Milwaukee M18 Fuel Hatchet 8" Pruning (CARVING) Saw

BillsBayou

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Milwaukee tool number 3004-20
Just came in today.

I used to use the Lancelot chainsaw disc from King Arthur Tools. I had a great run using the tool on my angle grinders. Despite being a very dangerous thing to do to an angle grinder, I never had a single incident. Guy Guidry put one in his hand. "Stumpy Nubs" on YouTube did the same. According to the latter, chainsaw discs have been banned in the United Kingdom.

The Milwaukee Hatchet can also be a dangerous tool. READING THE MANUAL and practice should mitigate much of the risk.

The tool has a longer reach than a chainsaw disc. It is also more narrow than the disc tool. Being cordless is another plus. I'll have to produce a video using the tool to carve out a hollow in a bald cypress. Initial thoughts on bar and chain oil is to use canola oil. It shouldn't have an adverse effect on living things.

IMG_20230124_154432529.jpg
 

Frozentreehugger

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Every cordless brand seems to be coming out with one . Cool tool . One thing I learned . From a chainsaw carving guy . Is they often have several saws . But what they really have is different . Degrees of chain sharpness . The aggressiveness of a saw or the lack there of . Is controlled by how its sharpened . Might be in your best interest to have a spare chain . One dull and one sharp
 

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Every cordless brand seems to be coming out with one . Cool tool . One thing I learned . From a chainsaw carving guy . Is they often have several saws . But what they really have is different . Degrees of chain sharpness . The aggressiveness of a saw or the lack there of . Is controlled by how its sharpened . Might be in your best interest to have a spare chain . One dull and one sharp
Fascinating. I'll have to check into this; do some tests, learn the difference. Thanks for the info.
 

Frozentreehugger

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Ex snowmobile racer . Also learned a lot swapping engine tech with a competition . Chainsaw guy I know . A lot has to do with the saw raker . That’s the piece on the chain in front of the sharpened tooth . Often the tooth is left sharp . If you lower or file down the raker . The tooth bites harder . This makes the saw more aggressive . Takes bigger bite of wood . But also more dangerous . A taller raker Exposes less wood to the tooth less aggressive . But still sharp cut . From the carve guy . The top edge of the sharp tooth . Can be dulled or even slightly hammered down . This is good for lighter detail work . More like grinding the wood as compared to aggressive cutting . Hope that makes sense . Also keep in mind the more aggressive the saw is the more risky it is of kicking back . Especially if your using the round tip .
 

LuZiKui

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Milwaukee tool number 3004-20
Just came in today.

I used to use the Lancelot chainsaw disc from King Arthur Tools. I had a great run using the tool on my angle grinders. Despite being a very dangerous thing to do to an angle grinder, I never had a single incident. Guy Guidry put one in his hand. "Stumpy Nubs" on YouTube did the same. According to the latter, chainsaw discs have been banned in the United Kingdom.

Holy smokes... I googled the Lancelot chainsaw disc because I've never heard of it. Some of the stories and photos that come up are not for the faint of heart! I would say this Milwaukee is substantially safer than using an angle grinder with that chainsaw disc!
 

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A lot of the mishaps/accidents you see online are from failing to follow instructions, commonsense, or just plain carelessness.
 

JackHammer

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I have one of these hand chainsaws from a different brand and it is a pretty dangerous tool. Mine doesn't have a safety button either which is not great. It does work, I guess.

I cut and burn about 4 cords of wood a year and i picked up a few things about chainsaws... you want to keep the chain very sharp at all times. A dull chain makes an unpredictable cut and an unpredictable cut is a dangerous cut. The comments above about the rakers are correct, you can file it down for a more aggressive cut, but it will also make the saw less predictable. This is also the argument for buying the "more expensive/powerful" saw. If the saw is underpowered, it is unpredictable. It is generally better to have a little too much power. One option is to get a powerful saw and put a short (appropriate to the mfg.) 6 or 8 inch bar and chain on it. This will give tighter angles and you will be sure that the cut will happen on the intended place.

The other thing is about kerf. This is the width of the chain. It can be narrow, or wide. You can get a wide kerf that will remove more wood but I suspect a narrow kerf would be best for bonsai as you would typically want to go a little slower rather than too fast.

You really don't want to cut with the point, that part can bounce up and into your face. If you are looking for that kind of grinding action, you might do better with a finger sander with 40 grit paper. A angle grinder with a 40 grit flap disk can safely remove a lot of wood, i would recommed.
 

