how long does a bar last

ehp · February 26, 2020, 07:30:49 PM

so how long are you getting out of a bar on your saw, I have been using the good Stihl Light bars on my falling saws the last 2 years and Im getting a lot longer out of these bars than the good Stihl ES bars , the bar Im running right now has cut around 600,000 feet of hardwood and is still going , this bar came on the 462 arctic Im been using . Yes they are more money than the ES bar but Im pretty pleased at who they have been holding up . I use ES bars on the landing bucking the trees up as no bar is going to last in that job with this sand and this winter has been brutal as its never even frozen up so trees are covered in sand 99% of the time

lxskllr · February 26, 2020, 07:58:18 PM

Interesting you're getting more time out of the ES Light bars. I thought they were identical to the ES aside from having chunks milled out. Wonder what the difference is?

I don't cut enough to go through bars, or determine wear pattern. I've blown the nose out of a new echo bar, and my first bar from my first poulan is now on stump duty, but otherwise I have every bar I've ever had.

ehp · February 26, 2020, 08:24:58 PM

I buy bars at 10 at a time , I get them for about 58% of the cost if I buy 1 at a time . I go threw the normal ES bars but no where even close to the amount of different bar markers

Firewoodjoe · February 27, 2020, 06:11:51 AM

Quote from: ehp on February 26, 2020, 07:30:49 PM
so how long are you getting out of a bar on your saw, I have been using the good Stihl Light bars on my falling saws the last 2 years and Im getting a lot longer out of these bars than the good Stihl ES bars , the bar Im running right now has cut around 600,000 feet of hardwood and is still going , this bar came on the 462 arctic Im been using . Yes they are more money than the ES bar but Im pretty pleased at who they have been holding up . I use ES bars on the landing bucking the trees up as no bar is going to last in that job with this sand and this winter has been brutal as its never even frozen up so trees are covered in sand 99% of the time

Is that 2 years with no tip replacement? I have bars that are unknown years old but get dressed sized and retipped often.

nativewolf · February 27, 2020, 06:18:50 AM

Gesh no bar of mine has made it to such glorious numbers. Sadly a WO or a RO or a Walnut has sat on them or a Skidsteer has driven on them or a skidder or ...

I like the idea of 10 at a time.

moodnacreek · February 27, 2020, 07:31:13 AM

From what I understand the hardening of a chainsaw bar is everything. The first bar on the firewood processer , a Windsor, lasted a long time. It was bent and straightend several times. The next, a Granberg, lasted about 2 months. About that time Stihl started using them with the same results. A good bar can be filed a few times on both sides and the tip replaced when needed. They could last almost as long as the saw.

longtime lurker · February 27, 2020, 08:34:21 AM

Depends on how much dirt you cut with it. In clean timber they last me a fair while....I sit a tree on them once to often and bend them rather than wear them out. But go up north into didgeridoo country and you're talking 2 files a day, a chain every second day, and seldom more than a week to the bar. Antbed gets into the bar groove and forms a cutting paste and it flogs out the inside of the groove on the right (bottom when falling) side. They're a wear part and you just price it in. On the bright side its a real good destructive testing ground for a range of chainsaws and related equipment and I've beat a whole lot of gear to death over the years up there.

For dirty work I had a really good run out of the old Oregon Armour Tips for a long time before they went downhill quality wise, and Stihl Duromatics are nearly as good. Best sproket nose bars I've ever had were the orange Titanium Pro's from GB. Then Tsumura, then Stihl ES. Carltons flog out just behind the sprocket tip quick. Oregon arent what they used to be. I once wore a Hurricane (cheap chinese thing) out in a day.

The other factor is bar oil quality. Oils aint oils, as the old Castrol ad used to say. In extreme service conditions the quality of the bar oil you use can add a lot of life to a bar. I've done the sump oil thing, and all the cheapies, and all the good ones too. Best oil I've run has been Penrite (little Australian company) which averages about an extra 30% in bar life, but try and wash it off anything and its not ahrd to see why. Rock Drill Oil is nearly as good, and better than all the big name bar oils.

moodnacreek · February 27, 2020, 01:22:34 PM

Rock drill oil? Well L.L. as usual your way ahead of me but you would be cutting all that big dirty stuff. On our chainsaw firewood processor we run used motor oil. That should surprise no one. I always thought that keeping the bar wet or just seeing oil on it was sufficient. We found out by accident that over oiling really increased cutting speed.

longtime lurker · February 27, 2020, 04:31:43 PM

Yeah well I think with over oiling not only would you be getting less friction but theres got to be an element of "wash" as well. Cutting all that dirty stuff and seeing how bars wear in it.... fines down in the bar groove is an issue for sure.

