[HOLLiS]

Bill, Yes Oregon brand is the way to go. I have 3 Stihls and a McCulloch. I have for each saw a place where I hang my extra blades. Each saw has two spots one for new/sharp blades and one for "to be sharpened". I like to have about 5 blades per saw.

On my 361, I have two bars for it, a 24 in. and a 30 in.

I have a 170 with a 12 in Bar same as my poll saw. I like that saw a lot. It is high speed, narrow blade, and light. I can cut up to a 20 in. tree.

The McCulloch is a 16 in.. that I don't use much

Along with the saw, I have a short axe and wedges.

Sometimes judging a down tree which way it will bend when being cut is difficult. Wedges sometime helps. Fortunately I never have gotten two saws stuck at the same time.

I don't cut to dimension for a mill so, for me it is all for fire wood. When we do a selective harvest, I let the real loggers do that.

As you mention a long bar is really nice. Also when one has a bad back, it helps when one does not have to bend over.


After this last storm, I have 4 oaks that needs to be felled and a bunch of down fir and other. Kids were bemoaning the fact, that last summer we just got our woods cleared.


Along with files, I have a electric sharpener. They have gone down in price over time and prices to resharpen have gone up.




Dead trees are not fun, I had one that was about 26 inch round at the base. Rotten in core to about 2 inches from the bark. Then there are leaners, I have one now. The Oak that it is leaning against is going to get cut, so maybe not a big problem.