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still can't match a gas-powered chainsaw
Wednesday, February 17 2016
After yesterday's snow-turned-to-rain followed by last night's hard freeze, the world was an ice-glazed wonderland. It was treacherous outside, and I used an ice chisel to break an ice-free path to the car. There was visibly-flowing water under the ice, so it came up pretty easily.
I took my new 18 inch battery-powered Kobalt chainsaw out on a firewood-gathering foray early this afternoon just to see what it could do. My first stop was at a large Chestnut Oak that had fallen across the Chamomile about 150 feet upstream from the Stick Trail. It's too green to backpack home (I don't want to carry that water weight), but I've felt the need to cut it up so it will begin to dry. Today I attacked it with the new saw, which cut through that wood like butter, about as quickly as my gas-powered Stihl. I made five or six big (13-14 inch) cuts and three or four smaller ones, reducing the fallen tree to manageable pieces. After that, though, I barely had one bar left on the battery. Battery-powered chainsaws have come a long way, but they still can't match a gas-powered chainsaw with a tank full of gasoline. I then went further south down the Stick Trail and attempted to cut up some scraps, but barely managed to get two more pieces. Combined with a large piece cut some time ago, today's load only came to 82 pounds.
This afternoon, I drove into town to give Gretchen some alone time. Initially, I planned to go to Outdated, but at the last minute I decided just to go out to 9W on a normal retail errand. There wasn't much I needed at Home Depot, but at ShopRite I desperately needed corn chips for me and baking powder for Gretchen. After that I drove out west on Route 28 and got cat litter at Barnyard and a single 150 milliamp five volt power supply at the Tibetan Center thrift store. That latter thing was free, and nothing else there seemed worth getting. That said, I was also intrigued by a set of fireplace tools until I saw they'd been priced at $300.
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