The Hunting Cabin Chainsaw
The Bauer Chainsaw from Harbor Freight is my “New Best Friend” at the Hunting Cabin! It makes quick work clearing trees and limbs around deer stands. It’s electric, so you don’t have to worry about any gas fumes getting all over your hunting gear or atv. I bought one to keep in my Dad’s Jeep, but with a lot of paths to clear, I bought a second one that I keep with me on the 4-wheeler. There’s nothing worse than having to carry around a gas chainsaw when you just want to hunt!
Transcript:
If you’re in the Bauer tool line, and you need a chainsaw, their cordless chainsaw is pretty sweet. I have to admit, I was a bit reluctant to think a 20v chainsaw would have ample power, but I was pleasantly surprised. I bought my first one in September of 2021, at full price, for $69.99.
Now, don’t get me wrong, these are by no means a professional level chainsaw, but they offer a tremendous value. The list price is $74.99, and if you have a 25% off coupon, it brings the price to just $56 and change. They also go on sale with Inside Track Club for around $65.
We use them at the Hunting Cabin and they definitely come in handy. The chainsaw is light and compact, and it’s easy to strap on a 4-wheeler, side-by-side, or ATV. Now we’ll switch over to the unboxing I did back when I got the second one.
So now we own not one, but TWO of the Bauer Chainsaws. These little chainsaws are freaking awesome. Let’s cut some tape. There we go, Bauer chainsaw. There she is, nicely packaged in the box. Boom. Use Oil. Alright, I don’t think that was installed on my other one. They screwed it in!
Bauer Chainsaw Design
The Bauer chainsaw has a really simple design, and you don’t have to worry about bringing any tools along. There’s a drive sprocket, press block, support plate, and guide bar. The best part is, you don’t have to know any of the names to figure this chainsaw out! I didn’t, but I just looked them up so I could make this video.
Alright so here’s the drive sprocket. This is what spins the actual chain. This is the press block. It has two raised section where the guide bar slides away from the saw body and creates tension on the chain. And this little hole is your best friend. Bar & Chain oil comes out here to lubricate the bar… and you guessed it, the chain. If you don’t add oil, nothing will come out, and you’ll ruin the chain, burn it up, and or ruin the guide bar. So, add oil. It goes here.
The following demonstration is for entertainment purposes only. This does not add oil to the saw.
How to attach the Bauer Chainsaw Guide Bar
Ok, jokes aside, this is how to attach the guide bar and tighten the chain on the Bauer Chainsaw.
First, Get the chain lined up in the track of the guide bar. Next, wrap the chain around the drive sprocket. Keep tension on the chain and begin threading the chair guard. Now, apply pressure to the guide bar and fully tighten the knob. Finally, check for tension on the chain. When you pull the chain away, it should snap back into position on the guide bar.
You’ll want to check your chain tension fairly often with a new chain, as it will start to stretch out and loosen as it’s breaking in. For any of my mechanical nerds out there, here’s the backside of the chain guard’s knob.
Bauer Batteries
Now let’s talk about batteries. I wouldn’t try cutting anything with a 1 1/2 or 3 amp hour battery. I’d recommend getting at least a 5 amp hour… and if you want to have a lot more fun, get an 8 amp hour battery. I even recorded a quick sound comparison for the batteries.
So one thing I would recommend is to get yourself a container because once you put oil in this thing, it will leak into your car. So here’s my little tub. Boom. No oil in the car. Good to go.
So I just wanted to point out that they went to all the trouble to put the bar and chain oil in this little bag, and there’s holes in the little bag. So it’s still going to leak out of the little bag.
Using the Bauer Chainsaw at the Hunting Cabin
Alright, now we’re at the hunting cabin. Please ignore the pole saw on the front of the four-wheeler. That video is coming up soon, but I didn’t have any footage showing the scenery around the cabin. Now would also be a great time to hit that Like button and subscribe to my channel. As you can see with the hunting cabin, there’s a tree or two that could potentially fall and block the path.
My first chainsaw now lives in my Dad’s Jeep, and I bought this one to keep on the 4-wheeler. As with most of my videos, random things go wrong, and this one is no exception. I was ready to create glorious footage chopping trees, and I had the 8 amp hour battery ready to go.
You can chop up trees of this size pretty efficiently, but I noticed the saw seemed to be bogging down. At first, I thought maybe it was due to the tree kind of floating around, so I decided to try a stationary log next.
Also, with electric chainsaws, you want to keep your rpms as high as possible and let the chain do the cutting. If you try and push down while cutting, you’ll just bog down the motor.
So in this clip, I’m not releasing the trigger or pushing down, but the saw keeps cutting out. I’ll turn it up and just shut up for a minute…
I quickly noticed there seemed to be a rhythm to it. I used to play drums, so I broke out my counting fingers. This is useful because (I can only count to 4, I can only count to FOUR).
The saw did this even when there was minimal load on the motor (engine), so my guess is that it was an electronics issue. To make sure it wasn’t the battery, I swapped out the saws. So here’s a good example to kind of our capacity with this little Bauer Chainsaw. We’re gonna try and cut that up.
I started backing the bar out here because I could feel it starting to pinch. I swapped to the other side to continue the cut. Rolled the log over. And here I started to pinch again so I started cutting out a wedge.
I set up the next cut to see how fast I could get through the log in a perfect scenario. I also wanted to get a close up, slow-motion shot, but I doubt that’s really beneficial to my review.
Harbor Freight Returns / Customer Service
I’m going to be swapping out the bad saw the next time I go to Harbor Freight. One testament I will give to my local Harbor Freight is they’ve never given me any type of hassle when returning or replacing things. If something is just junk or it breaks, they give me my money back or replace it right away. I’m brutally honest with them sometimes, and I’m happy with the vast majority of products I’ve purchased. As of this video, I’m totally unaffiliated, and this isn’t any kind of Paid Promotion.
I will take a moment to caution you before you purchase this saw. It is a chain saw, it’s electric and small, but it’s, still, a sharp chain spinning really fast. Find someone who can show you the basics or, at the very least, hit up YouTube… I hear they have videos for everything. It definitely beats having a kickback and catching this saw with your face.
Please be sure to like and subscribe. I’ve got a bunch of videos coming up involving a mag drill, mig welding, fabrication, a pole saw, and other tool reviews. I’m also planning on doing the ultimate Bauer Fanboy video at some point… take care, and hopefully this video was able to answer any questions you had about this saw.