MS362 vs MS391

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If you're all about more power, neither of these saws is what you want. Go for the 462 with a lightweight bar. Your wallet will smart for a while, but when you're running that saw, you'll forget all about the price.

After some thinking last night, I just returned home with a MS462 C-M.

A lot of you mentioned that I should skip the 60cc class and go up to 70cc and it made a lot of sense why.

I appreciate everyone’s comments and thank you for all of the different opinions!
 
I have an MS362, MS500i,
Makita 7900 and occasionally use a colleagues MS390. IMO forget the 390. The 500 is too expensive for the wife, the 7900 is way more saw than the 362 and can be gotten for about the same or less (here in the UK at least). I never pick up the 362 anymore, it’s a fine saw but the others are all better. I run a 22” bar on the 7900 and it’s like a laser in any type of wood I cut. Looking at a 7900 would be my suggestion
 
A Husky 562XP will pull a 24" bar in oak and hard maple just fine. I know because I have done it quit a bit. Cant speak for the 562, 361, etc.
With that said a 60CC class saw is kind of a bastard size. They never are as nimble a 50cc class saw and they never have the grunt of a 70+cc saw. However, they are probably about ideal for a firewood saw for most guys in the eastern US. In the west a 60CC saw with a 24" can tackle quit a bit bigger wood because wood such as Douglas Fir, Poderosa Pine, Larch, etc are all really soft. I would have no issue using a 60cc saw muffler modded or ported with a 28" bar as a falling saw out here provided your not in old growth or huge second growth.
 
8” just disappears does it? By my maths 20” bar from both sides of a log makes 40” not 48”, so I call BS.
Tom,

Face cut first (humbolt, conventional, or open - whatever your preference), plunge cut the hinge from the face, then with a sweeping arc motion, cut the center of the tree. Be sure to leave plenty of hinge wood on each side equally. From that point, you plunge cut from each side and back cut, leaving a small section of holding wood that you can cut from the outside with a single pass.

With some wedges thrown in there before the final cut at the holding wood.

That's what I would do but some of the professional loggers could probably chime in with another method.
 
Tom,

Face cut first (humbolt, conventional, or open - whatever your preference), plunge cut the hinge from the face, then with a sweeping arc motion, cut the center of the tree. Be sure to leave plenty of hinge wood on each side equally. From that point, you plunge cut from each side and back cut, leaving a small section of holding wood that you can cut from the outside with a single pass.

With some wedges thrown in there before the final cut at the holding wood.

That's what I would do but some of the professional loggers could probably chime in with another method.
Hi mate, he never said he fells 48” oak, he said he cuts up 48” oak. Let’s just say he fells it, so when it’s on the ground he gets out a bigger saw to cut it up? Or does he really section up a whole tree coming from both sides with an ms 290

Why wouldn’t he use the bigger saw to fell it?

If he uploads a video of him falling and then bucking a 48” section of tree with a 20” bar (which isn’t possible) on a 290 and I’ll eat my words. Why would anyone be tackling 48” trees with an ms 290 anyway? The whole thing doesn’t make sense..
 
That's fine as long as you don't cook the saw, they're made for 20". Just don't run a 36" on your 290. I know someone who has.
No 20'' is the max for a 290. I'm retired so I can take my time. All I cut is hard woods that are about 24'' but I do get some big wood from time to time.
 
That's fine as long as you don't cook the saw, they're made for 20". Just don't run a 36" on your 290. I know someone who has.
My dad bought me a 029 at age 18. It was the first saw of my own.
I ran it with a 24" bar in hardwoods on occasion. Keep your chain sharp and you will be fine. That's not to say a 290 is ideal for such work. If you're smart about it you won't cook the saw either.
 
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