Sprocket nose vs. solid tip bar

[Corley5]

Last summer I got a bar for my 395 Husky on E-bay for $12.00.  It's an new OEM Husky bar made, I think, by Oregon.  Today I got the saw pinched and since I didn't have the rescue saw with me I took the power head off and went to the house for the new bar and a different chain.  I was quite surprised to find it had a solid nose.  I hadn't paid any attention when it arrived, just hung it on a nail in the woodshed.  I put it on and it works fine.  This is the first solid nose bar I've ran since I wore out the the old 65 Husky's original.  Always put spcket nose bars on after that.  The tip did seem to heat a little.  Maybe the oiler needs to be turned up for this style?  Anyway it got me out of the pinch and I cut and bucked fifteen or so trees with it.  It did seem to cut better in bass wood than maple.  Tomorrow I'm going to put the sprocket nose bar back on the saw and save this one for emergencies.  Anyone else running this style bar?  

[Kevin]

I have a GB solid nose bar that I bought for my Husqvarna 262.
They are generally used for dirty work but I wanted this bar so I could clamp my mill further out near the end to pick up a few more inches of bar in the mill.
I`ve since bought a larger saw and no longer need it but it worked ok.
Always handy for a back up.

[Tom]

I bought my Husky from a dealer who serviced pulp wood men.  He recommended that I get a solid nose for my 61 and I wouldn't regret it.  I haven't regretted it.  

I do a lot of trimming, a fair amount of bucking and some really hard sawing splitting big logs on occasion. The saws I had before this one had roller ltips and it never failed that I would get into a "hard sawing": situation and  the grease would run out of the tip and the roller would be trashed.  God forbid I touch the ground or get into a dirty log with the roller.  eventually it would go away.  

The hardnose has gotten me through all those tough situations and still left me with a bar that would saw.  It does take plenty of oil......but it's worth it.  

I guess a roller would be ok if I were bucking off ot the ground and staying in clean wood most of the time. Jobs like you may find in  log yard or stationary mill.  Mine spends its time in the woods, swamp and farm and I have never regretted taking the dealers advice.  My next bar will probably be a hardnose too.

[John_Boisselier]

Hi Folks,
   Don't want to disagree with Tom too hard, but a sprocket tip bar on the average saw set up delivers approximately 25% more power to the wood than a solid tip bar with a whole lot less stress on the chain.  Hard tip bars definitely have their niche, but a good quality and well maintained sprocket nose bar will deliver a whole lot more performance in terms of actual work accomplished in normal cutting conditions.  I Definitely prefer a greasable tip to a permanently lubed tip like stihl puts out.  You just have to remember to grease them.  We end up cutting in a number of fairly dirty conditions, and so long as you keep the bar and saw clean and well lubed, there doesn't seem to be any more wear on the bars, just on the chains.

[Tillaway]

You mean you can still get a hard nosed bar ;) I haven't seen one used in 20 years and they were rare then.  I suffer from west coast baritis.  We precommercial thin with 28" bars on 60ish cc saws out here.  I