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Forester Bars or Cannon Bars or another 60" bar manufacturer?

Started by charles mann, January 14, 2019, 09:36:24 PM

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charles mann

looking at forester bars to do some milling on some wide live oak and a pecan. I'm a few months or more behind on my band saw mill, and need to get some of this wide wood milled and start air drying to build a table and hand over as a 1yr late wedding present for a pilot/client/friend. since its only 3 logs, but yet to wide for most mills. was thinking of, and hate saying it, going cheap, but milling thick in case the bar isn't "true" and then tossing the bar if its junked out after the milling.

any thoughts on the forester brand bars? i can't pay to have someone mill the trees for $300 (62" bar and ripping chain), i mean i can pay $300, but the mill that CAN handle those size logs won't be $300 to slab them, more like $500+.

any thoughts and insight welcome, even constructive criticism welcome.

again, this is a 1 time use item.
Temple, Tx
Fire Fighting and Heavy Lift Helicopter Mech
Helicopter and Fixed Wing Pilot

Inaotherlife

I saw a video of a guy who bought a whole chinese 105cc saw with long bar and chain for about $450.

I don't know if it was 62". It might've only been 4 feet.
Edit: he said 42" I think.
So maybe this is no help at all.

Here is the unboxing.
You can probably dig through his youtube vids for more information on his results.
Un Boxing a cheap 105cc Chainsaw - YouTube

charles mann

naw, its not much help. I'm asking about a Forester bar, not a chinese knock off 070. plus after watching his vid of slabbing a walnut, i was NOT impressed by that saw and know there is something else o could spend $400 on. but since I'm looking at $300 for bar and chain, i see no reason to spend $100 more on something that doesn't seem to have much more power than my husq 372 or jonesred 2166. 
Temple, Tx
Fire Fighting and Heavy Lift Helicopter Mech
Helicopter and Fixed Wing Pilot

barbender

I'd tend toward the best quality bar I could afford for what you want to do. I don't have any experience with Forester other than a couple of replacement tips I got from them for Windsor bars, and that was because they were the only ones I could find. I don't have much time on them so I can't comment other than to say they installed without issue and have functioned fine thus far.
Too many irons in the fire

charles mann

Quote from: barbender on January 15, 2019, 12:06:18 AM
I'd tend toward the best quality bar I could afford for what you want to do. I don't have any experience with Forester other than a couple of replacement tips I got from them for Windsor bars, and that was because they were the only ones I could find. I don't have much time on them so I can't comment other than to say they installed without issue and have functioned fine thus far.
well it seems nobody else has any exp with them either. I'm like you, buy quality, not quantity, but for a 1 time use, well, maybe 2 times if you count the uses as a day, and depending if i can get the 3 logs milled in 1 day, or 2. then i won't have any use for the bar after that, and I'm not sure if id be able to get my $ back on a $500 cannon bar. granted, I'm not looking at getting ALL my $ back, but a bulk of it at a minimum. I'm not in the kindness or giving trade, but I'm also not the type to sell used for new price either, there has to be a happy medium. i just hate to $500 on a bar and chain for 3 logs, especially when I'm building a 72" wide cut band mill and already sank $9000 into the build and still have about $1000 left in machine shop charges once i get the dimensions of the drive axle and housing, then $480 in a few (6 i think) bands from WM and any other odds and ends i'll need to get it functional. 
Temple, Tx
Fire Fighting and Heavy Lift Helicopter Mech
Helicopter and Fixed Wing Pilot

Pine Ridge

I have a 28" forester bar on my 288xp that I use for bigger trees, I believe there are different grades of forester bars, mine is the cheapest I think, the writing on the bar is green. I run Oregon bars on my other saws. I have cut several big trees with the forester bar, I think it would work fine for what you need it for.
Husqvarna 550xp , 2- 372xp and a 288xp, Chevy 4x4 winch truck

Hooterspfld

What type of saw are you using it on. I might be interested if it'll fit my saw or someone else here might buy it off you when you're done. Following the Forestry Forum rules for selling of course!

