Recommended bar length for 394XP

Benjo75

Treehouser
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Nov 8, 2016
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Location
Malvern, Arkansas
I mainly run 661s with 36" bars in bigger wood but lately I'm in need of a bar that's a little longer. I could use 4 or 5 ft and wouldn't be overkill for some of the oaks we've been dealing with lately. I don't mean for falling even though it would help there too, I mean 10 or 15 up some of these old mature, gnarly yard oaks that fork 3 or 4 times and are 9 and 10 ft through. I don't think the 661s would handle much bigger than 36" but I might be wrong. I have a 394XP I bought 6 or 7 years ago from an older man that hardly ever used it. It's been a great saw and I bought the adapter and run the 36" Stihl bar on it but really don't use it much. Thinking about outfitting it with a long bar and just take it out on the bigger trees. . Any recommendations on how low long of a bar the 394XP would pull? Also any recommendations of the brand of bar? Best I remember Cannon was a good bar but expensive. Any other brands that are good?
 
Back in the day that saw was speced for up to a 60" bar in .404 pitch in the Husqy catalog. Probably a 48" in hardwoods would pull real nice.
 
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It pulls a 36 like it's not there so was wondering if I could get away with at least 48. Would probably do better in pine that dry oak. Most of these bigger trees we get are still alive. But I'm doing a lot of cutting in the limb whorls where it's pretty rough going. I've only had 2 in the last year that thave been right at 10 ft. I like to use as short of a bar as I can.
 
Since it's somewhat limited use, I think I'd be comfortable with a 48"+skip chain, but I don't have personal experience. I have a 36" on my 661, and it handles it with ease. I wouldn't mind going longer, but don't want to spend the money. My needs aren't great enough to justify it. Cannon has a good reputation, but their bars are heavy and spendy.

edit:
If you spin your own chain, you could test it with full comp. You'd only lose a handful of links if it didn't work out, and you could then buy a skip chain.
 
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