Sugihara is gonna be hitting the wood Saturday. I'll update with pics of the haul. I may do some climbing. 25" on the 461 20" on 311
I’ve seen chainsaws with aftermarket bars on them. I have always wondered if the difference was worth it.
Same here.... I’ve got a 28” Oregon bar on my 372 and wondered about weight savings and balance with a light sugi
I keep telling myself I am going to get a couple Tsumara Light & tough bars...always so many things to spend money on....
I stocked up on bars when I had a chance: Total Super bars, (Tsmura) are a little heavy but wear forever.
With out working with them, theres not much difference with the twenty inch to just pick them up on the power head. Holding each bar the Sugi is lighter. I don't have a 25" Stihl to compare to. I bought the 461 with a 32" since longer bars are more expensive and my dealer gives you a bar with the head. The 32" is heavy!!! The 25 Sugi balances about perfect.
Stihls new light weight bars are the lightest on the market from my limited research. So you don't have to go aftermarket. But the coin for them is serious. I bought the Sugi Hara bars because, they are not crazy expensive, look great, lighter than regular bars, and most importantly have a longer wear life on the rails. I get to spend less time dressing bars. They don't peen as much.
That's good Intel. My 362 struggles to oil the bar enough for my comfort. Just replaced the factory bar with a billet Stihl bar, hopefully get a few years out of it, then I'll have to remember to take a peek at Sugihara.
The difference in weight is not as noticeable in the 20” range. But for longer bars, they can be a pound or two lighter, and that makes a huge difference. After I bought my first lightweight, it was game over for the regular weight bars over 25”. I went with mostly Tsumura Light and Tough. They were a bit cheaper than the Sugi’s at the time and easier to find. The rails on them are also much harder than the Stihl bars, and they tend to oil better as well. Regarding the oiling ability, at least at the time neither Tsumura or Sugi carried anything other than .063 gauge, and that’s not a coincidence. My best oiling standard bar is an 18” Stihl E .325 pitch, which also happens to be .063 gauge.
Shawn Curry has a point, lightweight bars don't really matte much until bars go over 24" or so. One of the biggest things for me in a saw is balance. Putting a bar that is overly long or short for the powerhead will negatively affect the balance. I see no point for short bars on big saws, just use a smaller lighter saw with appropriate bar on it.
