Post Oak - What saws?

[TX Rancher]

So for months now I have been fighting a losing battle to clear my home place of dead post oaks. I have at least another 20-30 to go just to clear the pastures of standing dead trees. I have been using a mix of my own saws and some of my dad’s stuff. I have been using Stihl 046, 362 and 462. Also have a MMWS Husky 562, and all have 20” bars. I just picked up a Stihl 500i yesterday with a 25” bar and ran it for the first time today.

What I typically will do is cut a tree down, limb it and then buck it up into pieces and stack it on another, burn that one down and keep moving on stacking each tree on a new tree to burn down.

The 462 was my far away favorite up until today. The power that 500 had was fun. Those dead post oaks are rough on chains though so I want to use something lighter on the limbs and save the 500 for felling and chopping trunks.

I have a good supply of 20” loops. The 362 is one of my dad’s saws, so it isn’t with me much. I like the consistency of it as a Stihl, but wish it had more power like the husky 562. The husky feels nice, but it’s a bit of a pain logistically with everything else being a stihl.

I’m considering selling the Husky 562, and picking up 400. Not sure if that’s too close to the 500 in size, but I think it’s still small enough to be easier handling. Should I potentially consider a 261 though? Not sure a 50 cc saw would handle a 20” bar well in this dead post oak. Anyways, curious what people here think.

 

[bryanr2]

Sell the 562 and get a 400. I love my 400

 

[drf256]

I love my 500.

The 400 is a great saw. At least in my experience, when in ported form it won’t hang with a good 462. Granted it’s smaller and lighter, but not by a whole bunch.

I’d have your 046 ported. I think you’ll be disappointed in a stock 400 vs your MMWS562. The 400 is the same size as the 362, so you can compare them quite easily.

A good ported 046 will run longer filled than a 500i and will make ample power. I’d probably say it would be more fuel efficient than the 500 as well. I don’t care about fuel economy, it only bothers me to stop and fuel. The 500 is a thirsty beast, but hey it takes fuel to make power. It just seems like it’s down to 1/2 tank rather quickly.

A 261 is a great saw. A ported one can handle a 20, but I don’t think you’ll be happy with it. An old school ported 036 would serve your needs pretty well.

 

[TX Rancher]

I have consider sending the 046 to get ported and worked over at some point, it just doesn’t feel as “refined” in the hands as the 362 and 462 do. I would view it closer to the use profile of the 500 though.

I was thinking the 400 and the 562 would be fairly comparable in power.

 

[bryanr2]

I have consider sending the 046 to get ported and worked over at some point, it just doesn’t feel as “refined” in the hands as the 362 and 462 do. I would view it closer to the use profile of the 500 though.

I was thinking the 400 and the 562 would be fairly comparable in power.

Ported 400 should walk a ported 562. I went with the 400 because it was going to be the smallest Saw in my lineup. I have no regrets on it. I don’t know what it would be like stock, I had it ported right out of the box before I ever took possession of it

 

[johnny tree walker]

So for months now I have been fighting a losing battle to clear my home place of dead post oaks. I have at least another 20-30 to go just to clear the pastures of standing dead trees. I have been using a mix of my own saws and some of my dad’s stuff. I have been using Stihl 046, 362 and 462. Also have a MMWS Husky 562, and all have 20” bars. I just picked up a Stihl 500i yesterday with a 25” bar and ran it for the first time today.

What I typically will do is cut a tree down, limb it and then buck it up into pieces and stack it on another, burn that one down and keep moving on stacking each tree on a new tree to burn down.

The 462 was my far away favorite up until today. The power that 500 had was fun. Those dead post oaks are rough on chains though so I want to use something lighter on the limbs and save the 500 for felling and chopping trunks.

I have a good supply of 20” loops. The 362 is one of my dad’s saws, so it isn’t with me much. I like the consistency of it as a Stihl, but wish it had more power like the husky 562. The husky feels nice, but it’s a bit of a pain logistically with everything else being a stihl.

I’m considering selling the Husky 562, and picking up 400. Not sure if that’s too close to the 500 in size, but I think it’s still small enough to be easier handling. Should I potentially consider a 261 though? Not sure a 50 cc saw would handle a 20” bar well in this dead post oak. Anyways, curious what people here think.

