Will a Stihl ms390 handle this?

[bigealta]

I'd just get a processor. You need it for sure.

 

[HeatsTwice]

Woof, woof, woof, woof!

 

[EbS-P]

The lightest saw I hat gets the job in a reasonable amp of time is the safest IMO. No way I’d be lugging my 25+ pound 660 clone to buck that pile. I’d probably get it out for fun on the biggest 6 bucks but more than then it’s just too heavy for me.

As far as dogs go. They just give you more leverage to push the saw and load up the chain. I don’t see how that’s helpful for a medium saw in big wood. Increasing load I. The saw increase chances you burn it up.

 

[ericm979]

As far as dogs go. They just give you more leverage to push the saw and load up the chain. I don’t see how that’s helpful for a medium saw in big wood. Increasing load I. The saw increase chances you burn it up.

Yep. I've never seen the need for the long bucking spikes, even for doug fir. If you feel the need to lever the saw more, sharpen the chain.

A cant hook would help you move the logs and rounds around. Buy a good one. As noted above you will need wedges to keep from pinching the bar.

 

[Ashful]

I put big dogs on my 036 (predecessor to MS 36x), for a less common reason. I already owned a 20" bar and at least a dozen or more loops of 20" chain, but found that saw a little underpowered for a full 20" of bar buried past the nose in oak. Rather than letting all of my 20" hardware sit unused on a shelf, and buying all new 18" bar and chains, I found that the inch or more of exposed bar reduction offered by big felling dogs got the buried bar length down to what that saw can handle without bogging.

The lightest saw I hat gets the job in a reasonable amp of time is the safest IMO. No way I’d be lugging my 25+ pound 660 clone to buck that pile.

If cutting small stuff, where more time is spent moving the saw from one cut to the next than actually cutting wood, sure. But once you're into anything much over 1 foot in diameter, the larger saw will always be very noticeably faster than the smaller saw. This lets me get thru any pile of medium or large diameter logs faster and with far less fatigue with the 064, than I ever could with the 036. You might have some argument if the job meant hauling the saw some long distance into the wood by hand, but for any other scenario, the larger and faster saw always wins.

The weight of the saw is an aide, not a hinderance, as it is supported by the bar in the kerf. If you're lifting the weight of a saw while cutting, you're doing something wrong, most are applying some down force, to which the weight is only further assisting.

When I cut with the 064, I usually get comments from anyone around, remarking how damn fast the thing is. That never happens when I'm running the 036, other than from those cutting on dull chain.

 

[Highbeam]

The 390 is a farmer grade plastic saw and more than capable of doing this job. It’s a fine design. All logs can be bucked in one day, Its a nice load but not a lot of wood. Those logs are pretty straight and if the ground is flat then no worries about pinching.

I like the big spikes that came with my pro dolmar when I upgraded from the ms290. The 290 cut plenty of similar fir logs. The big spikes are nice for felling or for pivoting when you’re cutting a big log from the top and can’t use gravity. Yes, they help you do a little more work when the chain loses its edge.

I couldn’t imagine cutting bigger logs like this without a peavey. It’s critical for rolling logs to keep your chain out of the dirt. Also so you don’t have to bend over as far to cut the bottom.

One warning, don’t let the rounds tip over on you. Those big pancakes can break your leg.

 

[qwee]

I don't think I would have a problem with those big Doug fir logs, and I have two echo 590 Timberwolfs (60 cc). I would go from a 20" to a 24" bar, though. Make sure you have sharp evenly filed chains. I cut some big Lodgepole pine last year and it was easy - I would start my cut on the far side than move to the top than cut the side I was on. Finally, I would than go back over to the other side to finish in the groove I started.

Large wood exposes short bars/chains deficiencies by creating crooked cuts. Ya, a big saw/bar would be nice. But Doug Fir is a soft wood so it should be easier to cut than similar sized hard wood. And time is unimportant since they were delivered to your house. I would spend an hour here, an hour there, not really rushing the process. Small and midsize saws get there they just take a little longer.

