881 recomended bar length

[Mark_Skyland]

30 minutes ago, monkeybusiness said:

I’d stick a 30 inch bar on the 500 before contemplating dragging an 881 up a tree, they are a massively cumbersome lump.

They do feel like that they weigh twice that of a 90cc saw and seem to drink 5 times the amount of fuel!

 

 

Edited 19 hours ago by Mark_Skyland

[AHPP]

I had an 880 with 30” bar. Sold it. Been happy ever since.
 

I picked up an 881 with a pretty big bar (five foot ish) in a shop a couple of months ago. Hefted it up as if cutting on spikes. Horrible. Right in my face. I’d just done a crane job on a fat beech. 36” was fine. You just dangle round. How many larger than six foot diameter cuts do you need to make a year in the UK?
 

I’ve actually done a seven or eight foot cut with that 36” bar. Had to cut out a block the size of a washing machine to crawl inside and sweep the middle out. Depending on your interest in mining, you could theoretically cut even bigger diameter if you really wanted to go boring. I think triple bar length is a reasonable cutoff though, considering how little it’ll be necessary here. Anyway. Would have liked a bigger bar but that was only one cut in twelve years doing big trees. 
 

tl;dr: 36” is all you need in the UK. 661 pulls that fine. 500 would probably do it acceptably. 881s are miserably cumbersome, even with short bars.

Edited 18 hours ago by AHPP

[doobin]

9 hours ago, AHPP said:

I had an 880 with 30” bar. Sold it. Been happy ever since.
 

I picked up an 881 with a pretty big bar (five foot ish) in a shop a couple of months ago. Hefted it up as if cutting on spikes. Horrible. Right in my face. I’d just done a crane job on a fat beech. 36” was fine. You just dangle round. How many larger than six foot diameter cuts do you need to make a year in the UK?
 

I’ve actually done a seven or eight foot cut with that 36” bar. Had to cut out a block the size of a washing machine to crawl inside and sweep the middle out. Depending on your interest in mining, you could theoretically cut even bigger diameter if you really wanted to go boring. I think triple bar length is a reasonable cutoff though, considering how little it’ll be necessary here. Anyway. Would have liked a bigger bar but that was only one cut in twelve years doing big trees. 
 

tl;dr: 36” is all you need in the UK. 661 pulls that fine. 500 would probably do it acceptably. 881s are miserably cumbersome, even with short bars.

I'd have to agree. My 881 with 36" bar is used mainly for cutting off large stumps prior to grinding and dealing with oversized butts prior to milling. It's exceptionally cumbersome, but once it's in the cut the torque is incredible.

 

My next smallest saw is an MS462. I debated getting a 660, but decided that given the timber I deal with for the mill and the possibility of chainsaw milling in future, I might as well go big or go home.

[Muddy42]

The only times 120cc is worth it is where weight doesn't really matter and you need lots of power - milling or chunking up massive logs on the ground.  I don't climb but I can't imagine that would be great.