Pole Saws – A Look at the Best Pole Saw Choices

Trimming trees can be an ongoing chore for many homeowners and eventually the owner of any healthy tree faces the job of cleaning it up without damage to his own life and limb. For many lighter duty needs, a simple tree pruner like the Fiskars Tree Pruning Stik might be all that’s needed to keep your trees under control. But if you have a large number of trees, especially older trees, you may find that you want an actual saw to help manage the lower limbs of your tree and keep them at a height that lets people use the yard and the lawn and other landscaping get enough light to thrive.

Pole Saw Choices – There are a wide range of choices in pole saws. The simplest are simple manual pole saws. In their simplest form, these are a saw blade on a stick. They are often combined with a pruner head, so you can prune with one side of head, and the saw is optionally attached to the other side of the head. Features to look for: lightweight fiberglass for the pole itself eases handling, the length of the pole (make sure it will reach as far as you need, you don’t want to be wielding one of these from a stepladder if you can avoid it.) Some blades have a non stick coating, which when it works is a blessing. The size of the blade is another concern, some of the smaller pruner heads only have a 12 inch blade, which limits you to pruning smaller branches. Gilmour, Black and Decker, and Fiskars all make hand pole saws.

Electric Pole Saw – The next step up is a powered saw. This resembles a chain saw on a pole, and in this case it is electrically powered. The advantages of electric powered saws: You can cut bigger branches than a hand saw, (not quite as large as the gas powered saws), yet electric powered saws are not nearly as loud, and typically just turn on and run (you don’t have to worry about having gas or the right oil/ gas mix for a 2 cycle engine.) Of course you have to have enough extension cord and there is a limit to how far you can run and extension cord since a saw will draw a relatively large amount of current. McCulloch makes a popular model that is well reviewed on Amazon.

The alternative is a cordless electric saw like the Black and Decker Cordless Electric Chain Saw, which gets pretty good reviews on Amazon. All of the electric saws will tend to have smaller bar than a regular chain saw (something like an 8 or 10 inch bar, and will tend to have a shorter pole than the manual saws because there is more weight on the end of the pole that needs to be kept under control. Because of this it can be tiring to use these saws because you have poor leverage to control the head. Like any chain saw be sure to oil the chain while using it.

Gas Powered Pole Saw – There are actually a couple of ways to get a gas powered pole saw. For most homeowners the best choice may be one of the gas powered weed eaters like Troybilt or Poulan which have the replacable heads, and you can buy a pole saw attachment for those. Alternatively you can buy a dedicated gas powered pole saw. The advantages are similar to the electric pole saws, but a gas powered saw will typically deliver more power to cut larger branches, and so often have a larger bar. Because the motor is down where you grasp the pole saw, the extra power doesn’t make it any more unwieldy than most saws.