Best Chainsaw
Beginners
Buying your first chainsaw in the UK
The safest first chainsaw for a UK beginner is a corded electric saw or a 36 to 40V cordless model with a chain brake and a low-kickback bar. Keep the bar small, roughly 12 to 14 inches. You do not need a licence to use one on your own property for personal, domestic work. PPE and basic training are not legally required for that domestic use. Both are still worth doing.
Guide reviewed for accuracy: 10 July 2026
Buy smaller than you think
The most common regret among first-time UK chainsaw buyers is not buying too small a saw. It is the opposite. Beginners buy too much saw, then struggle with the weight, the vibration and the chain speed. That pattern shows up repeatedly on UK chainsaw forums like Arbtalk and general chainsaw communities. "You will regret it after the first hour" is a genuine, recurring sentiment, not a scare story. It is almost always about oversizing, not undersizing.
A 12 to 14 inch bar handles the majority of first-time jobs: pruning, hedge and branch clearance, and firewood rounds up to about 25cm. This bar length works on a corded electric saw or a 36 to 40V cordless saw. A smaller bar is lighter. It is easier to hold up for a full session. It also produces less kickback energy than a longer bar. A genuinely bigger job, such as felling a small tree, is a reason to hire a saw or bring in a competent person. It is not a reason to buy big on day one.
Budget is a separate question from size. Our cheap chainsaws guide covers where you can genuinely save money and where you should not.
Kickback: what it actually is, and why it is manageable
Kickback is the reason chainsaws frighten beginners. It is the sudden, upward snap of the bar that happens when the top quarter of the bar tip, the kickback zone, touches wood or gets pinched while the chain is moving. It happens fast. It is the main mechanism behind serious chainsaw injuries. None of that means a beginner cannot use a saw safely. Three things matter more than anything else on the spec sheet:
- A working chain brake. Every saw recommended on this page has one. It stops the chain in a fraction of a second when triggered, either by your hand hitting the front guard or automatically on newer saws during a strong kickback motion.
- A low-kickback bar and chain. These reduce kickback energy and are standard on beginner-oriented saws. Check for them on any model you consider.
- Two-handed grip and technique. Hold the saw with both hands, thumb wrapped under the front handle, feet planted. Never let the bar tip contact material while the chain is running. This habit alone prevents most kickback incidents.
Our chainsaw safety guide covers kickback mechanics, PPE tiers and safe technique in full. Treat kickback as a known, managed risk. It is not a reason to avoid a saw altogether.
Always wear EN381 rated PPE: chain-brake, gloves, leg protection, eye and ear protection.
The chainsaw licence myth
UK law has no general chainsaw licence. There is no legal requirement to hold any certificate to buy or use a chainsaw on your own property for personal, domestic work. That covers pruning your own trees, clearing your own hedges and cutting firewood for your own use.
Work use is different. HSE guidance on chainsaw operators requires employers and the self-employed to ensure operators are adequately trained. Most professional tree and forestry work requires the relevant City & Guilds NPTC units, commonly CS30 for maintenance and cross-cutting and CS31 for felling and processing small trees up to 380mm. These units are sometimes called a "chainsaw ticket" informally. They are a work competence certificate, not a licence to own or use a saw at home. Paid or work use is when NPTC training becomes the sensible, and effectively required, standard to meet.
Domestic use requires no certificate by law. That is a statement about legality, not about risk. The physical risks do not disappear just because you are in your own garden. Basic training and full PPE are worth doing even when nobody requires them.
PPE checklist: what to wear, every time
The EN381 family of standards, now being progressively replaced by EN ISO 11393 with the same intent, sets the minimum protective specification for chainsaw clothing and gloves. This is the kit that actually reduces injury risk in practice, whatever saw you buy:
- A saw with a working chain brake. Non-negotiable. Check it engages before every session.
- Cut-resistant chainsaw trousers or chaps (EN381-5). Long fibres jam a moving chain almost instantly if it touches your leg.
- Chainsaw-rated gloves (EN381-7), at minimum on the hand nearest the bar.
- Eye protection: a mesh visor or safety glasses/goggles, against flying chips and sawdust.
- Ear defenders or hearing protection, rated for the noise level of the saw you use.
- Sturdy, reinforced boots with a protective toe cap and good grip, historically EN381-3 and now largely covered by EN ISO 17249.
None of this is optional kit. It is the difference between a minor scare and a serious injury. It costs a fraction of the price of the saw itself. HSE publishes the same PPE guidance for professional chainsaw operators.
What to actually buy first
These two picks are sensible, genuinely beginner-sized starting points: a corded electric saw for working near a socket, and a lower-voltage cordless saw for working anywhere in the garden. Both come from published manufacturer specifications and verified UK owner reviews, not hands-on testing (see how we research, below). Both keep to the 12 to 14 inch bar range. Both have a mechanical chain brake as standard.
Einhell GH-EC 1835 corded electric chainsaw
Einhell
A straightforward 1800W corded electric with a 35cm (14in) bar, an instant mechanical chain brake and tool-free chain tensioning. If most of your cutting happens within reach of an extension lead, this class of saw removes battery cost and runtime worries entirely.
Pros
- + No battery to charge or run flat, always full power from the mains
- + Instant mechanical chain brake plus a chain-catcher bolt
- + Tool-free chain tensioning and automatic chain lubrication
- + Lightweight and simple to store, low running cost
Cons
- − Tethered to an extension lead, so working radius is limited by cable length
- − Not sensible for jobs away from a power source
- − Not intended for repeated felling or large-diameter logs
Einhell GE-LC 36/35 Li-Solo cordless chainsaw
Einhell
Runs on two 18V batteries for a genuine 36V-class, 35cm (14in) bar with a brushless motor and mechanical chain brake. A sensible step up from corded if you need to work away from the house, without jumping to a heavier 45cc+ petrol saw you do not yet need.
Pros
- + No cable, so you can work anywhere in the garden
- + Brushless motor keeps it light at around 4kg
- + Same 35cm (14in) bar class as a beginner corded saw
- + Mechanical chain brake plus a chain-catcher bolt
- + Runs on Einhell's wider 18V Power X-Change battery family if you already own their tools
Cons
- − Sold "Li-Solo", meaning body only, battery and charger are bought separately
- − Battery runtime is finite, bigger jobs may need a spare pack
- − Twin 18V battery setup adds some weight versus a single-cell saw
How we choose
We do not run a test lab and we do not stage saws cutting logs for a camera. Best Chainsaw is research led: recommendations are built from published manufacturer specifications, verified owner and community reviews (Arbtalk, forums, Amazon UK and retailer reviews), UK retail pricing, and HSE/EN381 safety standards, cross-checked so the numbers on this page match the numbers on the box. Where a figure is the maker's claim rather than an independently measured result, we say so.
Rankings weigh bar length and power for the task, safety features, build and value at UK prices. We update picks when models are discontinued or superseded. We earn affiliate commission on some links, but it never decides the order of a list. More on our method.
Related guides
- Chainsaw safety: PPE, kickback and technique, the full breakdown of EN381 PPE tiers and safe technique.
- Best electric chainsaws for UK gardens, if corded is your likely choice.
- Best cordless battery chainsaws for UK gardens, if you need to work away from a socket.
- Best cheap chainsaws that are still safe to use, if budget is the main constraint.
- The Fit Check tool, a free, rule-based way to match your task to the right bar length and power type.