Which Chainsaw for Forestry

[Jamie Jones]

If you wasn't tied into an existing brands system and could start a fresh which Chainsaw would you choose for Forestry Felling?

Stihl MS462 or Husqvarna 565 or 572? (Both in the 70cc range)

Edited December 8, 2018 by Jamie Jones

[Guest]

Hi

 

I use Echo Stihl and Husqvarna everyday. But...if I had to chose one saw from all for forestry I’d take my 462 any day. 

 

My Saws are, Echo 2511, Stihl ms200t, ms260, ms462, husq 395xp.

 

cheers Gaz

[Stubby]

Not tried one yet (probably never will now ) but on paper and what others have said it seems that the Stihl 462  is the billie bollox so far . 70cc power with 60cc saw weight . For longevity we will have to wait and see .

[Big J]

Depends entirely on what kind of forestry you're doing. 70cc is too large for most (softwood) snedding so I'd be inclined to say go 50-60cc depending on the size of the trees. If you wanted one saw to cover more or less everything, a Husqvarna 560xp on an 18 inch bar would do it. But then the Dolmar PS6100 is also very good. 

 

I certainly wouldn't go over 18" bar length for much. Longer than necessary guide bars slow you down more than an oversized powerhead.

[Rough Hewn]

What trees are you felling?
Softwood up to 15" stihl 261
Medium hard wood 15-25"
Stihl 461
Big wood stihl 661
[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]
The 462 is underpowered for a 70cc saw.
It won't pull a 25" bar, where as a 440 would.
The 500i has a low chain speed in the wood 10krpm.
Yes they are both light, but they run 20" bars.
I run 18" bar on my 261.
[emoji848]
Worked with nearly every modern husky and I can honestly say they are slightly faster than a stihl but they are unreliable.
I need a saw which works every time.
As for bar length slowing the speed of cut, it's almost negligible. About 1% slower per extra inch.
[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

[Big J]

1 minute ago, Rough Hewn said:

As for bar length slowing the speed of cut, it's almost negligible. About 1% slower per extra inch.

 

I think that the issue of bar length is less about speed of cut and more about the extra weight, the unbalancing of the saw and the lack of agility when snedding. 

 

When I did hardwood self select thinning when I started out (average tree was about 12-14 inches at base, 60ft tall), my saws were MS260, 346XP and 550XP. Bar of choice was 13". I really don't like long bars.

 

I did my medium trees ticket the other day (finally! after felling thousands and thousands of medium trees). Largest tree was a douglas that was maybe 2ft across the base but still only an 18" bar on a Makita EA7900. 110ft tree, but I would have been just as happy to fell it with a 50cc saw on 15" and the snedding would have been much quicker.

[Stubby]

18 minutes ago, Rough Hewn said:

The 462 is underpowered for a 70cc saw.

 

This is interesting . As I said I have never tried one . ( have a spud ported 372xp for that size saw )  So all the hype about it is inaccurate ?  I am also in the light saw short bar camp for the reasons stated . Having said that if you put me in the woods today I would be fecked by mid day

Edited December 8, 2018 by Stubby

[Rough Hewn]

I think that the issue of bar length is less about speed of cut and more about the extra weight, the unbalancing of the saw and the lack of agility when snedding. 
 
When I did hardwood self select thinning when I started out (average tree was about 12-14 inches at base, 60ft tall), my saws were MS260, 346XP and 550XP. Bar of choice was 13". I really don't like long bars.
 
I did my medium trees ticket the other day (finally! after felling thousands and thousands of medium trees). Largest tree was a douglas that was maybe 2ft across the base but still only an 18" bar on a Makita EA7900. 110ft tree, but I would have been just as happy to fell it with a 50cc saw on 15" and the snedding would have been much quicker.

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]
I did my cs32 two weeks ago.
Only been felling up to 50" trees for twelve years now.
I hate short bars personally.
Nothing more frustrating than have to fell 2-3' trees with a 15-20" bar and spend ages ringing up from both sides.
But often that's more down to employers bad planning.
I worked in a forest in France for years,
Over stood chestnut coppice12-20" and 30"+ oaks.
Ms440 25" bar, a tad unbalanced, but would cope with nearly anything.
It did fail on the 60"+ oak trunks.
[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

[Big J]

4 minutes ago, Rough Hewn said:

I did my cs32 two weeks ago.
Only been felling up to 50" trees for twelve years now.
I hate short bars personally.
Nothing more frustrating than have to fell 2-3' trees with a 15-20" bar and spend ages ringing up from both sides.
But often that's more down to employers bad planning.
I worked in a forest in France for years,
Over stood chestnut coppice12-20" and 30"+ oaks.
Ms440 25" bar, a tad unbalanced, but would cope with nearly anything.
It did fail on the 60"+ oak trunks.

I don't have much experience in trees as large as that and not having done domestic work, I never really ring up. On my jobs, it's only a cut every 3-4m, so a shorter bar is no impediment, and besides, my little forwarder won't pick up larger sticks anyway.

 

I'll use the example of a spruce thinning job we did in August. One of the cutters came with a 372XP (very quick cutter) to fell some fairly large spruce (100ft average, 18" DBH). He was running a 15" bar on it. He then had an issue with the saw and had to borrow an MS261 on a 15 from another cutter. His production rate actually went up when he dropped to a smaller saw.

[Stere]

Radmore has the ea7900 cheap atm compared to similar class the husky or stihl.

 

https://www.radmoretucker.co.uk/shop/garden-machinery/chainsaws-tree-care/petrol-chainsaws/makita-ea7900p45e-petrol-chainsaw-18/