What is your preferred bar length?

[homemade]

20” on 90% of my cutting.

 

[CR888]

Pretty much every bar size 8"-72" has a purpose and genuine reason for its manufacture. Bars aren't the problem, its the people and saw retailers that often set up a saw outside its capability/purpose. There is the 'bigger the blade, better the saw' crowd.

 

[JAXJEREMY]

I mainly do light work around my house, so the 16-inch bar is sufficient for 90% of what I do..If I'm cutting anything large I'll break out my MS361 with the 20 inch bar..I

 

[PA452]

I grew up always using a 20" bar. Have an old Echo saw someone gave me with a 24" bar that feels huge, but I've only used it a couple times.

Recently bought an MS 261C-M, my first "new" saw. I went with an 18" bar for weight and balance and I'm liking it a lot so far.

 

[Cope1024]

Depends on the size of the tree.

And the size of the saw.

 

[Tallest]

Displacement isn't an issue. My felling saw is a 390xp and it wears a 20" bar. Ive got an ms660 with a 25" and another 390xp with a 28" bar just in case. I get it about folks with only one saw wanting to know what bar length to get, my answer is a 20" bar will cut 99% of anything a casual user or homeowner will run across. Its just one of those questions that kinda puzzles me.

So I have a question: I'm probably more in the casual use class - farm property managing and firewood cutting - not an arborist or logger. A couple weeks ago I felled a dead red oak that was about 31" diameter at the base where I notched and cut it. I had a 20" bar and made it work because I rarely need to work on a tree this size, but something longer would have made for a much faster and cleaner process. Once down, it barely tapered at all until the first branch about 17' up. It was just for firewood so I chucked it every 16". That's roughly 12 cuts that would have been simpler, maybe even safer, with a longer bar.

My question is, based on your logic, what would you have done in this scenario? Is the tree size the anomaly, or am greedy wanting a longer bar for this application?

 

[BenK]

If time and money are a non-factor then getting the correct size bar/displacement for each application is the safest play. Experience and comfortability level are also important factors that impact the decision. I personally think that in felling that I would feel most comfortable with a bar that is equal (or CLOSE) to the diameter of the tree I am felling...now I am not a professional just someone that does farm/firewood cutting. With bucking I don't mind having a smaller bar than what I am cutting assuming it is not a massive difference.

 

[Huntaholic]

So I have a question: I'm probably more in the casual use class - farm property managing and firewood cutting - not an arborist or logger. A couple weeks ago I felled a dead red oak that was about 31" diameter at the base where I notched and cut it. I had a 20" bar and made it work because I rarely need to work on a tree this size, but something longer would have made for a much faster and cleaner process. Once down, it barely tapered at all until the first branch about 17' up. It was just for firewood so I chucked it every 16". That's roughly 12 cuts that would have been simpler, maybe even safer, with a longer bar.

My question is, based on your logic, what would you have done in this scenario? Is the tree size the anomaly, or am greedy wanting a longer bar for this application?

I would have done exactly what you did. In fact I do it pretty much every day in timber that size. A longer bar TO ME is more trouble than its worth most of the time. I don't need a bar as long as the stump is across to cut the tree. In fact I have better control of my cuts with a shorter bar. You got to have a feel for it and know where the end of that bar is and what wood is left holding. Since I cut grade timber, I do a LOT of bore cutting to get that heart wood cut and to control my fall direction. You folks try that with a 28" plus bar and youre going to be hung up in the stump a lot!

 

[Skeans]

I would have done exactly what you did. In fact I do it pretty much every day in timber that size. A longer bar TO ME is more trouble than its worth most of the time. I don't need a bar as long as the stump is across to cut the tree. In fact I have better control of my cuts with a shorter bar. You got to have a feel for it and know where the end of that bar is and what wood is left holding. Since I cut grade timber, I do a LOT of bore cutting to get that heart wood cut and to control my fall direction. You folks try that with a 28" plus bar and youre going to be hung up in the stump a lot!

We do it without boring just involves sitting at the stump a little longer or push it before you start the back cut.


