I didn't buy the saw as a lark... Yes, I need the thing. This is because earlier this year, due to years of preparation, patience & a bit of luck, I bought some land. Not much...I have one acre*. But it's a start. It also has no manmade structures of any kind (unless you count the obsolete power line in the ground), brambles & thorny vines around most of the perimeter, & a lot of trees. So after a little shopping & some advice from a local small biz owner (tree service), I went out & bought it. A Husqvarna, model 440. Been breaking it in slowly. You can see some results here.

I have a plan for the land. It's a bit rough but I have a fairly specific idea of what to do. By the end of it all, I will have a little house. But first I'm gonna hafta cut down some trees. This I don't mind doing because 1) I've cut trees before, albeit a good while back, & 2) whatever I cut down, any decent wood will be stacked, left to dry, eventually milled & used to build other things I will need or just want to have around. Even the pines might work...pine ain't my favorite species but for most furniture it works well enough. Even wild pine (when it isn't rotten or grub-eaten) is better for framing a house than the crap you find at BLowe's & Home De-Hoe. (All those 2x4's are from plantation-grown pines, which are fertilized & bred to grow fast. As a product to sell, corporate tree farm pine is great; as a building material it sucks. Almost anything is better than that stuff)

Edit: It looks like this week will be tricky...might have to work over the weekend, depending on how it plays out. Fuck.

With that out of the way, please read the following:

WARNING

If you have never used a chainsaw, do not go out & buy one. Seriously, just don't. Nothing I post here or anywhere else is meant to suggest that you try out a saw, nor should any of my posts be construed as such. Of all the power tools around today, the chainsaw is the most dangerous type by far. Many, many people have been injured &/or killed upon making a mistake. About as many people have been killed while felling trees; many more have been injured &/or crippled for life while cutting up fallen logs. This includes professionals as well as amateurs...yes, really. All it takes is one screwup or for something to go wrong to put you in danger...when that happens, it happens fast. A properly maintained chainsaw can cut through the hardest densest woods with ease; next to that, bones are no challenge & flesh will not even slow it down. Power tools in general can be, & often are, dangerous machines. They don't know the difference between wood metal or flesh, nor do they give a damn. Remember that.

If you want to own & use a chainsaw then be smart, find a reputable dealer in power tools & talk to him first. Or find a local tree service & ask the owner about it. Yes, there are youtube videos aplenty but there is no substitute for learning directly from someone with experience.

*Dunno how much that is in hectares for you metric-oriented folks. I'm still working on converting feet to meters & back!