Lidl Electric Chainsaw

mrsoft

Has anyone any experience or opinions of the Lidl Chainsaw which is on sale from 22nd August. I was considering purchasing same to do a bit around the house.

Initially the job I want to do is cut down a leylandii hedge (approx. 8 feet high and 120 feet long. Would the saw be capable of this job? After that I just need it to saw logs/wood every now and then.

Opinions welcome.

CJhaughey

mrsoft wrote: »

Has anyone any experience or opinions of the Lidl Chainsaw which is on sale from 22nd August. I was considering purchasing same to do a bit around the house.

Initially the job I want to do is cut down a leylandii hedge (approx. 8 feet high and 120 feet long. Would the saw be capable of this job? After that I just need it to saw logs/wood every now and then.

Opinions welcome.

The saw will do it but I'd say you will need to sharpen the chain a few times during the felling.
Leylandii bark is very prone to gathering dust and grit and seems to dull the chain very easily.
I don't know what the supplied chain is probably a low pro oregon type, maybe best to get a spare one to last the days work.
Blunt chains make cutting very hard work.
Have you safety gear? electric saws are very torquey and won't stop like a petrol one with chainsaw pants.
If you haven't I'd budget for some, body parts are hard to grow back.

smacl

CJhaughey wrote: »

If you haven't I'd budget for some, body parts are hard to grow back.

+1 on this, had a chain snap on a cheap petrol chainsaw on me a couple of years ago, which took a fair lump out of the arm of a heavy jacket I was wearing. Also easy enough to find a bit of old wire fencing or other debris in an old hedge that the chain saw will send flying at speed, so worth keeping yourself protected.

Harry Palmr

Honestly this is the road to ruin, do not buy cheap chainsaws (or second hand ones unless giving it a full service and new chain before use). Hire a good one and hire or buy the safety gear to go with use of one. And watch a few demonstration videos to help you save yourself a limb.

recedite

+1 on the safety tips. Its amazing that you can now come home from buying the groceries with a €70 tool bought on the spur of the moment, that is easily capable of killing or maiming an inexperienced user.

The weak point on this saw is that the drive sprocket is poorly attached to the driveshaft of the motor. With the sudden jerk of the high torques generated, it is likely to start spinning after a few hours use, as happened with mine. Not worth trying to repair at that point, because its a shoddy tool anyway.

joeysoap

Notice the Aldi one is €10 more expensive than the lidl one, both on sale next week, look pretty much the same in the booklets. Aldi one has oil and a cover, maybe that's the €10?

Harry Palmr

Was going to make that observation myself - hedge trimmers should be as heavy-weight as this sort of thing gets when buying from a supermarket with no expert/experienced advice on hand

invicta

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Honestly this is the road to ruin, do not buy cheap chainsaws (or second hand ones unless giving it a full service and new chain before use). Hire a good one and hire or buy the safety gear to go with use of one. And watch a few demonstration videos to help you save yourself a limb.[/


A chainsaw is one of the few tools you cannot hire.
For the same reason they don't hire out shotguns!!

Harry Palmr

Some places do, some don't.

http://www.hss.ie/g/3705/chainsaws-and-safety-kit.html

Fiskar

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Honestly this is the road to ruin, do not buy cheap chainsaws (or second hand ones unless giving it a full service and new chain before use). Hire a good one and hire or buy the safety gear to go with use of one. And watch a few demonstration videos to help you save yourself a limb.

It is not possible as far as I am aware to hire a chainsaw anymore.

OP should buy a good domestic petrol saw or leave it to the professionals. I would suggest a Stihl MS 181. I recently took down a 30 foot pine near my house but have the best of gear for the job and it pays to have such to make the job safe and done efficiently.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Honestly this is the road to ruin, do not buy cheap chainsaws (or second hand ones unless giving it a full service and new chain before use). Hire a good one and hire or buy the safety gear to go with use of one. And watch a few demonstration videos to help you save yourself a limb.[/


A chainsaw is one of the few tools you cannot hire.
For the same reason they don't hire out shotguns!!

And rightly so. But, any idiot can walk into Aldi and buy one. Left handed people should avoid them as, if they kick, they cross the body.

Only qualified people should be allowed handle chainsaws.

lazybones32

mrsoft wrote: »

Has anyone any experience or opinions of the Lidl Chainsaw which is on sale from 22nd August. I was considering purchasing same to do a bit around the house.

Initially the job I want to do is cut down a leylandii hedge (approx. 8 feet high and 120 feet long. Would the saw be capable of this job? After that I just need it to saw logs/wood every now and then.

Opinions welcome.

No, no, no! The Lidl chainsaws aren't designed for the kind of cutting you intend on doing. They are designed for minimal, irregular use and tackling a 120ft row of trees with a product not made for that workload will not end well.
The Forestry forum might offer more suitable recommendations for a good saw. Buying a decent saw isn't a waste of money: if you are finished with it after 30 hours of work, you can sell it and recoup the most of your money.

I can't emphasise safety enough. I only use my saw for 40mins at a time and then take a 20min break from it. You only need to lose focus for a second or two...and even if you are paying perfect attention, **** can still go wrong. My old fella has a nice reminder across his lower belly: his guts were hanging out after the saw slipped. I kid you not.

magicbastarder

my wife bought me a (petrol) chainsaw for christmas. maybe she's trying to send me a message. my approach to it lies somewhere between respect and fear.
we did have a demontration on sensible chainsaw use at the woodturner's guild meeting. i would be very wary of using one without someone experience explaining to you what the novice mistakes are.

Prenderb

Also, saw aside, felling even small trees is something that's in another different league to sawing timber that's on the ground. Consider getting a specialist in for your job on the hedge.

mrsoft

Thanks for all the advice and suggestions. I think I'll be giving it a miss. The 'what can go wrong scenario' is too risky.

For the record I have hired a petrol chainsaw on numerous occasions and would be considered relatively experienced using them.

My hedge can stay put a while.

Hocus Focus

I have an electric chainsaw that I bought in Lidl more than ten years ago. I have used it to cut down a fifty-year-old gigantic Leylandia tree as an experiment, to see whether I could cut down the other fourteen, or get in the professionals, which I did!
I have subsequently used it every year for cutting up logs from fallen trees and branches. I also use it along the tops of my hedges instead of the hedge trimmer, if they have grown too tall. It has worked fine, as long as I sharpen the chain at the start of each session, and has never given any trouble, apart from a plastic gasket on the part that controls the flow of oil onto the chain, I have to make a new from time to time, as they are not available as a spare part. I am now on, I think, my fourth chain and the motor, sprocket, switches and anti-kickback safety features are still working fine.