PowerSharp Chainsaw Sharpening System - Review

Have you ever sharpened a chainsaw by hand?

It blows. It really does.

It's time consuming, tedious, and we always seem to end up with bloody knuckles by the time we're through. There's the alternative of bringing the chain to the hardware store and having them sharpen it, but who wants to deal with that? So now there is a third option: the PowerSharp Chainsaw Sharpening System. Its maker, Oregon was nice enough to send us a sample to try out. In order to test it, we first had to dull the chain, and to do that, we did horrible, horrible things to our chainsaw. Things that went against everything we believe...

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Husqvarna 576 XP AutoTune Chainsaw - Review

So what does a $1,000 chainsaw look like?

Um...this.

We're not kidding. This thing will set you back a grand. Well actually $909.95, but once you breach the $800 mark, who really cares? This is the Husqvarna 576 AutoTune Chainsaw. Is the engine block made of solid gold? Does it use liquefied silver for the chain lube? What gives? Why the sky-high sticker price?

When we first found out that Husqvarna was going to send us one of these saws to review, we danced around the shop in a very un-logger like fashion. We (obviously) like using tools, and we love using good tools, but when we get the chance to use an elite tool, it's a particular thrill. And at $1000, this one reeked of wonderful, pure, sugary elitism.

So what's the mystery of the Midas saw? We found out. Read on....

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Poulan Wild Thing 18" Chainsaw - Review

No one is ever going to mistake us for lumberjacks, but we're also not going to pass for city-dwellers either. Because of the wood stove and all the trees on the property, we need a half-way decent chainsaw. We happen to have gotten this Poulan a few years back as a gift from our old boss and we've been using it ever since despite the fact that it's purple and green and has the words 'Wild Thing' printed on the bar (which, thank the heavens, has finally rubbed off).

But aesthetics aside, it starts when we want it to and it cuts when we need it to. We neglect it most of the year and don't pay too much attention to properly winterizing it. From time to time, we have to fiddle with the idle, but that's not a bother. The only thing that's functionally wrong with it is that the pull cord got all tangled up once and in the process of fixing it, we lost a few revolutions of tension, so it hangs a bit loose. No big deal. It still starts.

We don't think a whole lot about the saw (like we said, we sort of neglect it), but what spurred this review was last weekend's project of making a patio/planting bed border out of railroad ties (have you ever tried picking up a railroad tie? Oh man, are they heavy). The front of the patio has a curve in it to follow the driveway, so we had to make a number of relatively precise cuts with the saw. Like all the other times, the saw started right up and acted just like a chainsaw should. It handled the railroad ties without a problem and other than a fine creosote dust on everything and a chain the needs sharpening, all is good in the world.

Seriously, the only problem we have with the saw is the whole "Wild Thing" thing. Had this not been a gift, we would have never purchased it ourselves based on that alone. We think it's just kinda lame. Sort of like the tool equivalent to having neon lights on the under-carriage of your car.

The Wild Thing costs about $150 and as long as you can handle the look of the thing, it's a great choice for someone looking for a reliable homeowner saw without a big price tag.

At Amazon.com

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Stihl Chainsaw Selector

Stihl has just made the chainsaw buying process a whole lot easier with their online chainsaw selector. Just answer the four questions and the selector narrows you down to a few suitable chainsaws. It takes about 30 seconds and even if your budget is more Poulan than Stihl, it can still be a help, if only to find what size and class is appropriate for your uses.

And while you're at the Stihl site check out this monster. Yikes.

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