Ultimate "Firewood" Saw

[NPKenny]

Dude.... You need more trigger time on more saws

Fact!

My favorite set-up for bucking is a 25” bar on a ported 660. I’ve tried a 20” bar to see if it was even more better, and it wasn’t. 25” let’s me have enough bar to noodle large rounds as well.

But now it’s as if every cut I make is a different saw, ha! Getting firewood is just a chance to put time on saws I’m trying to dial in and teach my children a work ethic. I don’t even burn wood, just deliver it to widows and orphans.

 

[Lightning Performance]

That sounds right. For comparison, a 25" ES bar is slightly nose-heavy on my ms460.
To the OP: There's over 120 dead oaks on our neighboring 75 acres and I'll be doing my share of the cutting, all of which will end up in the neighbor's firewood processor. If I had your rig, I'd run a 28" ES Light on the 661 (stock) for felling & bucking and sell the 36" bar and the ms290. Resize the full comp chain for the 28" bar w/ 7-pin sprocket; not sure anyone wants to sharpen that many cutters on a 36" bar. For limbing & smaller wood, I've found an ms261 to be efficient and quick to sharpen. That's just me; lots of folks prefer the power of a ported 661.

More cutters do more work.
If your worried about the number of cutters....

 

[pwheel]

More cutters require more work...

Fixed.

 

[FordTruckMan]

Does anyone have a line on a 25 or a 28 ES Light bar? My dealer can't get one, says his distributor doesn't even know when they will be back in stock. Or should I be looking at aftermarket? I don't even know what a Stihl Light bar would cost compared to aftermarket.

 

[woodfarmer]

I’m happy with tsumura

 

[Lightning Performance]

Fixed.

File faster

 

[Lightning Performance]

Does anyone have a line on a 25 or a 28 ES Light bar? My dealer can't get one, says his distributor doesn't even know when they will be back in stock. Or should I be looking at aftermarket? I don't even know what a Stihl Light bar would cost compared to aftermarket.

@Redbull661

 

[pwheel]

File faster

File less, cut more.

 

[dustinwilt68]

I have seen some pics of his port work, no thanks.

 

[huskihl]

I have seen some pics of his port work, no thanks.

I see some posts got deleted. I assume you’re not talking about my port work?

 

[FordTruckMan]

I have seen some pics of his port work, no thanks.

There appears to have been some quick moderation to this thread...clearly there was some history there.

 

[dustinwilt68]

I see some posts got deleted. I assume you’re not talking about my port work?

No sir Kevin, your work is beautiful, I think the mods deleted the post I was referring to.

 

[Ryan Browne]

Does anyone have a line on a 25 or a 28 ES Light bar? My dealer can't get one, says his distributor doesn't even know when they will be back in stock. Or should I be looking at aftermarket? I don't even know what a Stihl Light bar would cost compared to aftermarket.

Tsumura are a lot cheaper. I have been pleased with mine.

 

[Lightning Performance]

Kevin's works does look beautiful like some others.
Proof is in da cut

 

[FordTruckMan]

A little birdie told me to go with a 28" Tsumura, .404 Full Skip chain, and 8 tooth sprocket. Anyone care to confirm this? My hands go numb after the first few teeth of filing, so half the teeth to file sounds really go to me.

 

[Ryan Browne]

Doesn't sound like the smoothest setup (3/8 full comp would be). Not the torque-y-est either because of how big the sprocket is. Also, not as fast cutting as 3/8. But yes, definitely fewer cutters to file!

 

[huskihl]

I haven’t run much skip. My 661 runs 36” .404 full comp pretty well.
Don’t know if it’s a good tradeoff running skip and then speeding the chain up with a bigger sprocket. Full comp has half again more cutters, which are all cutting wood. If it doesn’t get rocked, it should also cut half again more wood before getting dull.

 

[Bigmac]

I have a loop of .404 full skip Carlton round file chisel, and it’s a bit jumpy out of the box, it wasn’t smooth at all, I put 3/8 skip Stihl round chisel and it smooth. Both out of the box, from that I would recommend .404 skip, I need to get some full comp 404 to compare to.

 

[pwheel]

A little birdie told me to go with a 28" Tsumura, .404 Full Skip chain, and 8 tooth sprocket...

Sounds like a specialized setup for an experienced user. Let's not overthink this. For a general use firewood saw, why not go with the Stihl's recommendation for the ms661? "STIHL recommends #3624 (33 RS3 84) OILOMATIC® saw chain and 25" 3003 000 4030 Ematic™ guide bar combination."

 

[Adamski]

Don’t forget that full chiz dulls quicker in dirty wood. And is a damn sight harder to get a good cutter back from hitting dirt. I like chisel chain but for everyday I will stick to semi chisel.