Giant table saw, bandsaw, mitre saw, circular saw, reciprocating saw, scroll saw, track saw, tile saw, chain saw, pole saw, oscillating saw and those are just the power ones. so many hand saws! I heart the tools.
@rustyh3
I finally gave up on my Stihl after 30 plus years and I’ve now gone strictly to Ryobi’s 18 and 40 volt electric. No more oil/gas mixing and no yanking on a cord. Pull the trigger and it works. I cut a 12-in diameter dogwood down a while back with the 40 volt Ryobi and it handled it with no problem. I even cut the face of the stump down vertically to use as a place to make a large engraved address sign. A project that never got completed.
@Kyeh@rustyh3@tinamarie1974
Thanks for the heads up. Going to have to see what new shiny gizmos they have that I ‘can have a need for’.
OTOH I’m well covered for chainsaws already!!
I use mostly smaller saws like mentioned here. I decided to buy a large M18 FUEL chainsaw to remove a tree that was kind-of large. Mostly it was an excuse to buy the saw I wanted. Tree guys are $3000/day so I figured that justified it. I am getting rid of ALL my gas stuff but don’t know how to dispose of older semi- or non-working gas stuff. No more 2-strokes for me. Yecchh!
@pmarin
Yep. That’s my take on it as well.
I have found that the larger (40 volt etc) chainsaws are perfectly capable of doing everything I could do with my Stihl with much less noise. Plus a lot less danger if you’re working on a ladder. No climbing with a running chainsaw or trying to pull a cord while you’re up 10 ft in a tree.
I have a 6-in handheld mini chainsaw, a pole mounted 6-in mini chainsaw, and a 10-in 18 volt Ryobi to accompany my 16-in 40 volt. I probably shouldn’t cut anything bigger than I can handle with those at my age and as densely covered as my property is.
@chienfou@pmarin Might be a good idea to have at least one known good gas powered saw in storage, unless you have a robust off grid system that can keep the electrics charged. Have heard stories of people with only electric saws being unable to clear their roads after storms due to lack of power. The same might apply to EV only households.
@kuoh@pmarin
Good thoughts. I can charge my tools from an inverter in my car or from my RV generator in a pinch. Plus I have (ahem) many extra batteries. I could probably run a saw for several hours in an emergency without running out of battery capacity.
@chienfou@kuoh@pmarin Folks with gas chainsaws may also be SOL if they don’t have fuel on standby. Fueling stations need electricity to pump gas too.
(Somehow, that doesn’t seem to cross the mind of the anti-EV folks. I’ll end up with one eventually, but the numbers haven’t made sense versus keeping what I drive as of yet.)
@kuoh@narfcake
Yep. Gotta keep fuel around if you are gonna use a gas chainsaw, plus you need to make sure it gets rotated out since most folks don’t use their chainsaws that often. Gone are the days when you could easily siphon out gas from your car. May more likely be possible (and most likely fresher gas) from a riding mower.
@chienfou@narfcake Not anti EV here, but a person can carry gas cans for quite some distance and potentially refuel very quickly compared to taking batteries offsite for charging. Two 5 gallon gas cans have a lot more stored energy than any battery of similar size or weight. Yes, finding gas post disaster could be just as problematic as electricity, which is why I like to keep a small stash on hand as well as solar panels, power stations and generators. As for freshness, it’s not really much work to dump the oldest cans into the car or generator tank a couple of times a year and refill with non ethanol the next time out.
For me, EV costs have to come down significantly, recharge faster and have a much longer lifetime than they currently have to be palatable. My previous 2 gas vehicles both lasted well over a decade of daily and extended duty use. I don’t see any current EVs being able to meet those same requirements within the same budget range. I’m not all gas or all electric, but after going through a few extended outages during winter storms and hurricanes, I prefer to keep all reasonable options available.
@chienfou@kuoh@narfcake I have to do that with the tractor anyway. Granted that’s diesel. Though o do always have gas for the genny. I actually like both. It’s just really difficult to run a power cable for certain implements. I tried a battery powered tiller but the batteries kept working themselves loose. Maybe you need pristine soil? This I do not have.
