026 - 24" Bar Length?

[Leebo]

I've been visiting the forum and reading posts for a couple of months and just registered. I thought I might throw this out for discussion...although I own the saw in question, I don't have an opinion one way or the other.

My wife and I were checking into a motel in Bloomington, Indiana a couple of years ago. We had pulled up next to a logging company pickup. I recognized the name of the company, Pike Lumber, because I'm in the lumber & millwork business and had been purchased hardwood lumber from them years ago. They were a 2 man crew who had been cutting on company land near there but had been driven out by a thunderstorm. I struck up a conversation and, of course, asked what saws they were using. They opened the cap of the pickup. Both were using stock 026's with 24" bars and full-skip square chisel chains. They had 4 saws with this set-up and an 066 with a 36" bar, but said they didn't use it much. They did all the felling, limbing, and bucking with the 026's. Weight seemed to be the reason that they were using the 026's. They were cutting hardwood mostly in the 24" - 36" diameter range. One guy took out his file and showed me the way he touched up the chain. They said they stopped about once an hour and it took them less than 5 minutes. Has anyone else out there used or seen this configuration? These guys were pro's and were getting paid by how many logs they could fell, limb, buck, skid, and load in a day.

 

[Lawn Masters]

probably they didnt get too many cut up in a day, an 024 isnt built to run a 24" bar on it, its better suited for a 16-18" for optimial performance. My 024, which is similar to the 026 in almost every way, except engine size, is happy with a 16" on it, and .325 chisel chain.

For what they were doing, probably an 036, or an 044 would cut twice as fast, and get them at least double the number of trees cut per day.

 

[asb151]

An 026 with a 24 inch bar is far from the optimum set up to maximize productivity. Are you sure they were not getting paid by the hour.

 

[PWB]

I might be tempted to try it on my 034 super with a full skip chain, if I really had to. It doesn't have any trouble with a full comp on a 20" buried in hardwood, so..............

026? I have my doubts!

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

While that is a far from ideal set up, I can understand it. I'm from that part of the state (about a half hour South of Bloomington) and I'd hate to drag even an 036 up and down those ridges. Don't get me wrong, I'd carry a 44 with a 28" if that's what the timber called for, but I can see their logic with the lighter powerhead...especially if they didn't know any better, which I could easily see being the case.

Jeff

 

[Buzzlightyear]

I use an MS260 026 by any other name as my main ground saw for the boys running a 18" bar....it copes but there's no way i'd goto 24" indeed i didn't think it was an option even !

Probably ok for felling but sod cross cutting much with it !

 

[046]

are you sure those boys were not running an 046 with 24in bar?

 

[Diesel JD]

I know my 025 was real happy with the 18" bar and the .325" full comp round chisel. There were many times I wished it would accept a 20" bar, but the mount was all wrong. BTW, 024, 026 MS260 use teh standard mount, so you can mount a 32" bar on them, but it won't perform, might even burn up the saw. My first thread here was about my new MS390 and the 28" bar that I talked the dealer into selling me with it....had to take it back and drop down to the 25" which works great. It would probably be better witha 20" if it were buried in hardwood all day, but it's much easier for me with the 25" I never have to punish teh saw like that or as someone else mentioned about the longer bar, punish my back and associated muscles by bending down. yeah these guys took me to the woodshed for teh 28" bar and they should have it sucked, but it was a fullc omp. chain, some said it would do OK with full skip....I bet that 026 with 24" wouldn't pull at all with a full comp. chisel chain!

 

[stihlwoodcutter]

A 260 with a 24"...lol...ha ha ha.....too funny.....proably works just as well as a 390 with a 28. According to stihls specs 8" to much for either saw. I use a 16" on my 260 runs it nice...although all i use it for is limbing.

 

[Leebo]

are you sure those boys were not running an 046 with 24in bar?

Definitely 026's...2 fairly well beat and used; 2 newer ones as backups I guess...all with 24" bars and full skip square chisel chains. I remember being unfamiliar with the square chisel chain (they aren't even sold in the local saw shops) and one guy pulled out a Bailey's catalog to show me what type of chain they were using.

 

[Leebo]

An 026 with a 24 inch bar is far from the optimum set up to maximize productivity. Are you sure they were not getting paid by the hour.

