Best cordless saw setup for cutting firewood

Almost every cordless chainsaw is sold on runtime, which is close to useless for firewood. Nobody cuts for a fixed number of minutes; they cut a pile. One manufacturer in our registry publishes work done rather than time elapsed, and it changes how you size the whole setup.

The short answer

Work per charge beats runtime

A runtime figure tells you how long the motor can spin. A cuts-per-charge figure tells you how much wood you get through, which is the actual question. It is rare enough in this category that it is worth calling out where it appears.

1. EGO CS1804 — the bucking saw

An 18 inch bar on a consumer cordless saw, running a 3/8 inch pitch, 0.050 inch gauge chain with 62 drive links at a published 11,000 RPM. Those chain dimensions matter as much as the bar length: they are commodity sizes, so replacements and spares are easy to find rather than a special order. We work through what each of those numbers means in the chainsaw chain guide.

The 300-cut figure is the reason it is the pick here. It is a published work figure against a stated material, which is more than any other saw in our registry offers, and it is what makes the pack arithmetic above possible at all.

The honest cost is weight: 14.5 lb with the battery fitted. For bucking on the ground that is fine and arguably helpful. For anything above waist height it is a lot of saw.

#ad Check the EGO Power+ 18" Chain Saw CS1804 price on Amazon — how we're funded.

2. EGO PSA1000 — the limbing half of the job

Firewood usually starts as a standing tree or a fallen limb, and the first stage is taking branches off. That is the pole saw's job, and doing it from the ground rather than from a ladder is the entire point.

It publishes up to 70 cuts on a 2.5Ah pack at 4.17 lb, with a 10 inch bar, a 38 inch pole and automatic bar lubrication. On the same platform as the chainsaw, so the packs are shared.

The catch is the same one that applies to every EGO multi-head product: this is an attachment. It needs a PH1400 or PH1420 power head and does nothing without one. The economics of that are in multi-head attachment systems.

#ad Check the EGO Power+ 10" Pole Saw Attachment PSA1000 price on Amazon — how we're funded.

A firewood setup, in buying order

1. The saw and the pack that matches your pile. Cuts x 0.93 watt-hours, plus a margin. For most households that is the 5.0Ah kit.
2. A second pack, not a bigger one, if you cut in long sessions. Swapping is instant; charging is not.
3. Spare chains before you need them. On a commodity 3/8 in pitch, 0.050 in gauge, 62 drive link chain this is cheap insurance.
4. The pole saw only if you are limbing standing trees. If your wood arrives as logs, skip it entirely.
5. Protective equipment. Not a spec we can cite from a product page, and not optional.

Who should skip this

• If your cutting is limbs under 6 inches: an 18 inch bar is more saw than the job needs, and a 10 inch pole saw keeps you off the ladder for less.
• If you are processing cords rather than a stack: the arithmetic runs against you. At 0.93 watt-hours per easy cut you would be swapping packs all day, and this is where corded and gas equipment still wins.
• If you own nothing else on EGO 56V: the pack is a large part of what you are buying. Read the platform cost page first.

What we cannot tell you

We have not cut anything with either tool. Cutting speed, chain life, how the published 300-cut figure translates to oak or ash, vibration over a long session and how either saw behaves in a pinch are all outside what a spec sheet says.

What is published is a work figure against a stated material, and that is enough to size a battery instead of guessing at one. It is the single most useful number any manufacturer in this category prints.