The Penrite bar oil is super tacky - never seen anything quite like it for how far apart you can string it on your fingers. In the tropics and going hard it's great - saw is "hot" all day. It could possibly be too tacky in a cold environment. I know a heap about working saws in hot weather but nothing about cold conditions yeah?

Rockdrill 320 works well here but again you might run into climate/viscosity stuff.

The big thing I learnt cutting really dirty stuff in bulk was just to regard everything in front of the sprocket as a wear part: price it in, beat it to death, and replace as required. I've never worn out a sprocket nose - it's always been rail body wear in the dirty stuff or squashed in the good stuff. Yanno a chainsaw is the only piece of equipment I've ever owned that you can pick up Monday breakfast and it's pretty much paid for itself by beer o'clock Wednesday. I was always paid on production...so I buy the big saw and run the big chain (.404) and produce. 404 is that far in front of 3/8 in a production setting it's not funny and if I have to lug an extra couple pounds of powerhead around to swing it well... it's work, you're supposed to go home tired at night aren't you?

That penny saved/penny earned stuff does not apply to chainsaws. The last time I went up north the other cutter was running a 395, 26" bar and 3/8 tungsten (me 395/28"/404)and changing out his loops.... and every time I was stopped filing I'd be hearing him making money in the distance. He was getting about 2000 BF a day more than me on the deck because he was cutting not filing. Tungsten chain is a slow cutter... won't take an edge as sharp as regular chain so it's comparatively slow getting across a stump and needs power to drive it but it stays half sharp forever. 14000 BF extra a week in your pocket adds up quick.... if I am ever forced back into production felling again I'd go that way for sure.

ehp · February 27, 2020, 04:45:09 PM

that's about 4 months , been going pretty good for a old bald fat guy . If I donot cut more than 20,000 a week I donot make any money and my wife likes money ;D

ehp · February 27, 2020, 04:47:44 PM

I find the higher the power the saw has the more tips I go threw , ported 395's and stuff I eat tips up real fast . The new 462 does not have that kind of torque so tips last a lot longer . A normal ES bar I would say maybe a month of cutting and I give it to someone

Al_Smith · February 27, 2020, 08:31:34 PM

I certainly don't go through many bars .Those that have failed is because the tip went bad .On the other hand I have dressed a lot of bars most people would have retired . You want some life don't get stingy with the oil .Real oil,the stuff that comes from an oil well,not salad oil .--mumble grumble ---Bar oil my second most enjoyment from the mix oil debate . :D

Gearbox · February 27, 2020, 08:41:57 PM

I have both a bar dresser and I grind my chains . I find that running a 372 and a 394 on a firewood processer I need to dress my bars often . I run my bars until the edges start to flake off so bad I can't clean them up . I Never grease my tips I have had the rivets come loose but have yet to blow a tip bearing .

Al_Smith · February 27, 2020, 08:57:19 PM

:D I ones I blowed the tips out on were not replaceable .Cheapy Oregons from a long time ago .I will say this on one I ran about a 5 gallon bucket full of chains through before it gave up the ghost .That was a long long time ago when I wore a younger mans clothes .You spin a sprocket nose off it just plain stops,won't go any more ,done .

ehp · February 27, 2020, 09:25:35 PM

I never grease my tips ever, sand would eat the tip alive . I run the best bar oil I can get which is stihl for me here and oiler set at max

longtime lurker · February 27, 2020, 10:49:35 PM

I never grease tips either. I've never found tip wear to be more on big saws although "more than what" is a factor. I don't really have anything small except the 461's in the mill sheds and those dont get a lot of work.

Bore cutting makes for sprocket tip wear, the old solid noses are still king there.

I've had problems with a couple of the newer base model GB's with wear just behind the sprocket where the hardened steel finishes. I still swear by the titanium GB as the toughest bar on the market. (Awful expensive steel origami when you prang one though) I figured either bad batch or just too much bore cutting, or just buy a better bar in the first place. They credited me cost of purchase on a new titanium pro so I can't call it a bad experience.

moodnacreek · February 28, 2020, 08:00:19 AM

This subject got interesting. Different people have different wear on their chainsaw bars. Makes it hard to say whats good or bad. And , yes you are supposed to go home tired, makes a better world. Idle hands are the Devil's workshop.

Al_Smith · February 28, 2020, 02:27:48 PM

There are as many opinions about bar oil as there are mix oils . Weather there is any difference depends on who you talk to . I usually just use what ever is the cheapest and has plenty of tacking agent .Stihl or Husqvarna might be better,might not be .I'm at the age now I detest cold weather so more times than I don't cut in cold weather so "winter mix " has little bearing on the subject .A long time ago when the weather was real cold I had to use automatic tranny fluid because it was so cold it would not pump regular bar oil .At the same times those saws breathing cold oxygen rich air would really run .