Chainsaws are a very useful tool, with many farmers having one on the farm at all times. Tommy Doyle Power Tools has been selling saws since 1964, starting out by selling from the back room of his family’s pub. At the time, the family business consisted of the pub, a hotel, a hardware business and a machinery business.

The business was started by Tommy’s grandfather in 1884 in Baltinglass, Co Wicklow. On the machinery end, their business was the agent for Pierce Farm Machinery for the Wicklow area and was very successful up until Pierce Farm Machinery came to an end. Tommy’s father took over the business in 1912 and the business, including the pub, stayed in the family until the late 1990s.

New premises

At this point Tommy was selling a lot of chainsaws and other garden equipment from the back of the pub and decided that a separate premises was required. Over the years he has been a dealer for McCulloch, Husqvarna and, later, Stihl. He has been a Stihl dealer since 1972. Currently the business is based off the main street of Baltinglass and sells all types of powered garden equipment. They are also a Fleetwood paint stockist and mixer. The business is run on a daily basis by Philip Jones, with one full-time member of staff in the workshop and seasonal help when required from Tommy and others.

Main customers

Speaking to Philip the main stay of their business is the local farming community who account for about 60% of their chainsaw business. The rest of the sales and servicing for the year is accounted for by professional tree surgeons and domestic users.

Each year they sell approximately 150-200 new chainsaws. Of these, the majority would be the mid-range saw that farmers tend to buy such as the Stihl MS 391 which has a 64cc engine and produces 4.5hp from a manageable size and weight of 4.5kg. Chainsaws can be bought from as little as €259, to €2,286 for the range-topping Stihl MS 880. This machine has some eye-watering specifications with its 125cc engine producing 8.7hp.

All this power is put to use with a four-foot cutter bar. This machine weighs in at a hefty 10kg. Philip said that he has sold four of these monsters over the past seven years.

On the workshop side of the business there is a serious throughput of work with up to 2,000 saws being serviced or repaired on an annual basis. The simplest jobs such as servicing to jobs such as engine rebuilds are all undertaken on site.

Maintenance

Philip says that the most important part of chainsaw maintenance is to keep the saw clean and allow the vents on the side of the main body to take in the air required to keep the air-cooled engine at a safe, working temperature.

Overheating can have long-lasting and often terminal affects on these high-revving and sometimes temperamental engines.

Over the years Philip has seen chainsaws coming in many differing states of disrepair but says the most common reason why problems occur is because the saw has not been maintained properly.

Problems

On more than one occasion, Philip recalls week-old saws being returned to the shop with their owner saying that they won’t cut. After a very short look it was obvious that they had been cutting, but had never been sharpened and were blunt.

Another fairly common occurrence is for a machine to be brought in with the engine running and the blade not turning. This is usually because the safety chain brake has been engaged by mistake and the owner doesn’t know how to disengage it.

Electric saws

For the future, Philip sees that electric saws are already becoming more common among the customers at the smaller end of the market, but sees the batteries as the reason that they are not more common as of yet.

Currently you can get a cordless chainsaw that is equivalent to some of the smaller saws that they sell. On the pricing front, they cost the same as a medium saw but only have the capability of a smaller machine.

Philip says that with the latest batteries a working time of 35-45 minute is possible with these machines with none of the fumes and noise of the traditional two-stroke machine. With these saws improving all the time and the traditional saw still selling in large numbers, this small Wicklow business will be supplying and servicing chainsaws of one type or another for many years to come.