| I would imagine the spark arrestor is the first and least dangerous 'feature' to be removed by regular chainsaw users. It's a small oblong of fine stainless steel mesh that sits at the exhaust, prevents any large hot particles escaping, but also gradually impedes the operation of the motor. It can clog up fairly quickly, especially if you run a slightly higher oil:petrol ratio, which you may have very sensible reasons for doing. And because it's bothersome to remove (especially when the engine is hot) and clean (you need a toothbrush, some petrol, a small container, etc) or replace (you need to carry a spare, and different models have different sizes) - a lot of people just remove it. None of my chainsaws still have theirs, f.e. It's a calculated risk, but I'm very careful with where and when I use a chainsaw, and also cautious about monitoring fire risks. |
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| ▲ | HankStallone a day ago | parent | next [-] | | Interesting, I've never thought of the spark arrestor as a safety feature. I guess theoretically it prevents starting a fire in dry conditions, which is a good thing. My chainsaws came with two safety features: the kick guard (or handguard) and a tip protector. For those who don't know, the kick guard sits above your forward hand and stops the chain immediately if you push it forward. If the tip of your chain catches a log juuust right, and you aren't holding the saw firmly with both hands, it can "kick" the chain up towards your face. If that happens, the kick guard will hit your hand and stop the chain. You take a deep breath, pull the kick guard back to release the chain, and keep working. I don't know why anyone would remove it, or if it's even possible for my saws to run without it. The tip protector is intended to prevent kickback at all, by keeping the tip of the bar from contacting anything in the first place. That's fine if you're cutting stuff a few inches across, but it makes cutting large stuff impossible and even small stuff inconvenient. Kickback doesn't happen often, very rarely if you're careful, and the kick guard handles it, so I've never seen anyone cut with a tip protector. But if you're new to using a chainsaw, it's probably not a bad idea to keep it on. | |
| ▲ | bluGill a day ago | parent | prev [-] | | I won't give up my electric chainsaw... no spark arrestor. | | |
| ▲ | potato3732842 a day ago | parent [-] | | Your electric chain saw weighs a ton for its power output and run time. You'd feel differently if you had to schlep it into the top of a tree all the time. I have an electric chain saw. It overlaps in use with small, but not arborist small, gas saws and excels at some things they don't. While they can all do each other's jobs if you're ok with it being slower/not ideal it's very much a complimentary tool. Where it really excels over gas saws is highly intermittent use, reduced maintenance and increased situational awareness (i.e. you can do stupid things more safely). | | |
| ▲ | infecto a day ago | parent | next [-] | | You must not be using professional saws then. An electric version of a professional Husqvarna or Stihl (only as an example) with the battery weigh the same as a gas version with gas and oil in the tank. I would argue it’s even more obvious that you have not used one or at least in a professional capacity as you are still looking at 90-100dB running an electric chainsaw. | | |
| ▲ | Jedd 16 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | > with the battery weigh the same as a gas version with gas and oil in the tank. I still marvel that the liquid I call 'petrol', is called a gas in some parts of the world. In one of the bigger models, say the Stihl 66x series, there's 825ml of petrol, and 825ml of oil (let's call that 1.5kg) that isn't there by the end of your half hour. Whether that's meaningful I guess comes down to fitness / strength. As sibling commenter noted, electric chainsaws are hugely compelling for intermittent / infrequent use. Here in AU the pricing isn't compelling yet, though. | |
| ▲ | potato3732842 a day ago | parent | prev [-] | | While my day job is not an arborist I deal in logs and tree felling for one of my side gigs. The weight is comparable but the electric saw has less speed/power than the same weight gas saw the battery capacity for a given amount of work output costs you a lot of weight. A gatorade bottle of gas shoved in my pocket weighs a lot less than a 40v battery. Don't get me wrong, electric saws are great, but I wouldn't want to bring one into a tree. The couple times I've had to climb a tree I've used an electric saw but it is because I value the other factors despite the performance hit. The difference between gas and electric is being able to hear your buddy yell at you when you're running the saw. While this is not necessarily useful for felling a singular perfect tree in the middle of a field as you crank up the complexity and/or stupidity of the situation in which you are working it becomes more valuable. If an electric saw cracks 100db it's only just barely, gas is categorically louder and everyone who's used both one knows it. I own a wide variety of mid size saws in both homeowner and "pro" at this point, pretty much all bought used. While power and features vary I mostly discriminate based on chain/bar condition and running condition, they all do the job well enough. I have one tiny saw and huge saw that I only own in "chinese clone of a real brand" quality so I can't compare to high end saws in those classes. Chainsaws are fairly maintenance intensive high strung power equipment and electric is just easier, even if it's heavier. Homeowners who only need to maintain their property and may only run a chainsaw 1-2x per yea would be well advised to get a 40+ volt electric saw of whatever brand makes the most sense in the context of their other tool needs. |
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| ▲ | bluGill a day ago | parent | prev [-] | | The pros I know have lift trucks and so don't schlep it up trees. I've seen videos of tree climbing, that looks too dangerious for me anyway. (And most pros agree) i'm not a pro. for me there is no gas adveantage. I don't have the stamina to run a saw all day anyway. |
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