charles mann

Quote from: Hooterspfld on January 16, 2019, 08:03:39 PM
What type of saw are you using it on. I might be interested if it'll fit my saw or someone else here might buy it off you when you're done. Following the Forestry Forum rules for selling of course!
still 661 with the S1 (12.1mm bar mount slot)
Temple, Tx
Fire Fighting and Heavy Lift Helicopter Mech
Helicopter and Fixed Wing Pilot

charles mann

and YES, i SHOULD use a bigger power head pulling that much bar and chain through a 42" pecan and 52" live oak, but the 661 is what i have, and i can't justify buying a $2000 powerhead just for the occasional wide milling job. once i get my 72" band mill going, turn some revenue, i will buy either another 661 powerhead or get an 880 for locations i can't get the log out of bc of ground conditions. 
Temple, Tx
Fire Fighting and Heavy Lift Helicopter Mech
Helicopter and Fixed Wing Pilot

YellowHammer

I use a 661 with with a Forester 52" bar for occasional splitting of big logs.  It works fine. With the longer bars, the chains will switch to a slightly thicker gauge  (same pitch) but it will still fit in the stock drive sprocket.  So I don't have to swap sprockets, every time I put on the big bar.
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

charles mann

Quote from: YellowHammer on January 16, 2019, 11:43:46 PM
I use a 661 with with a Forester 52" bar for occasional splitting of big logs.  It works fine. With the longer bars, the chains will switch to a slightly thicker gauge  (same pitch) but it will still fit in the stock drive sprocket.  So I don't have to swap sprockets, every time I put on the big bar.
Thank you sir. 
Where did you get your bar at? I did a search on here before posting, came across a topic about forester bars, and there were claims of it being knock off oregon bars, a claim of 1 guy burning a bar up in a day, and a comment about the chain groove being wallered out after a few uses and something about the nose sprocket being the wrong pitch or something of that effect, causing chain binding and evetually galling of the chain and bar. I think that was from back in 07/08 time frame, so things might have changed. 
Are they chinese knock offs? 
Any idea where cannon bars are manufactured? 
Temple, Tx
Fire Fighting and Heavy Lift Helicopter Mech
Helicopter and Fixed Wing Pilot

lxskllr


wild262

Quote from: charles mann on January 14, 2019, 09:36:24 PM
looking at forester bars to do some milling on some wide live oak and a pecan. I'm a few months or more behind on my band saw mill, and need to get some of this wide wood milled and start air drying to build a table and hand over as a 1yr late wedding present for a pilot/client/friend. since its only 3 logs, but yet to wide for most mills. was thinking of, and hate saying it, going cheap, but milling thick in case the bar isn't "true" and then tossing the bar if its junked out after the milling.

any thoughts on the forester brand bars? i can't pay to have someone mill the trees for $300 (62" bar and ripping chain), i mean i can pay $300, but the mill that CAN handle those size logs won't be $300 to slab them, more like $500+.

any thoughts and insight welcome, even constructive criticism welcome.

again, this is a 1 time use item.

        I do know that Weimedog (Walt) has ran the shorter Forester bars in the past and maybe still does.  Maybe he will chime-in and offer you his thoughts.  I have never ran them myself, so I can't say.

charles mann

Temple, Tx
Fire Fighting and Heavy Lift Helicopter Mech
Helicopter and Fixed Wing Pilot

HolmenTree

Making a living with a saw since age 16.

lxskllr

I don't like giving China my money, and don't trust their tools, but if it's really a one time use, I'd probably go with Forester if I couldn't find something decent used. Assuming you're 40 years old, if I thought I'd use a long bar as little as every two years, I'd spring for the Cannon. Over a lifetime, I think you'd gain value from having a superior bar, and I appreciate tools that were made by people who care. Also, Canadians are our brothers, so the money's closer to home. More so than the Chinese are. My buying choices start at my house for preference, with an expanding radius. Closer=better.

HolmenTree

Times have definitely changed. Best built guide bar bar none were from the General Bar Co out of Tigard, Oregon. But it's been 30 years since they went out of business,  maybe they built those bars too good. 
Making a living with a saw since age 16.

charles mann

Quote from: HolmenTree on January 17, 2019, 04:38:32 PM
Times have definitely changed. Best built guide bar bar none were from the General Bar Co out of Tigard, Oregon. But it's been 30 years since they went out of business,  maybe they built those bars too good.
I did talk to guy in the pdx area, i think in oregon city, around mar of last yr, and said he could build me a bar that was heat treated along the first 1/4 of the perimeter and the entire bar mounting area, for strength against chain wear, with the rest of the bar in a softer state to allow flex. 
It might a guy who used to work for them. 
I figured since during the winter months, im in this area, i could have him build me a bar and it be US made. But i lost the guys number and dang sure dont remember his name. 
Temple, Tx
Fire Fighting and Heavy Lift Helicopter Mech
Helicopter and Fixed Wing Pilot

