Best Chainsaws for Homeowners: The Complete Buying Guide I bought my first chainsaw at 19 years old with money I’d saved from a summer job. It was a beat-up Homelite I found at a garage sale, and it taught me two things immediately: chainsaws are one of the most useful tools you can own on…
If you’re shopping for a mid-size gas chainsaw, the 45cc class is one of the best places to land. You get enough power to fell small-to-medium trees, split firewood rounds, and handle storm cleanup — without hauling around a lumberjack-sized saw all day. I’ve run saws in this class on my Montana property for years,…
If you’re splitting firewood, dropping medium-sized timber, or bucking through hardwood on a regular basis, a 60cc chainsaw is the engine class you want. Not so light that it bogs down in dense wood, not so heavy that you’re wrecked after an hour. I run a ranch in Montana and this is the displacement range…
A 12-inch chainsaw is one of the most useful tools a homeowner can own. It’s compact enough to handle with one hand, light enough to carry up a ladder, and capable enough to tackle limbing, bucking small logs, and cleaning up after a storm. I’ve used mine more times than I can count out here…
Four hundred dollars is a real budget for a real chainsaw. I’ve run saws in that range on my Montana property for years — clearing deadfall after hard winters, bucking up firewood rounds, and handling the occasional storm cleanup. At this price, you’re not buying a compromise. You’re buying a capable tool that will last…
Picking your first chainsaw is overwhelming. Walk into any hardware store and you’re staring down a wall of saws ranging from $40 handheld gadgets to $600 professional machines — and none of the box labels tell you what a beginner actually needs to know. I’ve been running chainsaws on my Montana ranch for over a…
A hundred dollars doesn’t buy you a professional-grade saw. I want to be upfront about that. But it does buy you a perfectly capable tool for trimming branches, cutting up a fallen tree in the backyard, or processing a small stack of firewood — if you choose the right one. I’ve used budget electric chainsaws…
Stihl has been making chainsaws since 1926, and there’s a reason they’re still the first brand most experienced cutters recommend. The quality is consistent, the dealer support is real, and the saws hold up under serious use. But with over a dozen models in their current lineup, figuring out which one fits your situation takes…
Stihl makes some of the most reliable chainsaws on the planet, and I’ve run several of them on my Montana ranch over the years. But “best Stihl chainsaw” means something different depending on whether you’re limbing brush after a storm or dropping 20-inch hardwoods for firewood. The short answer: for most homeowners, the Stihl MS…
I used to stand at the lumber yard staring at boards like I was reading a foreign language. The guy behind me knew exactly what he wanted. I was squinting at growth rings trying to remember if “interlocked grain” was the good one or the bad one. If that sounds familiar, this guide is for…
