The Oregon saw uses a special 91PS “PowerSharp” chain which works with the saw’s built-in semi-automatic sharpener. Pulling a lever atop the saw pushes a curved sharpening stone against the special chain for easy sharpening on the fly. The aggressive, hooked teeth of the PowerSharp chain can be too brutal in some woods, so standard Oregon 91 chain can be substituted—just don’t try to use the sharpener with it.

The Makita rear handle saw is one of two standout heavyweights that are essentially unstoppable – a true replacement for a corded inline circ saw.

The remaining three saws trailed the rest with shortcomings in runtime, speed, or power that overrode their other attributes. The Kobalt and Greenworks Pro saws with compact 2.0 Ah batteries suffered low runtimes, with the latter being the first to quit as well as the slowest cutting saw overall. The oversensitive Oregon saw was plagued with constant stalling which pretty much singlehandedly defined the experience of using it.

More America. Woodhouse also made a point to mention the Corsair’s Cashew and Beyond Blue color schemes, which he also said were very American in their “exuberance,” and make a statement that he says is distinctly American. “We’re not shying from that,” he said.

The rack and pinion fence extension is a favorite among the team and earned the top ranking there. A dual riving knife system eliminates the need to frustrate yourself with complicated anti-kickback pawls and blade guard placement. Simply swap out the riving knife only for the knife with pre-installed safety attachments and you’re good to go.

Stop looking for excuses not to take the bus. I take the bus to West Bay Road every day. The buses run every three minutes to West Bay Road from George Town. The service is fine, but would like to see bigger buses.

Pro Tip: Only poke a small hole in your bar oil bottle to keep the stream more controlled. Alternatively, a thoroughly cleaned syrup bottle will allow to squeeze the oil through the small hole in the cap.

We made a few test cuts with ¾-inch plywood just to get a feel of the motors we were working with. It became clear pretty quickly that not all 15 amp motors are equal. Once we knew what to expect, we moved to pressure treated 2x pine material in 7-1/2 foot lengths. Why 7-1/2? Our test material started at 15 feet and it seemed silly to have some at 8 feet and others at 6.

There are plenty of these on the market and you’ll likely have seen them if you’ve not already got one yourself. Relatively cheap and uber versatile, these Velcro frame straps are usually used to attach an inner tube and other small tools to your bike, be it tyre levers, pump or a CO2 cannister. The strap works by fitting the items you wish to secure into either rubber bungees (as on the Louri straps) or the inner velcro straps (see Granite Design Rockband). The strap itself is then wrapped around the frame, through the plastic loop and back on itself and pulled tightly into position in a suitable place on the frame.

Bottle cages can also be used to fit a ‘tool keg or caddy’. This is essentially a water bottle with a wider circumference opening at the top to allow you to insert tools. Some, such as this one made by Fabric comes with an inner neoprene liner to prevent tools from rattling annoyingly on the plastic whilst riding. These are great if you are either not bothered about carrying a water bottle or if you have more than one set of bottle bosses.

With the amount of power Milwaukee gets out of this saw, I think they could move up to a 10″ blade. For most of the work we see on residential job sites, you probably don’t need the additional capacity, though.

Bosch’s REAXX punches the blade down using a cartridge similar to what is used in airbag deployment.