Need something for the wife to use while I'm gone , she just can't figure out my lil MS170 and she's a kinda scared of it lol. So any suggestions for a small chain saw that's good for just cutting up smaller stuff limbs from storm damage and the like . Guess a gas one would be better for hurricane season but electric would work . Mainly need sto be easy to crank and not super heavy

I use gas saws too... BUT I simply love my little Kobalt 24V saw! You would be shocked at how big of trees you can cut with the little guy.

I was going to suggest a 170/172/180. I have a 170. However, several older single ladies I know use cordless battery-powered ones for gardening, cutting off dead limbs, cutting things like 2x4's and even some firewood (up to 4 inches or so) and seem to be happy with electric. I was skeptical at first but they're convenient little saws for their purpose. And they're lighter = safer for us, women are weak.

Stihl MSA 70C

I bought mine the 20 volt Dewalt. It's a 12 or 14"? It trims small limbs and such. We then got the 60 flex volt 16" bar. It's pretty amazing. I use it to cut quite a bit of firewood. Wifey can handle it quiet well. I hardly use my gas anymore, but I keep it as a backup. I would really lean towards a battery one for ease of use and starting. Get two batteries.

https://www.homedepot.com/pep/DEWAL...7waUkazo72j5SjiUfO01Cu7nbeUaAiXIEALw_wcB

100% in the training

my friend Ana worked at the farm , she was an ag and forestry major in college.
she could run my Jonsered 2255 the same saw as a Husky 455 rancher but with a red case. that saw with bar is about 17 pounds with bar , chain , fuel and oil full.

a forestry helmet with ear protection , safety glasses , chain saw chaps and gloves

proper technique , she could start and run the saw fine

Ana is still sub 100 pounds soaking wet and about 5 foot she was so small she borrowed a set of my saw chaps and they wrapped clear around her and had to buckel in the front. the farm bought her a pair of smalls.

most saws have compression release , I don't use it , she did need to use it.

all that said I just got a Rigid 18v electric chain saw , it has a 12 inch bar and is very light very easy to use. not for prolonged cutting.
about every battery platform has a small saw. keep the batteries charged and in the house.
you do get a surprising number of cuts from a battery if you are cutting 3-4 inch limbs.


now the smart thing to do when you are working alone is to call someone and let them know you are working how long you expect to be cutting and call them back to say you are done.
you might consider a radio at your parents and your house for hurricanes something that works locally without cell towers.

if you have a generator to run some stuff at the house charging the batteries for the saw and the radio could all be done with the generator while running it to keep the freezer going during the day.

Tatiana, it's curious to me you would call a 2x4 a 2x4.
So I guess in Russia a 2x4 is 2x4 Imperial rather than it's metric equivalent?

I'm an uninvited guest on a US forum, I shouldn't use my evil Soviet metric units.

Actually, lumber is one rare exception. In construction, a standard board (25 mm thick) is traditionally called dyuimovka, from the Dutch duim, which means thumb, which in turn used to be the Dutch name for inch, and the Russian suffixes -ov and -k are analogous to your "-er". It was borrowed back when a young Peter the Great used to hang out in shipyards in Holland, due to his obsession with the idea of creating his own Navy, so he brought back a lot of Dutch shipbuilding terms (along with lots of engineers). Our nautical language is a mixture of Dutch, German and English.

A 50 mm thick board is dvukhdyuimovka = "a two-incher".
Most people would call a 2x4 a 100x150 here.

Who said you were "uninvited"?
I think it is neat to see other countries outlook on a common interest

Also never even thought about what a 2x4 would be called anywhere else so educational

My wife wanted to "learn how to use the chainsaw" I said you just tell me what you want cut and that way I don't have a mess.

She bought herself a 12V 4" bar chainsaw that is good for all she needs to do.

I have a 009 Stihl that I can run with one hand that would be ideal size for a smaller person.
I can hang on with one hand and trim limbs with it

I got a 40 volt from amazon to trim shooting lanes around deer stands. IT WILL CUT !! ive cut 3 trees down about 18 in thick and cut them up. ONLY knock is oil tank for the chain might hold half teaspoon.

Husky 550, great little pro saw and will run for her.
We have 4 Husqvarna saws and I can run them all but the 372 XPW will wear me out in no time flat.

Them battery saws are pretty wicked. Problems occur when people forget they're still a chainsaw.

I have a cheap chinese "chainsaw" the kids bought as a joke, they're all over EBay..

It's a 6" blade, light, one handed, came with an extra chain, bar and 2 batteries....this little bugger can cut! besides branches and other small stuff, I've cut 6" seasoned cherry with just a little work....You need to spray lube the chain occasionally cause there's no oiler, but other then that, it's a cute, cutting demon, lol, been using it for about 5 years.....If it broke I'd get another one...

and electrics don't stop the same way with chaps as gas saws do ,there is no clutch to bind up so it takes longer to stop the sprocket

I like my little electric for stealth cutting , I can be out in the yard as soon as the sun is up and not wake anyone up using the electric string trimmer and chain saw.

or cutting up wood to go in the smoker when I am out starting it at sun up

plan to take it camping also

for just small stuff if you were worried about a chain saw get her a battery powered sawsall

Definitely an electric, whatever brand you already own batteries for

I gotta post this.

Think twice about getting careless about using a small chainsaw , even a tiny battery operated one.

