Chainsaw Size Vs Branch Size

Red Dot

Hi Chainsaw Specialist,

Anyone could help on whether what size of chainsaw for pruning what size of branch.

Eg. 16inches chainsaw able to perform pruning up to branch size 0.8m Girth

Thank you

Bruce Hopf

I used to use McCulloch Mini Mac's for all of my limb work. They did a great job for me.
Now for the limb work, I use a Stihl 024, for that job, It is a bit faster than the Mini Mac's, and has anti vibration to them as well. 026, or MS 260, would be another way to go.
If you decide on a MS 260, make sure that you go with .325 Pitch bar and chain, or a 3/8 Low Profile, pitch bar and chain. If you go with a full 3/8 Pitch chain, will make the chain saw work too hard. Not quite enough power to pull that size of chain, if you are cutting hard wood. Bruce.

__________________
McCulloch chain saws
1- Pro Mac 60, 1- Pro Mac 700, 2- Mac 10-10 Automatic's, 2- Mini Mac 30's, 2- Mac 110's,
2- Mini Mac 35's, 1- Mac 140 with Automatic Chain Sharpener,
1- Pro Mac 10-10, 1- Mac Cat, 2- Eager Beaver
2.0's, 1- Mac 1-10
Stihl chain saws
2- 044's, 2- 034's, 2- 024's, 1- 064, 1- 084,
Strunk chain saws
1- Busy Beaver, 1- SpeeDemon Special
Stand Back, I Have A Very Extreme Case of CAD (Chain Saw Addiction Disorder).

windthrown

I run all 3/8 standard chains on my Stihl 026s. No big deal. I have compared them with .325 and there was hardly any difference. Same kerf, more cutters per inch in .325 is the only difference. Picco or 3/8 low profile is hard to run on an 026/260 becasue the rims and large format Stihl Picco bars are hard to get (and they are expensive).

The way to size a chainsaw is to look at the bar size you will need. If you are making 16 inch cuts, an 026 is really too small. A stock 026/260 will drive a 18 inch bar, and on the saw that is about 16 inches of cutting length with the spikes and the curl of the bar at the sprocket. You really need a 20 inch bar for that size cut. I would go with a 60cc saw and run a 20 or 25 inch bar. The saw that was the king of that group was the Stihl 361, but they are no longer available in a lot of places. The Stihl 362 replaces it.

0.8 meters is a large branch. 1 meter = 39.3700787 inches, 0.8 meters = 31 inches. That would take a Stihl 440, 460 or a 441 chainsaw, or a Husky 372 to drive a 32 inch bar. You could cut it with a 20 inch bar from two sides, and get by with a 361 or 362. A 260 is too small for that kind of cutting (I have tried, and it is too slow).

Bruce Hopf

For cutting hard woods, such as Ash, Maple, Elm, and Oak, wouldn't the full 3/8" pitch chain be too hard of a pull, for the 260, for it to drive? These are the woods, that I cut around here, in my bush, for fire wood. Thanks again windthrown, for your input. Bruce.

__________________
McCulloch chain saws
1- Pro Mac 60, 1- Pro Mac 700, 2- Mac 10-10 Automatic's, 2- Mini Mac 30's, 2- Mac 110's,
2- Mini Mac 35's, 1- Mac 140 with Automatic Chain Sharpener,
1- Pro Mac 10-10, 1- Mac Cat, 2- Eager Beaver
2.0's, 1- Mac 1-10
Stihl chain saws
2- 044's, 2- 034's, 2- 024's, 1- 064, 1- 084,
Strunk chain saws
1- Busy Beaver, 1- SpeeDemon Special
Stand Back, I Have A Very Extreme Case of CAD (Chain Saw Addiction Disorder).

Eric Frei

What the heck are you pruning 0.8m dia branches off for?

__________________

windthrown

Nope. Hardwood/softwood, makes no real difference. I spent a lot of time testing different chains on my saws. The only real difference is that there are more cutters per inch on .325, and the profile is slightly different. There is really no difference in kerf between .325 vs 3/8 standard chain. In my experience using it on large format saws, .325 tends to run a tad slower because of the higher number of teeth (the reverse of running semi skip or full skip). The width of the cut being the same, the energy required to make the cuts is the same. I have run tests using the same 026 with a 16 inch B&C of both types (full chisel). Narry a difference in cut times on Madrone, a damn hard wood in these parts.

I have also read over and over on the forums that .325 is better than 3/8 picco. However, a lot of us disagree with those statement, expecially those that have run saws with all three types of chains. I have found it to be the opposite; picco cuts faster and straighter than .325 on small and large mount Stihl bars/saws. This is becasue the kerf is narrower. You cannot get narrow kerf .325 on Stihl in either large or small mount bars. Does not exist. On other types of saws you can, and using NK is certainly faster. That is becasue less wood is being cut.

Now for the history (again) of picco low profile 3/8 on large mount Stihl saws. They (Stihl) only released 3003 picco bars for use on the 024 saws. They never designed it for 026 and larger saw use, because of the torque on those larger saws can easilly break picco chain. However, the bars and rims designed for the 024 fit the larger Stihl saws (well, the 024 rims fit the 026, the larger 360/361 and 440+ saws require a spur sprocket becasue that is all that you can get in that size saw in picco size). Lots of people use picco for chainsaw milling for the simple reason that picco is narrower and slices off a smaller section of wood in the cut, and hence is a lot faster and causes less strain on the saws. Overheating is a common problem with chainsaw mills. However, picco chain is smaller and weaker than .325 or 3/8 standard chain. Stihl found out that people were putting 3003 picco bars on larger saws so they stopped selling them in North America. However, Logosol sells them here and overseas, realizing the potential of using picco over the larger kerf chains.

