For years I have wanted to close the loop making wood fuel completely independently of petroleum fuel. I discovered that the Russians had been logging in the 50s with electric chainsaws powered by Wood fired gas producers. I wondered if I could cut firewood with an electric chainsaw. I bought a poulan from Kmart and went at it. Compared to my Husqvarna or stihl gas powered saws, the poulan was a complete waste of time. Then in 2007, I hurt my neck and couldn’t ride very far in my truck to cut firewood at the bush. So I got a load of slabs and made a sawbuck, and discovered that the gas powered chainsaws would tug the slabs right out of the buck. On a whim I plugged in the pool on to the inverter and started cutting the slabs with it. It was slow but it worked. Then I realized I wasn’t using any grid electricity and the slabs were free and suddenly my heat bill was ridiculously low even though I was too injured to actually do a lot of work. That’s when I started looking around for actual usable electric chainsaws.
The first successful saw was the Remington Versa saw. 1600 watts, and a really fast chain speed compared to the poulan. The versa saw cut about eight full cords before stripping its gears. I am not above pulling a dick move now and then, and so I took it back to Menards and they replaced it because the guy didn’t believe that I actually cut eight cords of wood with an electric saw so he gave me a new one. I still have one or two usable versa saws here but Menards no longer sells them.
Next, in 2010, we bought the Cadillac of saws. The Husqvarna 316e. We have hauled the Honda eu3000i out to the wood piles, and the women have all used this saw out in the bush.
Last year my oldest boy cut 30 face cords with it. It has a regular chisel chain on it these days and is still going strong.
This is the latest. Husqvarna no longer sells the 316e. This is the 414 El. It is everything you could hope for in a corded electric chainsaw especially one you were going to use on grid power. Sadly I hate the damn thing. It is a bldc motor and it has an annoying hesitation as you begin to cut wood. Because it is a bldc motor it has a huge surge and uses lots and lots of electricity to do the same job that the old 316e or versa saws would do. For a minute I thought I had complete dead battery Bank because I could not cut any wood with this. But then I started using a versa saw and realized that the surge was tripping my inverter.
Hands down best electric saw I have used was the milwaukee 18 volts with a 12hr battery. It will compete with my stock echo CS 2511 in the tree topping and thinning. Not on par with the Stihl gasser top handles but VERY impressive for a battery powered saw
I have a 2014 ish Pohlan 1800 watts I over clock the generator and that thing will walk all over a comparable gas saw. Yup and I run it on wood charcoal.
Yeah Ive been looking at the new Lithium ion saws. The Ryobi is actually a good saw for low budget and then the better ones are the EGO and the Greenworks saws. Then pay a little more you get into the Stihl. The Husky electrics from what I saw are no better than the DeWalts, Milwaukie etc. That Stihl though is a beast for what it is.
My mom got the 60v Greenworks chainsaw.
I’ll have to say it cuts a 26" diameter log a couple times before needing to recharge the battery. You’ll get maybe one log ready to split per battery.
I prefer my McCulloch since it doesn’t need a battery. About 1200 watts.
For anyone interested getting a batt powered saw, get the bigger battery. If you can not afford the largest battery that is offered for the saw, do not buy it. It is very important you get the large cap batteries or it is a waste of time and money as it is more expensive to upgrade later.
This why the Ego is probably the best one on market as they have huge batteries that they offer and they are cheaper.
I bought a Makita 36volt 14 inch saw last year and to say i am impressed is a understatement , as long as you don’t expect the same speed as a gas powered saw this one will cut through the hardest of Australian hard wood and dia of what ever the bar will work through ,it is run 100% from my solar /charcoal i have 3 sets of batteries always ready on charge , if i have large logs on the ground i will cut through as much as possible before hitting dirt and then use the Makita for the final cut as its so light and has a great feel for what your cutting , great on limbs too
I recently bought 4 fake Makita 9.0 AH batterys for less than 1 genuine 5.0ah one and they are fantastic and well outlast my 6.0AH i have , i did a weight test on them and they were 200 Grams heavier so all good if they last half the time i am still in front
Regardless of voltage or amp hours. What you need to do is figure out the watt hours for any saw. Then you can make better comparisons, the more watt hours the longer run time regardless of voltage standard used.
It sure looks like it. I only bought the saw. Already have plenty of batteries and chargers. It will not do what a $900 pro gasoline chain saw will do but it fits a sweet spot for me. Especially if your physically not what I used too be.
That Makita 16 inch is a sweet deal you guys are so lucky getting tools at low prices like that , over here a 14 inch Makita with just 2 x 5.0ah battery’s and a double charger works out around $6 or 700 depending on what deals are around trust me that 16inch with that many battery’s would be over a grand here
Most of it Husqvarna, all the same batteries. From left to right, leafblower with a little damage from the hookway retort, trimmer, hedge trimmer for high hedges, hedge trimmer on gas, small chainsaw, chainsaw on gas and cheap chainsaw on 230V.
Allways fighting with the tools on gas, never with the electric ones. As long as the power cord doesn’t get cut.
My brother in law is the chainsaw man and likes the gas one most. The batt saw is nice to work on top of the woodpile not for continuous use. The cord one with the 4 kVA powerpallet works great. I bought a spare one, 80 euro.
I bought a 58V Echo this year mostly based on the Project Farm reviews. Works better than expected. How much you can cut with it depends on how diligent you are about keeping a very sharp chain on it but I was impressed with how much work it would actually do. However a replacement battery is $170.
I think I paid about $240 for just the saw. I bought it because it came with a 3/8 chain. Then I was desapointed to see that it came with some kind of thin chain. Turned out to be the third generation of that style chain. Now I like the chain. It kind of makes the saw. I keep it RAZOR SHARP.
Now a days, I can not use a gasoline chains saw much. So the cordless is my best friend.
