Dressing processor bars

[OH logger]

How you all grinding and dressing your firewood processor bars?  On My chainsaw bars all I ever really do is use an air grinder to grind the burrs off the sides of the bar by the rails every day. On this processor bar it seems to really wear into the top of the rail itself. Not just burr up on the corner of the bar. Makes sense I guess. Lots more force pushin down on the bar than On a chainsaw. Just curious on every one else's way of goin about it. Belt sander or pro lookin grinder like the one baileys sells. I think the true right angle is real important. I think I mighta already ruined A bar by only grinding the rails. Don't cut at all almost. Only about 100 cord on it

[mike_belben]

Never done a processor bar but lots of chainsaws.  I use a right angle belt sander fence and use a machinist square to be certain its 90* between fence and wheel then verify after grinding them that the rail surfaces are 90* from the cheek plates.  The nose and heel often need a bit extra attention to fully clean up.


Then a quick stone debur of those faces so i dont get slivers, clean the slot of chips and check its gauge opening.  If it has opened i run it through a closer i made and then make sure it hasnt over closed.  If it pinches any drive teeth ill fix the tooth with a flap wheel if its burred, or use a feathered down chisel and small hammer to open up the tight rail spot.  


If the rail gap opens too much the chain will keel over sideways, cut scallops and bind up in the cut.  And get really hot.

[snowstorm]

404 or 3\4 ?? i use 404 on a ctl head. oregon bars are ok at best. bend easy rails will wear and spread. put it in a vice and grind the rails till even. and clean the groove.it takes a lot of bar oil to keep from wearing bars

[Nathan4104]

I never thought to dress the top of the bar rails, Thanks for sharing info on that!  
I was getting bars from the dumpster at work and they'd be fine for a bit but they all said 'fails groove test' On them.
These are wild land fire fighters.... kids...  after putting a new bar on the processor it ran better than ever. So there was some truth to the grooves being wore I guess. They must run the saws out of oil often and not bother/have time to go fetch oil. 
I started to think I couldn't sharpen well because the chain would bind in a cut/ cut crooked. But it was just the bars. 
I'm getting about 100-150 cords on a new bar now. I'd dress the sides and top to take the sharp edge off but I'll try the disk sander and see if it'll stretch the life a bit more. However, just like a new chain, a new bar makes a difference in cutting performance too!! 
I also wondered if the oil quality suffered the bar any.... I can't use used motor/Hyd oil as on the processor it sprays too much in my face. But bar oil at Napa is $9 a gallon, good stuff is $20.... 

[Corley5]

I use an RBG blade grinder for all my bars.  Handheld chainsaws, .404 for the firewood machine and the 3/4 pitch my old harvester ran.  I even use it for mower blades  ;) ;D      http://www.rbggrinders.com/grinders.html  

[OH logger]

Sorry for not specifying that snowstorm it's .404. Also my blockbuster processor uses tranny fluid out of the hyd system as bar lube. Maybe that's part of the problem. That's the way all blockbusters are but I'd still rather use BAR AND CHAIN OIL. they tell me average life of bars on their machines is 150 cord. So really that's not too bad but I dont have much of anything to compare it to 

[OH logger]

What model grinder u have Corley?

[Corley5]

I'm going to the shop in a few minutes and I'll check

[Corley5]

  I use to get 500-600 face cords on a Oregon bar with my 14-12.  Oregon's quality tanked for a while and I was getting half that.  Their chains also got soft.  Enough people complained and with the competition from overseas they stepped up their game.  The last batch of chains and bars have performed much better.
  I grind the shoulders as long as I can until the groove gets hogged out too much for the chains to stand up straight.  Then they go in the scrap bin.

[stavebuyer]

I had a Frostbite bar on my Dyna. Hand filed the chain on the machine and never touched the bar other than to turn it over when I replaced a chain. My machine also used oil from the hydraulic tank.

[Corley5]

I bought it as new for $90 at an auction a long time ago



 

[mike_belben]

In my experience if a new chain is cutting crescents and binding the bar rails have opened up too much.  Closing them is night and day performance.

[Corley5]

In my experience if a new chain lays over in an old bar it's time to scrap the bar.  I can get extra life out of an old bar by running new chains on them.  They'll run true where an old worn thin chain won't.  For the cost of a new bar it isn't worth the time it takes to pinch the rails to only prolong the inevitable.  I've got a bar rail closer.  Used it a couple times.  The experience and results weren't satisfactory ;) ;D

[snowstorm]

next time its time for a new bar buy a blue one instead of yellow. atf for chain lube ? why?if using oregon chain dont buy the 19x you will not have hp enough to pull it. stay with 18x or even better stihl

[Corley5]

Block Buster uses it as hydraulic fluid which also lubes the bar.  Their feeling is ATF is tackier and does better as a bar lube than hydraulic fluid.  I quit using ATF long ago and run tractor fluid or AW32.  I don't see any difference.

[BargeMonkey]

 I've got a Silvey bar grinder, worn out alot of bars because I could keep them ground. The trick is to run the burr off them first on a bench grinder, then grind the rails flat. My old Built-rite processor ate bars, 100-150 cord and it didnt matter what I did, chains, bars, new arbor, cylinders, i grind for a Bells 4000 and that's getting great life out of 18X chains. 

[ButchC]

I use an RBG blade grinder for all my bars.  Handheld chainsaws, .404 for the firewood machine and the 3/4 pitch my old harvester ran.  I even use it for mower blades  ;) ;D     http://www.rbggrinders.com/grinders.html  

Thanks for that! I own an RBG and never thought about using it for bars.

[BargeMonkey]

hundreds of bars thru that thing. 


 
 Take those ceramic wheels and throw them out the window, biggest waste of time possible if your actually going to sharpen chain, CBN wheel is the only way to go. 


 

[OH logger]

I've got a Silvey bar grinder, worn out alot of bars because I could keep them ground. The trick is to run the burr off them first on a bench grinder, then grind the rails flat. My old Built-rite processor ate bars, 100-150 cord and it didnt matter what I did, chains, bars, new arbor, cylinders, i grind for a Bells 4000 and that's getting great life out of 18X chains.

U mean grind the bar sides first or last?  I assume u by burr first u mean the burr on the sides of the bar. My bars don't seem to burr up on the sides much. Just really groove the rails. Maybe I shouldn't push down as Hard on  my saw lever to slow down how fast the saw goes down to avoid that grooving. Blockbuster told me on average guys get about 150 cord out of a bar. Is that good or not?

[moodnacreek]

We use waste oil. You have to experiment with the amount applied on the bar. Too little will slow the cutting down.  One of my old sawmill mentors would put a stone on his radial arm saw to grind chainsaw bar rails. I think when the bar is made and one rail is thinner it wears faster and tilts the chain.

[BargeMonkey]

 I take my bars, hold at a 70ish ? Degree angle and bring the edge back slightly from the nose back, just enough to roll the burr off so when you grind the rails flat it doesn't bind up in the silvey grinder, just something I've figured out and has worked great for me for 20+yrs now ?
 100 cord was alot on my built-rite, this kids Bells 4000 is phenomenal on bars, I bet hes pushing 250+ but it's an oregon harvester bar in 18X. I only started using .080ga at the tail end, for years it was .063 chain and bars, oregon got away from making them and everything went to 80. GB bars where some of the best I ever had, tested them for Comstock when they brought them back out.