Ice Storm Aftermath

I bought this electric Black & Decker Chain Saw Lopper (at Lowes) today and started the clean up of all the downed limbs on my property. It's really quite nice... I don't particularly like using a full-sized chain saw; I don't like the kick back and always have trouble propping up the wood so I don't dull the saw by digging it into the ground. The vast majority of the work I need to do is on branches 5 or 6 inches in diameter or less and this alligator jaw lopper works great for that. You just grab the branch with the jaws and the chain saw cuts through it.

The chain popped off a couple of times when I either twisted the saw while it was cutting, or when I grabbed onto too large a limb, but it was pretty simple to take apart the saw and rethread the chain. I was using vegetable oil to keep the blade running smooth -- the more the better. There's still a lot of junk I'll just have to burn in the burn pile, but I'm able to harvest at least some nice firewood for our fireplace.