Post by rk660 on May 22, 2011 22:24:54 GMT -6
For winter hut busters, I just saw an advertizement for what might be THE tool for winter hut busting.
Stihl is now making a line of 36 volt (think it was 36) Lith-ion battery, commercial grade lawn and garden power tools. This line includes a 36 V chainsaw. I think its a 16" bar, and rated about same as most 16" gas chainsaws. That would be enough saw, power and bar size, to be a very doable option for cutting frozen huts.
There hasnt been a powerful enough battery powered saw on the market. Everything current is 18 V, and just not quite enough power wise. Ive tried 3 brands and all are lacking for serious use.
A 36V industrial/commercial I think will cut the mustard, and get away from the hassles associated with gas chainsaws and winter use. Mainly starting problems (time pulling rope to start when saw is cold, broken ropes when freezing up) and gas storage and spillage hassles off atv or snowmobile.
Youd probibly need 2-3 batterys, and keep batterys in a warmed cooler, but if this saw preformes as advertized, it would definatly make chainsawing huts easyer dealing with electric battery tool, compared to a gas tool.
Running an invertor off snowmobile or atv to power the battery charger, in a cooler, would keep batterys fully charged as needed, and the invertor inside a cooler would generate some heat for keeping batterys warm. A hot water bottle or small glove and hand warmers, or something else real simple, would keep cooler and batterys warmed up, pretty much in all but extreme cold temps.
It would be a joy to use a chainsaw that you just pulled the trigger and plenty of power to saw instantly, without having to pull rope numberous times, warming up saw, spilling gas.
Im sure a bunch of armchair experts will chime in that : Lith-ion dont work in cold, blah blah blah. But I ran a ryobi lith ion most this winter on chainsaws, cordless drills, sawzalls, and milwaukee and bosche lith ions in the cold to know they work, just need to keep a little on warm side if below 15-20, and the work just fine. Once battery is running they build up heat fast.
The ave hollow plastic chainsaw case could be filled with expanding foam, and some small heater added, that entire tool could be kept slightly warm if needed, to operate better in cold I bet.
The cordless saws I used last winter for trapping, all worked well within their power range, but just didnt have enough power for serious ice sawing or hut sawing.
I used cordless chainsaws a lot for checking colony traps. 2-4" ice was about max that could be sawed relatively quick. Real nice and light to carry while checking, and no rope pulling. Prolly not any faster than ice spud or axe, but since it eliminated sloshing out the ice and slush to keep hole clear, it DID save time over the hand tools, and much more handy than lugging a gas saw.
Im real excited to see it looks like someone has finally made a full sized high grade battery saw!
sounds like will be around $350 range, and availble in August, for those interested.
Stihl is now making a line of 36 volt (think it was 36) Lith-ion battery, commercial grade lawn and garden power tools. This line includes a 36 V chainsaw. I think its a 16" bar, and rated about same as most 16" gas chainsaws. That would be enough saw, power and bar size, to be a very doable option for cutting frozen huts.
There hasnt been a powerful enough battery powered saw on the market. Everything current is 18 V, and just not quite enough power wise. Ive tried 3 brands and all are lacking for serious use.
A 36V industrial/commercial I think will cut the mustard, and get away from the hassles associated with gas chainsaws and winter use. Mainly starting problems (time pulling rope to start when saw is cold, broken ropes when freezing up) and gas storage and spillage hassles off atv or snowmobile.
Youd probibly need 2-3 batterys, and keep batterys in a warmed cooler, but if this saw preformes as advertized, it would definatly make chainsawing huts easyer dealing with electric battery tool, compared to a gas tool.
Running an invertor off snowmobile or atv to power the battery charger, in a cooler, would keep batterys fully charged as needed, and the invertor inside a cooler would generate some heat for keeping batterys warm. A hot water bottle or small glove and hand warmers, or something else real simple, would keep cooler and batterys warmed up, pretty much in all but extreme cold temps.
It would be a joy to use a chainsaw that you just pulled the trigger and plenty of power to saw instantly, without having to pull rope numberous times, warming up saw, spilling gas.
Im sure a bunch of armchair experts will chime in that : Lith-ion dont work in cold, blah blah blah. But I ran a ryobi lith ion most this winter on chainsaws, cordless drills, sawzalls, and milwaukee and bosche lith ions in the cold to know they work, just need to keep a little on warm side if below 15-20, and the work just fine. Once battery is running they build up heat fast.
The ave hollow plastic chainsaw case could be filled with expanding foam, and some small heater added, that entire tool could be kept slightly warm if needed, to operate better in cold I bet.
The cordless saws I used last winter for trapping, all worked well within their power range, but just didnt have enough power for serious ice sawing or hut sawing.
I used cordless chainsaws a lot for checking colony traps. 2-4" ice was about max that could be sawed relatively quick. Real nice and light to carry while checking, and no rope pulling. Prolly not any faster than ice spud or axe, but since it eliminated sloshing out the ice and slush to keep hole clear, it DID save time over the hand tools, and much more handy than lugging a gas saw.
Im real excited to see it looks like someone has finally made a full sized high grade battery saw!
sounds like will be around $350 range, and availble in August, for those interested.
