The "might as wells" got me good

[met175]

Hello,

I started to look for a 2 saw combo several weeks ago to replace all my ageing, underpowered, but mostley unreliable saws (6) gotten from here or there over the years. While I enjoy and totally appreciate collecting massive amounts of equipment and even have my own personal junkyard of tractors and farm equipment, I decided that I only wanted to own two saws (crazy huh?) that always ran when I wanted them to. When I stared looking I was considering a 142 and a 350; now after reading a gizillion post here form all the experts, I have graduated my thoughts and deciced on a 346xp and a 372xp if I can find one yet. I cut and do everything on a non professional level except milling, and find myself running a saw about every 10 -14 days weather it be for myself on the farm, cleanup/firewood aplicatiions or ocasionally on a home improvement/landscaping jobsite. Mostly hardwoods, and have very rarley if ever encountered myself needing to cut wood diamiter larger than 30"+. So finally my question is whats my best bar configurations for this combo , keeping in mind that these will be the only two that I own? I was thinking of a 16" on the 346xp and a 20" on the 372xp. Anyone like the feel of 18" bars on thier 346xp's better? Also, anyone know were I can still find a new 372xp in this country (USA)?
Thanks in advance for your assistance and direction,

Regards, Mike

 

[luckycutter]

I have been using the 372-346 combo for a few years now and I have been very happy with the results. Even though many on this board prefer the biggest moter/smallest bar combo I prefer to have longer bars as it equates to less reaching when cutting, and the saws are more balanced for my cutting style, ie more bar heavy. I cut mostly oak, madrone, maple , alder, and fir(if nothing else is around).I cut the whole tree so I range from 4' down to 4" with the majority of the logs being in the12" to 24" range. I usually have a 28 or 32 inch bar on the 372 and the 18" bar on the 346. With the longer bars I rarely have to make two passes. With longer bars it is important to keep the chains charp and it takes a bit longer when sharpening, but with a good chain both saws go through the wood with no problems.You won't be competing with any race saws, but you will also have a bit more time to notice if the wood is binding or pinching the bar, so you won't get into trouble as fast. You can bear down with the 372 a bit, but the 346 has a narrow power range so it is important to use your ears and keep the 346 in its optimum rpm range. Both saws are workhorses that like to run and cut fast so if you find yourself bearing down alot then the chain is either not lubed enough or needs to be sharpened.