Need advice

[Big D Rowdy1]

New to more than making firewood. I have a ms310 with muffler mod and runs very well. Looking to put 25” bar and ripping chain on for processing logs into bowl blanks and such. I know nothing about buying other than stock bars and chains. What do you guys recommend for my needs and best place to purchase from?
Mainly southern hardwoods pecan some black oaks,hackberry and such. Thanks for your help.

 

[derwoodii]

ms310 even with a muff mod could struggle spinning a 25 inch bar chain ripping set up,, will see what others say for your saw plan.

 

[Big D Rowdy1]

Bump sure was hoping to get a better response.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

New to more than making firewood. I have a ms310 with muffler mod and runs very well. Looking to put 25” bar and ripping chain on for processing logs into bowl blanks and such. I know nothing about buying other than stock bars and chains. What do you guys recommend for my needs and best place to purchase from?
Mainly southern hardwoods pecan some black oaks,hackberry and such. Thanks for your help.

Not a saw to mill with at all. It won’t hold up.
But just cutting bowl blanks? Sure.
Stihl bars will last longer than other, cheaper bars. Just stick with regular chain for blanks.
Run 40:1 mix ratio, not 50.

 

[Lightning Performance]

The plastic chassis will melt.

Sell it and get an 85cc saw for milling or buy the clone 288.

 

[ElevatorGuy]

Bump sure was hoping to get a better response.

Yeah… Buy a MS400 or MS462 for that at a minimum. Bump.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

Yeah… Buy a MS400 or MS462 for that at a minimum. Bump.

For milling? Nope...both are too small.

 

[ElevatorGuy]

For milling? Nope...both are too small.

I agree but I didn’t take his comment as milling per say. If so, you’re absolutely right. Even more insane if he’s going to try milling with a 25” 310 and hoping for better answers here with real chainsaw folks… milling is 90cc plus territory.

 

[Big D Rowdy1]

Not milling logs. I am gonna use firewood size cut 14”-20” long max into bowl style blanks. I can then process on bandsaw into useable blanks. It won’t be constant cutting will be time between cuts for cooling as I line up for next cut. Completely understand it is way to small to slab logs.
Thanks for your responses

 

[TheJollyLogger]

What mill setup are you using? For bowl blanks, as long as you go slow and recognize the limitations of the saw... you could probably mill the occasional blank, I guess this your intention? Not full on production milling?

 

[Big D Rowdy1]

Yes sir not full on milling maybe process 2 or 3 firewood size logs at a time.

 

[Big D Rowdy1]

I have a homemade rolling sled with a vertical guide for making straight cuts. Make cut realign sled and make next cut and do on. As little as 3 cuts to maybe 5 at most per log section

 

[Big D Rowdy1]

Lengthwise cuts

 

[singinwoodwackr]

The 310 will be fine for what you want. Just don’t expect it to last 20yrs
Keep the chain sharp and use quality bar oil, let the saw pull itself…no problems.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

The only advantage of a ripping chain is the smoothness of the cuts. If it's only firewood size, I would just noodle it down to the point it fits in your bandsaw and square it up there.

 

[BeatCJ]

Is your firewood cut into 25" long pieces? I would think your existing bar and chain would be sufficient. Ripping is a much harder operation than "noodling" as TheJollyLogger suggests. You end up with the same product, but the bar is oriented parallel with the stem of the tree. Makes much larger chips (noodles).

If you really want a longer bar and chain, I would suggest you look at what your existing bar and chain are, and then get the same chain pitch and gauge, with extra links.

What is your current bar and chain? Looking at Stihl's site, it looks like you probably have a 16" bar with a 3/8 pitch, 0.050 gauge (1.3mm) 60 driver chain. IF that is accurate, then a 25" bar with a 3/8 0.050 84 driver chain will bolt on just fine. If you end up getting in a situation where you have the entire bar in a log, your saw will struggle to keep the chain moving, chips may not clear as well, and you may not get oil to the entire bar and chain. Back off, let the saw cool some, let your chain spin for a few seconds to help sling oil. Make sure you keep the groove cleaned out, especially the oiling hole. I would also suggest running a full skip chain to help with chip clearing and reduce the number of cutters in the wood. That chain would be a 33RSF-84 Full skip will possibly create a rougher surface in your blanks, but you will just turn that out anyway. It might make getting your baseplate attached to the blank a little tougher but not impossible.