Hand Tools and Machinery for Country Living

[j44ke]

I've been walking around our property clearing off some of the stone walls so they are more visible. Plenty of small to medium sized trees that have fallen over the years no one has been spending any time back in the woods on most of our property. I've been using some pretty amazing Japanese saws which have the advantages of no fuel required and little danger of kickback plus lots of exercise. And they are quiet. Portable. Relatively inexpensive. Anything more complicated I will call in someone who works with a chainsaw more often than I do. I'd rather not take myself out with a flying tree.

But what about chainsaws? I have been recommended two chainsaws - a Stihl MS261C-M and a Still MS 271 Farm Boss.

But I've also been told that for most of my use I could probably get a Stihl or Milwaukee battery chainsaw. I think the Stihl my neighbor has is the MSA 200 C-BQ and one of the arborists who worked on the site said to look at this Milwaukee saw.

And what about splitting? Our friends in the Catskills have a pneumatic splitter that works amazingly well, but it also spends several weeks in the shop every year. That means several Thanksgivings (big bonfire with turkeys roasting over coals and 50 of their closest friends) there has been a pre-turkey splitting fest where we take turns with various implements for splitting wood - mauls, axes and wedges. My personal favorite is this Japanese axe and (on the other side of the spectrum) this crazy splitting axe.

What about wheeled machinery? These same friends have a John Deere Gator that they use to do almost all their hauling tasks on their property, including sliding logs out of the forest. It is a six wheeler side-by-side. I remember Joe Robonza got a Honda Foreman that he can use as a snow plow and liked. I don't think I want a tractor or a Bobcat. That's way above my needs.

What else? There have to be tools for every day stuff that I am going to want to have handy once we move in. I know I'll need some ladders for roof maintenance.

Most of the heavy duty stuff I am better off budget-wise hiring someone who knows what the heck they are doing to come in and take care of the problem quickly and efficiently. Definitely I am not going to be bringing down hung-up trees down by myself any time soon. So the goal is to spend money on tools and machinery efficiently. And right now, given the choice between labor savings and a bit of exercise, I'm leaning towards the exercise with minimal requirement for medical attention.

[monadnocky]

all I can really speak to is the splitting.

I'm sure you're well versed but I find fancy-pants manual splitters a waste of money. I've never experienced any problems with the relatively cheap ones, and the complicated contraptions like the one you linked seem a little silly to me - it's f=ma and I can't imagine that zany springs or ramps or whatever are going to be of much use. Just have a look at the edge and make sure that there is a good double angle (that is, a few mm of about 45 degrees to the wood, transitioning to a more acute angle to the axe head after this). Not too heavy either - yeah, a 18 lb splitter sounds great until you're doing it more than a few whacks.

I have a Cub Cadet 22 (23?) ton splitter that I love. I've split probably 10 cords with it, had it for about three years, and it's never been in the shop. Starts on the first pull every time. Of course, SeaFoam or STA-BIL is your friend when you're not using it. Should you go this route, make sure that the contraption can change from a horizontal to a vertical position (I think most do now?) Your back will thank you.

Should you not go the mechanized route, it's nothing I couldn't manage with a splitting wedge and a sledgehammer. But man, it is so much nicer.

[j44ke]

all I can really speak to is the splitting.

I'm sure you're well versed but I find fancy-pants manual splitters a waste of money. I've never experienced any problems with the relatively cheap ones, and the complicated contraptions like the one you linked seem a little silly to me - it's f=ma and I can't imagine that zany springs or ramps or whatever are going to be of much use. Just have a look at the edge and make sure that there is a good double angle (that is, a few mm of about 45 degrees to the wood, transitioning to a more acute angle to the axe head after this). Not too heavy either - yeah, a 18 lb splitter sounds great until you're doing it more than a few whacks.

I have a Cub Cadet 22 (23?) ton splitter that I love. I've split probably 10 cords with it, had it for about three years, and it's never been in the shop. Starts on the first pull every time. Of course, SeaFoam or STA-BIL is your friend when you're not using it. Should you go this route, make sure that the contraption can change from a horizontal to a vertical position (I think most do now?) Your back will thank you.

Should you not go the mechanized route, it's nothing I couldn't manage with a splitting wedge and a sledgehammer. But man, it is so much nicer.

Splitting wedge and sledge hammer was the tool of choice when their splitter was last down. The Chopper thing is more a curiosity simply because it launches the pieces in rather dramatic fashion. Bookmarked the Cub Cadet website.

For small stuff you will be better off with a battery powered reciprocating saw.
Anything bigger call someone.

