In uk.d-i-y Nick Maclaren wrote:

In article ,
"Al Reynolds" writes:
|
| I am beginning to wonder why they have all been discontinued. The
| Makita ones sometimes come up on ebay. Take a look at
| http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3847884448
| for an auction for one of these finishing on Friday lunchtime.

At a guess, safety regulations. It is possible (even likely) that
the cordless ones escaped some regulations by an accident of wording,
and the loophole has been closed. Bringing them up to regulations
could well be too expensive, or make them unattractive to users.

I make no comment on whether such regulations are justified or not;
both types are widespread.

I can't see anything specifically more dangerous about the cordless
chainsaws when compared with an 'ordinary' mains powered one or even a
petrol engined one. The cordless loppers have the 'anti kickback' cover
on the nose of the blade which is pretty stupid really, you'd have to be
holding the thing with only one finger for it to be able to kick back to
any significant extent. It just doesn't have the power to do anything
serious if you're holding it firmly. Even my mains powered (rather old)
B%D chainsaw doesn't really have the oomph to kick back seriously.

I suppose it *might* be that the cordless loppers don't require
training for commercial use but the other ones do.

Anyone can buy any sort of chainsaw for their own use.

--
Chris Green