 

[bikedennis]

According to Stihl, you can go up to 28" bar on the 390. I do it occasionally with success.

 

[Ashful]

Stihl’s allowable bar length is based on oiler capacity more than anything else. Yes, you can run a 28” bar on that saw, but it’s going to struggle, unless you’re only cutting softwood.

 

[brenndatomu]

I could see maybe a 24" max on a 390...guess I'll find out soon, someone is giving me an unused/unneeded piston/cyl for a 390, its going on my 290.

 

[salecker]

28" and skip tooth for the win

 

[HeatsTwice]

Not really. Start from the top and roll off the chunks as you cut. I really don’t see why this is tricky. It looks normal to me. Am I missing something?

Exactly what I am doing.

 

[Ashful]

28" and skip tooth for the win

Good recommendation. I run skip tooth on my 36" bar, when I mount it on the 064. Good way to stretch the available power of a saw, when you need to run a long bar.

 

[Highbeam]

Good recommendation. I run skip tooth on my 36" bar, when I mount it on the 064. Good way to stretch the available power of a saw, when you need to run a long bar.

Faster to sharpen too.

 

[Ashful]

Faster to sharpen too.

Yeah. Sharpening 36" loops of full-comp chain is an exercise in patience. Thankfully, I almost never have a real need to use that bar. Occasionally I'll be dropping a tree where it's not real safe to work from both sides, so I'll mount up the 36" bar for those, if it allows me to take the tree while working from just one side. But otherwise I keep a 28" sprocket nose bar on that saw, pretty much all the time.

Speaking of long bars, if you're proficient enough to not pinch and bend one, it's worth considering lightweight bars anytime you're going over 20" on a 390, or over 24" on larger saws. Nose-heavy saws are just less fun to hoist and use, and also more prone to accidental ground contact. If I were buying new bars today, especially anything over 20 inches, I'd be buying lightweight variants.

 

[Poindexter]

I am more of a Husky man. I fully respect Stihl makes good saws once you get above (applies to Husky too) the entry level homeowner products.

Having said that, a good name saw with 65cc displacement and a 25" bar has you in the game. I do think you need some gear you don't have, but I would not be in a hurry to get an even bigger saw. I think you need at least two medium length handles, and some wedges.

For the kerfing wedges, you could use felling wedges if you have them already. Plastic, won't hurt the chain if you have some kickback. Cheap as chips wherever you can buy a forestry helmet and some kevlar chaps. Get three or four.

There is some regional variation in the common names of logging tools.

In my my mind, you don't need a cant hook. When you have some of the bark sawn off a log at the mill you have a cant on the ways and you don't want to mess up the sawn surfaces. So a cant hook has a square end on the end of the handle, and a swinging jaw on one side to rotate the cant on the ways to slice off some more bark on your way to making lumber. You do not need a cant hook.

Another similar tool is called by many a Peavy. It has a pointy end on the stick (different from a cant hook) and a swinging jaw (same as a cant hook) and you probably do need a Peavy. Mr. Peavy has been dead a really long time, but his tool of choice is real handy for breaking up log jams on flowing rivers during the spring melt- and wrestling logs around on the ground.

Another to consider is called variously a timber jack or a log jack. This one has all kinds of points on the end of the stick made up by people who use more hair products than us, and a swinging jaw like a Peavey or a cant hook, but 180 degrees around the stick from the swinging jaw is a fixed leg with a foot of some kind on it.

I personally have no use for timberjacks or log jacks, but they are useful in some situations. I mostly have small logs growing up here. You are knee deep in big logs. Timberjacks can be useful for medium sized logs.

So here is what I see.

