw or Rear, which is better?
There are typically 2 types of handles that are built into your average chainsaw. Some come with a top handle, others with a rear handle. So, what’s the difference and what will work best for you? It depends on what you plan on using your chainsaw for.
You’ll find that a rear handle chainsaw will be most typically suited to your needs. The handles are wider spaced, and are angled so that you can cut on the ground without hurting your back or arms.
Ultimate Chainsaw Buying Guide
Are you dealing with a tree problem? Do you have a growth of thick branches and trunks that need to be chopped down for safety or gardening reasons? A dying tree can be dangerous for humans and forest habitats alike. Taking a chainsaw to the trunk can often be the healthiest decision for a tree nearing the end of its life. Of course, you may have other uses for a beastly chopping tool as well. No matter what you need cut up, a chainsaw is the best tool to use to get the job done right. But what exactly is a chainsaw, and how is it used?
We’ll help you find exactly what you need before you hunker down and buy a chainsaw. By understanding what a chainsaw is, how it works, and what the different types of blades are used for, you can better decide what type is best for you. Plus, we’ll give you our recommendations for the type of motor, power, and usage difficulty may be best in certain cases.
What Is a Chainsaw?
A chainsaw is the only tool powerful enough to take down a decades-old tree within seconds. What’s the purpose of all that power? Is there a reason behind its construction?
Chainsaws provide a variety of functional uses that can be of great benefit to both urban and environmental life. In essence a chainsaw is composed of a saw’s blade with a moving chain around it. This blade is wrapped around a metal guide bar and attached to an electric or gasoline motor. The motor turns the chain rapidly around the metal like a moving wheel, making it extremely dangerous to the touch. Although it can slice through anything, the chainsaw only has about 30 sharp teeth. The chain pulls it so fast that it uses centrifugal force to create a constant motion.
The two main parts that you need to be concerned with are:
- The saw blade that is built on a chain and wrapped around the metal guide, and
- The small engine or motor that makes it roar into motion
Once you understand the anatomy of the chainsaw, it’s time to learn how to control it. Understanding its functionality is vital to proper use, and critical for your safety.
What Are the Main Uses of Chainsaws?
Chainsaws are used by a wide variety of people. You’ll find chainsaws in industrial construction areas just as easily as you’ll find chainsaws in a homeowner’s garage. They are typically used for landscaping, gardening, tree cutting, logging, woodcutting.
Traditionally chainsaws are used by industrial workers for special projects in forests or other wooded areas. Chainsaws are great for slicing through thick tree bark and bringing down trees that are dead or need replacing. There are different types of chainsaws for different types of woods.
Hard woods include oak, ash, birch, hard maple, hickory, beech, or dogwood. These woods require a different kind of chainsaw than if you’re cutting pine or cypress.
How a chainsaw works
- Fuel the gas tank, if it’s using a gas-powered engine. If it’s a motor, you’ll rev it into action or turn it on to get started. A typical gas-powered engine tank holds about one pint of gas or petroleum.
- Fuel passes through the carburetor (the filter that sits right before the ignition chamber), and it starts to combine with the air.
- This mixture of gas and air goes into the ignition cylinder, which is comparable to the engine of an automobile if you have experience as a mechanic. This engine is simplified as a two-stroke rather than a four-stroke that you’ll see in cars.
- The spark plug will suddenly ignite inside the cylinder which pushes the internal piston back and forth. This is what causes motion in the chainsaw and brings it to life.
- The centrifugal clutch is powered by the drive shaft. This mainly controls the speed and power of the machine.
- During this process the engine should be constantly running. But that doesn’t mean the chain should always be running. it should only be in motion if you’re actively cutting wood. If the chain is spinning independently without being used, this is a dangerous problem.
- Check the centrifugal clutch to solve the problem of a randomly-spinning chain. If you pull the throttle, the clutch can stop the chain from running. The chain will also stop running when the engine speed is low, so make sure to take note of its speeds at all times.
- The sprocket, which is the device that holds the chain, is powered by the clutch. The clutch will transfer power to the sprocket once the engine is running.
- The chain will begin to spin around the metal guide. This steel bar helps control the movements of the chainsaw as you cut wood. It will spit out wood dust as it moves, leaving only the clean and perfect cut of your wood.
Common Features and Equipment Parts
The next step when deciding which type of chainsaw is right for your project is to understand some of the common features that you’ll see shared across all different brands and types of chainsaws. The more common type of chainsaw is the gas chainsaw, so we’ll take an exclusive look at some of the common equipment parts and special features that you will encounter during your search.
What Types of Chainsaw Motors Exist? What Type of Power Do You Recommend?
If you’re looking for power, there are plenty of options available for your chainsaw motor. Typically, chainsaw motors come in 40v, 20v, and 18v in terms of power measurements. Each type of motor has its advantages and disadvantages when it comes to the type of project you’re working on. Below is a breakdown of these 3 motor types, and how they are of use to you.
Terms you should know
This guide provides information that any beginning homeowner will need to know before deciding which type of chainsaw to pursue. While there’s a lot of options, certain types of chainsaws work better for certain types of projects.
If you’re considering lightweight pruning and trimming, our recommendation is to use a battery-powered lightweight chainsaw with a 14” guide bar length.For medium-duty work, you’ll want an electric or gas motor chainsaw between 14” and 20” to cut small trees and firewood. If you’re needing some heavy-duty work done, but not on the scale of a professional, consider a big chainsaw with a 20” blade to get the job done right.