Barnacle Parp's CHAIN SAW GUIDE

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WHO NEEDS A CHAIN SAW?

Anyone who cuts wood or uses cut wood. If you have or are going to have a wood-burning stove or a fireplace, you certainly need a chain saw. It can pay for itself in one week or less. (If your wood-burning heater is efficient, you can significantly lower your utility bills and your consumption of the nonrenewable and disappearing energy sources such as natural gas, oil, and coal. Several excellent chain saws cost less than two cords of cut wood and practically everyone lives near some source of seasoned logs.)

HOW DOES A CHAIN SAW AFFECT THE ENVIRONMENT?

Here's an interesting fact: The total timber harvest for 1900, before the chain saw, was 12.1 billion cubic feet; the total timber harvest for 1973 — with the extensive use of tractors, cranes, and chain saws — was 12.3 billion cubic feet. Almost the same.

A chain saw is dangerous to the environment if it is used in any way that is not fitting, proper, or natural. If you yourself do not use your chain saw to cut living trees for firewood or for fun, you'll have little effect on the environment. There are millions of unused cords of dead firewood left in the forests every year and that's not likely to change suddenly.

As for the emissions from a chain saw, they are relatively slight. A chain saw sounds and smells awful, but it really puts out far less poison than an automobile and is far more efficient in fuel consumption. If you use fuel in any other way, you use more fuel per work minute than you use with a chain saw.

GUIDE BAR SIZE

Gasoline chain saws are commonly available in bar lengths from 10 inches to 36 inches. There are some 8-inch bars available, especially on electric chain saws, but they are obviously not very practical, even for trimming the hedge. And there are professional saws with 60-inch bars. They're very practical for the work they're intended to do, but not otherwise.

The common and most useful lengths for most of us are 12, 14, 16, and 20 inches. Lots of people who cut a great deal of wood, year-round, keep two saws . . . one lightweight with a 14-inch or 16-inch bar, and one medium-duty or light production with a 20-inch or 25-inch bar. In general, anything longer than 25 inches is too awkward for most users, and therefore unsafe.

Most people find that a 16-inch bar is sufficient for nonprofessional use. In areas where you're likely to cut a lot of large wood, you may want a 20-inch or 25-inch bar. If you're only cutting wood for your fireplace, however, you can do fine in almost any area with a smaller bar. All you have to do is find wood that your saw can cut. There's always plenty of that: dead brush, stands of small aspen or birch, and good-sized logs up to 32 inches in diameter.

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