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Best bar and chain for MS660

Started by deadred, December 10, 2004, 09:56:29 AM

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deadred

recommendations for the best all around bar and chain set up for a Stihl MS 660?

KENROD

Well, it depends.

What are you mostly going to be cutting (size, hardwood/softwood)? Are you an experienced operator?  ???

This will help determine bar length and chain style. More info is needed.

Engineer

If you were asking about a much smaller saw, I'd say a 16" bar and standard semi-chisel chain.

But that's a huge beast, and you've obviously got a target in mind.  Either that, or highly masochistic.   :o  Either way.  Need to fit your application to your bar/chain.  Milling requires a bar long enough to go through the log, and may depend on your mill setup.  It will also require full chisel rip chain.

On the other hand, if you're felling and bucking, well, I can't imagine there's a lot of trees in Illinois big enough to need that size of a saw, but I'd tend to run a 20" or maybe a 24" bar on that big bad boy.  I had an 066 for my Logosol mill, and when it wasn't on the mill, I ran a 28" bar and 3/8" skip chain on it.    Full bore, that setup cut through anything I threw at it, slick as snail snot.

deadred

thanks for the suggestions, I'm cutting up some 36" to 40" red oaks. I have quite a few on my property that need to come down. I cut up everything for firewood.

Engineer

Before you hack all that up for firewood, you might want to ask around to see if anybody might be interested in getting some of those 36" to 40" LOGS from you.  That's awfully big trees to be turning into firewood.   I saw a pile of oak and sugar maple today that was all 30-36" diameter, cut into 4' lengths and smaller to be burned in a woodstove.   I'm sure there's guys here on this forum, or maybe a logger in your area, that would trade firewood size sticks for that big stuff, or even buy them if they're not yard trees.

KENROD

For cutting 36"-40" oak I'd use a 24" bar with full chisel semi-skip chain. Full comp. chain wood work alright too, you have enough power in that 660 to pull it.

magic

I like to run a 24" bar on my 066, but I don't mind running a 20" bar on it either.  Like the other guys said, you want to go with the smallest bar you can afford, just for weight purposes.  I like the 20" and 24" bar because the balance of the saw is better.  With anything bigger than a 24", the saw tends to tip forward.  I always like to run the Stihl RS super chain, but I haven't tried many other chains either.  Good Luck with your choice.

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