We made a rather “unconventional” choice when we picked our tools for The Place, we decided to go entirely electric (Lithium Ion battery power) with simple old fashioned hand-tools as backup.
Black & Decker battery powered pole saw
The choice of battery power
Our chain saws, pole saw, hand tools are all battery powered… we chose the Black & Decker 20V system for a lot of our stuff because it’s well rated and very inexpensive, our “main carpentry tools” we went whole hog on and did Milwaukee Tools M18 Fuel system.
The same B&D battery power system runs the chain saws, pole saw, string trimmer, hedge cutter, cultivator, our “cheap” drills, sawzalls, circular saw (the ones we leave in the truck box), etc.
Quiet power… sometimes you don’t want everybody within 2 miles knowing you are there…
The theory is twofold… chain saws & other stuff that runs on motors are VERY VERY LOUD, they require a lot of skilled maintenance, and fresh gasoline. Except for chain oil/sharpening, there’s nothing to do maintaining a battery powered unit other than keeping the battery charged (which we can do with our solar system quite easily).
Battery chain saws are quiet enough you can talk right over the top of them without raising your voice, whereas gas powered chain saws tell everybody within a mile or two of you exactly where you are, and that you are busy cutting wood, not paying attention to people who might be hunting you.
The backup plan for batter power
The backup plans are hatchets, axes and hand saws. More work, but… even an EMP won’t break an axe.
Are there times that these tools are underpowered/too small to get the job done? Yes and no. Electric tools may not be powerful enough in some circumstances (especially chain saws) but the right hand tools can do just about any job without alerting people a mile away that you are in the woods working. America was cleared and built for several hundred years by people using hand tools.
One other choice we make: Whenever possible, we use tools that are made in America.