We will get to know here the history of why was chainsaws invented and also their current uses.
How Did Chainsaws Help With Childbirth?
As we know them today, chainsaws are used so that cutting wood would be easy. But no, it was not the original intention.
In the 18th century and earlier, it was difficult for doctors to perform Caesarean sections if the baby was too big to pass through the birth canal of the mother. The doctors would have no recourse but to remove parts of the pelvis so that the child can go through.
They would perform the procedure with a small knife, but it was a very messy situation and it would be very painful for the mother.
But in 1780, two doctors in Scotland (John Aitken and James Jeffray) invented the first chainsaw which had the purpose of making the removal of the pelvis easier. It also took less time to perform. The procedure was called symphysiotomy which is a surgery wherein the cartilage of the pubic symphysis is being divided to widen the pelvis. This avoids the chance of doing a caesarian section.
The original chainsaws that were made were hand crank powered. They were far less powerful than the electric powered chainsaws of the present day that are used for cutting down trees.
Current Use of Chainsaws
Modern chainsaws come in small, medium and large sizes. They range from small electric and gas powered saws that are perfect for garden and home use up to very large lumberjack saws that are used in the forestry industry. Let’s explain their different uses today:
1) To cut down Branches and Trees. Chainsaws are very convenient tools for cutting and chopping wood because they are portable and can easily adjust to difficult positions and angles of branches and trees to cut. You also need the right size and power of a chainsaw to be able to tackle diffferent sizes of trees and branches.
2) Cutting of Meat. This may be unexpected, but some electric chainsaws can conveniently do the job of butchering beef. This is because chainsaws can do the cutting with extreme precision and speed. They need not wait for several hours to cut up cattle and pork manually with knives only.
3) Cutting Ice or Ice Art. There are Ice Art competitions which have a time deadline to finish your work of art. That’s why having a chainsaw as one of your tools will come in handy. You can carve out with ease from a 300 pound block of ice with the help of a chainsaw. As a matter of fact, chainsaws are standard tools for ice art artists for decades now.
4) To maintain a large garden. Professional gardeners make use of chainsaws to do their work fast in their working environments which are large and needs a lot of cutting to do.
How Much are Chainsaws?
If you are just trying to find a user friendly chainsaw for amateurs for your garden, orchard or small farm, you can find a high quality chainsaw to satisfy what you need in the range of $100 to $200.
But if you need to cut a lot of firewood or try to indulge in a new hobby like Ice Art, you might want to seek out mid priced chainsaws in the range of $200 to $400.
Who Sells Chainsaws?
Stihl is the best selling chainsaw brand for a long time now. It has a wide range of high quality saws, from the amateur homeowner up to the honed forestry professional. It is a German brand. Be prepared to shell out from $200 to more than $2,000 for a Stihl chainsaw.
Other popular chainsaw brands are Husqvarna from Sweden, Greenworks from China, and Black & Decker from the USA but manufactured in China.