charles mann

Quote from: lxskllr on January 17, 2019, 03:46:12 PM
I don't like giving China my money, and don't trust their tools, but if it's really a one time use, I'd probably go with Forester if I couldn't find something decent used. Assuming you're 40 years old, if I thought I'd use a long bar as little as every two years, I'd spring for the Cannon. Over a lifetime, I think you'd gain value from having a superior bar, and I appreciate tools that were made by people who care. Also, Canadians are our brothers, so the money's closer to home. More so than the Chinese are. My buying choices start at my house for preference, with an expanding radius. Closer=better.
dang man, dont rush me!!!  ;D ill be there next month. i don't need my gray hair to read this and decide to advance the line any faster than need be.  ;D
but i do agree. id much rather a bunch of canooks get my $ than china. they are flooding the market with so much garbage, our recycling center can't process it fast enough. 
id even buy german bars if they made them big enough. and maybe the 59" still is big enough, but $500 is to much to not know where it came from. i guess i will call the still guy here in aurora, or and see if he can find out where the bars are made. its really a toss up between still and cannon, if the forester bars ARE china made. we have enough junk steel coming from the south, we don't need to boat it in too.
@lxskllr 
Temple, Tx
Fire Fighting and Heavy Lift Helicopter Mech
Helicopter and Fixed Wing Pilot

YellowHammer

I bought the bar from a place called the Little Red Barn.

https://www.lilredbarn.net/

The guy who owns it really knows his chainsaws.  
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

longtime lurker

GB titanium pro are the hardest wearing bar I've run across, and I've pretty much tried them all. Maybe a PITA to import, but with the AUD low against the greenback it'd be competitive I'd imagine.

About Us - GB Forestry - Performance Forestry Equipment
The quickest way to make a million dollars with a sawmill is to start with two million.

weimedog

I did a bunch of chainsaw milling a few years ago, I had used a cannon bar. It was a USED cannon and still had a lot of life left in it. Still does.....point being it more than had enough to last through two peoples desire to horse that thing around! And I think in my humble opinion the thing that would work into the decision is how much milling you plan to do. If the answer is "A lot for a long time", the Cannon is the right bar and the extra money well spent. If you are just going to do a few pieces here and there those Foresters aren't a bad deal. I had run the "Red" bar they were calling a Pro bar for a few years and have to say the only complaint I had was they were heavy. They wore pretty well. I never killed a tip on them as I have a few other brands. So really nothing wrong with them for the money. For the casual user they are a good bar for certain. Especially ( I know this is off topic) the "green" ones for the smaller saws. Never tried their newer offerings as I moved to other brands.
Husqvarna 365sp/372xpw Blend, Jonsered 2171 51.4mm XPW build,562xp HTSS, 560 HTSS, 272XP, 61/272XP, 555, 257, 242, 238, Homelite S-XL 925, XP-1020A, Super XL (Dad's saw); Jonsered 2094, Three 920's, CS-2172, Solo 603; 3 Huztl MS660's (2 54mm and 1 56mm)

charles mann

Quote from: longtime lurker on January 19, 2019, 05:04:06 AM
GB titanium pro are the hardest wearing bar I've run across, and I've pretty much tried them all. Maybe a PITA to import, but with the AUD low against the greenback it'd be competitive I'd imagine.

About Us - GB Forestry - Performance Forestry Equipment
I tried contacting them back in mar of last yr, then apr, and again in may. I heard nothing from them and their only 3 distributors do not have any contact other than a tele, which is an intl number. If their business model is to not reply back to someone attempting to give them $ for their product, id rather buy a chinese bar. 
Temple, Tx
Fire Fighting and Heavy Lift Helicopter Mech
Helicopter and Fixed Wing Pilot

offrink

I bought a 59" stihl bar from the dealer for about $250. Chain is $100 a piece and you want more than one. Keep them sharp!

charles mann

Quote from: offrink on January 19, 2019, 06:00:59 PM
I bought a 59" stihl bar from the dealer for about $250. Chain is $100 a piece and you want more than one. Keep them sharp!
@offrink
Can you send me your dealers contact? At $250 for a stihl, ill buy it, considering the stihl dealers in oregon and tx charge $460, and a forester 60" is $250.
Temple, Tx
Fire Fighting and Heavy Lift Helicopter Mech
Helicopter and Fixed Wing Pilot

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