> highly rated whole harnesses in off-brands on Amazon for under $100.
Just as with a steel core lanyard for a flip line, many climbing harnesses have a steel core mesh between two leather halves so you can't accidentally cut your belt off and drop yourself out of a tree.
BTW: You need two lanyards, one steel core for cutting, and one rope lanyard for positioning around knots and such for when you need to remove the steel core to flip around a crotch.
> Or do I stick with the 1/2” because I can use it for climbing too and hope it’s strong enough for pulling?
Do NOT use the same exact PIECE of rope for climbing as for the puller. If you want to use a separate shank of the same 1/2" rope then go for it,
I just want to point out that rope pullers are fine, BUT, you should not rely on them to anchor a load to pull a tree in a certain direction. You have to anchor with a rope or cable to another tree or a very heavy vehicle (think straight truck). Though you can attach a loop or attachment point mid-line and pull on that.
> At this point I’m leaning pretty strongly towards getting a Milwaukee battery powered chainsaw.
Never use a battery powered saw without a hand break. A Harbor Freight Atlas 18" saw with two batteries and fast charger will set you back about $450. I swapped out my bar and chain for a good Oregon (found on a Ryobi) bar and chain. It comes near Stihl MS-250 performance wise, until you bury it and stall it out and overheat the battery. Project Farm on YT did a battery powered saw shoot out.
Carry a good hand saw for the small branches and use the gas/electric rear handle saw for 10" stuff. 3-4 swipes with a good hand saw will cut right through most 1-4" softwood branches.
It was decades ago before they had battery powered tools, but, I was putting up a custom fence for a woman at church, and the lady next door said I looked handy and if I could cut down her peach tree because she had asked her neighborhood men and they said they would, but, none did. I only had a Craftsman sawzall with me, but, I cut down the tree with the sawzall and 12" pruning blades I was using to cut the 6x6 posts. Got her done!
I taught 4 out of 5 of my kids (and 4 of my neighbor's kids) how to cut down trees with a sawzall and ropes.
Home Depot is having a package deal for the Ryobi "18 one plus" sawzall, 1/2" drill, 1/4" impact, light, charger, and 2.0 and 4.0 AH batteries for $139. I have not used the sawzall a lot (only had less then 3 weeks?), BUT, I just cut through an axle tube with 1/4" wall on a log splitter so I could fit it on my trailer. As a truck guy, you can get double duty fromn the tools at a scrap yard and the sawzall in the tree.
I heard a tree guy (think Reggie on YT) say this and it bears repeating. Small pieces make small problems.