Wide kerf bar and chain setup

[poleframer]

Hi all, have a question. I do post and beam peeled pole construction. I've been working with 12-14 inch sticks, and put them together with "flitch" plates. These are usually 4-6 inch wide by 3/8" thick plate steel, welded into various shapes, and splined inside the posts and beams, then bolted through.
I mostly use 026 for the plunge and slot cuts, running full comp 3/8 pitch chain, but that only gives about a 1/4" kerf that I have to feather out quite a bit.
What would be the widest kerf bar/chain setup I could use to speed up the process?
Speed of cutting isnt as important as a smooth cutting chain, so full comp would be best. When I plunge cut the posts, I dont want the cuts to show, and I do all the beam slices from the top so they dont show either. Which means I plunge right up the middle of the end of a pole, and a skip tooth jumps and bucks pretty bad if I dont do a fast, smooth plunge, but when I go to feathering out the slot, the tip bounces around in the slot pretty bad.
Usually I get the post and beams up, with all but the top post plunge done, then plunge down into the post with a 064, then drive the flitch plate in and bolt it. Up on a ladder or scaffold with a 28 inch bar plunge cutting the end of a pole is the most fun.
Idk, would there be a way to adapt a harvester bar to a 064? of find an old 1/2" pitch setup? Getting as many teeth in action as possible would be key to making it a smoother operation. A kerf slightly bigger than 3/8" would be ideal.
Thanks, Russell

 

[SawTroll]

You could of course adapt a .080 .404 harvester bar to a fairly large chainsaw. My brother has done it with NOS .063 harvester bars, so I assume it can be done with a .080 one as well.

 

[poleframer]

Thanks for the reply.
Any Idea of what the kerf might be going to that gauge? I have some 30" 404 063 bars and chains for my 090, but I'd like a wider kerf yet, and the 090 isnt the best saw for detail work. Any way to figure out how wide a kerf a given size chain will make? I was just looking at the baileys selection for harvester bars, I sort of like the look of the 21" cannon, it has a tapered profile, which would help a lot in plunge cutting, but I only see it in .063. Maybe a similar harvester bar with some grinding and drilling to change the mount end, and a custom sprocket for .080 gauge?
I'm not doing long cuts, most of the splines go around 20 inches into the ends of the poles. I dont think I need more power (or weight) than the 064 gives me, but the smaller mount size would have to be adapted for.