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.