This is an re-enacted video by Kirk LaPierre CWCP from about 18 years ago. About 2:05 long.





RIP , Kirk LaPierre

I bought a STIHL 140C battery saw a couple of years ago and I am very pleased with it. It has great torque and will cut logs that are a larger diametthan the bar in a pinch. I get 45 minutes to an hour out of a charge. I have recommended it to a few friends for their wives and they have been pleased as well.

I have a ryobi with an 18” bar and it will do more work than I want to do on a single charge. Don’t hesitate to buy a battery saw.

Alright thanks everyone looks like we'll be goin the battery route.

get her a handyman….

I'll stick with my gas saw.

You sure are messy....

I have several gas Husqvarna saws. Just picked up a 350i saw with 2 batteries for the vehicle in case I got to cut my way into the cabin ... no gas smell in the vehicle, which Christine appreciates.

Milwaukee 14" top handle

top handles are generally harder to run they torque on you different , they are a lot more compact if you are hanging out of a tree but not overly user friendly your hands are much closer together.

What is she doing with a chainsaw in the kitchen anyhow?

I have several Stihl pro saws for a reason and dang sure don’t want my wife running one. Chainsaws are very unforgiving and absolutely don’t want her trying to learn to use one now.

I went past one of our neighbors this spring and saw the wife trying to cut up a tree top. I stopped and she had it pinched. I asked what her end goal was and went home and got a couple saws and took care of it. Told her to call anytime she needed help as she was clueless. It’s not just women, most guys don’t know how to operate or respect them.

Interesting take on it, crappiekiller. My chainsaw experience was pretty limited. I had limited experience with gas saws when I was a child (but lots of experience watching how others sawed), and then a bit of experience using a small battery saw. Until this past winter when we got several inches of ice dumped on us! I live 3/4 from a road (which was also impassable) with nothing but woods between me and the road. There were dozens of trees down between me and getting out of here. Most of my married life my husband did the saw work, but his current health prevents him from it now.

Thankfully, a friend on here took the time to tell me not just how to safely saw, but also walked me through making two dead chainsaws into one working one, as well as sharpening chains, etc. I did a lot of sawing for a week or two. Since then I've been sawing away as needed cleaning up the mess.

Just because someone, male or female, doesn't know how to saw is no reason that they cannot or should not learn how to, imo.

One of the best guys I ever seen with a chainsaw worked for me on the railroad.He was a Cree man in his 20s and could fell and limb trees blowdowns standing chicots,any size ,and twice as productive as anyone else working.
I asked him where he learned how to cut like that all day long and he said he grew up at moose River Crossing in a family of 26 and the kids all cut wood fished hunted trapped and snared and did whatever they needed to do.He started using a chainsaw when he was 7 years old cutting on the family wood road.The guy sure could handle a chainsaw.
The more you use a chainsaw the better you get.
I dont see why anyone cannot become very proficient with a gas chainsaw man woman or kid.
I think some people are just scared of a chainsaw.

Yep, asking opinions on chainsaws for a lady is just being scared.
Echo makes a fine 56V saw with a 18" bar. It cuts a pickup load of wood on a battery in fair weather.

You can cut your leg off with one of those things! Stay away from BB guns too!!!!

You'll put someone's eye out.

for new people to chain saws
this is not a bad place to start , no you aren't heading to BC to fall giant trees but physics works the same big and small.

it don't have to be 60 inches a breast to kill you , 10 inches will kill you stone dead if it hits you wrong.

https://www.worksafebc.com/en/resou...ideo-series/introduction-1-of-17?lang=en

Honestly one of these main issues is just cranking the thing , mainly because of her asthma. Three or four pulls and she's puffing on her inhaler

does you ms170 have the easy start?

with ezstart you pull slowly and it reaches a point and then the spring you just wound up starts the saw.

also technique in starting no saw should need more than a few pulls for a standard saw

if you have compression release , push that and slowly pull through 2-3 times , now with the choke on full one good pull it should pop off , then push in the choke and it should pop and run.

if it takes a lot of pulling I would be questioning what fuel you are using or how old it is.

that said if asthma is that bad , probably eclectic or phone a friend , got anyone who can just check on her after a storm or that she can call for an issue? don't yall have a bunch of family right close?

And barefoot to boot!

Nah it's one of the older models and it's a finicky lil thing the controls are a little off most of the time it works perfect but every so often it's just a pain . Kinda why I was hoping maybe they had some kinda push start on or something. . it sure if that's even a thing though. But actually I'm usually the one getting calls to help people cut stuff up because it seems I'm the only one in the friend group or around the house who has a saw that's stays in working condition that and our closet friends are 30min away and usually it's just one 3-4" dia tree limb in the yard or something. Right now she could really use one for cutting up some old limbs in the pastures to put in her new flower beds

having gone to an electric myself for small stuff , they work , they are easier to operate
and practice is what will keep her current on usage

what tool batteries do you have dewalt , milwaukee , ridgid , ryobi , mastercraft , makita they all have a small saw.

OR

get a backup gas saw echo has some reasonable options

make sure you are keeping fresh no ethanol gas around and mixed , I just run my lawn mower on it also so that I only keep one gas 91 no E mixed


the electric will never be a replacement for my large gas saws , it is a more convenient than firing up one of my other saws.

I just received to temu batteries in am going to try.



They are supposed to be 8 ah but are considerably lighter.
Test one tomorrow and update.