Nonelectric Tree Cutting Tools

Gas Chainsaw

• The three basic parts of a standard chainsaw are a motor housing, a rounded bar and a sharp-toothed chain. The chainsaw's chain wraps around the bar and enters the motor housing, which uses a gas-powered motor to drive the chain's rotation. Gas-powered chainsaws are considerably stronger than electric chainsaws. Gas chainsaws are suitable for both felling trees and cutting through thick limbs.

Gas Pole Saw

• Essentially a pole-mounted chainsaw, the gas pole saw allows landscapers to cut thick tree limbs and branches from ground level. The tool's pole typically extends from 6 to 10 feet and relieves the worker from the effort of setting up and climbing ladders. As with gas chainsaws, gas pole saws are stronger than their electric counterparts. To facilitate lifting, the gas pole saw's components are generally smaller and lighter than a standard chainsaw's components.

Manual Pole Saw

• The manual pole saw consists of a toothed, crescent-shaped blade attached to the end of an extension pole. In addition to the saw blade, most manual pole saws have a scissor-like lopping attachment. Activated by the pull of a string, the lopping attachment grabs and slices through branches. Manual pole saws are capable of sawing through relatively large limbs and lopping through small branches.

Bow Saw

• The bow saw is a general-purpose landscaping saw that cuts through both small and large limbs. Resembling a hacksaw, the bow saw's thin toothed blade hangs suspended across a roughly C-shaped metal frame. Arranged in an offset pattern, the saw's large, sharp teeth quickly cut and remove large amounts of material from both wet and dry lumber.

Lopping Shears

• As with scissors and pruning shears, lopping shears consist of hinged handles and cutting heads. However, lopping shears' cutting heads are short and curved inward, like a pair of crescent moons. The cutting heads' unique shape engulfs round branches and traps the branches between the cutting heads' sharp edges as a worker compresses the tool's handles. Lopping shears cleanly slice through small to medium branches.