Do i need another chainsaw ?

[Dacha]

Hello

I have Stihl ms170 with 12" bar. It is working well.

I use it for felling, bucking, limbing, clearing. Trees i work with are mostly 7-10 inch.

I have noticed that using chansaw started increasingly to affect my lower and middle back. I am 49 and 6ft4".

Now i have seen videos where people seem to do bucking with long chainsaw bars 24-30 inch standing straight with minimal back bending.

I am trying to figure out if it is more financialy sound to have someone do cutting work for me or get something like stihl ms311 with long bar. Is it overkill for the size of logs i am dealing with. It would be primarily for reach and ergonomics.

I have to cut like 12-15 trees like that per year for next 3 years. All hardwood if it is relevant.

 

[Michael E]

In my experience (I'm 6ft3"), a saw with a bar long enough to stand straight is very heavy and unbalanced. I have bars up to 36", but usually just bend down with a shorter bar. I'm 52 years old and glad that I don't do this for 8 hours a day...

The MS170 is lightweigt, but not very powerful. A stronger saw cuts faster. You have to find your compromise between weight and speed.

 

[WoodmanSr]

Hello

I have Stihl ms170 with 12" bar. It is working well.

I use it for felling, bucking, limbing, clearing. Trees i work with are mostly 7-10 inch.

I have noticed that using chansaw started increasingly to affect my lower and middle back. I am 49 and 6ft4".

Now i have seen videos where people seem to do bucking with long chainsaw bars 24-30 inch standing straight with minimal back bending.

I am trying to figure out if it is more financialy sound to have someone do cutting work for me or get something like stihl ms311 with long bar. Is it overkill for the size of logs i am dealing with. It would be primarily for reach and ergonomics.

I have to cut like 12-15 trees like that per year for next 3 years. All hardwood if it is relevant.

Your simple answer is NO. A bigger powerhead will aggravate what's affecting you.

I'm 6'2 with more years on you. First you might develop more core abdominal strength, do stretches, & back strengthening. Sorry what burdens you, but you'll regret thinking more saw fixes anything.

Sawing small stuff on the ground is prone to exerting back stain. I chop everything down to 2" as firewood. Little goes to waste & 50cc wearing 16" bar. When possible I cut whats suspended in air from small braches to branch crotch, but only helps half the time. If 20" or 24" in hand than push small cuts to end of job or leave on ground until later small saw cleanup.

If just yourself & needs done. Maybe build a portable saw buck, cut pole lengths you can manage, saw at waist height. But, likely does not assist you, too much lifting of heavier poles... maybe.

I say nope to bigger saw. Waste of money. I see many complimenting the one-hand electric chainsaws. Maybe give them a look for pruning.

Short jobs.. I find it easier to 1.5" to often use a hand saw. Camping style bow saw & helps fitness.

Edit (thought) - I don't own one although a log cant with leg might help. Get those 4-12" log sizes off ground 10" so a bit less bending. Plus less effort to keep tip out the ground. Couldn't hurt IMO.

 

[lone wolf]

Hello

I have Stihl ms170 with 12" bar. It is working well.

I use it for felling, bucking, limbing, clearing. Trees i work with are mostly 7-10 inch.

I have noticed that using chansaw started increasingly to affect my lower and middle back. I am 49 and 6ft4".

Now i have seen videos where people seem to do bucking with long chainsaw bars 24-30 inch standing straight with minimal back bending.

I am trying to figure out if it is more financialy sound to have someone do cutting work for me or get something like stihl ms311 with long bar. Is it overkill for the size of logs i am dealing with. It would be primarily for reach and ergonomics.

I have to cut like 12-15 trees like that per year for next 3 years. All hardwood if it is relevant.

Get a Skid steer with grapple. Or a Tractor with fork lifts.

 

[moxiemaul]

I have an old Homelite XL with 30" bar that I set up for bucking while standing. Its a 50cc saw but with a skip tooth chain it does OK not great but quite OK. I do tend to bend less often, less deeply and for less time with the long bar- so for that it works. For bucking the weight and balance tend to be helpful since its assisting the cut. That said, its working the tip from a standing position is something of a mechanical disadvantage, so getting it cutting still takes effort- but at least I'm mostly standing up. Probably its obvious, but smaller wood is easier than larger with this setup. Larger tends to need more rocking and sometimes leaning to help move the cut along.

It takes time to learn the tip. On a log right down on the dirt I'll buck it 90% leaving the bottom inch or two, then roll the log with a peavy and cut the remaining wood on each piece.

Its a workout for cutting above the waist and especially shoulders. I've felled with it, and its not horrible if putting in the cuts at knee to waist height or so- but the balance and length makes the saw awkward on a facecut, particularly if trying for a humbolt. A shorter bar makes that kind of thing a bit easier.

I have a little Echo 310 for limbing and smaller stuff- SO much easier to swing it around. It will buck larger wood but like the OP alludes to it makes for a lot of leaning down and moving around to get the cuts done.

 

[NSEric]

Buy one of these to lift the logs off the ground so you dont have to bend over.

 

[Marley5]

Buy one of these to lift the logs off the ground so you dont have to bend over.
View attachment 1227627

This ^
They work surprisingly well although mine is called a woodchuck.
At 64 I'll take lighter saws over bar length and the 7" - 10" stuff your talking about, you have plenty of saw.

