Stihl recommended bar length USA vs UK

[Al Smith]

Well then you get into laws ,edicts ,rules .On this side of the pond or rather specically in the USA we can pretty much do as we please to the saws and run any type chain we want to .

 

The skip chain is more prevalent on long bars in soft wood .Reason being simpley because deep cuts in soft wood just don't chip out as well,clogs the cut .It's not because the saws don't have enough power to pull full compliment chain because they certainly do ,it's the chips .

 

Now in the central US in the hard woods I've ran both skip and full and quite frankly see very little difference on 36" bars .I do however have a modified 038 Stihl Mag I run a 32" and skip .It's not because I don't have larger saws merely because the saw has plenty of power plus it's lighter and easier to handle than 100 cc .

[wyk]

i would say that a the avaliblity of skip and semi skip chain is a huge factor in the equation as well as it not that easy to sorce here at all.

 

When I was working in the coastal mountains of Oregon, if you stopped at the local saw shop and asked for chain longer than 24", they automatically made you a loop of skip chain. You had to specify non skip if you wanted it. At the time I was running 28" and 32" bars on my slightly modified 046. Here it is after getting some big leaf maple firewood from a ranch I was clearing alder blow down at.

 

Edited May 30, 2012 by wyk

[wyk]

 

The skip chain is more prevalent on long bars in soft wood .Reason being simpley because deep cuts in soft wood just don't chip out as well,clogs the cut .It's not because the saws don't have enough power to pull full compliment chain because they certainly do ,it's the chips .

 

Here's an example of the chips in relatively soft big leaf maple(Acer macrophyllum) in Oregon. This is a slightly modified, non ported, 372XPW with a 28" bar and full skip square ground chain. The chain is more modified than the saw, really. It's my standard 'woods' grind I do on them, with rakers set at about .040 or so. The tree was about 4.5' DBH which is usually about when they like to fall over:

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8uNt0CqU0c]372XP in Big Leaf Maple - YouTube[/ame]

 

Yeah, I know I should be wearing PPE. But I just wanted to kick this video out real quick almost as an afterthought.

Edited May 31, 2012 by wyk

[Al Smith]

Just by the fact it's square ground it will run circles around round filed .

 

I've got few other than race chains but I seldom use them .I can file a round chisel 20" loop in five munites .It takes me 20 to 30 minutes if it's square ground.You folks on the coast usually have grinders which is the way to fly if you use square IMO .

[wyk]

Just by the fact it's square ground it will run circles around round filed .

 

I've got few other than race chains but I seldom use them .I can file a round chisel 20" loop in five munites .It takes me 20 to 30 minutes if it's square ground.You folks on the coast usually have grinders which is the way to fly if you use square IMO .

 

True. Though, the difference seems to be more so in softer woods. When you can bring the rakers down, and use skip, the square grind can really pull the wood out of the cut. Most local saw shops will have a square grinder, and most the fallers I know have their own grinders. It was one of the locals that showed me how to relieve the back of the teeth, open the gullets and thin the rakers so the square cuts even better.

 

In any case, back OT. With softwoods like we have in the pacific northwest and available chains, you can generally pull more bar than you can back east or in the UK in hardwoods. I still wouldn't put a 24" bar on a non-ported 60cc saw, tho. But I'm told the 555 and 562 Husky have a lot of grunt for their displacement...

[Al Smith]

Well yeah it just depends on the situation .I was sent a 24" from the coast that came off an old Mac PM 610 used in Washington state .That old saw has enough power to pull it in these hardwoods it just wouldn't like it .

 

Fact I've ran a souped up 044 Stihl with a 36" buried in a big log and it hung right in there but you wouldn't really want to make a habit of it .If you go too long though the saw has a problem properly oiling the bar which must be considered .

 

A longer bar is an option and certainly cheaper than buying a larger saw for most who are only rarely needing a larger saw .In my case I just trot out to the shed if I need a big saw but it's a luxury not afforded to most .

[Pete Mctree]

I guess this is why Stihl fit a high output oiler to there MS660 for the US market.

 

(It is available here in the UK as a part if anyone thinks they need it)

[Al Smith]

Then again that goes back to the conditions the saws are used in .Typically an 066/Ms 660 is ran in this area with full compliment chain with a 36" bar .With the conventional oiler it does okay .That west coast fir might present other problems the hard woods do not .

 

What I've found is if running over length bars if you just let the saw feed in as it wants and don't crowd it too much it will clear the chips .If you do crowd it first thing you know you'll jamb the bar full of chips and hang the saw .So you really hinder yourself trying to be Paul Bunyan with the things because you'll just take longer to get the job done .

 

It will dawn on most after they clean out the bar 4-5 times in the same cut .Some are slow learners though .

[wyk]

I guess this is why Stihl fit a high output oiler to there MS660 for the US market.

 

(It is available here in the UK as a part if anyone thinks they need it)

 

At many of the local shops in Oregon and Washington state, ordering a 440(044), 460(046), 660, all get the high output oiler, large spikes, and full wrap treatment much of the time. Hell, even the Dolmars have full wraps nowadays.

 

 

A bud of mine just did some cutting in Montana over the last week with some loggers. He brought some Mountain Douglas Fir(Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca) back with him that he said cut hard as any hardwood he's ever cut. It looks like a dead ringer for D-Fir, but the growth rings were so close it was difficult to count them. A lot of it has to do with the rainfall discrepancies. Trees, even hardwoods,simply grow faster and bigger in the pacific northwest.

[Al Smith]

On that first I know very little about pine because for all intents they are transplants in this area .However in my pile of stuff is some pine which the trimmers dropped off .I jest not but it as hard as most oak .What it is I have no idea and I doubt seriously if it's southern yellow pine because in case I'm mistaken it doesn't grow this far north .

 

The conditions of growing plus the mineral content of the soils has a lot to do with hardness .As I've said several times a white oak grown in this region will take 50 percent longer for the same size as one grown in Georgia or South Carolina but will be much denser having 14 to 18 growth rings per inch often .

 

By the same token a red oak grown in portions of Pennsyvania which is the same latiude will have the same growth rings but be more dense because of the soils .