Smaller saws with longer bars…

Well thats the cutist saw ive ever seen! Does it glow in the dark for night time cutting?

 

It will shoot flames out the most obnoxious exhaust ever so theres that.

 

Sounds ideal for warming the hands when cutting in the cold. Your modification?

 

No. Factory stack "muffler"

 

does your 241 have a built in cup holder?

 

No but it has these two important things....

 

Can i like this post twice???
Much better than a cup holder...unless you gotta keep putting your cup of Joe down while cutting

 

Stack "muffler". Just a louvered cover over an open stack. Piston is only about 1.5" behind that cover. Only saw louder was my Remington SL-9. No louvers on it. Just slots. You could see the piston moving Lol.

 

Somehow I got that screwed up and got my post intermingled with buzzsaws. Sorry Brad!

 

I used to be in the short bar camp, now I run the longest bar that a saw will properly oil. The extra power needed to pull chain on a 24” bar vs a 16” is negligible at best. Am I saying put a 24” bar on a 40cc saw and bury it in hardwood? Only if you want to burn your saw up. Use the longer bar to cut the same diameter wood that you would use the shorter bar for, only now you don’t have to bed over to make the cut. When you are into bigger wood, you should obviously use a saw with more power. If you need to “dog in” to mak your saw cut, you need to sharpen the chain…your saw should feed itself through the wood. The second reason for the long bar is safety. In the case of a hard kickback, your face is much close to the chain with a short bar. YMMV but my aging back has thanked me many times for making the switch. Run your own test and form your own opinion. Have someone put a stopwatch on you with 16” and 24” bars with brand new chains cutting cookies from the same 10” log with the same power head. You will be surprised at how little time difference there is, how much mor comfortable it is to cut, and how much further your face is from that longer bar.

 

You're not alone Sawdust Man. I agree with every point you make.

I've never understood the east coast obsession with small bars on big saws. As long as the oiler is adequate the parasitic drag of 4 more inches of bar is negligible. You can have a 24" bar and still choose to only cut 12" or less hardwood. Someone would have to show me with video and a stop watch that a longer bar with equally sharp chain cuts measurable slower in the same size wood for me to buy that it's an issue.
As far as sharpening more teeth goes, the cutting load is spread out over more teeth. So as long as you keep your chain out of the rocks and you're only dulling your chain in the wood, at the end of the year you would end up sharpening the same number of teeth. Or you could go with skip tooth chain and the tooth count isn't nearly as big a difference.

For quite a few years my go to firewood saw was a 60cc saw with a 24" bar wearing full comp chain. Lately I've been trying to take it easier on my body so now I'm running a lightly ported Jonsered 2150 with a 20" bar and square filed 3/8 skip tooth chain.


It's rare that I need to reach for my 562 or my 372. Currently on my bench is a 2252 project saw that will replace the 2150. I have a shiney new 20" Tsumura lightweight bar waiting for it to be finished.

 

I've been thinking of getting a 24"+ for my ported 350, but I don't like a nose heavy saw. No worries on the oiler.

 

I completely forgot about this thread.

I actually agree with both camps, east and west.

When we cut wood here in the 70’s and 80’s we felled very few trees, so giant saws and giant bars we didn’t need. We worked and cut behind a logger, our neighbor. We did need power because much of the wood we was cutting was tree tops from some mighty big oaks felled by the logger…tons and tons and tons of tree tops. Back then many of the tree tops we bucked up we’re as big as most of the hardwood logs being felled today. A 16”-18” bar cut it all, but there were a lot of big limbs that had to o b bucked on both sides back then.

My saws are old and I’m looking to buy new and update some for safety (also why I want longer bars). The new saws will never see the amount of cutting we used to do, but that doesn’t matter. I’ll purchase at least 1 equivalent big saw and a smaller one.

Current old saws…
-Stihl S10 … I’ll have to check but I think it has an 18” bar on it.
-Stihl 041FB …16” bar
-3/8 full chipper and I have run some chisel

Don’t recall the exact names of the Stihl chain we ran. I probably have a new chisel and chipper chain for the 041.

If I’m not mistaken the S10 is somewhere around 55cc, and the 041 around 60cc. You guys I’m sure not the exact cc of each of my saws.

For me, after using much newer saws at work for a decade than those I have at home I find it hard to go back to older, louder, vibrating saws with no kick back safety on them. Didn’t care when I was a teenager and in my 30’s, but now that I’m getting older I guess I’m getting soft like an old fir tree. LOL!

I’d like to buy a 60-70cc just to have when I need it.

Wouldn’t mind to also get a smaller cc saw for the majority of what I’ll be cutting.

For years we used short bars on big saws. Never needed or used big bars. Never had smaller saws either. Just had the 2 saws. We cut wood as big as cutting on both sides of a log would allow.

The 041 with short bar isn’t balanced all the well. Heavy on the back side. Rarely seen this saw big down except in standing dead elm killed by the blight. Stuff so hard a cat couldn’t scratch it.

Don’t plan at all on burying a long bar in hard wood with an under powered saw. The idea is to get a smaller cc saw and put a long bar on it for wood 12” and less, more like less. I want enough power to zip right through smaller stuff while standing up and not bending over. If I have bigger/harder wood I’ll use a bigger saw.

Me wanting a long bar is to save my back from bending over. It’s just that simple. Darn wood cutting when I was a kid in the 70’s-80’s is what gave me this bad back. I’m not so broken down (yet) that I can’t use my back, but I want to preserve what back that I have left. I want saws that don’t vibrate as much. I want saws with less weight and more power. It’s as simple as those things get.

Even with short bars I’ve always cut standing off to the side rarely ever allowing the bar to bisect in-line with me. Both my legs, upper body and face are generally off to the left side of my saw when I cut, when all possible. Never did like to see someone straddle a saw. It’s a sure way to get hurt.

No idea who this Piltz guy is.

 

I think a new saw will really surprise you, no matter what brand you get. Antivibe on these new 5 series Husky's is stellar. They handle great and cut butter smooth. I'm sure Stihl isn't too far behind.. (that weas for you Brad, lol).
Stihl chain is the hardest out there, holding its edge longer than any other but you pay a ridiculous premium for it. I used to buy it but they priced me out. Prepare for sticker shock on their saws too.

 

Nicest thing ive ever heard you say about Stihl! You feeling okay?

 

So are Stihl saws double the cost of Husqvarna saws? I haven't set foot in Husqvarna dealer so I don't know but I see the reference to Stihl and sticker shock frequently.

 

So a quick poke around on the net....
550xp $645.99 @bHL supply

MS261 CM $659.99 at a place called Ricks sales and service. Same price stihl USA website lists.

No sticker shock with those two.

 

I’m going to really start researching saws. This inflation might deter me from buying until Trump gets back in office. (That’s called being an optimist, thanks to Biden.)

Don’t know much about Husky’s. I know lots of guys love them.

Over the years I got so used to staiggt handled saws that these new off-set handles seem funky to me.

60-75cc is all the saw I’ll likely ever need.
What you guys recommend cc wise for wanting to cut smaller stuff yet still use the longer bar?