You got some really nice logs, that could have been desirable to a sawmill to make construction lumber from. Your Sonoma County location would put your local Doug Fir into the DF-Western Larch design values, highly desirable lumber for the construction industry, but someone gave it to you for free. Either the site foreman lost an opportunity to make a buck for his boss, or the quantity was too small to interest a sawmill, or there is a known issue with these logs an onsite sawyer did see that I can't see in your pics.

I ass/u/me there is an issue with these trees that kept them from becoming 2x4s and you should expect your bar to get pinched over and over. Ergo, kerfing wedges. Among felling wedges (narrow angle, very acute), there are some that can be stacked and latched to make a fatter, less acute kerfing wedge. Get those ones, stack them two at a time to make kerfing wedges, and use them in every cut every time.

I personally would go after these logs on the ground with a Peavey. I would chalk them up every 16 inches, cut partway through, rotate them with a Peavey and then finish the cut. On soft ground you might slice 1/3 through, rotate 120 degrees, cut some more, rotate again and then finish your cuts. With the saw you already got.

I personally buy all my wood handled tools in person. The main trouble seems to be the folks writing internet reviews didn't grow up on farms and cannot tell a post hole digger from a grain sickle. For logging tools you want a tool made in USA, Canada, Scandinavia or the Baltic states. Germany would be fine, though I have never seen one. Just drive on down to Menards or Tractor Supply or similar and take all the Peavey's (my suggestion) off the rack and set them respectfully on the floor. If they are well made and you treat them with respect your grandson may have to touch up the point of your Peavey. All the ones with visible knots in the handle bigger than 1/10 of one inch go back in the rack. If there are none left on the floor, go to another store and look there. Once you have a couple Peaveys left on the floor with no knots >1/10 of one inch you are going to be happiest with Ash and if you can get it you want the (straight) end grain in the handle parallel to the swing of the moving jaw. From what I have seen of rough sawn 8/4 and 12/4 ash lumber lately we got a bunch of crackheads and meth addicts somewhere in the supply chain, so good luck with this, but keep looking; even a stopped clock tells the correct time twice daily. After straight grain parallel to the swing of the jaw, I would be second happiest with straight end grain perpendicular to the swing of the jaw.

But the grain needs to run true all the way through the handle. When you look at the eyeball end of the handle, that visible growth ring in the center needs to run all the way to the point of the tool. If you see "cathedral grain" (a fashion statement), put that one back on the shelf. Grain runout (visible cathedral grain) is no bueno for working tools. This attention to detail is sadly lacking in my experience with tool manufacturers lately and has been really bad since the early 1980s. Some mfrs gave up on ideal grained wood handles long before snorting coke in a BMW while listening to Duran Duran or Kenny Loggins was a thing.

The thing about Ash and Hickory handles is when you increase the force you are applying gently and smoothly they are unbreakable by mortal man. I can break 300-500 pounds of ice off a glacier with a shovel no problem, when I treat the tool with respect. If I pounce on the shovel and apply infinite force instantly, I can break ash. When you are trying to roll one of your big logs, take the slack out of your Peavey handle first, then roll the log if it isn't moving already. Just focus on loading up the handle gently (while applying beastly force) until the log is moving. Ash and hickory can turn any of the logs pictured no problem if you got no knots >1/10 and whatever for straight grain.

When you are done with this log pile you will be accomplished at sharpening. Your biggest problem is going to be keeping your chain out of the dirt. My counsel is to start with one sharp chain, get the Stihl file guide, and sharpen the one chain on the saw over and over until you either get to the tell tale marks or are finished with that log pile. Once you know what you are doing, and you will soon, it is faster to sharpen on the saw than it is to screw around changing chains. Today it might be faster for you to change out chains and sharpen after hours, but at the end of this log pile you will not regret learning to sharpen the chain on the saw. Touch up your chain every time you touch down on dirt and every second fuel tank. You will have a useful skill for life.

Keep PLENTY of bar oil on your chain file, and tap it regularly on something that is allowed to have dents in it, like the inside of your tailgate.