@chienfou@kuoh This is the part where the numbers haven’t made sense for me (yet). Granted, the numbers are really skewed here, what with the full cost of my current daily costing less than some people’s monthly car payment.
@chienfou@kuoh@narfcake they don’t sell these anymore. But lowes and menards had the Craftsman v60 series on sale with 5 year warranties like 6 years ago. Steel deck mower. High speed blower. Very good 16 inch chainsaw. Trimmer.
I would probably have been more hesitant about them had they not been on clearance but excellent reviews.
Granted had the mower not just died and these not been on slickdeals… I might have gone with gas.
But I’ve been extremely happy with electric. I do have to swap batteries a few times but I would have to drag out the gas can too. Multiple fuel mixes. Cleaning carbs. It works for me.
But I’ve also had no issues and I can rebuild a battery pack if needed.
@chienfou@kuoh@unksol Yeah, that V60 platform was basically one-and-done. That frustrated folks to NOT trust them for any other power tools … which to be fair, has kind of been that way with Craftsman even back in the Sears days. Off the top of my head in just the decade prior to SBD purchasing the brand, there were these offerings:
Craftsman C3, sourced by TTI.
Craftsman 18V/14.4V/12V, also sourced by TTI.
Craftsman Bolt, sourced by Black and Decker.
Craftsman Nextec, sourced by Chervon.
Post SBD, there the V20 along with some that were offered at Sears which use whatever that particular supplier happened to use.
So yeah, the brand has been inconsistent for a looooooong time already.
@chienfou@kuoh@narfcake yes I’m familiar. The C3 and nextec were going through their slickdeals/sears points stacking/last gasps in 2012/2013 so while I wouldn’t have normally bought craftsman power tools they were cheap and actually pretty good.
Same with the clearanced V60. I was not optimistic about future tools but the price/performance at the time. I’m still not upset since I have the only tools I wanted and they are holding up.
I wouldn’t buy them now but I did go rigid for the 20V range lifetime warranty/price… I can adapt batteries to anything else
@chienfou@kuoh@unksol Yep, watched that last Friday. Definitely didn’t expect those results, especially considering their prior efforts!
Also: Craftsman had some 40V tools that were OEM by Greenworks.
Also also: Greenworks has way too many battery platforms. Besides the current 24V, 40V, 60V, and 80V, they had a 20V in the past too. I know because I have a 20V GW pole saw. I paid $15 for it with a working battery and charger … which was $15 more than it was worth.
@narfcake
Seems like I bought that pole saw as well (woot maybe?) and likewise had crap luck with the batteries. Had the same problem with cordless tools I bought from Harbor Freight years ago.
Again, I am firmly entrenched in the Ryobi ecosystem (both 18 and 40v). Not saying their tools are astronomically better than others, but I truly appreciate the fact that their battery formats have been unchanged for decades.
@chienfou@narfcake the good thing about ryobi is their batteries work with every previous tool.
And unfortunately that is also the worst thing about ryobi. Everyone else has moved off that stalk style battery to a “slide” style. So if I want a cheap good ryobi tool I have an adapter. If I want any other brand I can use a $20 shim and my batteries.
@chienfou@narfcake I mean technically yes. it’s just plastic and some electrical contacts. But there are tools it won’t fit into and I do think the slide style is better.
It’s like a three inch thing vs a half inch shim.
I’m not sure how they can get out of that though… Ryobi probably makes the widest variety of tools for weird things. So you also don’t need to go out of the ecosystem much.
Heaven forbid a common interface charged via USBC so we could directly compare on performance.
You know. Almost like a free markert. Instead of getting locked in.
@narfcake@unksol
But battery lock in is precisely what I like about ryobi. 20 years of the same format battery means all my tools are still good. Can’t say that for the sliide in batteries I have. I have at least four different formats
And I have yet to see a slide in battery that’s a half inch thick that has any kind of staying power.
@chienfou@narfcake by half inch thick I mean the adapter. To adapt a ryobi battery to run a rigid you would have to use a huge contraption to deal with the stalk. You can do it but it’s less than ideal. To adapt to ryobi or hercules or Milwaukee(to rich for my blood) or other colors you just need an adapter plate.
