Saw Bars

  • Thread starter RIVERRAT
  • Start date
  • Replies 80
  • Views 15K
R

RIVERRAT

Guest
I have become fed up with the soft rails on the newer bars I have bought. May be the ones I am using.

I would like some thoughts on the best bars out there for bigger saws.
 
GB bars don't have soft rails.

Neither do Cannon, but those are quite costly.

I bought a shitload ( about 50) of Carlton bars on a closeout sale from Bailey's. Didn't hardly cost anything,are soft as butter.
That is really annoying, until one remember the price.
They last for about 2-3 weeks of solid logging, them we throw them out and put a new bar on.
A cannon bar would last me 3 times as long and cost 4 times as much.
So I can live with the soft Carltons.
Once they are used up, I'll go back to importing GB bars from Germany.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4
HolmenTree said:
Soft rails? Tell us which ones you have there.
Click to expand...

Well the last were from Baileys of differing varieties. I just got 2 Husqvarna bars for my 288 & both are pretty soft.
 
Stig, if you get two weeks out of a bar, when you have a bunch, why don't you resurface the edges and get another two weeks? Easily enough done on a tablesaw with a metal cut off wheel mounted. Just run it back and forth along the side of the wheel. Rainy days and lazy Sundays, been doing it for years. Maybe the heat might harden them as well.
 
RIVERRAT said:
Well the last were from Baileys of differing varieties. I just got 2 Husqvarna bars for my 288 & both are pretty soft.
Click to expand...
Yeah I have some of those Bailey Carlton bars too. I have a couple of those 20" shiny bars made in Germany and the varnish is a real mess after using them a few times. If you look close at the bar/nose joint area you 'll see where the bar was too wide for the nose tip, so they ground them down at that area to match the narrower tip.

Pretty hard to beat the German made Stihl ES bars, I've had good luck with them. I put the adapter clips in them to fit my Huskies.
I also got a good supply of brand new 25 year old Windsor speed tip and mini pro bars, good wearing bars.
Keep your bars maintained by filing off the wire edge at a 45 degree . The rails actually harden with use in most cases.
 
Stig, all that metal, do you recycle the bars instead of throwing them away?
 
I have had good luck with the Carlton bare metal shiney ones that are Tusmari of Japan (not sure of spelling).
 
Stihl ES bars are mumero uno, period! The OLD GB Titanium bars were great, not a fan of the hard top's, never tried a Cannon, too damn pricey! I keep liking the Tsumara's, but don't like the adapter idea at all.
I'm trying out a Forester pro on the 5100 right now, but I'm not going to say anything either way on it yet. I've little to no use for the Oregon bars anymore, too soft for my tastes.
 
cory said:
Stig, all that metal, do you recycle the bars instead of throwing them away?
Click to expand...

No I just toss them in the woods for future generations to find!


Sure I recycle them. Chains, too.

Jay, I do regrind the bars, it is the groove that gets worn too wide.
 
If the groove wear in sides, so do chain.
The wear comes from the chain wishing to travel in another direction = sideways.
On limbing saws this is seen a lot, not so much on the felling saws.

When taking burr of it is called dressing, something you do when you swap chains.

If the bars are .050 guage you can cut them strait again, either to .058 or .063.
If rails are low on a solid bar you cut groove a bit again and again... As long as bar tip allows it.
If rails are uneven they can be made strait.
Broken sprockets/bearings can be replaced on bars with this option, tips on some...

Anyway, bars are so cheep today it is more cost efficient to replace than repair.
 
sawinredneck said:
I keep liking the Tsumara's, but don't like the adapter idea at all.
Click to expand...

What adapter for Tsumara? The ones I buy are small mount husky and large mount husky no adapters. Now those Sugi ?something??? bars have adapters to try and make one bar fit a bunch of different saws.
 
I take bit of a spring and cut or a plate of metal above and under bolt in the groove.
Copper and brass pipes i used a couple times, this works pretty good actually..
 
I make my own out of square nuts to start with.

Kev20101299.jpg

166barspacer.jpg

Kev20101320.jpg

Kev20101321.jpg
 
We use a pipe here in kitchens that is perfect for this. Just cut slices and of you go.
The springs I use are from a old desk lamp. Also just to cut a bit and of you go.
 
I have good luck with most brands of bars. Windsors have given me a little trouble wearing out quickly and the oil port clogging often. Oregon aren't rock hard but they don't give me much trouble. Those cheap silver carltons from baileys I think are dollar for dollar unbeatable. They are cheap and last plenty long for what you pay. In fact, I pinched one bad bucking the top of a tree in the woods last week. The fella with me used a back hoe to lift the tree top to relive the pressure so I coukd pull the saw free. He lifted to hard too fast and the saw pulled up out of my hands and pushed into a tree beside it. I watched that bar bend several inches. Saw wasnt harmed. That bar is perfectly true still. I am not kidding when I say I watched that bar bend 4 inches. I have never had an Oregon shake something like that off.
 
I bought a bunch of 18" Carlton with replaceable tips. Odd ball link count. They were cheap and hold up ok.... Not unhappy with them and for the price, if they only last 1/3 of a Stihl or Oregon bar, I still saved money. Saw they are for does a lot of work in the brush, so whatever we put on it is going to get brutalized no matter.
 
I have seen bars bent 90 degrees... Twisted like a lollypop.... Split in halfs...
Blown up bar tips that split the tip like a Y...

A thing to concidder.
The hardness of the bar rail is pretty important. If you have a really hard one the tiestrap in chain wear more and faster.
Look on the tiestraps once in a while, you see what I mean. Sprocket/rim beat them up if won out. then they do the job on the bar.
Using old chains on new bar give more wear faster due to tiestraps being worn already.

To get most runtime out of bar/chain/rim best is to get a bar and 4-5 chains that you rotate.
After that you get one or two more chains. This means you get about 40-50% more run time out of the bar. And less chains bought...
When that is done change all again, including rim.
 
HolmenTree said:
Pretty hard to beat the German made Stihl ES bars, I've had good luck with them. I put the adapter clips in them to fit my Huskies.
Click to expand...

Does that allow you to run the same number of drivers as they would take on a Stihl? Say like 3/8 pitch on a 28" bar on a Stihl saw and bar takes 91, a 28" oregon on a Husky takes 93.
 
I can't comment on a Stihl bar on a Huskey but the saw in my avatar uses a 36" 066 mount Stihl bar in .404 .It uses the same 104 I think driver count .

It can be a pain in the azz trying to mix and match bar and chain combos without changing driver count then you end up with a bunch of bastard sized loops .

In dealing with those old antiques though I've came accross some interesting stuff .The old Mac belly bars in 18" use the same driver counts as Stihl or Husky in 20" bars which is 72 for 3/8" .Trivia !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

SeanKroll
Closing bar rails
Replies
24
Views
1K
Magnus
Magnus
davidwyby
Yesteryear Saws
2
Replies
38
Views
2K
davidwyby
davidwyby
Treeaddict
Bar issue?
2
Replies
48
Views
2K
stikine
stikine
Brock Mayo
Silky shrinkflation
Replies
22
Views
703
friedrich
friedrich
lxskllr
Why Are Laminated Bars Less Durable?
Replies
11
Views
761
lxskllr
lxskllr
Back
Top