New bar a chain to deal with large maple

Re: New bar a chain to deal with large maple

Barry Irby

Great to hear this went well. My question is, is that a burl tree? It looks like a lumpy tree that I have assumed was covered with burls. I ride by a property with a huge maple covered in huge bulges and have lusted after them, thinking they were burls. Maybe not?

Re: New bar a chain to deal with large maple

Dick Coers

I doubt if you would like the skip tooth on the 20" bar. It's just like the rule of thumb for the band saw, you need so many teeth in the wood to be efficient. If you cut a small diameter, with few teeth, it's likely to be tough to start, jumpy and slow.

Re: New bar a chain to deal with large maple

Mike Foster

I wish Barry. All the lumps are where limbs led off of the trunk. Not a lot of burls on this one. I do have a couple old matriarch maples in the middle of my woods on their last legs that have a bunch of burls. It is getting close to time to harvest the burls. Problem is the trees are in spots that are not easy to get to with my tractor.

Re: New bar a chain to deal with large maple

Mike Foster

Thanks for that advice Dick. I have several chains for the 20" bar and will just stick with them.

Re: New bar a chain to deal with large maple

John Spitters

I run a 32" bar on my 372xp and it handles it just fine as does my older 272xp.

Re: New bar a chain to deal with large maple

Brad Vietje

Hmmm.... Not any visible staining... never been tapped?

For folks not familiar with New England -- and especially Vermont -- most big maples, and especially those near roads & houses, have been tapped for collecting sap and making Maple Syrup. Tap holes usually result in staining of the wood up and down the tree a ways, and can sometimes add value to a piece.

Occasionally, people will have hammered plugs in after the season ends, but usually the taps are just removed, and the tree heals. Sometimes a tap is found 6 - 8" below the bark, having been left there many years ago. My dad and I found a tap and a broken drill bit in a huge Sugar Maple we cut up in North Haverhill, NH about 16 years ago.

Safe spinning,

Brad Vietje

Newbury, VT

Re: New bar a chain to deal with large maple

Keith Newton

When I went in to buy the 32" bar for my Stihl 391, they told me that there was no way that saw would be powerful enough to handle that much bar. When I pointed out that the skip tooth had exactly the same number of teeth along the straight part capable of all making the cut at the same time, as a regular chain on a 22", then ask what the difference was, they couldn't answer that.

When I told them I wanted to buy it anyway, would they sell it to me, they did. The skip tooth cuts great. It may in fact cut faster on really large logs than a regular chain, in that with too many teeth cutting, the chips have nowhere to go, which clogs up the works.

Curious about the chain for you shorter bar

Dick Coers

Do you use the Stihl safety chain, or regular chain on your shorter bar? I hate the safety chain, it really cuts slowly. Just thinking you may be comparing two different style cutters as well as two different tooth spacings. I've never had my cutters clog up the work with standard tooth spacing. I do file or grind the rakers pretty often, so I take a fairly thick chip.

Dick, I haven't had the shorter bar back on.

Keith Newton

Well, and actually I bought this saw with a 25" bar, and skip tooth.

However, I was watching a professional arborist using a more powerful motor than mine sawing with a 36" bar and regular chain. I couldn't believe how slowly it was cutting. If you have that many teeth so close together, using the full length of the bar to cut, the chips will load all the space available within just a couple of inches then prevent the other teeth from making contact.

If you have a larger saw, you ought to try it. Another nice benefit, is that if your like me and do your own sharpening, it only takes half as long.

Yeah, I have a big saw

Dick Coers

I have a Stihl Farm Boss and a Husqvarna 3120 for the big saw. Really I should call it the biggest saw, since Husqvarna doesn't make any that are bigger. 119cc 8.3hp. I have a 36" and 60" bar for it. I've never run a full comp chain on the Husky, always skip tooth for both crosscut and rip chain. I've also seen a lot of "professional" tree guys run some horribly sharpened chains. I carry a full rack of chains with me, (at least 4-6 chains) since it's way easier to swap it out when it gets just a little dull, compared to cutting slowly. Sharpens a lot easier too. I have a really nice chain grinder, and have kept my chains in top condition for years. I can't agree with you comparing the full comp and skip. In the size log you are working, I'm pretty confident that I can't grind a full comp chain that will cut just as fast as a skip. Now once you get much over 3' it might be a tad slower for the full comp, but I'm not the kind of guy that just pulls the throttle wide open. My 3120 really barks when it runs at about 75% with the size chip I pull. Here's a pic of the last oak log I used the saw on.

That's a A Matchbox Tractor, Right?