Everyone was doing stalks 20 years ago including my ill fated C3 stuff that I still use. I don’t dislike ryobi. But if trying to have a single battery system it’s easier to adapt the slide batteries to ryobi than vise versa just because the format. They also make so many weird tools that I would love it they offered in other lines. But maybe they are only viable at the price/volume ryobi can pull off. Which I still love cause I can just buy a ryobi and use the adapter
it would be cool if USB C and GaN chargers just became a thing. At the same prices. I wouldn’t replace any of my batteries for it though.
@chienfou Maybe closer to 30 years? I recall the blue Ryobi in the late 1990s.
@unksol Yeah, back then, slide-on packs were even bigger and bulkier than one that at least housed a couple NiCad cells in its stem. While the length of18650 (or 21700) cells make such a design awkward, the form factor meant that higher capacity M12 batteries had to resemble them again.
Not worried about power outages. Thanks to sites like this I have a bunch of solar panels including some 100W and a 200W, and battery banks and inverters if I ever really need. Plus I can get back power from the Tesla.
Next step might be a few thousand watts of solar on the roof and a Tesla powerwall.
My early 60’s vintage 220V Delta Unisaw serves me just fine.
The chain saw needs an extension. My trees are as old as me, and all the low hanging limbs were cut years ago.
None
I bought a circular saw to redo my closets in my house. I doubt I’ll ever need it again.
Giant table saw, bandsaw, mitre saw, circular saw, reciprocating saw, scroll saw, track saw, tile saw, chain saw, pole saw, oscillating saw and those are just the power ones.
so many hand saws! I heart the tools.
@sillyheathen Check, on all of those (except the track saw, but guide clamps plus the circular saw suffice).
@macromeh
@sillyheathen I’ve got much of that, and will acquire more as needed when the project demands it.
@werehatrack because tools are like Pokémon but functional.
Milwaukee 6" M12 hand held pruning saw is Da Bomb! And of course a few Stihl gas chain saws in the garage.
@rustyh3
I finally gave up on my Stihl after 30 plus years and I’ve now gone strictly to Ryobi’s 18 and 40 volt electric. No more oil/gas mixing and no yanking on a cord. Pull the trigger and it works. I cut a 12-in diameter dogwood down a while back with the 40 volt Ryobi and it handled it with no problem. I even cut the face of the stump down vertically to use as a place to make a large engraved address sign. A project that never got completed.
@rustyh3 @chienfou BTW, Ryobi days is happening right now. @tinamarie1974
Unfortunately no chainsaws of any size included in the sale.
@Kyeh @rustyh3 @tinamarie1974
Thanks for the heads up. Going to have to see what new shiny gizmos they have that I ‘can have a need for’.
OTOH I’m well covered for chainsaws already!!
Electric? Isn’t that like asking the not so secret coffee club how much hot chocolate do they need?
KuoH
I have no need currently
I use mostly smaller saws like mentioned here. I decided to buy a large M18 FUEL chainsaw to remove a tree that was kind-of large. Mostly it was an excuse to buy the saw I wanted. Tree guys are $3000/day so I figured that justified it. I am getting rid of ALL my gas stuff but don’t know how to dispose of older semi- or non-working gas stuff. No more 2-strokes for me. Yecchh!
@pmarin
Yep. That’s my take on it as well.
I have found that the larger (40 volt etc) chainsaws are perfectly capable of doing everything I could do with my Stihl with much less noise. Plus a lot less danger if you’re working on a ladder. No climbing with a running chainsaw or trying to pull a cord while you’re up 10 ft in a tree.
I have a 6-in handheld mini chainsaw, a pole mounted 6-in mini chainsaw, and a 10-in 18 volt Ryobi to accompany my 16-in 40 volt. I probably shouldn’t cut anything bigger than I can handle with those at my age and as densely covered as my property is.
@chienfou @pmarin Might be a good idea to have at least one known good gas powered saw in storage, unless you have a robust off grid system that can keep the electrics charged. Have heard stories of people with only electric saws being unable to clear their roads after storms due to lack of power. The same might apply to EV only households.
