Bar recommendation for Stihl ms500i

[Bthomasb3]

Hello everyone I just purchased a Stihl ms500i and I'm looking to go to like a 32 inch or 36 inch lightweight bar.  I was thinking a sugihara lightweight and run skip tooth chains on it mostly using the Long Bar for limbing some felling ,i have lot of pine trees with a lot of Limbs.Do you think that bar would also hold up in a Alaskan chainsaw Mill if not please chime in with your recommendations.Tia

[Tacotodd]

It SHOULD hold up fine. If you want smoother cuts in the lumbar, then I would go regular chain at 10 degree angle, not the normal 35. Full skip would PROBABLY give a shade rougher finish. 36” if you go full skip. 32” and Id go full comp, ie. regular.

The brand selection should be fine, but I remember (from this very forum) that Sugi was having a prematurely early failure rate for the tips, but I don’t know if the problem has ever been addressed/fixed. But I’d just go with the Stihl lite bar.

[Bthomasb3]

yes i saw that about the sugi bar just a minute ago,i would like the stihl bar but its double the price of a tsumura bar so i was thinking about one of them.

[sawguy21]

I have heard of Sugihara but am not familiar with the brand but maybe there is good reason for the price difference. If it has to be replaced more frequently where is the saving.

[weimedog]

Love the Sugihara's , light weight and seem to be durable. Also have had great luck with the Oregon  Versa-Cut's also light weight and durable to this point. I have both on my saws. The ones I've put on my test saws are surviving as well. The ONLY brand I've had failures on are the Tsumara bars with their four rivet tips , they fail when used for bore cutting. The ones I had were branded "Total" but they were rebranded Tsumara's , so I can't recommend them. For fire wood, the steel on those Tsumara's is hard as hell...wear great, just the tips are weak.

Of course the Oregon Power Match bars are a stand by, Stihl and Husqvarna bars are good, although I prefer the Stihl Rollomatic Super E bars with the six rivets in the tip sprocket/bearing. Had one customer with all Husqvarna's get those little aluminum spacers to be able to run the Stihl bars....because his crew didn't kill them but could break anything else.

So for me, my most humble opinion

Price, "bang per buck" light weight bar - Oregon VersaCut, But the longest they are made is 24inch
Light Weight & Durability - Sugihara, HLSupply has them to 36inch
Brute Force "bang per buck"- Stihl Rollomatic Super E Can't beat those bars, and they come in sizes from 16 to 36inch
"Cool Factor", Bling ; Cost no object- Stihl Rollomatic ES Light & They too can be had in 25,28,32,36 inch lengths

[Real1shepherd]

Depends if you're hacking all day or fellin'. For fellin', you can't beat Cannon. It's been said the Oregon Power Match bars are 'soft'. Not the larger size like 36" that I own....I ran a file across the rail and it's hard. I heard the smaller bars are soft, but can't verify that.

Kevin