What bar length?

[DeanBrown3D]

:censored: sweet gum, all I seem to get these day. I rip rounds (at length 22") into quarters or halves, for a furnace. The 460/24" bar works well, but I was wondering if I had something like a 42" it might be better at not clogging? But I'm not sure if this will be the case. Seems like the chips would have a few more inches to fall out before heading back to the sprocket.

Any experience here appreciated.

Dean

 

[clearance]

Dean, I bucked a pretty big spruce blowdown for firewood the other week, 371XP with a 28" bar, I had to cut it sideways so I could pick it up. Here is what works for me, keep cutting, when the chips stuff up to bad, pull them out with your hand and bar wrench. A 42' bar will just be a pita, live with it, get a smart wedge so you don't have to cut so much, the smart wedge amazed me. Hope this helps.

 

[PWB]

get a smart wedge so you don't have to cut so much, the smart wedge amazed me. Hope this helps.

What's a smart wedge?

 

[clearance]

Imagine a regular steel wedge made for splitting that has been twisted 90 degrees, that is the top and the bottom point north and south. People told me about this, I was skeptical but got one, it is awesome, it corkscrews the wood apart as well as forcing apart like a normal wedge. It cost $40, I use an 8lb sledgehammer with it. They are green, got it at a chainsaw dealer.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

:censored: sweet gum, all I seem to get these day. I rip rounds (at length 22") into quarters or halves, for a furnace. The 460/24" bar works well, but I was wondering if I had something like a 42" it might be better at not clogging? But I'm not sure if this will be the case. Seems like the chips would have a few more inches to fall out before heading back to the sprocket.

Any experience here appreciated.

Dean

The longer bar won't help, but if you hold the saw at more of an angle, you'll get shorter chips that won't clog as much.

 

[DeanBrown3D]

Hehe no wedge in the world will split this sweet gum!

Hey Mike - problem I find is that although the chips are shorted, it cuts much slower as the angle is increased, I have to power it though then.

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

42" is too much for that saw, especially ripping. Try the different agles like Mike said, and you'll find that your chips are smaller as you get closer to a cross-grain cut. It's odd that it's a slower cut as you mentioned.

Jeff

 

[DeanBrown3D]

Let me rephrase that - as the bar angle goes from 0 (parallel with the grain) to 90 degrees the effort increase almost exponentially. This is typical as far as I know.

 

[clearance]

Let me rephrase that - as the bar angle goes from 0 (parallel with the grain) to 90 degrees the effort increase almost exponentially. This is typical as far as I know.

Correct

 

[DeanBrown3D]

You know you guys are just giving me more amo to getting the 660 or 880

Cheers!

Dean

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Let me rephrase that - as the bar angle goes from 0 (parallel with the grain) to 90 degrees the effort increase almost exponentially. This is typical as far as I know.

I'm thinking of things differently then. To my mind, 90 degrees from with-grain is a standard cross-grain cut.

Jeff

 

[Freakingstang]

Imagine a regular steel wedge made for splitting that has been twisted 90 degrees, that is the top and the bottom point north and south. People told me about this, I was skeptical but got one, it is awesome, it corkscrews the wood apart as well as forcing apart like a normal wedge. It cost $40, I use an 8lb sledgehammer with it. They are green, got it at a chainsaw dealer.

Is that similar to The Wood Grenade?

 

[CaseyForrest]

I have two of those wood grenades for bigger rounds. The sliver maple I had taken down spit them both back out at me using a 10# sledge!

 

[Lakeside53]

Just use a full skip chain like the Stihl Square ground - It has a 10 degree angle and rips just great right out of the box.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Let me rephrase that - as the bar angle goes from 0 (parallel with the grain) to 90 degrees the effort increase almost exponentially. This is typical as far as I know.

If you change the angle dramatically, the cutting will slow, so you need to be up just slightly from parallel.
If the saw keeps clogging, move up a bit. If it's painfully slow, move down.
Holding the saw away from the log helps some too, but that is hard, more like work.
If you cut into the log a few inches, then roll it over and up cut, that throws the chips away and stops clogging. This is best done while a co-workers is nearby, so you can blast him full of chips.
Sometimes, I'll get a partial clog, then lift up on the saw, and the smaller chips will push the clog out without having to stop cutting. Then I'll resume a lower, slightly faster cutting, angle.

 

[woojr]

Hi Dean, you may remember we talked about this a few weeks ago. My Son in Law had a bunch of it yah dah yah dah... from S. Jersey. I now have a 460 as well. I have been doing similar cutting in some tough white oak with a 25" 3/8 RS chain. It has been cleearing itself pretty good. I have the larger bucking spikes on it and I think it really helps. In fact, I have done much of the ripping side ways (tree's too big to move) and it just gives the cutter a much easier effort keeping the pressure where it needs to be. That means easier backing off to let the saw and the kerf clear itself. Hope this helps, work safe, woojr

 

[DeanBrown3D]

Hello again!

The only reason I'm ripping it is coz it dont split.

Well, the splitter can split it, but it leaves great piles of shredded crap, and not logs (aint no stopping my split-ez)

White oak splits well imho. Why are you ripping it?

 

[woojr]

I'm ripping it because it's almost all limbed trunk from over 40 inches diameter to about 30 some inches diameter. This tree grew by itself without competition from other trees. It wasn't real tall, but it had huge limbs starting near the bottom.
Much of this wood is so tough a sharp hatchet bounces off the endgrain. Also, its heavy. Real heavy to move around (I'm by myself). ALso I am giving some blocks to a carver I know and keeping some for a few projects (resawing in the bandsaw).
The owner claimed it was almost 300 years old before a rotten bottom and storm took her down. A shame, this was a really nice tree. woojr

 

[DeanBrown3D]

A king will not warm his slippers by ash, as the saying goes, if he has some white oak stashed away!

Hit anything in there yet? That tree is dying for some nice burried treasure! Remember when you see sparks, stop! And take a flash light to see what's in there.