What Size Chainsaw Do I Need? A Guide for Homeowners, Cottages & Rural Properties

Buying a chainsaw sounds pretty straightforward until you start looking at your options.

14-inch bar. 16-inch. 18-inch. 20-inch. Battery. Gas. Homeowner saw. Professional saw.

So, what size chainsaw do you actually need?

At Byers Equipment Motorsports, we carry chainsaws from Husqvarna and ECHO, and the right answer usually has less to do with buying the biggest saw and more to do with what you're actually planning to cut.

Whether you're cleaning up around the cottage, maintaining a rural property, cutting firewood or taking down larger trees, here's how to choose the right chainsaw for the job.

Start With What You're Cutting

Before comparing engines, batteries or bar lengths, ask yourself what you'll use your chainsaw for most often.

Are you trimming branches around the yard? Cleaning up fallen trees after a storm? Cutting several cords of firewood every year? Maintaining trails through your property?

Those jobs can require very different saws.

For most people, chainsaws fall into a few general categories:

These are general guidelines. The species and diameter of wood, frequency of use and your experience should also factor into your decision.

12 to 14 Inches: Small Jobs and Easy Handling

A smaller chainsaw can be incredibly useful.

If you're mainly pruning trees, cutting smaller limbs, cleaning up around the cottage or carrying a saw on an ATV or SXS for trail maintenance, you probably don't need a large saw.

The lighter weight also makes these saws easier to control and less tiring to operate.

This is also where battery-powered Husqvarna and ECHO chainsaws become especially appealing.

Best for:

• Small branches and trees
• Storm cleanup
• Trail maintenance
• Cottage properties
• Occasional use

For a lot of homeowners, this may be all the chainsaw they ever need.

14 to 16 Inches: The Homeowner Sweet Spot

If you want one chainsaw that can handle a little bit of everything, this is a great place to start.

A 14 or 16-inch saw can tackle routine property cleanup, fallen limbs, smaller trees and occasional firewood without becoming unnecessarily heavy.

It's also a popular size for people buying their first chainsaw.

Both Husqvarna and ECHO offer gas and battery options in this category, so you can choose between maximum convenience or traditional gas power.

16 to 18 Inches: Rural Property Owners

Once you have some acreage, a chainsaw tends to become less of an occasional tool and more of a necessity.

Trees come down. Trails need clearing. Firewood needs cutting. That one little cleanup job somehow turns into an entire Saturday.

For many Ontario rural property owners, a 16 to 18-inch chainsaw offers an excellent balance between power, cutting capacity and manageable weight.

This is also where gas chainsaws become increasingly attractive if you're working for longer periods away from a charger.

18 to 20 Inches: Serious Firewood Cutting

If heating with wood is part of your life, your needs are different from someone cutting a few branches each summer.

Regular firewood cutting puts considerably more demand on a saw.

An 18 or 20-inch gas chainsaw gives you the power and runtime needed to process larger logs and work for extended periods.

You'll also want to pay more attention to engine displacement, weight, vibration control and overall durability rather than simply choosing based on bar length.

For someone cutting several cords of firewood every year, spending a little more on the right saw can make a big difference.

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20 Inches and Up: Bigger Timber and Professional Work

This is where chainsaws start becoming specialized tools.

Larger saws are intended for bigger timber, frequent felling and demanding workloads.

More power sounds great, but it comes with additional weight. Carrying and controlling a larger saw all day can be considerably more tiring than using a properly sized smaller machine.

If you don't regularly need the additional capacity, bigger isn't necessarily better.

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Gas or Battery Chainsaw?

This question is becoming almost as important as bar size.

Choose Battery If You Want:

• Easy push-button starting
• Less maintenance
• No mixing or storing fuel
• Lower noise
• A convenient saw for quick jobs
• The ability to share batteries with other compatible outdoor equipment

Modern battery chainsaws from Husqvarna and ECHO are far more capable than many people realize. For homeowners, cottage owners and general property cleanup, battery may be all you need.

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Choose Gas If You Need:

• Long operating times
• Maximum cutting power
• Larger bar options
• Remote operation without access to electricity
• Regular firewood or heavy property work

If you're heading into the bush for the day with a truck full of logs to process, being able to add fuel and keep cutting remains a major advantage.

Husqvarna or ECHO?

This is another question we hear frequently at Byers.

The good news is that both make excellent chainsaws.

Husqvarna offers everything from homeowner and battery saws through to serious professional forestry equipment, with a long history in chainsaw development.

ECHO has earned a strong reputation for dependable, straightforward outdoor power equipment and offers excellent options for homeowners, property owners and professionals.

Rather than deciding on the logo first, we'd recommend starting with the job.

Tell us what you're cutting, how frequently you're cutting it and where you'll be using the saw. From there, we can help narrow down the right Husqvarna or ECHO model.

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Can I Put a Bigger Bar on My Chainsaw?

Sometimes, but that doesn't necessarily mean you should.

Every chainsaw is designed to work within a particular range of bar lengths. Putting an oversized bar on an underpowered saw can reduce cutting performance and put additional strain on the machine.

Follow the manufacturer's approved bar-length recommendations for your particular model.

If you regularly need a longer bar, that's usually a sign that you need a larger saw rather than simply a larger bar.

Don't Forget About Weight

This gets overlooked all the time.

A larger chainsaw might look better on paper, but after an hour of limbing trees, you'll appreciate every pound you aren't carrying.

If most of your work involves smaller wood, a lighter saw can actually allow you to work faster and more comfortably.

That's one reason it's worth physically picking up a few different chainsaws before buying.

So, What Size Chainsaw Should You Buy?

For most homeowners and cottage owners, we'd start by looking at a 14 to 16-inch chainsaw.

For rural properties, regular trail maintenance and moderate firewood cutting, a 16 to 18-inch saw is often the sweet spot.

If you're processing substantial amounts of firewood or regularly cutting larger timber, an 18 to 20-inch or larger gas saw may make more sense.

But there's no universal answer.

A person with 20 acres who only trims trails may need less chainsaw than someone on two acres who heats their home entirely with wood.

The job determines the saw.

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Find the Right Chainsaw at Byers Equipment Motorsports

Still not sure?

That's exactly why we're here.

Stop by Byers Equipment Motorsports in Orillia and tell us what you need your chainsaw to do. We can walk you through our Husqvarna and ECHO options, compare gas and battery models, and help you find a saw that's powerful enough for the job without buying more machine than you need.

And don't forget the safety gear. Proper chainsaw chaps, eye and hearing protection, gloves, footwear and head protection are just as important as choosing the right saw.

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The right chainsaw makes property work a whole lot easier. The trick is buying the right one the first time.