Besides sharp, consider raker depth. Likely Stihl (Husky does) there will be two raker depth settings on your factory file guide. One for hardwood and one for softwood. As you sharpen each tooth shorter and closer to the wear mark your rakers will be getting taller and taller. Eventually your saw will bog down on Doug Fir in summertime with sharp teeth because your rakers are too tall, your depth of cut is too much. At this juncture you will need to file your rakers down a little bit to reduce your depth of cut per tooth. Doug Fir (Queen of the West) and Southern Yellow Pine, SYP (King of the South) are both 'tweeners' between hardwoods like oak and softwoods like eastern white pine. I cannot possibly tell you what your raker height should be. When the saw is bogging on sharp teeth, your rakers are too tall. File them down 'some' and try again.

At -30dF I file my rakers to "husky hardwood" height for spruce. What raker height you can get away with in summertime in California on DF-WL with a respectable Stihl is very much outside my wheelhouse.

Good luck, best wishes, a full suite of forestry PPE is about 10% the price of one ER visit for a chainsaw injury. My first forestry helmet took a high speed hit from a chunk of North Carolina oak about 3x3x3 inches in front of my left eye and remained in service for several years afterwards. PPE is cheap, outpatient follow up after a chainsaw injury is not cheap.

 

[HeatsTwice]

I am more of a Husky man. I fully respect Stihl makes good saws once you get above (applies to Husky too) the entry level homeowner products.

Having said that, a good name saw with 65cc displacement and a 25" bar has you in the game. I do think you need some gear you don't have, but I would not be in a hurry to get an even bigger saw. I think you need at least two medium length handles, and some wedges.

For the kerfing wedges, you could use felling wedges if you have them already. Plastic, won't hurt the chain if you have some kickback. Cheap as chips wherever you can buy a forestry helmet and some kevlar chaps. Get three or four.

There is some regional variation in the common names of logging tools.

In my my mind, you don't need a cant hook. When you have some of the bark sawn off a log at the mill you have a cant on the ways and you don't want to mess up the sawn surfaces. So a cant hook has a square end on the end of the handle, and a swinging jaw on one side to rotate the cant on the ways to slice off some more bark on your way to making lumber. You do not need a cant hook.

Another similar tool is called by many a Peavy. It has a pointy end on the stick (different from a cant hook) and a swinging jaw (same as a cant hook) and you probably do need a Peavy. Mr. Peavy has been dead a really long time, but his tool of choice is real handy for breaking up log jams on flowing rivers during the spring melt- and wrestling logs around on the ground.

Another to consider is called variously a timber jack or a log jack. This one has all kinds of points on the end of the stick made up by people who use more hair products than us, and a swinging jaw like a Peavey or a cant hook, but 180 degrees around the stick from the swinging jaw is a fixed leg with a foot of some kind on it.

I personally have no use for timberjacks or log jacks, but they are useful in some situations. I mostly have small logs growing up here. You are knee deep in big logs. Timberjacks can be useful for medium sized logs.

So here is what I see.

You got some really nice logs, that could have been desirable to a sawmill to make construction lumber from. Your Sonoma County location would put your local Doug Fir into the DF-Western Larch design values, highly desirable lumber for the construction industry, but someone gave it to you for free. Either the site foreman lost an opportunity to make a buck for his boss, or the quantity was too small to interest a sawmill, or there is a known issue with these logs an onsite sawyer did see that I can't see in your pics.

I ass/u/me there is an issue with these trees that kept them from becoming 2x4s and you should expect your bar to get pinched over and over. Ergo, kerfing wedges. Among felling wedges (narrow angle, very acute), there are some that can be stacked and latched to make a fatter, less acute kerfing wedge. Get those ones, stack them two at a time to make kerfing wedges, and use them in every cut every time.

I personally would go after these logs on the ground with a Peavey. I would chalk them up every 16 inches, cut partway through, rotate them with a Peavey and then finish the cut. On soft ground you might slice 1/3 through, rotate 120 degrees, cut some more, rotate again and then finish your cuts. With the saw you already got.