Huh, that's interesting. I have one of those. I guess a 2x4 is just a small rectangular tree.

[JoB]

My take on chainsaws is that you buy the shop, not the saw. A Stihl, Jonsered, Husqvarna will serve you well but it's a 2 stroke that rips at 13,000 rpm. it's going to need service and having a shop close by is invaluable.

we have an old cabin in the woods, and the things i could not do without are:

- maul (Stihl) and splitting wedges including good hearing protection
- chain saw
- good small axe for making kindling (including sharpening implements)
- i don't have a hydraulic splitter but if I had more wood to split, I'd get one in a heartbeat. Monadnocky's experience mirrors mine; get a simple one with a good engine and off you go. I don't love the ones where you have to lift the wood off the ground at all.
- i can easily see the use of a battery-powered reciprocating saw

If I took one class, it'd be a sharpening class. there are also excellent videos online on chainsaw safety (by Husqvarna, among others).

[Tom]

JoB's list is pretty comprehensive. A good eight pound splitting hammer and a set of three wedges for the twisty stuff is all you'll need unless you're splitting a lot of wood. I'd add that a good smaller chainsaw with the capacity for a decent size bar is very useful. I'm partial to Husqvarnas only because when I used a saw many years ago their power to weight ratio was excellent. They don't make Brush Kings any more if I remember right but some kind of powered scythe is useful unless you want to learn how to use an actual scythe. You can cut brush with one of those if you're good at it, you just have to sharpen a lot if you do. Using one is very meditative, too.

[lumpy]

You'll need a mattock for chopping up ice and chopping out roots and stuff. Way more useful than a pickaxe.

[NorTX-Dave]

I cleared 5 acres of brush, post oak, mountain cedar and mesquite prior to building our house in Texas.

I've got the Stihl MS 261 chainsaw you mentioned. Has worked great for the last 4 years cutting all the above mentioned wood. I recently also got an inexpensive chainsaw chain sharpener from Harbor freight that works really well, after using hand files and doing a suboptimal job for the last few years. I have friends that swear by Husqvarna saws, but I've never used one.

63803_I.jpg

I've got a friend that offered to give me about a cord of old aged cut oak pieces, but most are about 24" in diameter. I've shopped splitters, but I'm not sure that I really "need" one due to the relatively small amount of really big wood that I'll ever need to split. But just this morning I got a Fiskars X27 splitting axe. Wow....one swing and I'm splitting 12 - 16" pieces of mesquite and oak into fire ready manageable pieces. I don't know if it will be effective at all with 24" pieces (I doubt it) but I'm planning to go over and see what I can do.

Resource_FiskarsAmericas_378841-1002.jpg

I've burned through tree limb loppers....small hand shears....small hand saws...and gloves, not really finding any favorites.

[jclay]

I cleared our property and built our house; and by built I don't mean I contracted it. Given what you wrote it's difficult to speak to tools and there's an enormous gulf between Japanese hand saws and a bobcat (which you can rent).

As to chainsaws: Any reasonable and thoughtful person can learn/be taught to use a chainsaw relatively safely and perform hazard analyses of trees before cutting but there is always an element of risk. You might consider contracting out all the tree cutting, debris removal and general land manipulation that you envision before moving in, in one fell swoop. That would be much more cost effective than piecemeal removal of trees over the years. Doing that eliminates a sizable chunk of risk and put you well ahead of the labor power curve. It would also leave you with much smaller trees to deal with later and you might find an electric saw to be suitable; it would certainly be more reliable than a gasoline powered saw over the decades.

[j44ke]

I cleared our property and built our house; and by built I don't mean I contracted it. Given what you wrote it's difficult to speak to tools and there's an enormous gulf between Japanese hand saws and a bobcat (which you can rent)....

Sorry - don't understand what you are getting at here. Or perhaps I wasn't clear. I am not equating Japanese hand saws with heavy machinery. I know tools. I worked on house renovation, framing, etc. at various points in my life. I know those sorts of tools pretty well. I am asking about the tools that become part of daily life while living in the woods. Things I might not expect to need but work well and prove valuable.

I've also wondered why I don't seem to get any recommendations for chainsaws other than Stihl (except for the battery powered Milwaukee.) There is a large Husqvarna dealer the next town over, but I haven't heard anyone mention those. Someone has to be keeping that guy in business.

[cny rider]

For small stuff you will be better off with a battery powered reciprocating saw.
Anything bigger call someone.

[Mark Kelly]

What about wheeled machinery? These same friends have a John Deere Gator that they use to do almost all their hauling tasks on their property, including sliding logs out of the forest. It is a six wheeler side-by-side. I remember Joe Robonza got a Honda Foreman that he can use as a snow plow and liked.

