rullywowr
ArboristSite Operative
Still loving my 550xp after a few years. Taken some big trees down with it, still light enough for limbing. Get a 550xp and MM it. 
550xp or 562xp
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MountainHigh
Selective Tree whacker
I agree - the 550xp is the better saw of the two for limbing - it's a couple of pounds lighter and is in fact, designed to be a limbing saw (although like the 346xp, it will do much more)
I use my 562xp/20 inch bar, for bucking and felling anything larger than 14 inches.
I use my 562xp/20 inch bar, for bucking and felling anything larger than 14 inches.
Big_Wood
westcoast dweller
i still don't get it when it comes to a smaller saw being better for limbing? are you guys from back east where the logs are to small to walk on? hell i limb with 70cc minimum and a 33" bar and wouldn't even consider a small saw. my 550 is for yard work or trimming LOL i need to do a week of cutting back east to see what i like better. where you from mountainhigh? your in BC so you should know what a pain it is the limb with a little saw unless your from inland where the tree's are similar to back east.
sunfish
Fish Head
You don't have big ol' gnarly Oaks out there I guess?
Big_Wood
westcoast dweller
how many big ol' gnarly Oaks do you cut a year?
sunfish
Fish Head
20-40, mostly Oaks, but not always big and gnarly. Have never been able to walk down the stem cuttin limbs. The limbs get cut into firewood and it's better to start a at the skinny end and work back to the stem. Different situation all around...
Big_Wood
westcoast dweller
all our massive tree's have big limbs too although no where near as long as those on the big oaks i figure. some of the big cedars here have near 40" limbs but they are old growth and don't get cut as often anymore.
Skeans
Addicted to ArboristSite
Those short bars and small saws make my back hurt just thinking about, a 32" minimum here in the PNW too. My vote is a 562 and slap a 32" bar on it, your back will thank you at the end of the day.
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Skeans
Addicted to ArboristSite
Heck I can put that down a day if not more. Out here it'd be like cedar you learn how to work from the butt to the top so on the way back down you're bucking and then back to the stump and to the next tree. Another thing to remember Westcoast and I are production cutters a lot of you guys are weekend warriors, so time is money there's lots of setting up multiple stems and lighting them all off at once. Or if you're cutting poles they can be as long 175 long so you're making sure every little cut is perfect with a long bar and bumping and bucking with a 32" bar any shorter and we'd be wasting time bending over chasing our tails.
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rogue661
ArboristSite Operative
I'm confused a 550 running a 32in bar? bugger will have to go back and read this over am sure the OP said something about 16in bar 3/8 chain? ...
...Skeans
Addicted to ArboristSite
I'm confused a 550 running a 32in bar? bugger will have to go back and read this over am sure the OP said something about 16in bar 3/8 chain?
562 with a 32", never had anything but that on mine, but it handles it just fine. That said I've never liked short bar one for kick back and two it hurts the back to be bent over like that all the time.
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rogue661
ArboristSite Operative
Oh ok I'm with ya now so its a regional timber thing it must be very soft timber your cutting??..Over here one would starve to death running a 32in bar on a 60cc saw not even joking lol...All commercial pine and most hardwood is done with harvesters here. Old school logging as such is all but over a thing of the past tis history!,only a handful of small operators logging old school left that I know of anyway...
Skeans
Addicted to ArboristSite
A lot of Doug fir, hemlock, cedar, some spruce, Red alder, and once in a blue pine if I'm down in the valley I'll see Oak and hardwoods. And to be honest I haven't had an issue with it in hardwoods running that length of bar, I'm running a 3/8 .63 semi skip chisel chain. Another thing especially in the northwest you'll see longer bars and bigger timber on a lot of let's be honest not so nice ground.
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weedkilla
Ain't no guru of nuthin'
I giggle whenever I read threads that go this way, the simple fact that a pro knows what works in their environment is lost on some people.
A gun pnw logger running a 32" full chisel, skip set up on a 60cc saw would go home with their tail between their legs by lunch on the first day in hardwood Aussie logging. And that Aussie lugging a 3120 and a 24" 404 rig would equally get laughed out of the pnw. The urban tree guy with a set of saws like golf clubs in a truck 20 yards away is not going to run either set up.
These people are pros, running what gets their job done fastest and most efficiently for them.
I've put more food on my families table with a 50cc saw and a 16" bar killing olives than any other saws I own. It's not work that is big and tough and manly, crawling on your knees under some stupid 30 stem mess of olive, but it pays the bills. And our team gets it done quicker, cheaper and with less (none) regrowth than our competitors.
A gun pnw logger running a 32" full chisel, skip set up on a 60cc saw would go home with their tail between their legs by lunch on the first day in hardwood Aussie logging. And that Aussie lugging a 3120 and a 24" 404 rig would equally get laughed out of the pnw. The urban tree guy with a set of saws like golf clubs in a truck 20 yards away is not going to run either set up.
These people are pros, running what gets their job done fastest and most efficiently for them.
I've put more food on my families table with a 50cc saw and a 16" bar killing olives than any other saws I own. It's not work that is big and tough and manly, crawling on your knees under some stupid 30 stem mess of olive, but it pays the bills. And our team gets it done quicker, cheaper and with less (none) regrowth than our competitors.
KenJax Tree
Terraphobic
Its pretty much unusable this side of the Mississippi too.
MountainHigh
Selective Tree whacker
Yup, pro fallers around here also do use 70cc++ saws with long bars for limbing and we have some decent coast sized cedar and fir (Northern edge of Cascades), but BIG old growth is mostly gone. One Saw/Equipment dealer in Hope says he never even sold a 346xp/550xp/562xp in his life - didn't know what they were
smallest Husky they carry is 365.While I have worked in the woods in years past, I'm not logging old growth cedar or fir for a living, just get firewood - cut about 12+ cords/year for myself and neighbours. I usually fall 16" to 20" dead stands or sometimes bigger live alder/maple/birch and buck them up and haul to my splitter - won't be walking along any of them carrying a 32" bar/saw to trim the branches any time soon ;-) Smaller saws a must for me walking amidst the branches.
<rant> BC exporting over 30% of wood harvest as raw logs. Asia buys it, pays cheap wages to workers and sells us back stuff ...
<end of rant!Similar threads
