Recommended bar length for 70cc saw

[49er]

I cut a big Poplar the other day and drug it up with this. Ya buddy, high dollar operation going on.

[HolmenTree]

Nice.
Is that a Ford 4000 or 801 with the 4x4 conversion kit?
That little bugger will pull.

[49er]

Nice.
Is that a Ford 4000 or 801 with the 4x4 conversion kit?
That little bugger will pull.

It is an 801, 1960 model, full time four wheel drive. I gave a thousand dollars and a walnut tree for it back in 1977. It is kinda like it's owner, pulls good but old and slow. I don't get in a hurry with it.

[ehp]

Mind you not every bush is perfect like that, I'm cutting a small bush that's just junk dead ash and I am running a 24 inch in it as the trees are about 30 inches or so and you donot want to be standing near the stump . Its just cut and RUN , the top most times lands on top of the stump , Not a lot of fun

[Al_Smith]

FWIW I dropped a 36" dead ash on thanksgiving day .Hundred footer, waited too long because it had wind blown  about 30-40 feet out of the top .Still in all it was about a cord and a  half of fire wood and around 15-1600 bdf of saw log.Used a Mac 1000/ Partner p-100 with a 32" and a souped Stihl 038 mag with a 24".The 72 cc Stihl did better than the 99 cc Partner .The latter needs some attention it would appear .

I've been saving the good saw logs because it they ever come back it will take 150 years before they ever reach this size again .

Most of the oaks,red or white are about the same amount of usable wood .There are a few giants left but very rare .

[edkemper]

A sharp tooth can only cut so much wood before it has to be sharpened. Hypothetically, 2 teeth, twice as much before it needs sharpening.

An 18" bar will not cut as much wood as (let's say) a 36" bar before before needing the same sharpening. Again, all wood being the same, a tooth will only cut so much before it needs sharpening.

The longer chains and bars are more expensive, but they also should require less "often" maintenance but required the same # of strokes per tooth when it needs sharpening.

[HolmenTree]

A 36" b/c is liable to cut into the dirt and rocks more so then a 18" b/c will. Long loops of chain also take more chain re-tensioning.

A 18" loop of chain will be full complement sequence  and the 36" will more then likely be skip tooth chain.
Skip chain does not hold an edge as well as full comp does. Plus the full comp will cut faster then the skip.

[edkemper]

I'm not sure that the length of bar has anything to do with hitting the ground. My wife uses a 12" bar electric saw and hits the ground all the time. My logger neighbor has his 36" bar saw and never hits the ground.

I also found that when I first started to use a chainsaw, I hit the ground a lot. Now it's far more rare even though I went from an 18" to a 24". Something that requires a learning curve is how we cut. It used to be I immediately used the teeth next to the motor to "help" cut. Meaning a lot of bar on the far end. Now, I use a lot more end or toward the end for a lot of the cutting. Less likely to hit what I don't want to hit. I used to bend over to cut what was on the ground. Now I use the bar length to cut without bending over. Many things are learned with use.

> A 18" loop of chain will be full complement sequence  and the 36" will more then likely be skip tooth chain.

I'm sorry. I meant all things being the same, wood and chain being the same. Frequency of sharpening would be cut down. Maybe not 50%, but closer the further.

[sandsawmill14]

i have  20" ,25" ,and 28" bars that i use on my 441 mag but the 24 is what i run 95% of the time, i sharpen after every every tank   ( that way it is never dull and only take 2-3 strokes and only takes a couple minutes to do ;D ) a 70 cc saw would run a 36" bar slow and would run completely away with a 16-18 bar ( but i bet it would be fun to run for a few minutes :D )  and the 36" loops are only skip tooth if you want it i haven't run a 36" in a long time but we never ran skip tooth chain
and x2 what ed said about hitting the ground

[49er]

Seems like every time I get my 32 inch bar out I hit something. Probably a learning curve to using it.

[HolmenTree]

Longer loops of chains has nothing to do with staying sharper longer over a shorter loop of chain,  that's just silly.
A normal chain spins at over 50 MPH,   it doesn't matter  if you got a a 4 foot b/c on your saw ....
If it touchs something to dull it for even a split second the whole loop would have run over it a couple of revolutions or more. Now you're going wish you had a 18" b/c when you have to sharpen it. :D

I ran 90 cc saws with 16-18" bars and they don't "run away " with it,  :D
If the operator stays in clean wood long enough like I have logging spruce, the cutters will actually hone themselves sharper. ....until you hit some abrasive.

