Chainsaws

A chainsaw (or chain saw) is a portable mechanical, motorized saw. more...

Home
Bird & Wildlife Accessories
Children's Gardening Items
Fertilizer, Soil Amendments
Garden Décor
Garden Structures & Fencing
Gardening & Plants
Hand Tools, Gear & Equipment
Hydroponics, Seed Starting
Other Gardening & Plants
Outdoor Lighting
Outdoor Power Equipment
Chainsaws
Chainsaw Parts & Accessories
Electric Chainsaws
Gas Chainsaws
Echo Chainsaws
Homelite Chainsaws
Husqvarna Chainsaws
McCulloch Chainsaws
Other Gas Chainsaws
Poulan Chainsaws
Stihl Chainsaws
Chippers, Shredders &...
Edgers
Engines, Multi-Purpose
Hedge Trimmers
Lawn Mowers
Leaf Blowers & Vacuums
Manuals & Guides
Other Outdoor Power...
Pressure Washers
Snow Blowers
String Trimmers
Tillers
Pest & Weed Control
Planters, Pots, Window Boxes
Plants, Seeds, Bulbs
Publications

It is most commonly used in logging activities such as felling, limbing, and bucking; by tree surgeons to fell trees and remove branches and foliage; to fell snags and assist in cutting firebreaks in wildland fire suppression, and to harvest firewood. Chainsaws with specially designed blades have been developed as tools for use in chainsaw art.

Construction

A chainsaw consists of a small two-stroke gasoline (petrol) internal combustion engine (although smaller versions sometimes use electric motors), the "guide bar" (essentially a long metal frame of a very hard wearing alloy) and the cutting chain itself. Usually each segment in this chain (which is constructed from riveted metal sections similar to a bicycle chain, but without rollers) features a small sharp blade, called a "tooth." "Skip tooth" chain has a tooth only on every second link, and is used for reduced risk of the chain clogging when cutting very soft wood. In modern chainsaws the teeth are not straight blades; they have a forward section that first chips a piece of wood from the bottom of the cut, then another section, at a right angle to the first, which chips a piece from the wall of the cut. There are left and right handed teeth, depending on which wall of the cut they will chip. Left and right teeth are alternated in the chain. Chains come in varying pitch and gauge; the pitch of a chain is defined as half of the length spanned by any three consecutive rivets (e.g., 0.325 inch), while the gauge is the thickness of drive link where it fits into the guide bar (e.g., 0.05 inch).

The underside of each link features a small metal finger that keeps the tooth centered between the rails of the bar, helps to carry lubricating oil around the bar, and engages with the engine's drive sprocket inside the body of the saw. The engine drives the chain around the track at a high speed, providing an effective (if rather rough) cutting action.

As chainsaws become more popular among home owners chainsaw manufacturers are introducing features to make them easier to use. Stihl has developed an Easy2Start, or ErgoStart in Europe, system that uses a spring to overcome the engine's compression. These saws usually start on one pull.

Women are increasingly becoming loggers and foresters. Husqvarna has developed the 339XP as a small saw easy to use for felling and bucking small trees and marketing it towards female foresters. Stihl also sponsors and gives away saws to female chainsaw carvers to promote women in the forest industry. Masters of the Chainsaw has an all women carving demonstration team called the "Chainsaw Chix."

Read more at Wikipedia.org