Now there are people that will debate this until they are blue in the face, and I do not really care. On this and other forums there are a lot of us that prefer picco over .325, and run 3/8 standard chain rather than .325. There are a lot of people that are the opposite. In my experience, .325 is about the same as 3/8 stanadrd chain on larger format saws. That includes my using it on the 260, 290, and 310. On the 026 and up to a 066, its all 3/8 standard for me. On the smaller format saws like the 230 and 250, I found that picco was far superior; faster in the cut, did not pinch the bar in the cut like the fat kerf .325 tends to do, and the saw ran better on it. I have since sold off all my .325 bars and chains. I have no use for the stuff, really. I also no longer have any small mount Stihl saws, so I do not run picco any more. I want to get a 3003 picco B&C setup for one of my 026s though. The rims are really spendy though, and the bars are hard to come by. The chain is easy to get.

Bruce Hopf

I stretched out a chunk of .325 pitch chain, beside a 3/8" pitch chain, and they both had the same amount of cutters per inch, exactly. Sure the .325 pitch chain has a lot narrower kerf, than the 3/8" pitch, and the drive links were not as long on the .325 pitch chain, as on the 3/8" chain.
Also the cutters on the .325 pitch chain was not as long as the 3/8" pitch chain either.
I'll post some pictures of the 3/8" pitch, beside the .325 pitch chain later on, to show the cutters, and how they line up to one another, inch per inch. Bruce.

__________________
McCulloch chain saws
1- Pro Mac 60, 1- Pro Mac 700, 2- Mac 10-10 Automatic's, 2- Mini Mac 30's, 2- Mac 110's,
2- Mini Mac 35's, 1- Mac 140 with Automatic Chain Sharpener,
1- Pro Mac 10-10, 1- Mac Cat, 2- Eager Beaver
2.0's, 1- Mac 1-10
Stihl chain saws
2- 044's, 2- 034's, 2- 024's, 1- 064, 1- 084,
Strunk chain saws
1- Busy Beaver, 1- SpeeDemon Special
Stand Back, I Have A Very Extreme Case of CAD (Chain Saw Addiction Disorder).

windthrown

Sorry, but that cannot be right. Sounds like you are comparing 3/8 picco next to 3/8 standard.

From the Stihl chain master chart:

100' of 3/8 picco chain has 1640 drive links.
100' of 3/8 standard chain has 1640 drive links.
100' of .325 chain has 1840 drive links.

Hence you cannot be comparing .325 to 3/8 standard chain. I tested the kerf of .325 Stihl chain to 3/8 standard Stihl chain as well, and they were very nearly the same. Stihl does not make a narrow kerf .325 bar or chain either. No such beast, though many have claimed that they are available. I looked high and low, and never found any. Other saw companies have .325 NK available, but it is not available for Stihl saws.

I know this shit, as I have run these chains a lot and been over it many times before on other forums. And everything that you are saying about the 'other' chain is accurate for picco chain. Lower and shorter profile cutter, narrower kerf, same number of cutters per inch.

Eric Frei

Well, dunno what all the arguings about but I cant stand that .325 stuff, swap it out for 3/8 0.050 guage if you can and you'll race through wood.

Bruce, for a 0.050" difference between teeth I don't think teeth per inch is a fair measurement. You need a longer measurement, however there's an easy way.

20" bar 3/8 has how many DL vs 20" bar 0.325 guage?

__________________

windthrown

The difference is very obvious between .325 and 3/8 standard or picco. There is a 12% difference between cutter/driver spacing on them. 4 links and you will be 50% off.

Looking at it another way: if .325 had the same drive and cutter spacing as 3/8, the rims would be the same. They are not.

Bruce Hopf

I just double checked the chain that I was comparing with the 3/8" standard pitch, and it must have been a 3/8" low profile chain I was looking at.
I was 110 % in agreement with windthrown, the math just didn't ad up.
I took another chunk of chain, which was new .325 pitch, I had left over from a roll, and a chunk of 3/8" pitch chain that I also had left over from a roll, and there is a difference in the number of cutters, between the two chains, per foot.
Sorry, if everyone thought that I was causing an argument, but that was not the case.
I had taken a chain, that was broken in two, and compared them together, is where the mistake on my part was made. It looked smaller than the 3/8" pitch, so I assumed that it was .325 pitch chain, that I was looking at.
Thanks again. Bruce.

__________________
McCulloch chain saws
1- Pro Mac 60, 1- Pro Mac 700, 2- Mac 10-10 Automatic's, 2- Mini Mac 30's, 2- Mac 110's,
2- Mini Mac 35's, 1- Mac 140 with Automatic Chain Sharpener,
1- Pro Mac 10-10, 1- Mac Cat, 2- Eager Beaver
2.0's, 1- Mac 1-10
Stihl chain saws
2- 044's, 2- 034's, 2- 024's, 1- 064, 1- 084,
Strunk chain saws
1- Busy Beaver, 1- SpeeDemon Special
Stand Back, I Have A Very Extreme Case of CAD (Chain Saw Addiction Disorder).

newguy18

excellent point Eric.

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windthrown

Stump pruning?

I have to post some photos of the crap pruing they have done around here this winter. Mexican tree butchers run amuk.

newguy18

Oh i suggest a stihl 460,20" bar or perferably a husky 575 with 20 " bar.

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