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"  I don&amp;#039;t care how careful you are with a chain saw\u2014when you&amp;#039;re doing yardwork with one, you&amp;#039;re going to hit some dirt and instantly dull the chain. It&amp;#039;s inevitable. That problem is especially pronounced when you&amp;#039;re removing stumps. Pruning and cutting small trees in tight places is not as bad, but these trees often have dirt in their bark from being constantly pelted by lawn mowers and string trimmers. You may even run into a rusty nail or staple, driven years ago to hang a birdhouse. When Stihl told us that it equipped its trusty MS 230 with carbide-tipped chain, especially for this unsavory woodcutting, we were intrigued. The company claims its Picco Duro chain lasts four times longer than its standard product and can easily withstand that momentary brush with the ground or handle dirty tree roots (a job so awful that I normally use a reciprocating saw and a bimetal blade). Given that, as a class, chain-saw manufacturers are not given to overstatement, I thought there must be something to it. So I borrowed an MS 230 and went to work with some Boy Scouts doing volunteer landscaping. Let me tell you, that saw and its chain more than live up to the company&amp;#039;s claim. It&amp;#039;s a Dirty Job Stump removal is about the dirtiest of the dirty woodcutting jobs. When I sawed a cherry stump flush with the ground, I ran right into the dirt on the way out because the ground sloped against the direction of the saw cut. I said to myself, now we&amp;#039;ll see. My concerns were unfounded; the saw sailed through and went on to cut up Osage orange, maple, oak and dogwood. Some of that wood was just filthy. Sparks flew as I sliced into a fallen log. I can&amp;#039;t say whether it was embedded dirt or a small nail. What I can say is that the saw carried on like it was equipped with a fresh chain. Other attributes make the MS 230 well-equipped for this work. The saw&amp;#039;s light weight and good balance make it easy to handle when you&amp;#039;re hunched over, cutting stumps or pruning at an odd angle. Even with a 16-inch bar, it weighs only about 12 pounds. Also, its 40.2-cc engine may be relatively small by chain-saw standards, but it&amp;#039;s got more than enough power for this work. Hook its timber spike into the log and pivot through. The MS 230 has plenty of torque. Then again, this is a $340 chain saw. You&amp;#039;ve got a right to expect some decent performance from it. The saw delivers and then some. The volunteer landscaping job isn&amp;#039;t over. There are still fruit trees to prune, leaning trees to fell and fallen trees to buck up. But the woods and grounds are already looking better. The scouts have completed their end of the job\u2014now it&amp;#039;s up to me. Without the scouts to help, I&amp;#039;ll have to haul the brush myself. At least the woodcutting part of the job will be easy. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/tools/reviews/a6256/stihl-ms-230-c-be-review/>