36" bar

[MasterMech]

That's pretty good! Are those pre-cut loops?

 

[Ashful]

Are those pre-cut loops?

Yes and no. They have miles on spools, but also stock a bunch of pre-cut loops. If they have a loop, they grab that first, otherwise they make it on the spot. On one or two occasions, they've had one or two loops to give me, and have made the balance of the order from spools.

 

[DexterDay]

Your rim won't mind the .063 or the .050. It's a matter of staying with 3/8". That's all that your rim sprocket cares about. The extra .013" of thickness is built into all 3/8" rims. When you buy a rim, it doesn't ask the thickness (gauge) of chain. Just an FYI if you were still wondering.


I have both .063 and .050 20" bars (the .063 was a mistake and getting ready to sell. Used once. Still new with chain)

I try to run everything .050, but the extra thickness is needed for serious bars. If going over 36", I would highly recommend the .063"

 

[smokinj]

If you have to have. 63 then your talking north of 110cc.

 

[Ashful]

Cool. Thanks, guys. Lucky for me, the 36" ES bar they have in stock at my dealer is 3/8" x 0.050"!

 

[MasterMech]

Does anybody know offhand if just the drive links are thicker on .063? Or the tie-straps and/or cutters? If just the drivelinks and tie-straps are thicker, I see no disadvantage to .063 other than perhaps extra mass in the chain. Stihl for some reason specs saws all the way down to the MS230 with .325" .063" chain. I would think .050" would be more than sufficient but I doubt they would deploy .063" on the smaller saws if it had a negative impact on performance.

 

[Ashful]

Well, unless the cutters and ties are thinner, it must be at least 0.013" wider! I wouldn't expect that to make a real big difference, tho.

 

[clemsonfor]

Good to know! I confirmed my local dealer has a spool of 3/8" 0.050" full chisel skip, but did not ask what brand. They seem to carry Stihl, Husqvarna, Oregon, and Carlton equally, so I can ask for Stihl, but I'll likely be buying whatever he has on the spool!

They sell 28" loops of Stihl 33-RSC for about $19, and 20" loops for about $17, with a deal of 3 for the price of 2 chains. That puts the loop price at $13 and $11, respectively. A pretty good deal, IMO.

yep thats a deal! i wish we had dealers like that around here!

AS as far as the baileys free shipping i think i got that email a few weeks back, maybe it was months now??

 

[Ashful]

So how important would it be to go wide-nose? I'm guessing this bar is not, but its what they had on the shelf.

 

[DexterDay]

As long as its not a hard nose (its not), that will be just fine.

The ES bars are some of the better bars out there. The Lite series is slightly lighter, but your gonna pay extra. Tech lite and Sugi make nice bars, but Tech lite only makes 2 sizes and 36" aint one of them.

Thats a fine bar. IMHO

 

[Ashful]

Yeah, saw some of the light bars on Baileys, but they were more than 2x what I paid for the ES.

 

[DexterDay]

The ES is one of my personal fav's. Its a well built bar and was made exclusively for your saw (oiling).

I paid about $100 for my 32" ES bar and Skip tooth chain.

As for the comments on skip tooth. I bought a 3 pack of 20" just because they were cheap. I normally run an 18" on my 036 and 20" on my 460. I put the skipper on both of them (put a 20" on 036) and Holy chit!!

I now run skip on almost everything. I haven't seen a noticeable difference in run time between sharpening and they are Much, MUCH easier to sharpen.

So whether or not the 064 will pull the Full comp 36". I'd personally buy a skipper for it also and give it a whirl. Definitely helps to keep the RPMs up.. Way Up!!

 

[smokinj]

Full comp will cut much faster than skip. As long as your pruning a clean saw and your clearing chips.

 

[Ashful]

I actually had meant to buy two skips and one full comp, but the saw shop was real busy when I stopped in to buy this stuff (and I got distracted by the 084 they were trying to sell me), so I just ended up with three skip. I'll have to pick up a full comp next time I'm out there, so I can compare!

I paid $80 for this bar, but the chain was more spendy than what I've bought in the past. Something like $60 for three full chisel .050 x .375 x 114 link skips. I forgot to check the chain brand, as it came off a spool. They dropped the loops into Husqvarna boxes, but I suspect it's not Husqvarna chain, as they mostly carry Stihl, Oregon, Carlton.

 

[smokinj]

Not sure that saw will pull it. But be nice to find out. My 460 good at 28 but not 32.

 

[Ashful]

Will let you know!

 

[MasterMech]

The Lite series is slightly lighter,​

My 28" ES Light feels lighter than my 20" ES. Just a guess since I haven't put 'em to the scale yet.

Wide nose isn't as important on the longer bars as you are less likely to be doing any plunge cutting with them. I sure do like 'em better when the nose is buried however. Less resistance.

 

[HittinSteel]

Husky chain is Oregon

 

[Ashful]

Husky chain is Oregon

I remember reading that Oregon makes Husky's chain. I just meant that I hadn't seen Husq-labeled chain before, at that shop.

 

[clemsonfor]

just missed the baileys free shipping!! Or you ordered to soon. I had an email i think was sent this weekend about free shipping on orders over $99. Yep it was sent friday afternoon.

 

[Ashful]

I don't find Bailey's pricing to be as good as my local Stihl dealer, free shipping or not!

I was looking for some info on narrow vs. wide nose bar, and found very little "official" info, other than this:

"Stihl offer different diameter noses in some of
their Rollamatic E and ES bars. The narrower bar
noses have reduced chance of kickback while
the wider noses give higher boring performance."

Most forum replies on the subject seem to indicate wide nose is a must for plunge cutting, but for the reason that it's supposed to have less kickback, which seems to be the right response with the wrong reasoning.

 

[amateur cutter]

I plunge cut with my bars quite often, they're narrow nose. No real problems, you just have to be cautious. I'm no pro, but I'll plunge without hesitation when the situation calls for it. A C

 

[Ashful]

Cool. I was using the 064 tonight, but still have the 28" Windsor Speed Tip mounted. It's not quite as narrow as Stihl's Rollomatic narrow nose, but it's definitely not a wide nose either. It tapers middle to end, like the Stihl narrow. I've done lots of plunging and nose-buried cutting with it (the primary reason I felt need for a 36" bar), and haven't had any trouble, either.

 

[MasterMech]

Cool. I was using the 064 tonight, but still have the 28" Windsor Speed Tip mounted. It's not quite as narrow as Stihl's Rollomatic narrow nose, but it's definitely not a wide nose either. It tapers middle to end, like the Stihl narrow. I've done lots of plunging and nose-buried cutting with it (the primary reason I felt need for a 36" bar), and haven't had any trouble, either.

I plunge cut with my bars quite often, they're narrow nose. No real problems, you just have to be cautious. I'm no pro, but I'll plunge without hesitation when the situation calls for it. A C

I never said they wouldn't plunge, just that I prefer the wide-nose variants when that kind of work is called for.

 

[Ashful]

Got it mounted up tonight:

Guess I gotta clean that saw up a bit, now!

Also got a shot of my travel kit, while I was out there.