60 cc saws

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Huskybill

Huskybill

Addicted to ArboristSite
Joined
May 21, 2018
Messages
7,714
Location
Northeast
With the 60 cc saws would you run 325” or 3/8” chain. Some saws vary on chain size.
Options?

325” with a 9 pin rim full skip chisel chain?

3/8” with a 8 pin rim full skip chisel chain?
 
Franny K
Joined
Jan 16, 2013
Messages
4,410
Location
North eastern Ct USA
Which saws in your signature text are 60cc? 357 359 61? Then what size spline, and is a clutch drum with the other spline size available for it. .325 skip with a small spline and 7 tooth sprocket is what is on my 61cc saw right now 91 drive links called 24". Most 60 cc saws seem to come with the standard spline which means 9 tooth only choice for .325.
 
FlyingDutchman
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Messages
1,078
Location
Illinois
.325 stretches under bigger power. I'd say it depends on what bar you want to run. I built an MS390 to run with .325 and 7 pin then 8 pin rim with a 20" bar. It will run with an unmodded ms440 and cuts nice and smooth but the chain stretches enough to have to switch to the 8 pin rim sometime before the chain wears out.
 
Franny K
Joined
Jan 16, 2013
Messages
4,410
Location
North eastern Ct USA
Not sure .325 skip is still available, or if it ever was. But to me, it doesn’t make sense to speed up a chain with a bigger sprocket and then only run 1/2 or 2/3 the cutters. 3/8 is just better for the size of wood you’d cut with 60cc
Baileys still has .325 skip, Oregon seemed to stop being available a few years ago. It is kind of an interesting comparison as the Oregon one has bumper drive links on all drive links and the Woodland pro has none. The anti reduced risk crowd could do this comparison. Plunge cuts smooth, both of them. Then there is the new NK .325 that may or may not be recommended up to 60cc
 
Fatherwheels

Fatherwheels

Addicted to ArboristSite
Joined
Jan 20, 2019
Messages
1,440
Location
Ireland
I would be interested in this too, especially in regard to what
chain pitch works best on harder wood, I assume .325 would be easier
on a saw in hard wood, but am here to listen and learn.
 
Fatherwheels

Fatherwheels

Addicted to ArboristSite
Joined
Jan 20, 2019
Messages
1,440
Location
Ireland
Not sure .325 skip is still available, or if it ever was. But to me, it doesn’t make sense to speed up a chain with a bigger sprocket and then only run 1/2 or 2/3 the cutters. 3/8 is just better for the size of wood you’d cut with 60cc
Is 3/8 sorer on the saw than .325 would be in harder wood.
 
Cliff R

Cliff R

Addicted to ArboristSite
. AS Supporting Member.
Joined
Jan 24, 2008
Messages
2,583
Location
Mount Vernon, Ohio
Some basic guidelines that I follow here derived from over 4 decades of experience.

30-40cc use 3/8" LP and 12-16" bars.

45-55cc use .325" and 16-18" bars.

60-75cc use 3/8" full comp and 18-24" bars.

I've also moved away from full chisel and have grown to like semi-chisel/round tooth cutters unless we happen to be in really clean wood.

Typically what I've found here to work best, others may have done well with other combinations. We cut upwards of 100 cords a year, mostly tops left over from logging operations and I'm too old these days to piss around, so power to weight and cutting speed is important. This does assume you re using real saws with good power to weight and not some pathetically underpowered hunk of bovine excrement from a "box" store.

The only saw I've ever ran skip tooth chain on is my 480CD when I move up to 28-30". It handles that deal with great authority in big wood even though some dub those saws a little "obsolete" and underpowered for the CC's........
 
Overlooker

Overlooker

ArboristSite Operative
AS Supporting Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2017
Messages
217
Location
Savanna, illinois
With the 60 cc saws would you run 325” or 3/8” chain. Some saws vary on chain size.
Options?

