Electric Chainsaws

When you think of chainsaws in construction work, your mind usually goes to builders of log homes, pole barns, docks, fences, and perhaps timber framers. But I dug a little deeper and found them used in demolition, vintage wood salvage and reuse, panel home building, sculptural stair and railing making, woodcarving, and even in general framing and roofing operations.

In my survey of uses, perhaps the best framing trick is to use a chainsaw for cutting out window and door openings. Especially on thick walls where it is hard to cut straight with a long blade on a recip saw, guiding a chainsaw's bar along the framing will ensure a flush cut. Just be sure there are no protruding nails.

Chainsaws' plunge-cutting abilities have them cutting quick roof vents out for some guys. Different aftermarket saw bases and accessories are available for clamping onto a chainsaw's bar for uses such as gang-cutting deep rafters at a uniform angle, square cross-cutting, making angle or compound angle cuts in timbers, and even for guiding long rip cuts.

While not known for the smoothest finish cuts, chainsaws are accurate enough for the easy cutting of large LVL and glulam ridge beams without having to flip them over. And remodelers and roofers, how many times have you cut tree branches back with the wrong saw? The longer you have a chainsaw on the job, the more uses you'll find for it.

With many pros relying on chainsaws regularly, I decided to perform a comparative test of a particularly attractive segment of the market: electric chainsaws.

Why Electrics?

An oil-level window that is easily visible, like on the Husqvarna, can be checked at a glance.

Electric chainsaws offer some real benefits over gas models that are especially welcome on the jobsite or in the shop. Electrics are quieter and lighter, vibrate less, produce no exhaust, and don't require special pre-mixed fuel to be kept around in the truck or job box. They also offer easier maintenance, similar to other power tools, rather than requiring small-engine repair skills. And if you use one only occasionally, an electric will start right up and deliver full power every time, unlike a sitting gas unit.

It's true that electrics suffer from an image of not being as strong as their smoky siblings, but that was just another reason to test them. With some of these electrics having the equivalent power of a 35- to 40-cc gas engine saw, my experience revealed them to be more than capable performers in every application I tried.