I personally buy all my wood handled tools in person. The main trouble seems to be the folks writing internet reviews didn't grow up on farms and cannot tell a post hole digger from a grain sickle. For logging tools you want a tool made in USA, Canada, Scandinavia or the Baltic states. Germany would be fine, though I have never seen one. Just drive on down to Menards or Tractor Supply or similar and take all the Peavey's (my suggestion) off the rack and set them respectfully on the floor. If they are well made and you treat them with respect your grandson may have to touch up the point of your Peavey. All the ones with visible knots in the handle bigger than 1/10 of one inch go back in the rack. If there are none left on the floor, go to another store and look there. Once you have a couple Peaveys left on the floor with no knots >1/10 of one inch you are going to be happiest with Ash and if you can get it you want the (straight) end grain in the handle parallel to the swing of the moving jaw. From what I have seen of rough sawn 8/4 and 12/4 ash lumber lately we got a bunch of crackheads and meth addicts somewhere in the supply chain, so good luck with this, but keep looking; even a stopped clock tells the correct time twice daily. After straight grain parallel to the swing of the jaw, I would be second happiest with straight end grain perpendicular to the swing of the jaw.

But the grain needs to run true all the way through the handle. When you look at the eyeball end of the handle, that visible growth ring in the center needs to run all the way to the point of the tool. If you see "cathedral grain" (a fashion statement), put that one back on the shelf. Grain runout (visible cathedral grain) is no bueno for working tools. This attention to detail is sadly lacking in my experience with tool manufacturers lately and has been really bad since the early 1980s. Some mfrs gave up on ideal grained wood handles long before snorting coke in a BMW while listening to Duran Duran or Kenny Loggins was a thing.

The thing about Ash and Hickory handles is when you increase the force you are applying gently and smoothly they are unbreakable by mortal man. I can break 300-500 pounds of ice off a glacier with a shovel no problem, when I treat the tool with respect. If I pounce on the shovel and apply infinite force instantly, I can break ash. When you are trying to roll one of your big logs, take the slack out of your Peavey handle first, then roll the log if it isn't moving already. Just focus on loading up the handle gently (while applying beastly force) until the log is moving. Ash and hickory can turn any of the logs pictured no problem if you got no knots >1/10 and whatever for straight grain.

When you are done with this log pile you will be accomplished at sharpening. Your biggest problem is going to be keeping your chain out of the dirt. My counsel is to start with one sharp chain, get the Stihl file guide, and sharpen the one chain on the saw over and over until you either get to the tell tale marks or are finished with that log pile. Once you know what you are doing, and you will soon, it is faster to sharpen on the saw than it is to screw around changing chains. Today it might be faster for you to change out chains and sharpen after hours, but at the end of this log pile you will not regret learning to sharpen the chain on the saw. Touch up your chain every time you touch down on dirt and every second fuel tank. You will have a useful skill for life.

Keep PLENTY of bar oil on your chain file, and tap it regularly on something that is allowed to have dents in it, like the inside of your tailgate.

Besides sharp, consider raker depth. Likely Stihl (Husky does) there will be two raker depth settings on your factory file guide. One for hardwood and one for softwood. As you sharpen each tooth shorter and closer to the wear mark your rakers will be getting taller and taller. Eventually your saw will bog down on Doug Fir in summertime with sharp teeth because your rakers are too tall, your depth of cut is too much. At this juncture you will need to file your rakers down a little bit to reduce your depth of cut per tooth. Doug Fir (Queen of the West) and Southern Yellow Pine, SYP (King of the South) are both 'tweeners' between hardwoods like oak and softwoods like eastern white pine. I cannot possibly tell you what your raker height should be. When the saw is bogging on sharp teeth, your rakers are too tall. File them down 'some' and try again.

At -30dF I file my rakers to "husky hardwood" height for spruce. What raker height you can get away with in summertime in California on DF-WL with a respectable Stihl is very much outside my wheelhouse.

