lorenz

The more I look into this the more I find out!! After spending weeks looking for a Stihl top handled saw I've suddenly realised that they are a bit useless to me as they are "right handed" (I'm a "lefty"). If you think it won't make a difference then try using yours with your left hand on the throttle & the right on the handle & you'll see what I mean. Given that I am now looking at a light saw for use per the above post. My cheapest option seems to be the Stihl MS170 or 171 - both with the 12" bar. Any advice on these? I'm continually drawn towards Stihl because not only do they have a good reputation but I would be able to get them repaired in the local village where more obscure makes (eg the "Spear & Jackson") are unknown.

I'm still looking and apppreciate all the advice. Does anybody have an opinion on the Stihl 009. I've read reviews that say it's great & others that say it has no power. For the record, we have approximately 75 trees which are up to 5 metres tall. The majority of the pruning work is on the inner branches - ie to open the tree into a "wineglass" shape. I have a saw for cutting firewood so this is only for the pruning work.

Thanks for these comments. I've thought of a pole saw but none of the locals use them & I've spoken to ex pats who live there & they have never seen them in use (the grove is in Messinia in the Pelopponese). In general the branches I'd be pruning wouldn't be thicker than 6 inches & would usually be closer to 2 but as one post says; olive wood is very hard. At the moment we're generally using hand saws but on the last harvest we had help from a mate who brought his TH saw & it made life a lot easier. PS. The only way we managed to afford the grove was by making savings in avery other part of our life!

Hi. I'm new to chainsaw use; We bought an olive grove in Greece a few years ago & found it entails a lot of wood cutting. In a bit of a rush I bought a Spear & Jackson model from Argos and have found it useful for cutting firewood however we want to take control of the land so have been advised to get a "decent" saw. We have around 70 olive trees that require regular pruning which will need a bit of low level climbing but this can be achieved with step ladders. I'm looking at buying second hand, maybe on EBay, but don't have much to spend. Stihl 020T's look good but keep going over my budget. I'm currently looking at a Makita DCS3410TH - please don't start bidding - and wonder if anybody has any opinions.