Short bar, large power head

[Treeaddict]

I was thinking about a 24” bar for the 395. Minimum recommended by Husqy is 20”. Theoretically, such a large amount of power applied to, say, 24” skip tooth chain would be able to power through some wood with rakers extremely low? Is more potential for kickback a big risk? May not bore well?

 

[stikine]

I would stick with normal raker depth for your typical wood. 24 " on a 395 cruises along nicely. I normally run full comp on short bars

 

[Treeaddict]

Regarding the full comp on short bars: Do you notice a big cutting speed difference between full comp and full skip?

 

[stikine]

Not so much a speed thing but it's a smoother cut ( less vibration) and it's less prone to throwing when you cut brush.

 

[Trains]

I was thinking about a 24” bar for the 395. Minimum recommended by Husqy is 20”. Theoretically, such a large amount of power applied to, say, 24” skip tooth chain would be able to power through some wood with rakers extremely low? Is more potential for kickback a big risk? May not bore well?

Dropping the rakers extremely low will just make the chain more grabby, and put more load onto the powerhead, and the chain as well.
No fun when the chain breaks, and breaks your clutch cover, if your lucky, the chain just shoots off into the distance, and dosent wrap itself around something alive or expensive.

Better to put an 8tooth sprocket/ drive on it and run higher chain speed.

Skip tooth chain is for longer bars, too grabby when on a short bar, and not worth it, as already mentioned by Stikine.

I personally feel that your better off just getting good at hand filing, and keeping the chain sharp, and knowing when to stop and touch up the chain to keep it at light saber levels

 

[Treeaddict]

Great info guys! Thank you!
I hand file decently. I probably couldn’t go through a whole chains lifecycle and have a straight cutter towards the end. Filing is done before each job and sometimes touched up during the day. I still like the grinding wheel to bring the teeth and rakers back to precise angles and lengths. While apart, I lube the needle bearings, clean the bar groove, file the burr’s, and use compressed air to clean around the clutch cover. Just the routine I’ve settled into.

 

[Dave Shepard]

I run a 24" full comp (RSC?) Stihl chain on my 395. Good combo. I've run a 20 with an 8 pin and RSLK, also impressive.

 

[Magnus]

Don't do low rakers, it creates problems. Excessive wear, more fuel, higher risk of damages on you and saw.
There is no gain in it if you do a bit timed cuts or look in pile after a day's cutting. Look in can to and see what you did with your time equipment and try different things.

Sharp full comp chain(s) and cut in wood, not ground, leg or truck you'll be fine.

 

[Bermy]

What he said ^^^

 

[SeanKroll]

I've run an 8 pin sprocket with a shorter bar on a ported saw or larger engine with good results.

 

[Treeaddict]

Dave, do you know the chain model # ?

Is it the more pins the faster it turns? Just less torque

 

[gf beranek]

I used a 36" bar most of my career.

Although slower cutting at the stump I feel it saved my back from having to bend over as much to do the limbing, slashing and bucking.

Particularly bucking. I liked the extra inches for safety.

A 24 or 32 just killed my back.

 

[pete mctree]

We run shorter bars a lot of the time as the Beech, Ash and sycamore we deal with can be really hard. 70cc saws typically weans a 20 to 25in, 90cc 25 to 30 etc. full comp chain and 8 pin sprockets make for some efficient cutting. As for sharpening - sharp and smooth is the way forward

 

[stig]

500i with 20" and full comp is the thing here.

I've recently teamed up with another gypo logger.
We are logging at Island Møn right now and living down there.
First week he was all about how good the MS462 was.
After 2 weeks of hearing the rest of us bragging the 500i up and finally trying mine with an 8 pin sprocket, he came down last week with a new 500i.
After 3 days I asked him how he liked the combo...............Answer: " Holy shit!!!!!"

 

[lxskllr]

Balance means more to me than just about anything. I'd rather carry a well balanced heavy saw than a nose heavy light one. The 36" bar on my 661 is too heavy. I got it primarily for milling, so I went for durability. If I needed one that long in the field, I'd have gone with a light bar. The 25" ES feels nice on that saw.

 

[Mellow]

Some of you older fellers might recall the Homelite 1130 and the Super Wiz 80. We had one with a six-foot bar. You could attach a handle to the tip so the new guy could hold it level while starting the felling cuts.

 

[davidwyby]

That short of a bar on that big of a PH would be kinda just for fun for me. Full comp and 8 pin lower the rakers until it shudders, that’s too much. ;-D only if just bucking. If felling, 7 pin and higher rakers.

This is rakers too low :

But @huskihl put so much grunt in it she still ate that euc for lunch…not that I would continue to run them that low. Also note towards the end of the cut I lifted and it didn’t 4 stroke…too lean.

 

[lxskllr]

Looked a little chattery,

 

[davidwyby]

Yup. Too low. As a guy who fixes metal for a living I’d say ported plus low rakers in hard wood is hard on the ole crank. Course a 395 is beefier and a 24” bar s short for it…

 

[gf beranek]

In 1977 an old working chum named Jim Furgusson sold me an old relic Homelite for $35.

It run, and it had a 60 in bar with half inch round chain, a 2 speed transmission and no muffler.

I fell only one tree with it. A 7 foot Monterey Cypress. Local traffic was stopped during the grand finale.

I had to drop the transmission low gear to finish the back-cut. There was a 3/8 steel spike in tree. Cut right through it. Not straight through but at a diagonal.

Made 500 bugs on that tree, and 3 months later I sold the old Homelite back to Jim Ferguson for $35 bugs.

Having no muffler the blast of that saw echoing off the trunk of that tree, while leaning on the saw to cut through that spike killed my ears.

But it was a glorious ending.

No clean up.

 

[stig]

Jer, from one oldtimer to another, I love those "back in the day" stories.

 

[Nutball]

Its not so much that I like short bars, but I like lots of power, and there's not a lot of big wood around here to justify always using a long bar. So, I normally keep a 20" bar on a 90cc. I run full skip on them too. As said above, it's not really faster or slower, but not as smooth. I find lower depth gauges does increase speed, and I wouldn't say it uses more fuel, but increases efficiency cutting more wood on a tank of gas. It will cause a lot more kickback, bore cutting will become impossible, and it will put a lot more wear on the bearings and even the bar. It seemed like I could cut twice as much wood with my muffler modded 2188 with 8t rim and lower depth gauges than a stock 660/661.

My current firewood saw. I think it's an 18" bar because I need 16" in front of the spikes. .325 9t rim with the depth gauges filed down a little.

 

[Nutball]

In 1977 an old working chum named Jim Furgusson sold me an old relic Homelite for $35.

It run, and it had a 60 in bar with half inch round chain, a 2 speed transmission and no muffler.

I fell only one tree with it. A 7 foot Monterey Cypress. Local traffic was stopped during the grand finale.

I had to drop the transmission low gear to finish the back-cut. There was a 3/8 steel spike in tree. Cut right through it. Not straight through but at a diagonal.

Made 500 bugs on that tree, and 3 months later I sold the old Homelite back to Jim Ferguson for $35 bugs.

Having no muffler the blast of that saw echoing off the trunk of that tree, while leaning on the saw to cut through that spike killed my ears.

But it was a glorious ending.

No clean up.

Manual clutch? I hope not.

 

[Czed]

Local tree service ran 394/395s with 16" bars cutting willow trees from creek banks
I'll never know why that's a lot of saw to climb banks with.

 

[SkwerI]

Local tree service ran 394/395s with 16" bars cutting willow trees from creek banks
I'll never know why that's a lot of saw to climb banks with.

And willow is soft wood, no need for that much power to cut them quickly.