Want to start carving, need advice on gear/setup.

[soulshaker]

Hey Guys,

I'm new to posting here, been lurking for a year and time to say hello. Great forum you have, extremely resourceful. Out of respect, I did some searching prior to this post, but it was hard to find exactly what I may need, given the saws I have and the variety of bar/chain options, etc etc.

So here's my story, I want to start carving and think I've got everything I need, except for a carving bar & chain (possibly a sprocket if needed). Secondly, I'm kind of addicted to Stihl's and need to pick a carving saw out of my arsenal.

Here's what I have
- MS 200
- MS 200T
- MS 192T
- MS 290
- HT 101 (irrelevant but hey it's stihl a Stihl!)


Here are my Q's
- Can you recommend which saw I should outfit for carving. Base on my own research, probably the MS 200T... Currently don't have the funds to outfit them all, so for now just gotta go with one (Sure I'll use the others, they just won't be setup for "carving").
- Bar/chain combo, any recommendations??
- Lastly, will I need to upgrade the stock sprocket? If there's a relatively good option where I don't need to mess with sprocket, I'd prefer that route.

Feel free to provide links as to where to buy if you have them. Will most likely purchase online.

Thanks for helping this rookie get started:cool2:

 

[chadg01]

The 200 rear handle is the best small carving saw you can get. You will have a lot more control with the rear handle than the top, some people like the top handle saws but the vast majority prefer the rear handle. Baileys has every thing you need to set it up. Cannon 12" dime tip bar 1/4 pitch sprocket and 63 drive link 1/4 pitch chain. Bob King also can set you up with the same thing with $5 shipping at Bear Necessities Sculpture. Use the 290 for blocking and the 200 for everything else. Don't buy the cheap forester carving bars they are junk and will not last.

 

[soulshaker]

This is great info dude, exactly what I was looking for. Needless to say, I didn't know about the 200 rear handle was the better option. I will go that route. Also seems like the rear handle willbe safer. I have a tendency to wave my top handles around kinda carelessly and have to keep reminding myself to keep my hands away. I stripped the bark off a bunch of logs when I built a garden last year and did some carving to make the logs fit into the posts, had a few close calls with the 192T (didn't have the 200T then). Posted a pic below so you can see what I'm talking about. Anyhow, thanks for the info, holler at me if you come up this way.

Mike
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