Letter Re: A Firewood Sawing Reality Check

Hello Jim;  
In reference to the recent letter on using a muscle-powered crosscut saw:   For about four years now, I’ve been doing much of my wood cutting with a DC to AC inverter (AIMS 5000 ^[1]) that I purchased for $299 back then – they are now listed at $399.  I hook it to a used deep cycle battery that was given to me by someone who works setting up remoted gas wells.  I throw the battery, inverter and either a Husqvarna electric chain saw ^[2] (for deadfallen trees) or an old Skilsaw (for old pallets) in the van and go foraging for wood. 

The inverter easily handles the demands of either saw and I can fill the van before the battery seriously drops in voltage. It’s still pretty noisy but is better than gas powered.  I also have several solar panels and could run the whole set up “from the sun” if need be.  I wasn’t thinking about preparation when I got it but that inverter and several of those batteries would greatly ease things in a grid-down situation. Thanks for all you do! – Hobomatt