Craftsman 18" Chain Saw Review

Okay...to be quite honest, this is not a review of the Craftsman 18" inch chainsaw...yet. I've just purchased one and this review is to pay homage to my Craftsmen 20" inch chainsaw, which finally gave up after 15 years of hard labor. If the 18" inch holds up half as well, it will be one great tool.

I purchased the 20" Craftsman chainsaw fifteen years ago with the primary goal of cutting up logs. I would have truck loads of logs delivered to my home and I would then cut them into rounds, split, then stack them, for use in my woodburning fireplace, the sole source of heat for my home at the time. I would always ask the truckers to bring me thin logs, preferably something whose diameter was less than that of my chainsaw's 20" inch blade length, but instead I often ended up with logs that were almost fourty inches across, twice the saws blade length. I can't tell you how many cords of wood I forced that saw through, but I can tell you I cut fir, cottonwood, alder and maple with that saw and it never failed me. It always started easily and ran solidly until it ran out of fuel. Fifteen years later, my chainsaw gave up the ghost. I will probably have it repaired at some point, but I needed....okay...I wanted a new saw. Due to the reliability of my old Craftsman, I've purchased a new one. I'll be using it this weekend to finish the job that my old saw couldn't. The new chainsaw boasts of some new features such as simplified chain adjustment. I'm looking forward to that.  I'll have a review of the 18" inch saw shortly after I finish this job. Don't worry, I'll try to keep the noise, and the dust, down to a minimum.