I recently bought at nice big chunk of Maple burl and need to cut it down into blanks. Many woodturners get large chunks of wood and need to cut them down to manageable size which means the need for a chainsaw. Which made me wonder if there were any reliable chainsaw reviews. A quick check of Google shows many spammy sites, but there were a few from sources I would trust. Here are some that I found:
Popular Mechanics 7 New Chain Saws Reviewed: Comparison Test
The saws tested were all 35 to 38 cc engines and 16 to 18 inch bars. Their top rated were the Husqvarna 240e (5 stars), Stihl MS 210 C-BE (5 stars) and Echo CS-370 (4 ½ stars). Read the reviews here.
Popular Mechanics Chain Saw Comparison Field Test
These saws are larger, 55 to 60 cc and 18 to 20 inch bars. The top rated were the Echo CS-600P (4 ½ stars) and Jonsered CS2159 C (4 ½ stars). Read the reviews here.
First Chainsaw
About.com has a generic list of saws that would make a good first chainsaw purchase. There are no reviews of specific saws, just brands that they review based on company reliability, professional arborist popularity and one chainsaw shop expert’s opinion. Read the reviews here.
Amazon
Another place I like to look for reviews is on Amazon.com. If you search for chainsaw you will get a list of all chainsaws available on Amazon which shows the average rating with a link to the individual comments. You can look here.