This was a couple of years ago, but I remember one of them saying "We get paid by how many logs go out of the woods" or something like that. I don't know how loggers get paid, but even if they were paid by the hour, one would think that if they were not productive, they would have been let go. I think one of them had been working for the company for 10 years and one for 6 years.

 

[TimberPig]

If they were being paid by how much they cut, then they couldn't have been making much money. Even with square chisel chain, a 24" bar is way too long for an 026 in even the softest of wood. There is no way they were making good production pulling that long bar on such a small saw. Either they were getting paid hourly and didn't care how much they cut, or they are a little confused as to what the proper power to bar length is necessary for effective cutting. Even stepping up to an 036 to pull that bar would have made a significant difference in how much they cut.

 

[12guns]

Yeah, sorry man, those guys were bucking something other than trees in those woods. My 026 runs like a champ w/ 16" bar, tried 18, but didn't pull as well as I wanted. I'll be sticking w/ 16" bar, factory stihl chains. nothing fancy, but seems to cut fast and consistant.

 

[TimberPig]

Maybe their employer was just as clueless about how much production to expect as they were?

 

[Lakeside53]

I see long bars on smaller saws all the time out here in the NW.... It's called "saving the back".

Ground limbing. Snip off that 125-175 foot fir hemlock, cedar or whatever with the 66. Now walk the length of the log 3-10 feet of off the ground (across dead fall and junk) limbing. Lot easier to have a lighter saw and long bar than bending over for each side branch at or below foot level.... and safer (o.k., beat me up). I see a lot of 44's with 32 inch bars used this way, and 36's and 26's....

Fir is a softwood, but the branches are usually really dense and hard. A lowland 70 year old doug fir will be 175+ feet tall, the bigger branches are 3-4 inches in diameter and rock hard inside. Cuts real nice with a narrow kerf chain on a short pole pruner, but that's not the discussion here.

 

[rbtree]

I prefer an 18 inch bar on my fully woods modded 346, which is 50-100% faster than a stock 026. Ludicrous that anyone would run that bar length on that gutless saw. And full skip is also slower than full comp, rougher cutting, and more prone to kickback. I used to run 24 inch on my 036's, which was fine for limbing as it is easy on the back. But now i run my ehp 357 with a 20 inch bar. i'd rather have speed than convenience. I'd feel different if I was limbing felled conifers all day. Then I'd run a 32 on the 357 if you could get a small mount bar that long...and laugh all the way to the bank, as the saw easily beats a stock 044, which i used to run with 24-32 inch bars.

 

[12guns]

I see long bars on smaller saws all the time out here in the NW.... It's called "saving the back".

Ground limbing. Snip off that 125-175 foot fir hemlock, cedar or whatever with the 66. Now walk the length of the log 3-10 feet of off the ground (across dead fall and junk) limbing. Lot easier to have a lighter saw and long bar than bending over for each side branch at or below foot level.... and safer (o.k., beat me up). I see a lot of 44's with 32 inch bars used this way, and 36's and 26's....

Fir is a softwood, but the branches are usually really dense and hard. A lowland 70 year old doug fir will be 175+ feet tall, the bigger branches are 3-4 inches in diameter and rock hard inside. Cuts real nice with a narrow kerf chain on a short pole pruner, but that's not the discussion here.

I think you missed the point...these guys were felling, bucking, and limbing w/ small saws, long bars. they did not have a 066 at their disposal. You know as well as anyone else that for felling and bucking trees 18"-24" that long of a bar would struggle. Your right about limbing though, It would do fine for 4-8" limbs, and save you from stouping over.

 

[canguy21]

20" is the longest bar Stihl supplies us for .325 chain and that is pretty well the limit for a MS260 anyway. MS440 with a 24" bar and full chisel is the hot ticket for felling spruce and pine in the mountains.

 

[Leebo]

Seems like most people think it's a bad idea. I did notice this on Masden's web site:

http://www.madsens1.com/sti026.htm

"Guide Bar Recomendations. In the Northwest, the Stihl MS260 Pro is often fitted with a 20" bar although it does have adequate power to pull a 24".

 

[12guns]

It may pull it, but not near as well as a shorter bar...I wouln't want to be trying to cut anything 20" or bigger w/ such a long bar. But I could still see using it for limbing.