Preferred Bar Length For Bucking

[Witterings]

What's people's overall preferred bar length for bucking which is most of what I do.

 

Up until now have only had a 14" bar and am about to buy a new saw for chopping up firewood ... it'll take up to a 20" quite easily but I think that'd be overkill for what I want to do with it but may possibly buy a 2nd larger bar down the road when money permits.

 

Tempted to go with a 16" for weight / ease of use and for cut after cut it'll be that fraction faster ... interested to hear what others preferred  would be??

[CallumA]

Buy one to match what your cutting

[Stubby]

7 hours ago, Witterings said:

What's people's overall preferred bar length for bucking which is most of what I do.

 

Up until now have only had a 14" bar and am about to buy a new saw for chopping up firewood ... it'll take up to a 20" quite easily but I think that'd be overkill for what I want to do with it but may possibly buy a 2nd larger bar down the road when money permits.

 

Tempted to go with a 16" for weight / ease of use and for cut after cut it'll be that fraction faster ... interested to hear what others preferred  would be??

Depends on timber diameter and power head capacity . Quick rule of thumb is take engine size and divide by 3 will give max bar lenght in inches . E.G. 60cc saw divide by 3 = 20inch bar  max .

Edited December 18, 2020 by Stubby

[Rough Hewn]

In Britain we use the term
“Cross cutting”.
Bucking is an American term.

The size of bar correlates to the engine power.
How big are your logs?
[emoji106]

[peatff]

9 hours ago, Witterings said:

am about to buy a new saw for chopping up firewood

 

You need an axe for chopping up firewood 👍

[Khriss]

1 minute ago, peatff said:

 

You need an axe for chopping up firewood 👍

..... Where i been going wrong then....  😳  K

[peatff]

This chainsaw is useless it hardly cuts anything.

 

Pass it here let me have a go.

 

Bloody hell what's that noise it makes ?

 

That's the engine 😲

[Khriss]

@Witterings  16" will do you fine. Cutting from both sides  = 30"  remember the longer the bar the longer to sharpen it. Cut big log into a sharpening pillar (  just over waist height)  near yr stack. Drill holes ito sides fr yr files n spanner. K

[Stere]

What saw you getting?

 

If its 550xp i reckon 15" bar on it.

[Paddy1000111]

I'm going to go against the grain a little here. I'm 6'2 and I prefer a much longer bar so I don't have to bend over and throw my back out the whole time. I've put bigger than recommended bars on saws before just to save me bending over, however if I put a big bar on a small saw I would still only cut small logs. Plus if you're looking at buying a new saw then a bigger saw with a bigger bar will be safer and more future proof. Small saws with dinky bars kickback more aggressively and you often find yourself in strange work positions.