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Cuts per charge are counted on a 4x4. Your log is not a 4x4
A battery chainsaw listing leads with a cut count. EGO says what it was counted on: up to 130 cuts on a 4x4. A 4x4 post is 3.5 inches square. A 10 inch log has 6.4 times as much wood in every cut, and hardwood is slower still. Other makers print a cut count and never name the wood. This site turns each claim into cuts of the log you really have, and matches bar length to wood size.
Bar length and real log cuts calculator
An estimate for planning, not a measurement. It treats every maker's cut count as if it were counted on a dry 4x4 post, which only EGO confirms. Knots, wet wood, a dull chain and how hard you push all change the real number. The hardwood factor of 1.5 is our assumption.
Before any cut
- Gear. CDC lists a hard hat, safety glasses, hearing protection, heavy work gloves, chainsaw chaps from the waist to the top of the foot, and boots that cover the ankle.
- Height. CDC says to always cut at waist level or below. Canada's workplace safety centre says do not saw above shoulder height. No ladders.
- Bar nose. Kickback starts when the top of the bar tip touches something. Know where the tip is at all times.
- People. CDC says keep others at least 30 feet from anyone cutting limbs or a fallen tree, and at least 150 feet from anyone felling a tree.
- Battery saws are still chainsaws. They are quiet and start with a button. The chain does not care. Take the battery out before you touch the chain.
Guides
Start here
- The 7 best cordless chainsaws, by the wood they can really cut
Seven battery chainsaws from EGO, Greenworks, Husqvarna, DEWALT, WORX, BLACK+DECKER and Milwaukee, compared by bar length, chain speed and real log cuts.
- Bar length and real log cuts calculator
Enter your log size, number of cuts and wood type. Get the bar length to shop for and what each maker's cuts per charge claim means on your wood.
Numbers on the listing
- Cuts per charge: what was cut, and with which battery
EGO counts its 130 cuts on a 4x4 post. Greenworks, DEWALT and Milwaukee print cut counts with no wood named. Here is how to read each claim.
- What size chainsaw bar you need
Match chainsaw bar length to the wood you cut. The bar minus 2 inches rule, what a 6 inch pruning saw is for, and why 28 inch capacity claims need care.
- Chain speed, pitch, gauge and drive links
Chain speed in m/s or ft/s tells you how fast a battery chainsaw cuts. Pitch, gauge and drive links tell you which replacement chain fits. How to read both.
Safety
- Kickback, chain brakes and low-kickback chain
What kickback is, where the kickback zone sits on the bar, what chain brakes and low-kickback chain do, and what ANSI B175.1 does and does not cover.
- Safety gear and storm cleanup with a battery chainsaw
CDC's chainsaw protective gear list, the 30 foot and 150 foot distances, spring poles, power lines, and when storm cleanup is not a job for a homeowner saw.
Owning one
- Bar oil, chain tension and storage
Why chainsaws drip bar oil in storage, how often to check chain tension, tool-free vs tool tensioning on seven saws, and how to store and recycle the battery.