The primary hand-operated cutting tool in forestry, powered by a two-stroke gasoline engine or high-voltage battery. The engine drives a sprocket that pulls a specialized cutting chain around a steel guide bar at high speeds. Fallers use them for felling, limbing, and bucking timber that heavy machinery cannot reach or process efficiently.
Heard on the job
Grab the big chainsaw with the 36-inch bar, this oak is too thick for the smaller saws.
Insider tip
Professional timber fallers obsess over chain tension and sharpness, stopping frequently to touch up the cutters with a round file to maintain peak cutting speed.
Also heard as
- power saw
- saw