Ideal Bar Size

[Circle B MN]

Sure hope this is not a dupe, but just interested to see what most consider to be the "ideal" bar size. I have cut most of my life with a 20", but since getting my paws on MS361 I think a 25" is perhaps all the bar a common man could need. Your opinons please....

 

[aandabooks]

I like the 18" as an all-around bar size. I guess it would depend on where you live and what type of wood you cut. I'm 100% hardwood and usually not above 25" diameter. The occasional 30"+ does occasionally come along. The 18" preserves the power of the saw and still cuts though most everything I encounter. From both sides, of course.

 

[stihl sawing]

For me the ideal would be a 20. Most of the cutting i do a 20 will handle it. Every now and then i'll have to break out the 25.

 

[J.W Younger]

I have a 18 with a 8 pin rim on my 046 now but I,m going back to the 20" b/c when this chains worn out.

 

[mickeyd]

I like the 18" as an all-around bar size. I guess it would depend on where you live and what type of wood you cut. I'm 100% hardwood and usually not above 25" diameter. The occasional 30"+ does occasionally come along. The 18" preserves the power of the saw and still cuts though most everything I encounter. From both sides, of course.

yup! gotta agree 18 is my all around bar size ... even the 2100 runs an 18''
but I do have a 25 when needed.
md

 

[Soilarch]

I've not ran saws very long, and have spent 99% of my time on a 20" or 25".

The 20" is perfect for the "storm clean up" or "brush pile" work and the 25" fits my style of firewood collecting perfectly.

Brush pile work to me is when you've got a downed tree...usually a low/many forked tree..that has to be broken up enough for a little D3 or Backhoe to push it around...or in most peoples situation a human to drag it around.

Firewood is when you fell the tree....usually/preferably a straight-ish one limb it and then work down the trunk bucking it up. The extra 5" of reach will save your back and it's very nice to reduce most of the instances when your 20" may be just a hair short on those logs close to the base.

Bigger than 25" and I think you'd start getting into maneuverability brush catching problems and smaller than 18" and I think I would seriously be missing those "one cut" buckings.

 

[Brushwacker]

It has always bummed me I cannot find a 22" bar for stihls. With most saws I can stand straight , no bending with the 22 " and just miss the ground with the bar tip. I use 20" the most and then the 24-25" second most . If I was in a bucket or climbing I'd go shorter, really big stuff I prefer a longer bar that I can reach through, would rather let my saw do the walking.
I've scarfed up a couple 22" bars with the hu mount that I intend on having milled to fit my stihls. Back in my early days I used old homelite c series, the 22" was always my favorite.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

I've got an 18 on the 372 and a 28 on the 066. 8 pin rims on both. My 346 has a 16" bar and stock rim. Works out fairly well for me.

Ian

 

[Bushman_269]

For the majority of the firewood cutting I do 20" is plenty. It is long enough that I don't have to bend a lot when limbing and long enough to buck up most logs. If I get into bigger wood then the 24 or 28" bar comes out. My cutting is exclusively hardwoods - maple, cherry, ash & oak.

 

[howellhandmade]

It depends, I'd think of ideal size for the saw, and for the wood. Both the weight and power of the saw determine what is ideal. It all depends what kind of wood you typically cut and how big. You might get more useful opinions if you determined that your best all-around bar was a 20" -- now how much power do you need?

Personally, I find that it is easy to have too much bar for the saw but hard to have too much power for the bar. My MS361 balances well and has plenty of zip with an 18". Most of the time I have a 24" on my MS660 Mag, which I find very entertaining.

Jack

 

[smokinj]

20 in. perfect for that saw

 

[avalancher]

I use a 20 for just about everything myself, anything bigger I drag out the 372 with a 24 inch.Rarely do I mount a 28 inch on it,seems to just drag the saw down too much.I keep meaning to get a loop of semi skip, but just never get around to it.

 

[KD57]

20 in. perfect for that saw

:agree2:

 

[TonyK]

I have gone round and round with myself on this one trying to talk myself into and out of a bigger bar but when I really look at the type of trees that I put down and the size that I like to work with the 18" bars that I run on my saws do everything I ask of them. So maybe someday the go bigger will win but for now I am just getting by without getting to play with a new toy.

 

[IndyIan]

I started with a 16" on my 372 and now have a 20". With overbucking I can go through a 22-24" log with one cut. I found that the extra weight of even the 20" bar did wear on me a bit more for limbing things like cedar with a lot of branches. Now I use a 141 with a 16" for all cedar cutting, the 372 was overkill really.
Ian

 

[Farmall Guy]

I guess I'm a little out of the ordinary here, I prefer a 28" bar on my 066 for 90% of all my fire wood cutting. Even on small stuff I like the 28 because I dont have to bend down and manuverability is still real good. I run a 20 on my 046, thats my limbing saw and saw choice for quick small jobs. The 880 wears a 30" until 36-47" bars are needed. I dont use that saw much as the 066 is lighter and gets the job done, but when I'm looking for a good time its time for the 880

 

[jags]

The old saying is " if your bar is never too short, its always too long". For people that use bar length to eliminate bending and improve reach, I get that. But if you are looking at saw performance you should always be using the shortest bar you can get away with.

My go to for my 361 is an 18", but I back that up with a 25" for the bigger stuff. The 18" on a 361 makes for one beautiful firewood saw. (and it seems to make your wood bigger:biggrinbounce2

 

[SawTroll]

The ideal bar usually is a couple of inches shorter that the larger parts of the logs you usually cut, unless you saw is overkill for the wood.

15-18" is the sweet-spot on a MS361, but it can take a lot more if you really need it.

 

[mowoodchopper]

Its completely user preference!!!

 

[Octane]

It depend what Im cutting. On my Echo CS-520, I prefer to use the 16" bar because it cuts faster with that bar and because the shorter bar makes the saw easier to handle.
Ive also got a 20" bar for my 520 and while the saw pulls just fine with that bar on it, I dont use the 20" unless Im felling or bucking pieces that are bigger than 16".