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[Czed]

24 with lgx skip chisel usually
For felling
I do run 20 a lot i have accumulated about 25 20 inch d009 bar's over the year's

 

[Huntaholic]

We do it without boring


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Not in walnut, white oak, chestnut oak and red oak you don't. Ive never cut western cedar, spruce, fir, hemlock, etc..... although I would love to!

 

[Skeans]

Not in walnut, white oak, chestnut oak and red oak you don't. Ive never cut western cedar, spruce, fir, hemlock, etc..... although I would love to!

Try doing it on alder that stuff is super deadly if not done correctly, if you look at it wrong it’ll chair.


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[rwoods]

Not in walnut, white oak, chestnut oak and red oak you don't. Ive never cut western cedar, spruce, fir, hemlock, etc..... although I would love to!

These can be cut without boring, but that is besides the point - why are you running such a big power head on a 20” bar? 9 pin sprocket, 8 pin with .404, extra torque for pinches, or what? With standard sprockets and 3/8 a 70 cc should have the same chain speed unless pinched.

Ron

 

[Huntaholic]

These can be cut without boring, but that is besides the point - why are you running such a big power head on a 20” bar? 9 pin sprocket, 8 pin with .404, extra torque for pinches, or what? With standard sprockets and 3/8 a 70 cc should have the same chain speed unless pinched.

Ron

Chain speed may be close to the same unloaded but torque aint even close. Boring may not be the correct terminology, Id just have to show you how I cut and let you name the type lol.

 

[Canyon Angler]

12" on 3410, 20" on 361, 28" on 660

 

[rwoods]

I get the torque. I only run three sizes of saws "modern" 60cc, "older" 82cc and 123cc. Torque increase between each of these classes is huge. I also get that boring can typically be faster with a larger saw because you can load it more. But in straight cutting of say a 15" diameter red oak, the 60cc saw will cut just as fast as the others with sharp chains if all are running 3/8" and a 7 tooth (actually maybe a tad faster due to the power range being at a higher rpm). Though I can be quoted from another thread saying a 82cc saw with an 8 tooth sprocket and 20" bar is fun to run - using one to turn a large canopy oak into firewood is extra work; the fun wears off after awhile and yields to a lighter saw. Logging is different presumably with fewer cuts per tree, but you probably lug the saw around a lot more cutting multiple trees. That extra weight is what has me wondering the benefits of a short barred big saw. Of course, unnecessarily carrying a long barred big saw around is even more work.

Ron

 

[Colt Marlington]

I prefer to have a 20 or 24 when I need it. But do most of my cutting with a 12, 14, or 16.

 

[Frank Rizzo]

Ported 395xp 20” .404 chain ; make a lot a piece !

 

[Little Al]

I see all these threads that pop up here and on other sites with people asking "whats the longest bar I can run?" and several other variations of that question. I just don't get it? Are they trying to compensate for other shortcomings or what?????? I use chainsaws to make a living and myself along with every other logger I know use a 20" bar 95% of the time. It balances better, cuts faster, cheaper to replace, faster sharpening, better oiling, the list goes on and on. Anything longer than that and its just a cumbersome hindrance to work with. Very seldom to I run across a tree that actually NEEDS a longer bar to cut!

20" is a good size if the wood doesn't require longer, the wood the company I service saws for are requiring at the moment 24" at least for trees not being able to be dealt with using the processor horses for courses

 

[Little Al]

So I have a question: I'm probably more in the casual use class - farm property managing and firewood cutting - not an arborist or logger. A couple weeks ago I felled a dead red oak that was about 31" diameter at the base where I notched and cut it. I had a 20" bar and made it work because I rarely need to work on a tree this size, but something longer would have made for a much faster and cleaner process. Once down, it barely tapered at all until the first branch about 17' up. It was just for firewood so I chucked it every 16". That's roughly 12 cuts that would have been simpler, maybe even safer, with a longer bar.

My question is, based on your logic, what would you have done in this scenario? Is the tree size the anomaly, or am greedy wanting a longer bar for this application?

It's always a better /easier bet to have a bar longer than tree dia within reason in modern times the giant trees have mostly if not completely been taken, a single cut from one side when bucking is always preferable but a saw/bar that will deal with 85 or more of your cutting the othe15% can be got around by a bit of "fiddling" rather than buying bar/chain for very occasional use