KuoH
@kuoh @pmarin
Good thoughts. I can charge my tools from an inverter in my car or from my RV generator in a pinch. Plus I have (ahem) many extra batteries. I could probably run a saw for several hours in an emergency without running out of battery capacity.
@chienfou @kuoh @pmarin Folks with gas chainsaws may also be SOL if they don’t have fuel on standby. Fueling stations need electricity to pump gas too.
(Somehow, that doesn’t seem to cross the mind of the anti-EV folks. I’ll end up with one eventually, but the numbers haven’t made sense versus keeping what I drive as of yet.)
@kuoh @narfcake
Yep. Gotta keep fuel around if you are gonna use a gas chainsaw, plus you need to make sure it gets rotated out since most folks don’t use their chainsaws that often. Gone are the days when you could easily siphon out gas from your car. May more likely be possible (and most likely fresher gas) from a riding mower.
@chienfou @narfcake Not anti EV here, but a person can carry gas cans for quite some distance and potentially refuel very quickly compared to taking batteries offsite for charging. Two 5 gallon gas cans have a lot more stored energy than any battery of similar size or weight. Yes, finding gas post disaster could be just as problematic as electricity, which is why I like to keep a small stash on hand as well as solar panels, power stations and generators. As for freshness, it’s not really much work to dump the oldest cans into the car or generator tank a couple of times a year and refill with non ethanol the next time out.
For me, EV costs have to come down significantly, recharge faster and have a much longer lifetime than they currently have to be palatable. My previous 2 gas vehicles both lasted well over a decade of daily and extended duty use. I don’t see any current EVs being able to meet those same requirements within the same budget range. I’m not all gas or all electric, but after going through a few extended outages during winter storms and hurricanes, I prefer to keep all reasonable options available.
KuoH
@chienfou @kuoh @narfcake I have to do that with the tractor anyway. Granted that’s diesel. Though o do always have gas for the genny. I actually like both. It’s just really difficult to run a power cable for certain implements. I tried a battery powered tiller but the batteries kept working themselves loose. Maybe you need pristine soil? This I do not have.
@chienfou @kuoh This is the part where the numbers haven’t made sense for me (yet). Granted, the numbers are really skewed here, what with the full cost of my current daily costing less than some people’s monthly car payment.
@chienfou @kuoh @narfcake they don’t sell these anymore. But lowes and menards had the Craftsman v60 series on sale with 5 year warranties like 6 years ago. Steel deck mower. High speed blower. Very good 16 inch chainsaw. Trimmer.
I would probably have been more hesitant about them had they not been on clearance but excellent reviews.
Granted had the mower not just died and these not been on slickdeals… I might have gone with gas.
But I’ve been extremely happy with electric. I do have to swap batteries a few times but I would have to drag out the gas can too. Multiple fuel mixes. Cleaning carbs. It works for me.
But I’ve also had no issues and I can rebuild a battery pack if needed.
@chienfou @kuoh @unksol Yeah, that V60 platform was basically one-and-done. That frustrated folks to NOT trust them for any other power tools … which to be fair, has kind of been that way with Craftsman even back in the Sears days. Off the top of my head in just the decade prior to SBD purchasing the brand, there were these offerings:
Post SBD, there the V20 along with some that were offered at Sears which use whatever that particular supplier happened to use.
So yeah, the brand has been inconsistent for a looooooong time already.
@chienfou @kuoh @narfcake yes I’m familiar. The C3 and nextec were going through their slickdeals/sears points stacking/last gasps in 2012/2013 so while I wouldn’t have normally bought craftsman power tools they were cheap and actually pretty good.
Same with the clearanced V60. I was not optimistic about future tools but the price/performance at the time. I’m still not upset since I have the only tools I wanted and they are holding up.
I wouldn’t buy them now but I did go rigid for the 20V range lifetime warranty/price… I can adapt batteries to anything else
@chienfou @kuoh @narfcake
This is a weird development for non yard tools
/youtube Torque test channel greenworks pro
It they can do usb C DC charge/discharge… Catch up everyone else
@chienfou @kuoh @unksol Yep, watched that last Friday. Definitely didn’t expect those results, especially considering their prior efforts!
