Will a Stihl ms390 handle this?

[HeatsTwice]

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.

"A 25" bar is not going to work very well on any 65cc saw in eastern hardwoods." Agreed. I've since replaced it with a 20" bar, new chain, and dogs. Just like you said, works noticeably better (sings).

 

[Poindexter]

I think I did misspeak.

On my saw, the leading cutting edge of each tooth is further away from the bar, then the back end of the tooth, the surface not for cutting is closer to the bar. So as I sharpen the leading edge of each tooth gets lower and, closer to the bar - so relative to the cutting edge of the tooth the rakers are getting taller and taller causing the depth of cut for each tooth to get more and more shallow.

The trick is to not take off too much raker height when the time comes and end up with too much depth of cut per each tooth.

Nice catches all around. Sorry.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

I have cut more wood with an ms390 than probably anyone here. Mine is ported and the muffler opened up (oiler modded too). I used it hard for 15 years, including several years of commercial use, and cut trees up to 67" in diameter. It came with a 20" bar, but I put a 28" on it. I tried both skip and standard chain. Both worked fine, but skip was less load on the saw and faster to sharpen. It doesn't get much use now, since I have a ported 350 and a 372.

If the ms390 is all you have, it will work, but a bigger saw will do it better. Keep your chains razor sharp and your depth gauges properly filed and you won't have any trouble. Make sure to do a muffler mod to get rid of the heat or the saw will cook.

 

[HeatsTwice]

I have cut more wood with an ms390 than probably anyone here. Mine is ported and the muffler opened up (oiler modded too). I used it hard for 15 years, including several years of commercial use, and cut trees up to 67" in diameter. It came with a 20" bar, but I put a 28" on it. I tried both skip and standard chain. Both worked fine, but skip was less load on the saw and faster to sharpen. It doesn't get much use now, since I have a ported 350 and a 372.

If the ms390 is all you have, it will work, but a bigger saw will do it better. Keep your chains razor sharp and your depth gauges properly filed and you won't have any trouble. Make sure to do a muffler mod to get rid of the heat or the saw will cook.

>

Make sure to do a muffler mod to get rid of the heat or the saw will cook.

True, but here in California if you take a modified saw into a dealer for any kind of work and if they did it, the CA government would come down on them if they found out - although highly unlikely - but to be safe they wouldn't work on it at all.

Also I love my 390 and it performs as you say. I took the "28 inch bar off, replaced with a "20 and works great. Yes I'm keeping the blade razer sharp and flipping the bar ever 1-2 hours of use.

I am about 1/2 through that pile by now (got a day job and other project distracting me from dwelling on completion of that pile).

But its been great fun and it makes it better to read the input/comments from the likes you and the others who are so much more experienced than me.

Thanks!

 

[Ashful]

...here in California if you take a modified saw into a dealer for any kind of work and if they did it, the CA government would come down on them if they found out...

Land of the free?

 

[ericm979]

>

True, but here in California if you take a modified saw into a dealer for any kind of work and if they did it, the CA government would come down on them if they found out - although highly unlikely - but to be safe they wouldn't work on it at all.

If you bring a modded car into a shop they'll work on it. I've done that. They probably would not do a non CARB approved emissions-critical mod to it as shops have been getting busted for that recently, but there's nothing illegal about working on an already modded car or modifying a non emissions part. There's no law against modding saws, or smog checks, like there are for road going vehicles. The CARB regulations for saws are all on the manufacturing side.

The dealer might not want to work on it because it's been modded and they don't want to deal with that, and they might feed you a line of BS blaming CARB so you don't get mad at them, but there's no actual law or regulation saying that.

 

[ericm979]

If you bring a modded car into a shop in California they'll work on it. I've done that. They probably would not do a non CARB approved emissions-critical mod to it as shops have been getting busted for that recently, but there's nothing illegal about working on an already modded car or modifying a non emissions part. There's no law against modding saws, or smog checks, like there are for road going vehicles. The CARB regulations for saws are all on the manufacturing side.

The dealer might not want to work on it because it's been modded and they don't want to deal with that, and they might feed you a line of BS blaming CARB so you don't get mad at them, but there's no actual law or regulation saying that.

 

[HeatsTwice]

If you bring a modded car into a shop they'll work on it. I've done that. They probably would not do a non CARB approved emissions-critical mod to it as shops have been getting busted for that recently, but there's nothing illegal about working on an already modded car or modifying a non emissions part. There's no law against modding saws, or smog checks, like there are for road going vehicles. The CARB regulations for saws are all on the manufacturing side.

The dealer might not want to work on it because it's been modded and they don't want to deal with that, and they might feed you a line of BS blaming CARB so you don't get mad at them, but there's no actual law or regulation saying that.

>Yea, my local Stihl dealer is kind of a d&^K. I would do it myself but have to figure out how.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

>Yea, my local Stihl dealer is kind of a d&^K. I would do it myself but have to figure out how.

It's a learning curve, but perfectly doable.

 

[ericm979]

Another option is to buy a used muffler and mod that. Keep the intact original to put on in case you need to take the saw to the dealer. I did that for my Echo 352. I also modded the limiter caps on the carb but did it so that it still looks stock.

I modded the 352's muffer by removing the catcon. Between the lean jetting and the catcon the poor thing ran hot. But few saws come with catcons (Echo seems to have gotten rid of them in newer editions) or jetted that lean. So they don't need the muffler modded to not run hot. I've used my MS362CM really hard and it's still on the unmodified muffler with zero problems.

One thing to keep in mind when muffler modding in CA is that you are supposedly required to run a spark arrestor. No one is going to check unless maybe you accidentally start a fire. That would be caused by sparks from the chain, which I have seen often (especially when cutting Madrone), and not sparks from the muffler, which I have never seen. But your insurance company may well look for an excuse to not pay out. With most mufflers you can figure out how to enlarge the opening and keep the screen, or add a screen if you add an additional opening.

 

[Woody Stover]

Thats how I burned up my last saw.

Yeah, it's tempting to force the saw to cut when the bucking is going more slowly than you'd like. 😴

Someone hacked my account and posted in my name.
I would have recommended a ms880.

Those dudes need to get a life and do something productive, like hacking wood instead of accounts. 😏

Mine is old enough to lack a decomp valve....but that just keeps the lightweights away from it.

Well then, just how heavy are you??

 

[HeatsTwice]

 

[HeatsTwice]

Laid to waste, by my MS390.