Chainsaw vs recip…

[buck91]

Has anybody replaced the use of their chainsaw with a saws all/reciprocating saw? Just picked up some of the 12” Diablo pruning blades to use with my 20v reciprocating saw. Obviously not a heavy duty option but for general purpose work and even light duty firewood I’m thinking this might be a more Convenient option than breaking out the Husqvarna….

 

[Pablo]

Just get a smaller electric chainsaw. Or a bigger one.

I have an 80V Chainsaw. From 1" to 12+" it cuts like a dream. Ricipro is VERY slow. IMHO.

 

[JohnnyG]

Has anybody replaced the use of their chainsaw with a saws all/reciprocating saw? Just picked up some of the 12” Diablo pruning blades to use with my 20v reciprocating saw. Obviously not a heavy duty option but for general purpose work and even light duty firewood I’m thinking this might be a more Convenient option than breaking out the Husqvarna….

No comparison. The sawzall just won't cut it. It might work a little bit on roots that are held pretty solidly in the soil, but once you try to cut a branch, all bets are off.
Tried it.

 

[JeffKeryk]

^^ What @JohnnyG said.

 

[Warstud]

 

[UncleDave]

For light pruning - ok. Not replacing a chainsaw with a recip though.

 

[samven]

My sawzall works ok on dead branches but it seems to get hung up on live ones, particularly in real sappy wood. It will never replace a chainsaw for firewood just light trimming.

 

[Warstud]

Just picked up some of the 12” Diablo pruning blades

Pruning Blades.....I didn't know they made them for a recip.

 

[Cruisin'n5thgear]

Anything over the stroke of the recip ... about 1.25 inches ... suffers from not being able to clear chips out of the cut efficiently. Also the recip is hard on your wrists.

Essential to have for Sawzall work but I wouldn't trade my CS-300 top handle saw.

 

[UncleDave]

Anything over the stroke of the recip ... about 1.25 inches ... suffers from not being able to clear chips out of the cut efficiently. Also the recip is hard on your wrists.

Essential to have for Sawzall work but I wouldn't trade my CS-300 top handle saw.

Way more vibration with a recip - really adds up over the span of a day - a branch here or there sure, no prob.

 

[oldcodger]

I just purchased one of the 6" cordless 12 volt chain saws. It works great for anything under 4". You can run it with one hand.

 

[D60]

I just purchased one of the 6" cordless 12 volt chain saws. It works great for anything under 4". You can run it with one hand.

You couldn't pry the M12 from my wife's hands. She likes to do the limbing while I cut the "bigger" stuff with my M18. Our trees aren't that large so battery power works great for us

 

[IndyIan]

For efficient cutting a reciprocal saw is limited to cutting stuff a bit less thick than the stroke of the saw.
I suppose there’s some equation for how many teeth a chain saw can pull through a cut efficiently too. I know my 36” bar works far better with a full skip chain than with a normal chain when it’s buried.

 

[ajchien]

I use a pruning blade with a reciprocating saw for branches thicker than an half inch up to maybe 2.5 inches in diameter. If it’s too small, the branch just vibrates all over.

 

[4wd]

Well … the Stihl cordless pruner was $180 … battery looked small … got this little 5” with a good sized 24v for $49 !
Just trimmed a younger oak tree - 2” and smaller it flew through … 3” took a few seconds but I did not have to drag out any corded or gasoline saws …

 

[vwmaniaman]

I have a Ryobi electric pole saw and I use it to trim. It is great and I even do our shrubs with it so I don't get poked by branches.

 

[ecotourist]

Has anybody replaced the use of their chainsaw with a saws all/reciprocating saw? Just picked up some of the 12” Diablo pruning blades to use with my 20v reciprocating saw. Obviously not a heavy duty option but for general purpose work and even light duty firewood I’m thinking this might be a more Convenient option than breaking out the Husqvarna….

I've tried using a pruning blade on my corded reciprocating saw. It just doesn't "cut it" (so to speak) on even smaller size firewood.

I use my reciprocating saw all the time for pruning and cutting out roots. It's slow on big roots (say up to 5" diameter) but it eventually works. I don't know what else would take them out. And no I'm not going to dig them out. The ground here is full of large jagged rocks. Hard on the blades though.

My reciprocating saw is on its second life. It's at least 15 years old and has quit once already. An internal part ($6 retail) was no longer available, so I had the old one welded back together. Cost me a 6 pack of beer. Works fine again.

 

[4wd]

I have a Ryobi electric pole saw and I use it to trim. It is great and I even do our shrubs with it so I don't get poked by branches.

Yup - have a Worx pole saw that does just fine - going to pull it out after all the leaves drop …

 

[Dave9]

I'm not making firewood but have had to clear away a few fallen trees and major branches over the years. None had a particularly large diameter truck, so was able to use my remington electric (corded) pole saw that has a detachable standalone chain saw. It's around a 10"-12" bar.

Since it's a pole saw, it is handier than getting out a ladder too, to use my cordless recip saw, but I do use the recip saw for anything on the ground that's about 3" diameter or smaller, and far more regularly for trimming my otherwise, formerly/long ago overgrown, bushes.

The recip saw gets into tight areas that a chainsaw can't. I have a pruning blade for it but if it's just a quick one-off cut or two, I'll just use the regular wood blade I leave in it, don't even bother to switch it to orbital mode.

 

[nomas]

Try it and see how it works out for YOU .