New "Big" Bar

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
deck2

deck2

Burning Hunk
Aug 1, 2008
166
Adirondack Foothills, NY
Found a Makita bar in the Baileys Clearance on their website -28 inch added the chain it was less than $70 how can you go wrong. I got a chance to use it and it seemed to work well today in a 3 1/2 foot thick hard maple. First time I have ever really got to use everything the 6401 has to offer. new Bar.jpgcutting 1.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: FireAnt, Thistle, smokinj and 3 others
My primary bars on my felling and bucking saws are 28"......Why? Because you don't have to constantly bend down to cut wood, and they'll cut through just about anything you need them to. I think it's the perfect all-around bar to run. I heard good things about the Makita, good to hear that it runs the 28" well. You will find yourself using that bar all the time!
 
What, two eastern dudes claiming longer bars are better? OMG! What has the world come to!

Here in the PNW, longer bars are far more common. I tend to use the longest bars I can run on any saw for the reasons stated above, less bending and larger diameter cuts. A Dolkita 6401 should manage a 28 inch bar just fine, and that is what I tend to run on my lightly modified Stihl 044. I have a 32 that I can also run on that saw, but that is a lot of bar and I only use it on really large diemeter stuff. I run a 25 on my 361 most of the time as well. You can also swap out to a larger rim drives with smaller bars on these saws and get more chain speed out of them. Otherwise it is a waste of torque in my experience. I pop in an 8 tooth rim on my 361 if I run a 20 inch bar.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bigg_Redd and ScotO
I will most likely continue to use the 20 inch bar for most everything but these trees were too big and I needed the bigger bar to cut threw them. The one tree was nearly 4 feet at the base.
 
Looking good Deck!

Stihlhead, I have a 32" coming for my 372. But I run a 24" on my 394. I've found with the 394 setup like that, I don't use my wood splitter that much.....just block up all my rounds.
 
pen, Bigg_Redd and Scotty Overkill like this
Click to expand...
Wow! I almost fell of my chair when I saw Bigg_Redd liked a Makita (Dolmar)! LOL

Nice looking setup and even matches. Looks better than that dinky little bar it had. What kind of chain is it? I tried zooming in on the pic but it's too blurry.
 
StihlHead said:
What, two eastern dudes claiming longer bars are better? OMG! What has the world come to!

Here in the PNW, longer bars are far more common. I tend to use the longest bars I can run on any saw for the reasons stated above, less bending and larger diameter cuts. A Dolkita 6401 should manage a 28 inch bar just fine, and that is what I tend to run on my lightly modified Stihl 044. I have a 32 that I can also run on that saw, but that is a lot of bar and I only use it on really large diemeter stuff. I run a 25 on my 361 most of the time as well. You can also swap out to a larger rim drives with smaller bars on these saws and get more chain speed out of them. Otherwise it is a waste of torque in my experience. I pop in an 8 tooth rim on my 361 if I run a 20 inch bar.
Click to expand...

28 most of the time here too!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Thistle
I run a 32"most of the time on one 7900 and a 24 on the other 7900, 20" on the 6400. After ten years I just ordered a new set of bars, 32,24,20 one ea. and a pair of chains for the 24". The old bars have been dressed a number of times and the rails re-sized a couple times .
 
deck2 said:
Found a Makita bar in the Baileys Clearance on their website -28 inch added the chain it was less than $70 how can you go wrong. I got a chance to use it and it seemed to work well today in a 3 1/2 foot thick hard maple. First time I have ever really got to use everything the 6401 has to offer. View attachment 64908View attachment 64909
Click to expand...


Look at those cluster burls! ::-)
 
  • Like
Reactions: ScotO
I think a 24" is best all around bar for a 6400 but I'm sure it works well with the 28. Since I noddle alot and 40" log doesn't come by everyday I like the 21" for my all around best size. A 21" on a Solo 681 is just an amazing thing to see.
 
The chain is a "Woodland Pro" It says carlton on it. I am not so impressed with the chain will be stopping in to the Stihl dealer this week for a new RSC chain. Have had real good luck with them. They seem to keep an edge longer. It was only $20 so I picked it up with the bar.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ScotO
Deck2, the tree looks good the bar even better. I usually use the 390 with a 20 inch bar but have the 25,28 and a 36.

zap
 
LLigetfa said:
Wow! I almost fell of my chair when I saw Bigg_Redd liked a Makita (Dolmar)! LOL

Nice looking setup and even matches. Looks better than that dinky little bar it had. What kind of chain is it? I tried zooming in on the pic but it's too blurry.
Click to expand...

