Oh, I don't doubt that you guys have harder wood, I'm just showing that I/we do cut good sized trees that are oak and on this last job we actually cut a lot of black locust for ties. Its not like I'm cutting 12" trees or firewood when I say we have a saw here that really cuts hard, and for all but the heaviest handed sawyer it isn't going to bog like most any other felling saw, especially stock ones.
That is one of the reasons, I like 7 pin sprockets and skip chain. While under ideal conditions a well modded saw can pull an 8 pin and cut faster the problem is more often than not, the operator makes certain moves and the saw bogs and its harder on the clutch and your cutting times will actually be slower overall due to having to restart the cut. We cut a lot of soft maple on our last logging job and it is quite the pleasure in that, what would be considered heavy handed saw handeling in oak, is just fast cutting on this softer wood.
I watched a guy limb a tree once with a modded 460 and an 8 pin. On a 10" knot he bogged the saw about 4-6 times (kept slamming the saw up onto the dogs), yet he would expound about how the 8 pin was faster cutting......... Well yes, it is, if you don't ever bog the saw down, but on that knot a 260 could have cut it faster if you nevered bogged it, than that 460 with an 8 pin.
I think its the difference between work and play (cookie cutting), if I was racing i would use an 8 pin, but for working with a saw the 7pin or anything that increases your torque will be faster at the end of the day/week, but maybe not for some individual cuts, especially in hardwoods.
My opinion,
Sam
I'm with you on the 7 vs. 8 pin. I don't run 8 pins on anything over a 24" bar in our wood.
