Stihl recommended bar length USA vs UK

[Peter]

I don't think so.

 

Plenty of very experienced cutters running big bars in the states, both stihls and huskys, and not trashing their saws in the process.

 

Skip chain makes a big difference, but few people have ever used it in this country.

[AndrewS]

The spec of the US MS362 appears to be the same as the UK model - 4.6bhp.

 

Point taken on dominance of softwood vs hard wood; it still seems rather odd though. Perhaps a shorter warranty in the US?!

[Logan]

1) looks better

2) everyone else has 28" or 30" so you'll be bullied if you got a weeny 20"

3) skip chain to clear out those chips

4) good size trees

5) terrain- they got spiked boots, and walk the log

6) short bar=back ache

7) can't think of 7

8) americans love sharpening chain

 

?

[agg221]

There was a related thread on here a few months back - someone was asking about max. bar length, I think, on an MS440. I found a few old references which indicated that Stihl have scaled back the max. recommended length in the UK. If you look at the Stihl website and select the different countries you can work out which lengths are recommended in which countries (if you are sufficiently bored with nothing better to do, such as when minding the children.......)

 

Alec

[Ironbark]

I reckon it just a way the manufacturers can get more money out of the UK market by tricking us into spending more on a bigger saw.

 

You wanna run a 25 inch bar... then it's gotta be a 441 or 460. They don't get away with it in the States.

 

Just my cynical opinion

[TerryTibbs]

It's probably because us Brits can handle a saw with a faster chain speed, anything above 20m/s and it's just too much over the wrong side of the Atlantic.

[DN22 Gardening]

we run minimum bar sizes on all our saws anyway,

 

the 341's have 15"

 

the 441's have 20"

 

and the 880 runs a 30" as standard with the 4'er only being put on for special occasions.

 

you dont buy a 1.1 fiesta for running up n down the M1, so why flog a 341 with a 20" bar ??

[computeruser]

Somewhat late to this discussion (though new to the site, so that hopefully excuses reviving the thread), but this issue and an interest in certification/training procedures is why I joined the site. But I digress.

 

From the perspective of a U.S. saw user, the predominance of short bars seen on your side of the pond is an unfamiliar concept over here on mine. Except in small climbing saws (MS200t, for example) and tiny homeowner saws (MS170, Echo 310), you simply cannot purchase a bar shorter than 16" They aren't stocked in shops, they don't appear in catalogs, and you never see them in use in real life.

 

By way of example, Stihl 026/260 were routinely sold as 18-20" saws, even in hardwood country, which may be fine if you're only cutting with the last 4-5" of the bar while nipping off small limbs, but it does not make for a very lively saw when the bar is buried. In softwood country, such as in the Pacific northwest, you'll see 50cc saws with 24" bars running skip chain.

 

When I special ordered a 13" bar for an old Husqvarna 238se that I use for thinning out smaller trees and for firewood <10", the guys at the shop stood around staring at it when I came to pick it up, giving it funny looks as if it were from another planet. The fact that the saw handles like a dream for limbing with this bar as compared to the 16-18" bars that they were usually equipped with, impresses everybody who runs it. Yet short bars remain a special-order item.

 

 

On a tangentially related note, does Stihl sell their ES solid bar w/ replaceable tip in 15", or is that length only found in a laminated bar?

[Stubby]

A few years back I bought a "proper" west coast saw , big husky , 385 or 394 can't remember now , but what I do remember is it had a full skip chain with the rakers filed comletely down , full wrap handle and a twin port muffler . Big soft wood only me thinks .

[Pedroski]

I reckon it's a cheap selling trick, similar to all the crappy 35cc saws you can buy here with 16" or even 18" bars on. Unknowing people buy them as "surely bigger is better?".

 

 

My 35cc Makita DCS3501 has 16 inch bar, and with the 91VXL chain it cuts without the slightest grumble even when the bar doesn't protrude out the other side of the wood.