I only "liked" that he put a man's bar on it.
 
IKWYM there BR. J/K
I'm surprised nobody is pushing a skip chain.
 
Bigg_Redd said:
I'm done with that. If guys wanna run tiny bars with too many teeth, well, that's just none of my business.
Click to expand...
You can't have too many teeth on a tiny bar but you can have too many teeth on a long bar.
 
LLigetfa said:
IKWYM there BR. J/K
I'm surprised nobody is pushing a skip chain.
Click to expand...
Best reason for skip chain is less teeth to file. Outside of that it serves no gain.
 
wkpoor said:
Best reason for skip chain is less teeth to file. Outside of that it serves no gain.
Click to expand...
I'm surprised to read that coming from a purported expert woodsman.

That's like saying too many Egyptians to build the pyramids was too many mouths to feed.
 
28" is right on the cusp of where a skip chain might be needed to help avoid chip clogging of the cut. Certainly not needed for power reasons on that saw. West coast boys like their long bars (something about having some big wood..... :oops:) and hence skip chains are much more common out there. 'Round these parts somebody is liable to get mad if you sold them a skip chain, thinking that you ripped them off!
 
  • Like
Reactions: ScotO and Thistle
LLigetfa said:
IKWYM there BR. J/K
I'm surprised nobody is pushing a skip chain.
Click to expand...

One of my favorite setups on my 361 is a 25 in bar and skip tooth chain or the 044 with a 28 and full skip. Keeps the chain spinning faster and works great when cutting up rounds with the grain (cutting curly fries, or noodles). Most of my chains are full comp though, and most are full chisel. I have semi chisel as well for cutting in cruddy conditions. I have many bars and chains for my large format Stihls, all 3/8 0.050, 16 inch through 32. Some are GB, most are StihI. I also have a set of picco bars for my 211, left over from my tree butcher days using 200T tree saws and Bandit chippers.
 
wkpoor said:
Best reason for skip chain is less teeth to file. Outside of that it serves no gain.
Click to expand...

Many reasons for using skip (semi or full): Higher chain speed, more torque per tooth in the cut, does not clog up side chute with chips as fast, great for noodle cutting with the grain, great for cutting doug fir which is why a huge number of pro fallers in these parts use it. Fewer teeth per loop means faster sharpening, but also faster dulling.
 
StihlHead said:
Many reasons for using skip (semi or full): Higher chain speed, more torque per tooth in the cut, does not clog up side chute with chips as fast, great for noodle cutting with the grain, great for cutting doug fir which is why a huge number of pro fallers in these parts use it. Fewer teeth per loop means faster sharpening, but also faster dulling.
Click to expand...


Agreed.I really like using full skip when ripping shorter (2-4ft) logs for woodturning blanks,slabs & bench seats.Plus regular crosscutting on everything over 20" Not quite as fast as full chisel,but a little smoother which means less planing/sanding for me later on.
 
StihlHead said:
Many reasons for using skip (semi or full): Higher chain speed, more torque per tooth in the cut, does not clog up side chute with chips as fast, great for noodle cutting with the grain, great for cutting doug fir which is why a huge number of pro fallers in these parts use it. Fewer teeth per loop means faster sharpening, but also faster dulling.
Click to expand...

Skip-tooth chisel-bit is the industry standard for loggers in this state. I've never even heard of one using a full comp chain.
 
I like skip chain on my longer bars for ripping crotch pieces and longer rips for slabbing etc. You're right, it is faster to sharpen but it also dulls alot quicker. If the saw has the power to turn it, I go full tooth.....
 
By watching the Bailey's clearance over the last year I've picked up 30" and 34" bars for the Makita for something like $30 and $40. Got a cheap 24" bar for the Huskys that way also. If you're not in a hurry something usually seems to show up there eventually. I'll mostly use the larger bars for milling, I typically don't need more than 24" for bucking. (I'm pretty short, so bending isn't as much an issue.)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

burnt03
“New” 261C, chain question
Replies
9
Views
1K
The Gear
marty319
marty319
PaulOinMA
New, to me, Stihl MS 271
Replies
5
Views
1K
The Gear
BIGChrisNH
B
J
New Echo CD-620p to replace the late, lamented Stihl 361
Replies
7
Views
3K
The Gear
Rusty18
Rusty18
K
Heartbroken…
Replies
57
Views
4K
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
KG19
K
B
Drolet escape 1800 install questions
Replies
1
Views
1K
SBI: Century,Drolet,Osburn,Valcourt,Englander
begreen
begreen
Top Bottom
Back