Survival chain saw

I have an el-chepo Ryobi limb saw with me yesterday.
Really surprised at how well its holding up

 

As an aside to chain saws PPE is a no brainer, but still.... Chaps, helmet, gloves, and consider a safety jacket....


Having had to drive a guy (lying in back of pickup truck screaming) from edge of the Pintler Wildness area to the hospital in Butte MT - he took a chainsaw to the leg, just below his kneecap. This was a field Geology geosurvey crew in MT - a summer gig while in college....

The docs were able to put him back together. Ran across him by chance almost 20 years later, he was walking with no problem.

So, a decent (*effing big) FAK should go with the chain saw and the chaps, eh?

Death by chainsaw: fatal kickback injuries to the neck - PubMed
and


sorry my inner Medic breaking out....

 

Yep, I took a chainsaw hit below the knee when I was about 20.
Took 8 or 10 stitches? to close it up.Those baby's take a good 1/4 of meat when you take a hit.

 

two years ago , I screwed up a cut a small 14" dia tree. Alder type , it bent and then snaked , knocked me 30-40 feet away and the saw further . Partner came by a few mins later and saw me with my arm up ,,Pick me up to a stump and I passed out for 5 mins . Went to bed for a week . cracked a lwr rib was all , but black & blue on one side , took a year to move well again .

Sloth

 

I got the walmart hyper tough 20v battery powered saw for $40. Looks like they are on clearance.
That's around 1/3 of it's original price.
Just going to use it as a tree trimmer.
Going to try it out and if it doesn't suck I will go to the echo shop and get some 40dl 3/8 pitch 0.50" gauge Oregon VXL chain and a hyper tough 2.5ah battery or 2 off evilbay.

 

Oh the Tru fuel non alcoholic gasoline is on clearance at Walmart for about $5 a gallon.
I consider that a decent deal for shelf stable premium gasoline that already comes in a container.

 

Ok the hyper tough 20v 10 inch chain saw is a handy little delimbing bastard.
Definitely get at least 2 batteries.
The charger that comes with it is slow, I haven't timed it but it takes around 2 hours to charge it up from "too weak to use" to full charge. That's fine for me.
The saw gets weak and it starts to slow down a bit then grabs and kick back more, not that it's a kick back monster like my 60cc echo with a stihl yellow chain.
Then if you are in doubt it's getting weak use it for a few more minutes and it will start to stall.
Don't put it up with the battery that low, I say charge for 20 or 30 minutes on the slow charger, then put it away.

With lithium batteries don't store them fully charged for them to last as long as possible.
Main draw back to these cheap hyper tough batteries is they don't have any kind of charge indicator.

 

While battery powered tools have their uses I have never considered them a part of my Preps...they are too complex for that. I prefer corded electric tools with non-electric back-ups...just in case. For small jobs I can usually use non-electric tools and be done before I can get the chainsaw started or get an electric tool set-up to go.

 

I use battery tools all of the time for work,, but a battery chain saw , as I can see its potential for small projects,, seems better for stealthy purposes,,, how does it work on bones ,,,

 

Generally you don't want to use a chain saw to cut up a body, it would appear Sawzall is better if you insist on using a power tool.

 

I always use a Sawzall on flesh and bone materials

 

Lets not forget the silent option - manual or hand chain saws



Very German - he does a comparison with the chain saw and two different folding saws,.

The folding Sliky wins - no surprise.


compares multiple saws. In some cases silent is important.

 

How to make a bucksaw, using any number of baldes

 

I recommend making as much noise as possible now, before the power goes out.
The battery powered limb saw is pretty quiet. But the 36wh battery pack is probably not even going to cut through two 8 inch green tree branches with out a charge.

In a strange twist my little 208cc 6.5hp DR chipper can be a lot quieter than the electric wood chipper as long as I don't throw anything intothe shredder.
The electric sounds like feeding tree branches into a tornado siren as it spins at 4,300rpm.

 

Ok got the 46wh battery in and it's significantly heavier than the 36wh batt.
Also picked up 4 chainsaw chains (3/8, 0.50 gauge D40) for the battery saw for $16. I can't go wrong at that price. The one it came with has held up better than I thought it would.
The ones walmart sells have the same markings as the one that came on the saw.

 

I have been besting the little hypertough saw for all its worth.
Been using it to clear out green weed trees. Since I cut a tree, remove limbs and useable sections over 2 inches in diameter, drop the saw and throw the rounds and branches on my trailer for further processing later on.
The batteries over heat when it's 90F, they seem strong but then suddenly quit, my guess is thermal overload safety being tripped.
May need to add a 3rd battery. The 2ah battery seems to overheat worse than the bigger 2.5ah battery.

 

I've always thought safety was the most important part of using a chain saw.

I always wear full safety gear and never cut with my head or foot in line with the blade.

I look around after every cut to make sure my area is still safe, and to avoid getting too caught up in the job--"hypnotized" by the saw.

I also try hard to make nothing but simple, boring, predictable cuts--and I never hurry.

Some people cut very fast and think that's a virtue. I can cut 1/3 as fast as someone twice my age and consistently manage to avoid leaking in Technicolor at the same time.

That suits me. What I don't manage to cut today I'll still be able to cut tomorrow.

 

If you have a good store near you that real arborist go to check what they have for replacement chain. Luckily I do and have been running Carlton chain for years on both Stihl and Husky. Also both have good bar oil. As for engine oil I'm real partial to Amzoil 2 stroke Dominator

 

Saw phychosis is real.

 

A lot of today's batteries are designed to run , and then stop when it gets to minimumpower level ,, not slowly run down.