An alternative to the John Deere is the Polaris "Ranger". We use one as the vineyard runabout and it's taken everything we've thrown at it in its stride, or at least it did until the owner's daughter ran into an end post with it. Since our endposts are pieces of old railway line driven into the ground, the Ranger came off second best.

Re the Honda: beware any quad without rollover protection, they are the deadliest of farm vehicles.

[Mabouya]

Anyone here have any intel on Worx cordless chainsaws?

If I choose, I can get a 40V 14" model for free. (It's a boondoggle thing at work, where I can choose between that, a variety of watches, and misc other stuff)

This was probably the most interesting item of the bunch, but I suppose a Citizen Eco-Drive chronometer watch might also work. However, I already have several solar-powered watches (no chronographs) so I'm not too keen on that.

https://www.worx.com/40v-14-inch-cor...ion-wg384.html

It seems to get pretty good reviews online, but of course one has to "know it's limitations" to paraphrase Dirty Harry. One drawback I see is that it only comes with one pair of batteries (it uses two at once) which of course limits your work time, but it looks like there are generic batteries out there that are compatible and reasonably priced. (OEM replacements are ~$100 for the pair)

Any thoughts or comments? Obviously the #1 factor in it's favor is that it's free, but if it's a POC I'll get something else.

[j44ke]

Looks remarkably like a trimmed down version of the Makita chainsaw, if you can imagine the blue plastic removed from the Makita. That's a pretty popular light-duty chainsaw. The batteries are 2.0ah though, so that's not a lot. Would be better at 5 or 6ah to get some additional work time, but if these are compatible, they do make a 6ah battery. Also if the website is correct, there is a 16" bar and chain for it too. That would be a good upgrade, particularly if the 6ah battery fits the saw also.

Best part about it is - it is a tool and it is free (though imagine there was some work on your part to earn the offer.) It would have to be horrible really not to be worth it.

[Mabouya]

Looks remarkably like a trimmed down version of the Makita chainsaw, if you can imagine the blue plastic removed from the Makita. That's a pretty popular light-duty chainsaw. The batteries are 2.0ah though, so that's not a lot. Would be better at 5 or 6ah to get some additional work time, but if these are compatible

Thanks for the additional info, Jorn.

It looks like Amazon has a compatible 5 ah battery for $36. Since I'd need two that would be $72.

Right now I think I'll probably get it, and if it meets my expectations I'll get the second pair of batteries.

Will probably get more utility out of that than some of the other stuff to choose from (luggage sets, jewelry, etc.)

Random comment: The $ value of the stuff for these awards isn't that high, and if one's feeling bitter about life or the company I've worked for since I got out of grad school, I suppose some might feel negative about potentially chintzy gifts like this, but I figure WTH, at the least the company's going through the motions of acting like they care... I'm certainly not going to act as if I'm standing on some sort of principle and turn it down. (as the big-wigs award themselves stock options worth $$$$$$$) What's important to me is that I'm happy with the people I work with, that it's interesting work and I get to contribute to some neat stuff.

[SlowPokePete]

Kind of interesting....



SPP

[monadnocky]

Kind of interesting....



SPP

And where are these guys to help out with processing the two giant maples that were just felled by the tree company in my front yard? Nowhere, that's where.

[j44ke]

Speaking of firewood, I finally got rid of the stupid plastic tarps and installed corrugated metal roofs. Not an elegant retrofit, but it works. I also moved a bunch of bad wood off these racks onto a pile for outdoor consumption where punky poorly burning wood is less offensive. In the process I evicted a lot of mice. Getting rid of the tarps will help that issue also.

[Mabouya]

Speaking of firewood, I finally got rid of the stupid plastic tarps and installed corrugated metal roofs. Not an elegant retrofit, but it works.

So Jorn, based on that image I must conclude that whenever it rains at your place the wind drops down to 0.01 mph, correct? ; )

[rwsaunders]

Jorn…you will not believe how quickly your wood will dry in those racks and how well it will stay dry…nice work.

[mnoble485]

Speaking of firewood, I finally got rid of the stupid plastic tarps and installed corrugated metal roofs. Not an elegant retrofit, but it works. I also moved a bunch of bad wood off these racks onto a pile for outdoor consumption where punky poorly burning wood is less offensive. In the process I evicted a lot of mice. Getting rid of the tarps will help that issue also.

That “tool” center left. I’ve been looking at them recently. Can I get a verified consumer review please.

Mike