Spent much of last summer building a weekend cabin on 40 acres here in Alaska.
Generator: Very handy for using table saws, circle saws, drills etc. We were looking at 5,500 watt coleman at Costco for about $500. Then the local bulletin board had a guy selling his older but seldom used 5,000watt backup generator for $300. Thats the way we went. Noisy. Sucks fuel. Won't last forever. Got the cabin built and is good for emergency backup electric at the house but we don't use it for daily electricity at the cabin. Thats what kerosene lights and a woodstove and coleman stove are for.
Chainsaw: I have a stihl 029 several years old, I think it was about $300 new at the local saw shop. I've seen them for $200 at local pawn shops. We used that for much of the "chainsaw carpentry" work. You can do a lot with a chainsaw and you'll need it for firewood anyway. Stihl isn't the saw it was 10 or 15 years ago but they are still good saws, unfortuneately the good saws all seem to be european, stihl, husky, jonsereds etc.. Use high quality 2 cycle oil and keep your chain sharp, 16" bar (or shorter)is handier for carpentry but 20" is handy for cutting trees etc..You can always have a spare and chain of the longer/shorter length. If you get a good deal on a small saw like one of the small poulin etc.. you may want that just for being handy for building work. Just don't plan on cutting a lot of firewood with it. Be aware you will eventually hit a nail using a chainsaw for carpentry work and that tears heck out of the saw teeth have a spare chain and several files.
Battery drill. Makita, fairly heavy duty. Very handy to have along with a spare battery. Saves running the generator for small drilling/driving jobs. Recharge the battery when you're running the generator for other tools etc..
Eric
Generator: Very handy for using table saws, circle saws, drills etc. We were looking at 5,500 watt coleman at Costco for about $500. Then the local bulletin board had a guy selling his older but seldom used 5,000watt backup generator for $300. Thats the way we went. Noisy. Sucks fuel. Won't last forever. Got the cabin built and is good for emergency backup electric at the house but we don't use it for daily electricity at the cabin. Thats what kerosene lights and a woodstove and coleman stove are for.
Chainsaw: I have a stihl 029 several years old, I think it was about $300 new at the local saw shop. I've seen them for $200 at local pawn shops. We used that for much of the "chainsaw carpentry" work. You can do a lot with a chainsaw and you'll need it for firewood anyway. Stihl isn't the saw it was 10 or 15 years ago but they are still good saws, unfortuneately the good saws all seem to be european, stihl, husky, jonsereds etc.. Use high quality 2 cycle oil and keep your chain sharp, 16" bar (or shorter)is handier for carpentry but 20" is handy for cutting trees etc..You can always have a spare and chain of the longer/shorter length. If you get a good deal on a small saw like one of the small poulin etc.. you may want that just for being handy for building work. Just don't plan on cutting a lot of firewood with it. Be aware you will eventually hit a nail using a chainsaw for carpentry work and that tears heck out of the saw teeth have a spare chain and several files.
Battery drill. Makita, fairly heavy duty. Very handy to have along with a spare battery. Saves running the generator for small drilling/driving jobs. Recharge the battery when you're running the generator for other tools etc..
Eric
