Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[robpm]

I use a 24" bar on my Stihl 044 which is probably over 16 years old and I love it for all the above. I have an MS200 with a 14" bar which is great for dealing with things while in the tree and also on the ground.

 

[MAN IN BLACK]

I run 18" bars on both 45cc and 55cc Echo saws I have...never met a tree or log I couldn't cut just yet.
I can't talk good or bad about longer bars...I never had anything but 18" for the past 25 years !
My 2 cents...for what it's worth !

 

[vsteel]

I use a 24 inch bar on my Husky and love it. Though sometimes I do have to double cut to get some trees down and processed. I like the extra length for limbing as well, I don't bend as far. Also while there is more teeth to sharpen, the cutting is spread over more teeth so you don't have to sharpen as often (assuming the same size of log.)

I don't worry about overworking the saw, I keep the chain sharp, don't bog the saw and run high quality 2 stroke oil at the proper ratio. I bet the saw will outlast me and I have already cut a few log trucks of wood into firewood.

I think more saws die from lack of maintenance and neglect than anything else.

 

[KenB2920]

Thats just not practical when you get into larger saws. Your talking about lbs of weight. I'd never limb with a 36"or 42" bar. I Have my own Oregon Tecomec chain grinder but the shops here charge 40% more to sharpern chains 24" or larger. If i didnt already have a 20" bar and 4 or 5 loops of chain id run a 16" bar on my ms361. I stick with a 25" bar on the 660 normaly. It does come in handy to have the big bar though SR Is spot on here

I can say I've not run across a tree/log I couldn't cut with my 18" bar and then I see this crazy behemoth in your photo. That's a big log!!!!

That's a lot of work sitting right there!

 

[Jim Timber]

I run a 28" TsuMura lightweight bar on my Johnny 2188 and it weighs about what the 24" standard bar did. Comes in handy for flush cutting stumps and the power is great for felling and bucking, but I usually go down to the 2172 with a 20" for bucking and limbing if I'm not running my Husky 357xp (which wears a 16" bar for maneuverability). Wielding a 28" bar around limbs is tiring. A 2# difference from a 10 to a 12# saw is 20%. If your wife put on 20% more weight, you'd notice that immediately too. The difference between my 2172 and 2188 isn't more than 2-3# and it's a little over 10% in their respective class - but it's still noticeable after a couple trees.

A two or three saw system is the way to go. Have a beast that's capable of quickly felling your largest trees (the faster you can whittle out the felling cuts, the more time you have before the tree starts moving), and then have a bucking saw that's not so abusive on your shoulders/back, and then a limbing saw that's lighter yet is nice too.

 

[xring100]

Exactly you can also go 2 or 3 times longer without stopping for a fueling break

 

[Kodthree]

Tractor bucket across the splitter and into the truck.
Full load coming home.
Old, messy way of stacking wood directly on the deck, and then...
problems solved with home-designed and built mobile wood racks.
REDNECK dump trailer we also use to collect bucked trees from the forest. We roll them off this trailer, across the splitter, and into a truck.

FUN!

Sorry the pictures didn't come up in the order I had wished. you all get the picture(s), though!

 

[farmeratheart]

Since you are cutting in air do you have a trick to gage what 20" is so that you can get consistent lengths? One problem I have is visualizing 20" as it I seem to vary with the diameter of the log, i.e. the bigger the log the longer I cut it. Any hints out there?

I've had pretty good luck with one of these. The Original Woodcutters Helper | The Woodcutters Helper I usually put it on my trim saw and mark out a log before cutting with the bigger saw.

Good luck.

Frank

 

[John_Mc]

Since you are cutting in air do you have a trick to gage what 20" is so that you can get consistent lengths? One problem I have is visualizing 20" as it I seem to vary with the diameter of the log, i.e. the bigger the log the longer I cut it. Any hints out there?

I used to use the bar length as a gauge. Since I mostly use 16" bars, and I like 16-17" logs, it was a nice match. However, turning the saw to measure got old.

Then I was shown a nice gizmo by an old timer: Bent a piece of stiff wire (a coat hanger will work) into an L shape. The short leg is only 1 to 1.5" long. Use 2 zip ties to attach it to the lower left end of your front handle. (I have the short leg pointed down along the handle, and the long leg poking off just above where the handle curved to go under the body of the saw. I put a hook in the end of the short leg and crimped it over to keep it from sliding out from under the zip tie.) Swing the long leg of the wire out perpendicular to the bar. For a 16" log, trim it so the distance from the bar where it meets the saw to the end of the wire is 16" (the wire itself is a good bit less than 16", since the handle is already 6"+ away from the bar at this point). When you want to cut 16" logs, swing the wire out perpendicular to the bar and use it as a gauge for log length. When not in use, you can flip the wire in, along the side of the saw pointing rearwards. Mine stays right along the side of the saw, out of the way when not in use (I tied the short leg of the L to the inside of the handle, so that it will lay flatter against the side of the saw)

A couple of tweaks to the design:
1) If you cut the long leg a bit longer than you need, you can fold the end over to the length you want, then tape it up. This makes the end of the wire less of a "poke hazard".
2) with the right zig-zags bent into the short leg, and the right tension on the zip ties, you can make a sort of "detent" that will help hold the wire either out at 90˚ or flat in against the saw body.

If I remember, I'll try to post a picture. It's simpler than it sounds.

 

[Creamer]

I've had pretty good luck with one of these. The Original Woodcutters Helper | The Woodcutters Helper I usually put it on my trim saw and mark out a log before cutting with the bigger saw.

Good luck.

Frank

that is neat. thanks!