Use Stihl RM chain, Not RS chain.

 

[johnny tree walker]

Use Stihl RM chain, not RS. RM chain will not dull as fast. Keep the chain sharp. 25 inch or longer bar use full skip chain.

 

[IffykidMn]

I do not quite understand the logistic issues of running both Stihl and Husqvarna.

Run .050 chain and if you want get a bar adapter and run Stihl bars on the Husky.

 

[TX Rancher]

Ported 400 should walk a ported 562. I went with the 400 because it was going to be the smallest Saw in my lineup. I have no regrets on it. I don’t know what it would be like stock, I had it ported right out of the box before I ever took possession of it

I think I’m looking at it similar to you in considering this as my smallest saw. I am curious how close the 400 stands in stock form.

 

[TX Rancher]

Use Stihl RM chain, not RS. RM chain will not dull as fast. Keep the chain sharp. 25 inch or longer bar use full skip chain.

A brief study on this after reading your post seems like RM may be a more forgiving choice for my purposes. Thanks for this suggestion.

 

[TX Rancher]

I do not quite understand the logistic issues of running both Stihl and Husqvarna.

Run .050 chain and if you want get a bar adapter and run Stihl bars on the Husky.

I don’t know. Hard for me to put it into words really. Maybe less logistics and more just something else hard to define. Maybe “feel” gets closer to it. The stihl saws all feel closer to the same in my hands vs the husky. The husky loses some of its being smaller advantage on feel just because it handles differently than the stihl saws. Even if it’s bigger or smaller, a stihl feels like a stihl. The choke works the same direction. The kill switch goes the same direction. Maybe it’s more imagination.

 

[Sloughfoot]

I think the perfect compliment to a felling/bucking 60,70,80 cc saw is a small, light, fast 30, 40 something cc saw. Feels good to put down the beast after awhile and run something 8 lb lighter.

 

[Woodpecker]

I think I’m looking at it similar to you in considering this as my smallest saw. I am curious how close the 400 stands in stock form.

I have run both a 400 and 562 a fair amount in stock form. I own a ported ms400 and have also run good ported 562s. The 400 is the lighter more powerful saw when they are both stock. I would put a stock 400 close to a woods ported 562. I haven’t specifically tested a stock 400 against a ported 562 So take my opinion with a grain of salt.

 

[TX Rancher]

So this may be kicking a big ant hill, but what are the thoughts here about carbide chain for this use? Steel chain dulls very fast in this dead standing post oak. It’s not uncommon for to be cutting and see sparks in wood.

 

[bogieboy]

If youre seeing sparks you need more oil on the bar... or your bar nose is completely worn out....

As for carbides, they will cut noticably slower, but last noticably longer if that makes sense?

Silly question, how dirty is the bark of the trees you are cutting? That may be the source of the chain dulling?

 

[sawmikaze]

Use Stihl RM chain, not RS. RM chain will not dull as fast. Keep the chain sharp. 25 inch or longer bar use full skip chain.

Full skip chain dulls faster than full comp.

More so in dry hard wood.

 

[sawmikaze]

If youre seeing sparks you need more oil on the bar... or your bar nose is completely worn out....

As for carbides, they will cut noticably slower, but last noticably longer if that makes sense?

Silly question, how dirty is the bark of the trees you are cutting? That may be the source of the chain dulling?

Seeing sparks doesn't necessarily mean he needs more oil on the bar.

 

[Sloughfoot]

Seeing sparks doesn't necessarily mean he needs more oil on the bar.

Could be cutting at night.

 

[sawmikaze]

Could be cutting at night.

Or the bar is on upside down.

 

[TX Rancher]

I didn’t really see the sparks as an oiling issue, though it could be. Seems to happen when chain is getting dull. It’s not lots of sparks by any means.

As fast as the regular chains dull, I’m thinking maintaining a slower speed for longer may win out in the long run. Going to get one to try.

As to how dirty the bark is, I’m not really sure how to answer it. The trees I am cutting are standing at the edge of or in the middle of cow pastures and hay fields for the most part. The soil around where I am at tends to be sandy top soils over red clay.