recommended bar length guideline

[sirbuildalot]

I see a lot of posts about will my X saw run an X bar? Although manufacturers always give recommended bar lengths, people still seem to want to run bigger bars than recommended. This is a general rule of thumb guideline I have come up with. These are figured for hardwood.

To calculate MAXIMUM bar length-This means the biggest bar you should really be running on your saw for OCCASIONAL use. Not daily.

Take your saws cc's and divide by 2.5. Simple. So 80cc would be a max 32" bar, a 60cc would be a 24" max bar, 40cc would be 16" max bar, etc, etc. Whatever number you come up with you round DOWN to the nearest bar length readily available. 21.6" doesn't get rounded up to 24", it gets rounded down to 20".

To calculate OPTIMAL bar length-This means the bar length you should typically run on a normal basis. Again, this is a general guideline.

Take your saws cc's and divide by 3.1, to reinerate, whatever number you come up with you round DOWN to the nearest bar length readily available.

Hope this helps some people figure out bar lengths for there saws.

 

[Hoodiegadoo]

Yep I agree, right on the money. Bogging down a saw with an oversized bar sucks. Ain’t nobody got time fo dat!

 

[Trapper_Pete]

thank-you , I had figured it at divide by 3 from personal experience over the years for optimal that is just where saws seemed to cut the best was when they were right around cc / 3

I just didn't know what to figure for the Occasional use and how much running skip change would change that.

my 50cc MS-260 came with a 20 inch and it worked ok with the low kick back chain because it took smaller chips I can't complain much because I got decent life out of it but I look back and think if I had run a shorter bar I might have gotten a lot more life from it.

my 55cc 2255 saw seemed to do better with the 20 inch bar it came with. but when I bought a 18 because I couldn't pass up the price of it and less expensive chain for working in fence rows where wood isn't typically very large but metal hazards can be everywhere that saw was just short of unstoppable with the 18 inch bar.

then my friend bought a 2250 with a 16 inch bar and it is also a cutting machine

I came to the approximately divide by 3 for optimal repeated use

I see these 40 cc saws with 18 inch bars and 46 cc saws with 20 inch bars at the stores as a package all the time , it just seems ridiculous but I suppose they figure people won't use them long enough or hard enough to collect on the warranty.

 

[Haywire Haywood]

Some folk run long bars on saws that they use mainly for limbing to keep from bending over as much. You can run a 20" bar on a 45cc engine, you just can't bury it and expect it to perform.

 

[foeke]

I use about 10cm per HP as ideal. Comes down to a bit shorter.
Mind you, I only cut hardwood. European oak, birk, ash etc.
And I generally pick the lightest saw, so it tends to get buried.
Nice guideline anyway. Stick to whatever is on the box is an other one ; ). And use a sharp chain combined with the right raker height. If it bogs down you are hurting your gear.

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