I hear about loggers in Oregon for example  running 36" bars . Sure it would be easy for them not to hit the ground. .....they're making felling  cuts at waist high above the ground. They're limbing their trees while walking on the stem.

[sandsawmill14]

what i was meaning by running away was there is no way to load the saw with a bar that short    why carry the extra couple pounds when a 50cc saw will do just as well ??? personally i think the right size bar is the shortest bar you can run and do the job and thats different for everyone. when match cutting to fall a 30" tree with a 16" bar you gotta be pretty good a longer bar makes it easier for us that are not so good ;D i seen a guy cut a pin oak in my grandads yard tha measured 86" across the stump with a 36"bar it took over an hour and they pulled it over with a skidder with about a 6" circle of wood holding in the center of the tree then i worked it up in firewood with a 038 and a 20" bar took a while but it was all i had  : :D :D :D  the reason for him falling with such a short bar is it was long as he could get and they told him at the saw shop it would take 2 weeks to get the 48" he wanted ???  far as short or long bar lasting longer between sharpening i dont know as i sharpen after every tank but holman is right if you it the ground or a rock or anything but wood it doesnt matter and you will wish for a short bar before you get that mess filed out :D
also i didnt mean to offend anyone in my earlier post sorry if i did  ;)

[isaaccarlson]

I run a 28" bar on my ms390 and it pulls it just fine.  I thought about going to a 32" for the bigger wood.
A good 70cc saw should pull at least a 28" bar.... IMO.

[Ianab]

You can get away with a longer bar on a saw if you run a skip chain. Less cutters in the wood means less power is needed to keep them cutting properly.

But a small saw with a long bar will be poorly balanced. Heavy at the front. Not the end of the world, but annoying. My 60cc Stihl with a 20" is nicely balanced. Pick it up the handle and it balances nicely. The 79cc Dolmar with a 28" bar is a bit "nose heavy", it would be better balanced with a 24" I think, but I needed the longer bar for some larger trees. 54" across the stump is not a problem with a 28' bar, it gets a bit trickier with a shorter bar.

Other issue  with a long bar, is what the end of the bar is doing when you have it in a small log? Might be 2 ft of bar waving around in the rocks / limbs etc behind the log you are bucking. Yes you can look and be careful, but a longer bar than you need creates problems.

So "best" bar? Mostly cutting 18" trees, and maybe an occasional 36"? 20" bar is going to work fine. You can cut a 36" in tree in almost the same time, just need to cut from both sides. Beats lugging a 36" bar around the previous 100 small trees.

Getting a 36" bar and a skip chain to use for an occasional big tree might make sense. But I wouldn't want to lug it around all day.

If you are cutting lots of larger trees, then you want a bigger saw and bar.

[HolmenTree]

I ran 90 cc saws with 16-18" bars and they don't "run away " with it,  :D

what i was meaning by running away was there is no way to load the saw with a bar that short    why carry the extra couple pounds when a 50cc saw will do just as well ???

No offense sandsawmill14,  but I think you may have been putting a little too much time cutting oversized hardwood in the mill yard.

Yeah if you're getting paid hourly rate a 50cc saw is all you need but production logging on piecework rate or for a firewooder a 70cc with a 16"-18" b/c is perfect for spruce and pine. Especially when you got to de limb it .
In the cold winter months when limbing is not done by the saw very much as they break off when the skidder handles it, I then ran a 16-18" bar on 80-90cc powerhead as I was mostly just felling and topping.

On your comment " there is no way you can put a load on the saw with a bar that short". My answer is why not?
Here's what Stihl recommends for their 137cc 090AV......20 inch.
How about the Stihl 066.......16".
There's a market for every woodcutter.
 

  

 

[HolmenTree]

Here's some great old training videos I own of the world's greatest chainsaw instructor.
These are from the mid 1980s when Soren Ericsson was sponsored by Stihl USA.
The first is him running a 85cc Stihl 064AV with a 18 inch bar.
Second video a 72cc Stihl 038 Magnum with a 16 inch bar.
Last video a 61cc Stihl 034 Super with a 16 inch bar.
http://youtu.be/pLAvjw7lb9A
http://youtu.be/FDHbXjDD-Zg
http://youtu.be/xX9Xj0faq3g

[motohed]

I have been running the 20" Sugihara or Total light weight bars lately , you save about a half pound of weight on a 20 " , a 28" bar only ways about 2.7 pounds . The durability of these bars are amazing . I moved to a 20" bar after a major accident for my height it puts me in a great position to be ablle to run the saw efficiently .