Good luck, best wishes, a full suite of forestry PPE is about 10% the price of one ER visit for a chainsaw injury. My first forestry helmet took a high speed hit from a chunk of North Carolina oak about 3x3x3 inches in front of my left eye and remained in service for several years afterwards. PPE is cheap, outpatient follow up after a chainsaw injury is not cheap.

Wow, amazing, you are really sharp/on top of things/observant/experienced.

"....that could have been desirable to a sawmill to make construction lumber from. Your Sonoma County location...."

Since 2017 we've had two huge fires. This has created a glut market for logs. Millers these days cherry pick exactly what they want (only the best) and leave the rest for the termites.

" Either the site foreman lost an opportunity to make a buck for his boss, or the quantity was too small to interest a sawmill, or there is a known issue with these logs an onsite sawyer did see that I can't see in your pics."

The guy who dumped them on my property told me that the mills around here only take 16" logs. His trailer seems to be less than that. Also the trees came from the front yard of a very expensive house, were taken down for fear of them falling on it, and in an area difficult to work in.

"...a full suite of forestry PPE is about 10% the price of one ER visit for a chainsaw injury..."

So true. I found that out as a dumb kid in 1977....

Thanks for the great insight.

 

[ericm979]

I personally would go after these logs on the ground with a Peavey. I would chalk them up every 16 inches, cut partway through, rotate them with a Peavey and then finish the cut.

That's what I do. Be careful when rolling logs off a pile.

I bought a "mingo marker" which is a contraption that uses a standard can of marking paint to spray a dot every 16" (or different if you set it up with a different wheel). While it's not perfect, when you have straight-ish logs its faster than using a logger's tape.

I have an aluminium handle peavy/cant hook (a Woodchuck Dual). It's convertible by pulling a pin. I keep it in the cant hook configuration.

Here's a good article on the difference with pics

How to Choose a Cant Hook vs. Peavey | Wood-Mizer USA

While both cant hooks and peaveys allow for rolling logs where you need them, share the same handles for leverage and swinging hooks for gripping logs

woodmizer.com

The peavy lets you move logs around if the surface is something you can stick the end of the peavy in and get leverage. I'm not working on a log deck much and the dirt here is loose, so that feature won't work for me. When I do have log decks like I have now, I use a grapple on a tractor to pick logs off the deck.

I also have an inexpensive cant hook. It sucks compared to the Woodchuck. I think it's worth buying a good one.

I've sharpened a lot of chains but I can still swap chains faster than I can sharpen one. I often file the chains on the saw because that's how I learned how to do it. A good chain vice works better but I only know of good one one and it's not cheap. In any case sharpening on the saw it a useful skill to learn. I use one hand to hold the bar and to push the tooth I'm sharpening down into the groove so it does not move while I'm filing it.

 

[Ashful]

Great post @Poindexter, but I do have to disagree with you on two items:

1. A 25" bar is not going to work very well on any 65cc saw in eastern hardwoods. Maybe you can get away with it working connifers in Alaska, but not here. I found that even a 20" bar is a bit much for that displacement, when you have it buried past the nose in some hardwoods. A 20" bar with big felling dogs to reduced the exposed bar length works pretty well, or 18" just sings, with the nose fully-buried in oak.

2. Cant hook wins over Peavey for me. I've had and used both, and can't understand why anyone would prefer a Peavey to a cant hook on dry ground. In a river, sure... but not on terra firma. Maybe our differences here have something to do with the logs we're rolling, or our work methods, I don't know.

Of course, both these points just demonstrate there are variations in working style, wood type, and location-based needs. Not saying you're wrong, but that your (and my) opinion on these two items is tinged with some local flavor.

 

[Poindexter]

+1 on regional differences @Ashful . I just re-read @Highbeam post #31 in this thread. Highbeam has cut up a bunch of Doug Fir with at least 2 different chainsaws, I know I haven't cut any and I suspect Ashful hasn't cut any either.