 

[Chainsaw Pete]

Your saw weighs in at right around 10 lbs. The specs I found say the power head weighs 8.6#. Any other saw you get or longer bar will weigh more and aggravate your back pain. The only solutions are to work out and build your core body strength, wear a back belt (like weight lifters), and/or lift the trees up so you don't have to bend over. I don't think the last is viable.

I don't think a log jack pictured in post #6 will get the logs high enough off the ground to make a difference. I've been helping a friend on his farm clean up logs in his sugar bush. We use his small Kubota backhoe to lift the logs off the ground for bucking and while it makes a big difference, I'm still bending my back...and I'm only 5'6 1/2" tall. And yes, after a few hours I'm ready to do something else. Moving around and doing different tasks helps me a lot.

Someone mentioned using the tip to avoid bending over so far. I think this is for experienced saw users because using the tip is where kickback occurs.

Depending on your physical condition, and what you do day in, day out it just might make sense to pay someone to do the trees from an injury/pain standpoint. I would think you will be paying a few hundred a year in labor and this will probably go up as time rolls on. It really depends on your financial condition, too. I did all my auto maintenance for years, until I realized I could earn more working than wrenching my cars and truck...and until I felt I could afford to pay someone to do this work.

Funny how many of us did not have back pain when we were younger...this work is a young man's game. I'm 76 years young and rarely work trees for more than half a day, and probably no more than a dozen times a year. I have a MS250 with 18 an 20" bars - the powerhead weighs in at 10.2 lbs. Add a couple of pounds for the bar and chain. My MS311 wears 20 and 25" bars, and the powerhead weighs 13.7#. None of these will enable you to trim your downed trees without bending over...unless you scrape your knuckles on the ground when standing upright.

 

[capetrees]

Add 4" to your reach with a 16" bar for the MS170

 

[johnfawn2000]

In my experience (I'm 6ft3"), a saw with a bar long enough to stand straight is very heavy and unbalanced. I have bars up to 36", but usually just bend down with a shorter bar. I'm 52 years old and glad that I don't do this for 8 hours a day...

The MS170 is lightweigt, but not very powerful. A stronger saw cuts faster. You have to find your compromise between weight and speed.

Dear

In my experience (I'm 6ft3"), a saw with a bar long enough to stand straight is very heavy and unbalanced. I have bars up to 36", but usually just bend down with a shorter bar. I'm 52 years old and glad that I don't do this for 8 hours a day...

The MS170 is lightweigt, but not very powerful. A stronger saw cuts faster. You have to find your compromise between weight and speed.

Dear Michael E , i was watching
Buckin Billy on your tube. I have two practically new husqvarna 357 and 359 saws , that's Buckin Billy was using husqvarna 359 with a small mount with a 32 inch bar . The saw was built beyond stock.
I am going to do this later on. I have a few bills on me , then jump on it. My back isnt very good. This was his story lite saw tricked out with a small mount bar, 24 ,28, or 32 inch. I have a small mount 24 inch. He was showing where you dont have to bend or stoop. The was tricked out to make a decent job of cutting big stuff. I am going to think about this some more and jump on it later on in the new year.
Michael E , wish me luck. Buck

 

[sean donato]

Dear

Dear Michael E , i was watching
Buckin Billy on your tube. I have two practically new husqvarna 357 and 359 saws , that's Buckin Billy was using husqvarna 359 with a small mount with a 32 inch bar . The saw was built beyond stock.
I am going to do this later on. I have a few bills on me , then jump on it. My back isnt very good. This was his story lite saw tricked out with a small mount bar, 24 ,28, or 32 inch. I have a small mount 24 inch. He was showing where you dont have to bend or stoop. The was tricked out to make a decent job of cutting big stuff. I am going to think about this some more and jump on it later on in the new year.
Michael E , wish me luck. Buck

First, BBR don't hardly ever cut hardwoods im not even aure if he knows what the word oak means. Second, thats too much bar even on a heavily ported 357/9. 24" is already pushing it and you sure as heck ain't chasing the back cut with either saw using the entire bar. Ported 359 was my go to saw for years, before I got the 562xp, and the 359 wore a 18 or 20" bar. Wouldn't dream of throwing a 24 let alone a 32" bar on it and asking it to pull it reliably and have the saw last for long.

 

[johnfawn2000]

First, BBR don't hardly ever cut hardwoods im not even aure if he knows what the word oak means. Second, thats too much bar even on a heavily ported 357/9. 24" is already pushing it and you sure as heck ain't chasing the back cut with either saw using the entire bar. Ported 359 was my go to saw for years, before I got the 562xp, and the 359 wore a 18 or 20" bar. Wouldn't dream of throwing a 24 let alone a 32" bar on it and asking it to pull it reliably and have the saw last for long.

Dear Sean donato , thanks for the input. I did notice BBR cut cedar, fir ,and other softwoods or evergreens. I talked to the guy that built the saw for him , they not doing those any more, he mentioned something about lasting , I cant remember for sure what he said. I dont wanna say too much and do a misquote
I agree with you Sean, when money permits i will have 357 or 359 worked on. Do you have suggestions for people to consider
Thanks again Sean for this info
I appreciate this very much sir.
Buck