Buying New Husky353 what size bar 18" or 20"?

[tenacrewoods]

I think of buying the 353 w/18" farm tough bar it's $344.00 but I can pay
$6 more and git it with 20" Oregon pro bar. Both come w/95vp chain,plus
2 extra chains (3 in all) even though I won't be cutting big stuff very often,
there are some 40" are so pines on my place.Wife says that all guys think
about is size and if I get 18" I'll only want 2 more later on.
What would you guys buy?

Thanks!
Mike

 

[DanManofStihl]

With a 353 I would stick with the 18 in bar a 53 cc saw in my book seems alttle underpowered for a 20 inch bar but I could be wrong. I had a husky 359 and it did pretty well with a 20 in bar I would stick with the 18 in personally. I think it would perform better.

 

[Max]

Just my opinion but the 18" would be good.
I run an 18" on my 357xp most of the time.
If I need a bigger bar I swap it for the 20" or borrow my brothers ms440.
Again just my opinion, but I would run a 16" 95vp on a 353.

 

[asb151]

The 353 is a great saw. The cost and weight hit for the 20 inch bar is negligible. However, the more practical set up is the 18 or even a 16 inch bar. If you decide to go with the 20 don't expect it to be very fast in larger wood. It will get through. It will just take a while.
.

 

[Universe]

I use a 20" for trailbuiding and its great, but most of the wood around here is soft.

 

[TimberPig]

I'll add another for the 18", as was said 20" is pushing the limits of the saw a bit, even in soft wood. Yes it will work with a 20", but the cutting will be slower and the load on the engine will be greater. If you have occasion to tackle those 40" pine trees, then you have a reason to borrow (or buy) a bigger saw that can better handle a longer bar.

 

[asb151]

So how fast would it be with an 18" bar, How fast With a 16" bar. Slow with a 20" I see but what is the real difference.

Has anyone done any real data comparisons using a given saw with different bar lengths? What are the results?

Some people make it sound like you will be falling asleep waiting for a cut beacuse your bar is 2" longer. I for one, doubt it, but if anyone has some test data It would be great to see.

If anyone actually has data for a model 353 with a 16, 18, and 20 inch bar...........then they need to find something better to do with their time

The difference is subjective. A 20 is probably a little too big for that saw. A 18 or a 16 is more suited to its power output.

 

[Blowdown1]

I have a 359 that came w/ the 20" FT bar. I was not too impressed w/ the rails at the nose starting to spread, though I may have contributed to it w/ poor technique at times?

But I also just put a 16" on it for limbing. So if you are not gonna be in bigger wood much I'd go ahead and get the shorter bar. You can always get a 20" for the few times down the road that you need it.

 

[Andyshine77]

I use 18" on my 353 and 20" or 24" on my 372. The 353 is a strong saw for it's size, but if you Buried the bar in hard wood it's going to bog down. If you do get the 353 open up the exhaust it will wake the saw up.

 

[tenacrewoods]

Thanks for all the quick replies!
I Think if I buy the saw it'll be with an 18" bar and 16" for a spare.
Alway great advice here!

Mike E.

 

[pbtree]

18 would be my choice on that saw...

 

[SawTroll]

Thanks for all the quick replies!
I Think if I buy the saw it'll be with an 18" bar and 16" for a spare.
Alway great advice here! Mike E.

As several others have said, the 20" (and even the 18") is a bit long on any 3 cube saw. Not that it will not pull it through the wood, but the saw will be a bit slower than it could be even when the bar is not buried.
I suggest that you settle on the 16" for ordinary use, and keep a 20" for those special occations when you really need it. :angel:

 

[Chris J.]

You could always tell that lazy yahoo in Houston to get off his butt & get his neglected saws ready to cut some wood, for a change. Of course he might be white trash or worse......