Frozentreehugger

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Power carving tools are all very useful . But can remove a lot of wood quickly . That don’t grow back . 🤷‍♂️ Myself I struggle with the artistic side of bonsai or at least . Find time a great thing to change your outlook on a tree . Preferring to work slower on deadwood . What’s the hurry . If you have a collected tree . That will take multiple years to create a bonsai out of . Why do you have to carve the dead wood in a afternoon . Look at Ryan Neal . Formally served a apprenticeship in Japan with Mr Chainsaw himself . Kumura. . Yet Ryan performers a lot of carving with hand tools for a more natural less obvious man made finished product .
 

BillsBayou

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Ex snowmobile racer . Also learned a lot swapping engine tech with a competition . Chainsaw guy I know . A lot has to do with the saw raker . That’s the piece on the chain in front of the sharpened tooth . Often the tooth is left sharp . If you lower or file down the raker . The tooth bites harder . This makes the saw more aggressive . Takes bigger bite of wood . But also more dangerous . A taller raker Exposes less wood to the tooth less aggressive . But still sharp cut . From the carve guy . The top edge of the sharp tooth . Can be dulled or even slightly hammered down . This is good for lighter detail work . More like grinding the wood as compared to aggressive cutting . Hope that makes sense . Also keep in mind the more aggressive the saw is the more risky it is of kicking back . Especially if your using the round tip .
This help explain the function of the links. Thank you. I'll likely not modify the raker. For a consistent (predictable) cut, the modifications need to be consistent. I'm not that type of precision metal worker. The information is great. Any other info on this is welcome.

Holy smokes... I googled the Lancelot chainsaw disc because I've never heard of it. Some of the stories and photos that come up are not for the faint of heart! I would say this Milwaukee is substantially safer than using an angle grinder with that chainsaw disc!
Milwaukee is also a name you can trust to produce higher quality power tools. While a purpose-built chainsaw is safer than a repurposed angle grinder, respected name-brand tools are safer than random no-name chainsaw pruners on Amazon.

A lot of the mishaps/accidents you see online are from failing to follow instructions, commonsense, or just plain carelessness.
Educate yourself before you decapitate yourself.

Questions I ask myself: How is this tool going to kill me? How is this material going to kill me? How is my workspace going to kill me? How is my profound stupidity going to kill me? How do I get out of here when it all goes pear-shaped?

I have one of these hand chainsaws from a different brand and it is a pretty dangerous tool. Mine doesn't have a safety button either which is not great. It does work, I guess.

I cut and burn about 4 cords of wood a year and i picked up a few things about chainsaws... you want to keep the chain very sharp at all times. A dull chain makes an unpredictable cut and an unpredictable cut is a dangerous cut. The comments above about the rakers are correct, you can file it down for a more aggressive cut, but it will also make the saw less predictable. This is also the argument for buying the "more expensive/powerful" saw. If the saw is underpowered, it is unpredictable. It is generally better to have a little too much power. One option is to get a powerful saw and put a short (appropriate to the mfg.) 6 or 8 inch bar and chain on it. This will give tighter angles and you will be sure that the cut will happen on the intended place.

The other thing is about kerf. This is the width of the chain. It can be narrow, or wide. You can get a wide kerf that will remove more wood but I suspect a narrow kerf would be best for bonsai as you would typically want to go a little slower rather than too fast.

You really don't want to cut with the point, that part can bounce up and into your face. If you are looking for that kind of grinding action, you might do better with a finger sander with 40 grit paper. A angle grinder with a 40 grit flap disk can safely remove a lot of wood, i would recommed.
Had to look up "finger sander". You are what addiction experts call an "Enabler". I had never seen this tool before. Now I have to have one. You're not helping.

There are ways to use the chainsaw for carving live material that mitigate risk. Discussing safety techniques on Internet scares me in a legally binding sense. No one should be learning anything about safety from me. I have the scars to prove it. That said, my approach to safety is to understand the causes and effects of improper use. That way I can avoid them. When they occur, I'm not surprised. As I've always said "Safety: Somewhere in the top 10"

As for chainsaw kerf, that's why I have multiple tools for varying purposes and capacities to remove wood.

I'm with you on sharp and powerful tools being the safest. The chainsaw I bought has an 8-inch bar/chain. The lower powered version has a 6-inch bar/chain. Replacing the 8-inch chain is already on my to-do list. I like to be close to my work and have better control over what's happening.

Off to look at finger sanders ... curse you

Power carving tools are all very useful . But can remove a lot of wood quickly . That don’t grow back . 🤷‍♂️ Myself I struggle with the artistic side of bonsai or at least . Find time a great thing to change your outlook on a tree . Preferring to work slower on deadwood . What’s the hurry . If you have a collected tree . That will take multiple years to create a bonsai out of . Why do you have to carve the dead wood in a afternoon . Look at Ryan Neal . Formally served a apprenticeship in Japan with Mr Chainsaw himself . Kumura. . Yet Ryan performers a lot of carving with hand tools for a more natural less obvious man made finished product .
Here in Louisiana, the choice on deadwood is to make permanent changes quickly or let rot set in and make random unwanted changes. Then there's formosan termites. They're everywhere down here. They eat the hardwood of living trees.

