What size chainsaw does the average homeowner need?

A 16 in. bar. It cuts logs up to about 14 in. in one pass, covers storm debris, small tree felling and firewood rounds, and stays light enough to control for an hour of work. Step down to 12 or 14 in. if your cutting is mostly limbs and pruning, and up to 18 or 20 in. only if you routinely cut rounds wider than 16 in. Most people who buy a 20 in. saw for a suburban lot end up wishing they had bought a 16.

Can a chainsaw cut a tree wider than its bar?

Yes, with a two-sided technique — cut from one side to past the center, then reposition and cut from the other side to meet the first kerf. It is done routinely by people who know how, and it is not a beginner technique: matching the two cuts, controlling the bar tip and reading how the log is going to move all matter. If you regularly need it, buy a longer bar. If you need it once, hire someone.

What size chainsaw do I need for firewood?

An 18 in. bar for most firewood work, or 20 in. if you are bucking large rounds. Firewood is repetitive full-depth cutting, so torque matters as much as bar length — a 50 to 60cc gas saw or a 56 to 80V battery saw handles it, while a small saw will do it slowly, hot and with a chain that dulls fast. Under 16 in. you will be repositioning constantly on anything substantial.

Is a bigger chainsaw bar always better?

No, and this is the most common sizing mistake. A longer bar adds weight out in front of your hands, which is where fatigue and lost control come from; it puts more of the kickback-prone nose beyond your line of sight; it needs more power to drive, so on a given engine or motor a longer bar cuts more slowly; and it uses a longer, more expensive chain. Fit the bar to the work and no further.

What size chainsaw is best for pruning?

A 6 to 10 in. one-handed or top-handle saw for branches, or a pole saw for anything overhead. Most homeowner chainsaw work is limbs under 4 in., and a sub-5 lb saw is far easier to control at arm's length than a 12 lb machine. Never use a full-size chainsaw above shoulder height or from a ladder — reach the work from the ground with a pole saw instead.

What Size Chainsaw Do I Need? Bar Length by Job

Written & researched by Elena Marsh Gardening & Landscaping Editor

Updated October 2026

Close-up detail of the material being worked in a pruning, trimming & hedges project, in warm late-afternoon light

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Choose a bar at least 2 inches longer than the widest wood you regularly cut, and no longer than that. For most homeowners that means a 16 in. bar, which cuts logs to about 14 in. in a single pass. Pruning and limbs under 4 in. want a 6 to 10 in. saw; storm debris and small trees want 14 to 16 in.; firewood rounds want 18 to 20 in. Longer is not better — extra bar means extra weight in front of your hands, more kickback-prone nose out of your sight line, and slower cutting for the same power.

What bar length for what job?

Bar length	Cuts in one pass	The work it suits	Typical power class
6–8 in.	Up to ~4–6 in.	Pruning, small deadfall, one-handed cleanup	12V–20V battery
10–12 in.	Up to ~8–10 in.	Limbing, hedge renovation, light storm work	20V–40V battery, small corded
14 in.	Up to ~12 in.	General yard cleanup, small trees	36V–40V battery, 30–40cc gas
16 in.	Up to ~14 in.	The all-round homeowner size	40V–60V battery, 15A corded, 38–50cc gas
18 in.	Up to ~16 in.	Firewood rounds, larger storm limbs	56V–80V battery, 50–55cc gas
20 in.	Up to ~18 in.	Heavy firewood, semi-regular felling	55–60cc gas
24 in. and up	Up to ~22 in.+	Professional felling and milling	60cc+ gas, professional grade

The "cuts in one pass" column is the useful one. A bar has to be roughly two inches longer than the log because the powerhead end of the bar is inside the saw body and the nose sprocket at the other end is not cutting — you do not get the full nominal length as usable cutting width.