325” with a 9 pin rim full skip chisel chain?

3/8” with a 8 pin rim full skip chisel chain?
On both my Stihl 036 and my ms290 I run 3/8 full comp full chisel on 20 inch bars for firewood to heat my home and to keep my timber trails clear. I'm not sure how many teeth my sprockets are. Even on my Homelite XL 925 (82cc) with a 31 inch bar I run the same chain, but some say I should run skip or semi-skip on that saw. I'm happy with what I've got. O
 
Jeffkrib

Jeffkrib

ArboristSite Guru
. AS Supporting Member.
Joined
Jul 25, 2013
Messages
959
Location
Sydney Australia
Some basic guidelines that I follow here derived from over 4 decades of experience.

30-40cc use 3/8" LP and 12-16" bars.

45-55cc use .325" and 16-18" bars.

60-75cc use 3/8" full comp and 18-24" bars.

I've also moved away from full chisel and have grown to like semi-chisel/round tooth cutters unless we happen to be in really clean wood.

Typically what I've found here to work best, others may have done well with other combinations. We cut upwards of 100 cords a year, mostly tops left over from logging operations and I'm too old these days to piss around, so power to weight and cutting speed is important. This does assume you re using real saws with good power to weight and not some pathetically underpowered hunk of bovine excrement from a "box" store.

The only saw I've ever ran skip tooth chain on is my 480CD when I move up to 28-30". It handles that deal with great authority in big wood even though some dub those saws a little "obsolete" and underpowered for the CC's........
100 cord, that makes for a lot of file strokes in a year, I can see why you prefer semi chise.
 
Cliff R

Cliff R

Addicted to ArboristSite
. AS Supporting Member.
Joined
Jan 24, 2008
Messages
2,583
Location
Mount Vernon, Ohio
100 cord, that makes for a lot of file strokes in a year, I can see why you prefer semi chise.

The numbers will go down this year as we're just about done with the Ash.

When I say "we" my brother, son and nephew cut together as we supply boilers for three homes. I burn year round here.

I used to laugh at "little" saws or anything that didn't run at least a 20" bar and full chisel. These days I've grown to appreciate smaller fast cutting saws and round cutters. You don't loose nearly as much cutting speed as you'd think, and if the material isn't really clean you'll can go a lot further with less effort with the semi-chisel chains.

I've exploited bar length and pitch quite a bit. A strong running 50-55cc saw is just a home-run with an 18" bar in .325". They cut fast and I don't look for a bigger saw till we get into material past about 15" or so. Since we cut a lot of tops, the smaller saws get a lot of work around here.

We do get into some big wood on occasion and it's fun to get the big saws out and give em a workout..........Oak Tree Photos 006.jpgIMG_0789.JPGIMG_1177.jpg
 
bwalker
Joined
Jun 3, 2002
Messages
14,002
Location
Montana
100 cord, that makes for a lot of file strokes in a year, I can see why you prefer semi chise.

The numbers will go down this year as we're just about done with the Ash.

When I say "we" my brother, son and nephew cut together as we supply boilers for three homes. I burn year round here.

I used to laugh at "little" saws or anything that didn't run at least a 20" bar and full chisel. These days I've grown to appreciate smaller fast cutting saws and round cutters. You don't loose nearly as much cutting speed as you'd think, and if the material isn't really clean you'll can go a lot further with less effort with the semi-chisel chains.

I've exploited bar length and pitch quite a bit. A strong running 50-55cc saw is just a home-run with an 18" bar in .325". They cut fast and I don't look for a bigger saw till we get into material past about 15" or so. Since we cut a lot of tops, the smaller saws get a lot of work around here.

We do get into some big wood on occasion and it's fun to get the big saws out and give em a workout..........View attachment 920991View attachment 920992View attachment 920993
Skip chain requires sharpening more often in hardwood IME. This negates the time saved by filing less teeth.
Stihl RM is great for dirty firewood IME.
 
Top