do you loan out your powertools?

[vash]

basically, handtools to friend are ok in my book.

but my next door neighbor is stalking me for my chainsaw. he told me he was buying one, but when i asked him about it, he said he was looking at an electric model. WTF? well, turns out he bought it. and it cant cut crap. i helped him out a bit with my ECHO, and blasted thru some serious stuff. now he want to use it. i told him i didnt lend out tools but he is persistant. i plan on going with him to his mom's house to help out. worse case, i lose a few hours. but better than him trying to cut thru dirt and roots. or running non premix gas in it. am i being paranoid? i claim safety. what do you think?

[Zeke]

NO. And especially a chain saw. Give him some money for a rental or stop by and rent one. He'll get the message.

I loaned a tool once and it cost me 3 years in court and bankruptcy. Search my name and words like workers+comp, court, ect.

[turbo6bar]

kickback takes his arm off. is that paranoid? EDIT: I agree with Zeke. Chainsaws aren't like lawnmowers. You don't just walk up, pull the cord and start cutting.

When friends ask for a serious tool, I tell them "I won't loan you the tool, but I will loan you the tool with operator attached (me)."

Here's a tree my dad and I diced up a few weeks ago. The oak was rotten in the middle and came down during a storm.

[M.D. Holloway]

Its one thing if it's a 90degree drill or a metric allen wrench but a chain saw? nope - a man has to draw the line. Can't say a neighbor ever had the nutbag to ask for any power tool. maybe it's a Texas thing but tool pride goes a long way down these parts. The philosophy here is "if ya can't cut your own grass, trim your own trees, how can you mount your women!"

[notfarnow]

If he's the kind of guy who'd buy an electirc chain saw, than he should never, ever, be allowed to use a gas one.

Must be a bit of a turd. If you already said you don't lend powertools, and he has asked again anyway, then there must be something odd about him. Don't trust him around your wife.

[Moses]

Originally posted by vash
Do you loan out your powertools?

I used to. I don't have any more.

[cantdrv55]

Hey, I can take a hint. Next time, I'm going to UHaul.

[juanbenae]

tell him the throttle sticks every once in a while, and it scares when it happens so it could never be loaned. then tell him that you are busy the day he's going to moms to trim her garden.

the throttle sticks thing works well. i actually stumbled upon it by having a chain saw that the throttle sticks on. my friend always asks to borrow it, even though i fixed it he's none the wiser and it works every time.

thing is most rental yards don't even rent chain saws anymore, for all the reasons you guys state above. the danger, the ability to use it safely, dumb asses that use it to move dirt, and the fact that somebody that does not know what they are doing can trash it.

all in all there are those you'd loan stuff to, and those you won't, the trick is figuring out which is which. i do pride myself on being a good borrower though. i want to return stuff better than when i got it if possible. i borrowed a tile saw from an anal buddy of mine, before returning it i cleaned all the brick waste stains off it from when his brother last used it. i borrowed a roto-tiller second hand (a borrow from a borrower), and found the tire flat after i started using it, fixed the flat only to find out it was flat all along. that flat tire story has earned me a stellar reputation for being a good borrower.

having pretty much exclusivly contractor buddies it pays to be a good borrower, leaves more room in the garage for the porsche.

[SteveStromberg]

I worked as a Logger up outside of Camp Wishon in the Sierras For two summers 1981 and 82.
Our logswent to the mill in Terra Bella.
The crew I was with fell Redwoods,some of which measured 14 feet across.
I can say that running a chainsaw is like taking you life in your hand evey time you fire it up.
Most people wouldnt realize that a big saws are like holding on to a 125 MX bike.
When one of them kicks back your could die in a heartbeat.
You had better know where the tip is at all times.
When doing Plunge cut a small saw is used to make the depth cut then the big saw is inserted in to the cut.
There is a reason that Kevlar Chaps are used but a big saw will go right thru them like a hot knife thru butter.

It is a rush when you do that last bit and it snaps. But the rebound shock can knock you out of your spikes.
I had a buddy that cut thru his belt at about 60 feet and hit with a thud.
He lived but two broken legs and a shattered shoulder.
That Same summer a big redwood came loose and rolled down the hill crushing a fellow who drove a logging truck.
I didnt see that as I wasnt on the mountian that day thank god.

[vash]

i like this crowd!

yes, they made me watch a safety video when i bought the thing. and that is why you shouldnt buy a chainsaw from homedepot, etc. you need some training. thanks guys. i will volunteer for help on friday. i am gonna have to hide the gas powered hedge trimmer i have on order or work at night.

[asphaltgambler]

It would depend on how close a friend they are and what they wanted to borrow. My initial reaction would be no.

[Moneyguy1]

My tools are my treasures. If a friend requires some assistance, he or she can bring the item (if portable) to my place and I will help them. If it requires something big (such as the chainsaw example), it is a definite NO. Reasons include but not limited to liability issues.

[turbo6bar]

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
Reasons include but not limited to liability issues.

Imagine if your friend removed his arm with your chainsaw. The guilt would kill me worse than possible liability issues.

[RickM]

From what I've seen the underpowered electrics are much more dangerous to use. Being underpowered for typical use they kick really easily.

I might go over a do some cutting but I'd be very reluctant to lend it out.

[oldE]

I'm with turbo6. I'll go out and help him out, but I wouldn't lend a chain saw to anyone I hadn't observed operating one. Come to think of it, I wouldn't even lend a saw to some of those!
Les

[dhoward]

A borrowed chainsaw is a lot cheaper than renting a ditch witch.

[Bill Douglas]

While we are discussing how bad chainsaws are... A tree had blown over in a storm and it had broken off at the roots, and a chap with a chainsaw was chopping it up into sections that could be dragged away with a tractor. Unfortunately his kids were playing in the area and decided to dig around under the roots where the tree had pulled up from. When the base of the tree was lightened from the trunk being cut off the massive stump righted itself again crushing and burying the kids amoungst the root structure.

[Superman]

I'm a desk-jockey and a city-slicker most days, but I grew up around logging operations. Absolutely, positively, no loaning of chainsaws. Not at all. Never. No chance. No.

Oh, and just like most things, the truly professional machines come from Germany. There are Stihls and Husqvarnas....and then there are toys. Toys work fine for homeowners, but you won't find a McCulloch in a faller's pickup truck.

[vash]

i hear you supe, i had a husqvarna, the ignition went bad, hench the new purchase. i went to a lawn tools specialty store. they only sold husky, stihl, and ECHO. they told me the echo is the easiest to start...SOLD! it cuts better than my old husky. and is the lightest. mchulloch, eager beaver, had one, POS. i wouldnt make a skateboard with the motor.

[speeder]

I'm w/ Super on this one. I live in L.A. now, but have some rural Wisconsin real estate in the family and we cut some wood. As soon as I saw this thread yesterday I though of those great Stihl chain saws, even city slickers know a little about wood/tree cutting where I'm from. Think of the wood chipper scene in "Fargo".

Requests like this neighbor's are so ill-informed that I would have no problem at all shutting him down. If he asks twice, simply deny him again. Repeat as necessary, and don't feel like a jerk because you're not one. It is like he is asking to borrow your gun, (if you have one).