I recommend carving and preserving deadwood soon after you've decided (or forced) to make it an element of your design. Unless you're going for targeted rot or allowing a termite colony to flourish, if the wood is there and you want to style it, get to it.
 

JackHammer

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This help explain the function of the links. Thank you. I'll likely not modify the raker. For a consistent (predictable) cut, the modifications need to be consistent. I'm not that type of precision metal worker. The information is great. Any other info on this is welcome.


Milwaukee is also a name you can trust to produce higher quality power tools. While a purpose-built chainsaw is safer than a repurposed angle grinder, respected name-brand tools are safer than random no-name chainsaw pruners on Amazon.


Educate yourself before you decapitate yourself.

Questions I ask myself: How is this tool going to kill me? How is this material going to kill me? How is my workspace going to kill me? How is my profound stupidity going to kill me? How do I get out of here when it all goes pear-shaped?


Had to look up "finger sander". You are what addiction experts call an "Enabler". I had never seen this tool before. Now I have to have one. You're not helping.

There are ways to use the chainsaw for carving live material that mitigate risk. Discussing safety techniques on Internet scares me in a legally binding sense. No one should be learning anything about safety from me. I have the scars to prove it. That said, my approach to safety is to understand the causes and effects of improper use. That way I can avoid them. When they occur, I'm not surprised. As I've always said "Safety: Somewhere in the top 10"

As for chainsaw kerf, that's why I have multiple tools for varying purposes and capacities to remove wood.

I'm with you on sharp and powerful tools being the safest. The chainsaw I bought has an 8-inch bar/chain. The lower powered version has a 6-inch bar/chain. Replacing the 8-inch chain is already on my to-do list. I like to be close to my work and have better control over what's happening.

Off to look at finger sanders ... curse you


Here in Louisiana, the choice on deadwood is to make permanent changes quickly or let rot set in and make random unwanted changes. Then there's formosan termites. They're everywhere down here. They eat the hardwood of living trees.

I recommend carving and preserving deadwood soon after you've decided (or forced) to make it an element of your design. Unless you're going for targeted rot or allowing a termite colony to flourish, if the wood is there and you want to style it, get to it.
Lolol. Good luck with your new finger sander!
Yes, I totally agree on the high quality tools though I rarely want to spend the money.
It would be appropriate to cut the rakers eventually but only after several sharpenings. You will know because you will have a sharp chain that won't actually cut anything. Just trim them slowly and consistently on each link and you won't have any issues. As an example, you might file one file pull across each raker every time you sharpen the chain.
 

Frozentreehugger

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My info on function of sharpening chain was just that info . Ie I have a old restored 72cc home light saw it’s loud hard on fuel large kerf chain 16 inch bar . Aggressively lowered rakers and sharp . It’s got tons of low rpm power . You can stick it in the full of the bar in hardwood and it spits out chunks not sawdust . But you could not pay me enough to carve a bonsai with it . The degre of sharpness draws the saw into the wood . It’s a beast that calls madden expensive pro saws wimps . But it’s dangerous . And you sure as hell better have a hold of it and pay attention when you use it . Carving with it you better have 911 ready . I would think the low power electric trimming tool you have will work great . Leave the rakers stock they don’t look very aggressive and maybe you might like it when the chain is a little dull . I think for bonsai you want low aggression. . Ps I have to admit I was impressed with the new gen electric chainsaw 60v I tried . If I needed a saw that’s what I would get . No messing with gas . And best was the low rpm power . Modern gas saws are good( pro model ) but they rev lots and can be a handful . Go electric. Modern home owne gas saw even name brand is leave a lot to be desired . Offshore junk . Don’t use one for very long
 

Frozentreehugger

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By the way the Mil fuel line are . Very good tools . I’m a Ford auto tech for a living . Cordless you pretty much choose a manufacturer . Than you can purchase tools without batteries and chargers . I’m a Dewalt guy . But a lot use fuel . There impact wrenches are strong . Batteries can be damaged somewhat easily if dropped . And the batt latch could be stronger . But we abuse the hell out of them . Lots of pro contractors use fuel . Some but not all snap on tools line are Mill but the batts are changed enough so the . Won’t interchange . Dewalt / Mac tools same tool and batts
 

Frozentreehugger

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Last on screw in accessory leverage . Handle for a drill . Will fit very nicely in the hole in the bar bellow the L . Give you a higher degree on control
 
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