Also: Craftsman had some 40V tools that were OEM by Greenworks.
Also also: Greenworks has way too many battery platforms. Besides the current 24V, 40V, 60V, and 80V, they had a 20V in the past too. I know because I have a 20V GW pole saw. I paid $15 for it with a working battery and charger … which was $15 more than it was worth.
@narfcake
Seems like I bought that pole saw as well (woot maybe?) and likewise had crap luck with the batteries. Had the same problem with cordless tools I bought from Harbor Freight years ago.
Again, I am firmly entrenched in the Ryobi ecosystem (both 18 and 40v). Not saying their tools are astronomically better than others, but I truly appreciate the fact that their battery formats have been unchanged for decades.
@chienfou @narfcake the good thing about ryobi is their batteries work with every previous tool.
And unfortunately that is also the worst thing about ryobi. Everyone else has moved off that stalk style battery to a “slide” style. So if I want a cheap good ryobi tool I have an adapter. If I want any other brand I can use a $20 shim and my batteries.
You can’t use Ryobi batteries in anything else…
@chienfou @unksol Well, it is possible with an adapter if one doesn’t mind the bulk of adding a few inches as opposed to an inch with other adapters.
@narfcake @unksol
Yep. I use my ryobi’s and a DeWalt adapter in a small cordless tiller for instance, as well as in a bench light.
@chienfou @narfcake I mean technically yes. it’s just plastic and some electrical contacts. But there are tools it won’t fit into and I do think the slide style is better.
It’s like a three inch thing vs a half inch shim.
I’m not sure how they can get out of that though… Ryobi probably makes the widest variety of tools for weird things. So you also don’t need to go out of the ecosystem much.
Heaven forbid a common interface charged via USBC so we could directly compare on performance.
You know. Almost like a free markert. Instead of getting locked in.
@chienfou @unksol Common interface?
https://xkcd.com/927/
@chienfou @narfcake lol yes. Always love the xkcd classics
The USBC charging on such cheap tools though… It they can do it why aren’t everyone other than battery lock in
@narfcake @unksol
But battery lock in is precisely what I like about ryobi. 20 years of the same format battery means all my tools are still good. Can’t say that for the sliide in batteries I have. I have at least four different formats
And I have yet to see a slide in battery that’s a half inch thick that has any kind of staying power.
@chienfou @narfcake by half inch thick I mean the adapter. To adapt a ryobi battery to run a rigid you would have to use a huge contraption to deal with the stalk. You can do it but it’s less than ideal. To adapt to ryobi or hercules or Milwaukee(to rich for my blood) or other colors you just need an adapter plate.
Everyone was doing stalks 20 years ago including my ill fated C3 stuff that I still use. I don’t dislike ryobi. But if trying to have a single battery system it’s easier to adapt the slide batteries to ryobi than vise versa just because the format. They also make so many weird tools that I would love it they offered in other lines. But maybe they are only viable at the price/volume ryobi can pull off. Which I still love cause I can just buy a ryobi and use the adapter
it would be cool if USB C and GaN chargers just became a thing. At the same prices. I wouldn’t replace any of my batteries for it though.
@chienfou Maybe closer to 30 years? I recall the blue Ryobi in the late 1990s.
@unksol Yeah, back then, slide-on packs were even bigger and bulkier than one that at least housed a couple NiCad cells in its stem. While the length of18650 (or 21700) cells make such a design awkward, the form factor meant that higher capacity M12 batteries had to resemble them again.
/image M12 XC6.0
@narfcake
Well! Just a little mental math and realized you’re absolutely right … it’s been 30 years since I started buying their tools. That’s crazy
Not worried about power outages. Thanks to sites like this I have a bunch of solar panels including some 100W and a 200W, and battery banks and inverters if I ever really need. Plus I can get back power from the Tesla.
Next step might be a few thousand watts of solar on the roof and a Tesla powerwall.