Oregon vs Windsor Bars

[John Mc]

I need a new bar for my Husky 357 (running .375 pitch, .058 gauge). It looks as though the two options at Baileys are an Oregon Power Match or a Windsor Speed Tip (Woodland pro does not seem to make a .058 gauge?) The price is the same for either bar. Any reason to prefer one over the other?

[barbender]

You can run a .050 guage bar on there if you switch to a .050 chain as well. I have a .058 24" Windsor bar, there are a lot of chains that are only available in .063 or .050, I wish I had got one of those guages instead.  Other than that, Windsor is owned and made by Oregon now, if I am not mistaken, so I wouldn't expect much difference in quality.

[John Mc]

For some reason, .058 gauge seems to be the standard in my area (at least on Husky/Jonsered saws... I don't know what people use on Stihls). I don't know if there is a good reason for this (Northern Hardwood forest??), or if it's just a regional custom. All my saws are .058, and chains and other parts are readily available, so I doubt I'm going to switch.

I do wonder if the fact that Windsor is owner by Oregon means that the bars will be identical. Lots of companies buy out competitors as a means of broadening their product lines, so I do wonder if the two bars are exactly the same.

[barbender]

No, I don't think they're identical. Windsor bars use their own sprocket nose for one thing, but as far as the difference in quality if any I can't say. I have one windsor bar from before the company was bought out, it seems like the rails don't wear as fast as my Oregon bars, but it could be my imagination. If you already have lots of Oregon bars I'd stick with that, you only need one sprocket nose. I hear you on the .058, that guage is popular here as well. It just seems that bailey's doesn't carry a lot of specialty chains in .058. For instance, I'd like a semi-chisel skiptooth, but it isn't available in .058.

[Ed]

I'll agree with barbender, my older Windsor bars held up better than Oregons. Haven't used one since the buyout, been running the "Total" superbars.

Ed

[John Woodworth]

I quit using Windsor bars years ago because the tips bend too easy, alli I run now are Sthil and mainly Oregon Powermatch, the Oregon is a one rivit to replace and a very durable bar.

[lonewolf]

I ran Oregon bars for years and felt that the tips held up better than Stihl. I did buy a box of a dozen Windsor bars from my local dealer and returned about half of them because the tips didn't hold up! I now run the Forester bars that are available here locally. They look just like Oregon bars and are a lot cheaper. I don't have any troubles with the tips and they seem to last. I haven't kept close track but I'd have to guess that I get a month out of them before I replace them. Keep in mind that I do this for a living. I just run them until they start to give me troubles and replace them. If anyone could use my old tips I could send you a 5 gallon bucket full of them as the bar rails are wore out before the tips.

[beenthere]

My old 1975 Stihl 041 came with a 20" Windsor bar, and it went through at least 20 if not 30 chains. Was jointed twice, but never lost the roller tip.  Replaced the saw with a MS361, and a while back noticed that the roller 'teeth' in the bar tip were worn quite a bit. I will either replace this original tip or replace the bar. Not sure which, at the moment.  Open to suggestions.