I love working with Doug Fir in my shop, and I love burning the offcuts; but I have never taken a chain saw to a piece of it, and I have never handled a piece with a MC >20%. DF is strong enough to make Windsor chairs or dining tables from, but it falls short on the Janka hardness, dent resistance. In a house with a couple teenagers DF furniture will look very rustic very quickly.

One thing I like about a Peavey is I can slam it down point first into the (AK spruce) stump I just made, it will stand up, be easy to find, and nearby next time I need to roll the log that just came off the stump. I won't have to bend over to pick it up off the ground.

The main thing about mid length handled tools is they let you leverage the strength you do have to get done a thing you could not do without the leverage. Long handled tools (shovel, pitchfork) let you work faster and I am perhaps a bit less picky about grain patterns, but the mid length tools let you work stronger. For most people most of the time cant hook versus Peavey is the same as Ford/Chevy or Husky/Stihl. I don't care which one any of y'all pick, but I do want all of you to have safe handles that aren't going to snap under load and stab you in the liver.

I do have a woodchuck brand hookaroon. It is a very high quality tool, with the best tooth point geometry I have ever owned. The down side is the handle is round, so I am all the time tipping my head up and down to look through my bifocals to see which way the tooth is pointed. I do like that it is 32 inches long, so with a permanent full circumference mark at the midpoint I can use it to chalk up my logs at 16" intervals and not take another measuring tool into the woods. At the end of the day it is a tool about which I am ambivalent.

 

[Ashful]

I'm down to just one cant hook right now, a 60" Logrite all aluminum job. I had a 48" cant hook and a 48" peavey before, both with wood handles, but they were both uselessly short (like 48"). I did like the wood handles better than the aluminum in some ways, but I just needed more length and went with the Logrite based on the recommendations of a few of the pro cutters who used to hang here (and arboristsite.com).

If I were to buy another log rolling tool, it'd be a second cant hook with an even larger jaw and a 72" handle, as I do tend to drag home quite a few things too big for me to roll with the 60" version, especially when they get frozen together in winter. I don't think I'd ever bother buying another cant hook under 60" length, not that they have no place, but I just don't need to own every length, and anything shorter than 60" has too many shortcomings to be the "only" one I carry on any outing. It could be another aluminum Logrite or wood, that isn't as important to me as max jaw capacity.

For now, I was thinking of making up an extension for the handle on my 60" version, either punching a hole thru the grip end and slipping something inside of it, or making up a larger tube to slip over the grip with a smaller extension that I can get my hands around.

 

[Highbeam]

Am I missing something? @Poindexter says long rakers result in too much cut and bogging/overload the saw. I thought overly long rakers would hold the cutting teeth away from the wood resulting in too shallow of a cut. If I grind the rakers too much then the cutting teeth get a big mouth full.

 

[Ashful]

Am I missing something? @Poindexter says long rakers result in too much cut and bogging/overload the saw. I thought overly long rakers would hold the cutting teeth away from the wood resulting in too shallow of a cut. If I grind the rakers too much then the cutting teeth get a big mouth full.

Yeah. I think he just misspoke. I intentionally take my rakers down about .01" (~30%) lower than recommended, for this reason. Another reason why I'm probably always harping on smaller bars on bigger motors.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Most of the time I run a 16” bar. Short bars rule! I rarely have needed a larger one. Most of the wood I see can be handled by it. Felling can be tricky with it though.

One of my cant hooks came to me through a yard sale where only the business end was laying there in the grass. I rehandled with a small sapling. It went in green, and I didn’t spend a lot of time with the fit, figuring I’d just pound it in further when it got loose. I remember not being sure if the random tree I chose was going to be too bendy being green. It worked out fine for as much as I use it.

 

[brenndatomu]

Another reason why I'm probably always harping on smaller bars on bigger motors.

Definitely