Smaller saws with longer bars…

Anyone running this way, lower HP saw with a longer bar for bucking?

I’m talking lower HP saws with 24” plus bar, or much longer.

I’m talking for limbing work and smaller log bucking say under 16” wood.

Obviously, I can run longer bars on more powerful saws.

Just looking for a light weight set-up for smaller wood and for less bending over.

What’s your set-up like? Any suggestions?

 

The saws oiler is going to be its limiting factor imo.

 

There's a guy on ebay selling "hot saws." Ms250s with 24" Cannon bars for $600. He's got 100% positive feedback but sells lots of other stuff. Other areas of the interwebz have mixed feelings about these "hot saws." I've looked at this some but longer bars with smaller mounts or in .325 or 3/8lp are pricey or rare. Also chains.

 

My first Stihl MS261 came with a 20" bar, which, to the best of my knowledge, is the longest for a .325 pitch saw. At first i was skeptical but did bury it a few times in big wood. I prefer using a shorter bar (less teeth to sharpen) and dont mind the bending factor. Generally I run 16"/18" on .325 saws and 20" and longer on my .375 ones.

What is the largest diameter wood you would be bucking with it Hoytman? Dont know if you are looking to buy new or not but a 50cc pro model saw (Stihl MS261/ Husky 550XP) with a 20" bar would be ideal for your said needs

 

Please don’t say it’s Piltz..

So just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. 32” b/c on a 45-50cc saw .

 

Oh, I don't buy into it, that's why I didn't say who's doing it. Not going to promote it, just throwing it out there.

 

I ran an ma250 with 18" 325 for years as my only saw. To me that's to much bar for that saw in are local hard woods. All my saws are running small bars these days.
14 and 16 on 50cc
20 and 24 on ported 60cc
28 on 90cc

 

Hoytman I get asked that question a lot at the shop for years some manufactures have been installing long bars on small engine saws most of them were running 3/8 low profile chain sometimes with double skip chain . Running a long bar puts a lot of extra strain on the clutch ,the oilers on the small saws do not put out enough usually to lube the tip properly and something else is the cases where the bar studs mount are not designed for the extra stress of the long bar .I have a customer that runs a 32 on a 562 husky and a 24 on a 026 and he says they work fine but the saws are really nose heavy and out of balance . I have another customer with a ms200 rear handle with a 18 inch bar so he does not have to bend over for limbing . Everybody will have opinions on this but I prefer a big saw with the shortest bar for the job cuts crazy fast and therefore I am not bending over long trying to milk a low horsepower saw with a big bar means you are actually holding it for a longer time JB

 

I was always gonna try the 24" bar on my 261, but decided it'd be too much for it. It'll pull the 3/8 20, but I don't think it's healthy for the saw..325 18 seems to work just fine...except for the fence post I hit this weekend.

 

Well, it looks like I'm in the minority here, but.....
I'm kinda partial to longer bars myself.

It's much easier to cut trees down if the bar is long enough to reach clean though the tree, and when bucking....sawing it from one side and then walking around or climbing over is a lot of extra work.
For limbing and cutting small wood, a longer bar does cut down on bending over, and oiling is not much of an issue because the chain is not in the wood as much during theses operations, and there's more free spinning of the chain, so I think the oilers keep up pretty fine.

I also believe that a bar that's equal to the tree's diameter is safer and definitely more precise when felling the tree and initial bucking, because now I can stand on the safe side of the log when bucking with no need to climb to the other side, or reach way over the log to cut with a short bar....and when felling, it's way faster and I don't have to grovel around the base of the tree making sure my hinge is right, and lining up the cuts from both sides etc......for limbing, a longer bar keeps the practitioner farther away from the danger area too.... instead of your body being less than 2' from some mean bound up piece, you are now 4' from it....this applies to all cutting operations, not just limbing.

I think it has a lot to do with what your priorities are....if you want to go by the book and not "abuse" the equipment, then run short bars, be nice to your saws, and give them "proper care"....

On the other hand, if you are making a living with saws and production is important, then do what works best for your application.... use the saw like it's a tool, and replace it when it wears out.

This is all assuming the person has common sense, and is not a clumsy ox prone injuring themselves....for that kind of folks I have no comment, but to get a "safe" town job and pay someone else to cut your wood.... or maybe find an older woodcutter that has had a boring uneventful history and learn from them.

Bar length seems to be a regional thing as well....
I'm from the PNW, out there longer bars are the norm, and the wood is soft! Now I'm in the Ozarks where everything in the woods is mean and most all the wood is hard as heck, so I can better understand and appreciate the use of shorter bars.

I have no connection with piltz, but....he's in the PNW cutting softwood....so I have no trouble with what he shows in his videos, (been a couple years since I watched any) they are pretty believable considering the kind of woods they have there.


What I currently use on my saws.....
16" on 35-40cc
18" on 45cc
20" bars on 50cc saws.
20" up to 28" on 60cc my preference is 24".
24" to 32" on 70 cc saws.
And minimum of 24" on 90cc all the way up to 42"
This is all just my opinion / experience... I certainly don't wanna start a fight about bar length...

 

Up until a few years ago all i ever cut with was a 16" bar. A one saw guy. I avoided larger wood as i hated to cut from both sides to finish the cut. I bought a 460 and with a 28" bar i felt like a PNW logger the first time i used it. Took some getting used to.

I dont use a bar longer than what i need as i too like to make a single pass to fell and buck wood, but like JB Sawman stated above a shorter bar on a bigger CC saw makes short work of bucking. 16 & 20" bars SOP when i go to a cut.

 

I generally run 16” .325 bars on my 50cc saws . But, I have run 20 .325 narrow kerf set ups on a couple of 029-390 ,and 350-346 saws . Works well as long as you have a saw that can oil the bar . The extra reach is nice when blocking/ limbing .

 

16 inch on my MS170 , does that count?

It has become my go to saw around the mill for a quick trim when needed and cutting up slabwood from the mill.
With the chain modified to no longer be a safety chain it works well for this.

 

I'm pretty much right where you are for bar lengths per cc.


Just my opinion but I think its silly to put a 32' bar on a stihl ms250. Piltz 32 inch 7 Tooth HOT ROD KIT Conversion Kit fits MS250 MS251 | eBay

"Everything needed to make your small STIHL become a MONSTER SAW."
And guys who recommend it, well to each his own I guess.

 

My setup
50cc 16” .325
60cc 18” 3/8
XS 66cc 20”
70-72cc 20-24”
90cc 28”
122cc 30&36” .404
If I ever get 80cc that will become 28 and 90cc 32”

 

Echo 3510 with a 28" it's a bit slow, but it works.

 

My big saw is a Stihl ms390(60cc). I often use a 28 inch bar on it. I don't notice that it bogs down so if it does bog down it's minimal.

 

Going the opposite direction. 490 with a 14, by far my most used firewood saw.

 

Honestly, just, how? How did you find a bar that long for that small a mount? What is the mount on that, K095 bar on a A095 mount saw? Are you running a full 3/8 chain, did you swap the nose sprocket to lo pro or just run lo pro chain on a 3/8 nose? It looks like a full comp, 3/8 chain, not even skip tooth.
I suppose if you're processing lots of evergreens full of 2" branches...