I've cut many an oak with my 029. Over 25 years old. Oil leak now, but it has served me well. My oaks are only about 18" in diameter, but I have plenty of fir, cedar, pinion, and spruce double the thickness, and the saw cuts through with ease, but I keep my chains sharpened, cleaned, and properly tuned. For some reason, the saw came with a 25" bar, and it bogged down too much. Cut it back to a 20" bar, and it works just fine for 90 percent of the cutting I need to accomplish. Great saw.
The saw was cutting ok until it got half way through the log, then it started bogging the engine on every cut. On rare occasions I have seen where the cutting guide bar heated up and expanded faster than the chain did and causing the chain to tighten up, probably why it was bogging the engine. That would have been my first place to look to see if it was too tight, and like the other poster stated, Oregon bars are not a preferred bar to use on a Stihl saw as they have a higher rpm factor on driving the chain.
That chain is beyond dull, with all that smoke its likely trash, along with the bar as well. I've got the same saw with a 20" Stihl bar and chain and it makes short work of wood like that. I've had the saw since new in 1996 and its still got its original bar and its cut down and cut up dozens of trees. A little touch up sharpening once in a while goes a long way vs. burning the chain and bar down to nothing.