Over-the-shoulder view of a person trimming a green hedge with shears, cut leaves falling, in soft early-morning light

The two-inch rule, and why it exists

Cutting right at the limit of the bar means burying the nose in the wood on every cut. That is exactly the geometry that produces kickback: the upper quadrant of the bar tip contacting wood drives the saw back toward you. Two inches of margin keeps the tip clear on the far side of the log and lets you finish a cut without the nose disappearing into a kerf you cannot see.

It also gives you somewhere to go. Wood is never all one size, and a bar sized precisely to your average log will be undersized for the first larger one that comes down.

Wide view of a person trimming a green hedge with shears, cut leaves falling, in soft overcast light

Bar length is only half the answer — power is the other half

A bar has to be driven. Fitting a long bar to an underpowered saw produces a tool that cuts slowly, heats the chain, wears the bar and frustrates the operator into pushing — which is how people lose control of saws. Manufacturers publish a maximum bar length per model for exactly this reason, and it is not a suggestion.

If your work is…	Look for
Occasional pruning	6–10 in. bar, 12V–20V battery, under 6 lb
Yard cleanup near the house	16 in. bar, 15A corded or 40V battery
Storm cleanup with possible outages	16–18 in. bar, 56V–80V battery, two packs
One to two cords of firewood a year	18 in. bar, 56V–80V battery or 50cc gas
Several cords a year	20 in. bar, 55–60cc gas
Overhead limbs	Pole saw, not a longer chainsaw bar

That last row matters more than it looks. Reaching high work by buying a longer bar and cutting above shoulder height is the wrong answer to the right problem. Use a pole saw from the ground.

Why bigger saws are harder to use than the specs suggest

Weight is measured at the saw, but you feel it at the bar tip. Two extra inches of bar and chain sits at the end of a lever, so it costs far more effort than the ounces imply, and the fatigue accumulates into worse cut control after twenty minutes. Fatigue with a chainsaw is a safety problem rather than a comfort one.

A longer bar also means more chain — more cutters to sharpen, a more expensive replacement, and more chain to tension and lubricate. And it exposes more of the dangerous nose quadrant beyond your natural sight line, particularly in brush where you cannot see what the tip is about to touch.

Wide view of a person trimming a green hedge with shears, cut leaves falling, in soft early-morning light

Sizing mistakes people make

Buying for the biggest tree they might ever cut. That tree is usually an arborist job anyway. Size for the wood you cut monthly, not annually.
Assuming bar length equals capability. An 18 in. bar on a weak motor cuts worse than a 16 in. bar on a strong one.
Fitting a longer bar than the manufacturer rates. It overloads the drivetrain and starves the oiler at the nose.
Using a full-size saw for pruning. A 12 lb saw at arm's length above waist height is how people get hurt; a small saw or a pole saw does that job better.
Ignoring chain pitch and gauge. A replacement bar must match the saw's mount, pitch and gauge — see how to sharpen a chainsaw chain for where those numbers are stamped.

Size and safety are the same conversation

An oversized saw is a less safe saw, and the reason is kickback. When the upper quadrant of the bar nose contacts wood or any solid object, the chain cannot pull through and drives the bar backward and upward toward the operator's head and shoulder in a fraction of a second. A longer bar puts more of that nose beyond your sight line and adds mass that makes the arc harder to arrest. Never cut with the nose, keep the tip visible, wrap your thumb fully under the front handle, stand slightly to the side of the cutting line, and check the chain brake before every session. More detail in what causes chainsaw kickback.

OSHA lists a hard hat, safety glasses, hearing protection, heavy gloves, cut-resistant chaps and boots covering the ankle as standard chainsaw kit at every size — this is not the place to economize, whatever saw you end up with. See best chainsaw chaps. Never operate a chainsaw from a ladder or above shoulder height. And a job needing a 24 in. bar is generally a job needing a professional: leaning trees, split or hollow trunks, storm-loaded limbs and anything within 10 feet of a power line all belong to a certified arborist, and OSHA bars unqualified people from that clearance zone.

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What Size Chainsaw Do I Need?