Do Chainsaw Bars Wear Out?

[Iplayfarmer]

I caught up with the old timer and I'm glad I did. He not only got me the right chain, but he pointed out where I had the saw put back together wrong (I had the bar backer plate on the wrong side of the tension springs). He installed the chain and tensioned it. Then he spent five minutes looking through his parts bins for the right primer bulb for a 2 cycle water pump that I'm also re-furbishing.

Good service is highly underrated in today's world. I'm just glad there are still a few out there who are willing to provide good service.

P.S. He said that my bar is probably good through one more chain. Next time I replace the chain, I should consider replacing the bar.

 

[Scooby074]

Glad your up and running. Your right , good service / knowledge is few and far between. Its nice to see it sometimes.

 

[Highbeam]

I don't notice any difference while cutting with my skip chain vs. the OEM safety chain which is non-skip. I do notice that it takes half as long to sharpen! I use a 20" bar, 3/8" chain, on a Stihl MS290 which is the max length bar for the OEM setup. Very typical for the NW as our big wood is softwood.

 

[irvingj]

You're right about service! Fortunately, I have a shop nearby whose owner & son have a logging business as well-- they do know their saws.

Aside from the usual "boat anchor" comments about my McCulloch Pro-Mac 1010 (early-to-mid 70s?), they got me up & running well. He also had some sort of a machine to "touch up" the bar: removes burrs and re-squares the edges/groove, apparently. Said that could be done a few times only, but would help before a new bar is needed. He also flipped the bar over, and recommended doing that periodically. Said the same thing about tension- chain should pull up a bit, then snap back when released.

Art-- yeah, I figured that out-- (similar to a motorcycle) drive sprocket was shot, teeth were riding up & between slots; a new sprocket took care of that, and the new chain I put on worked great --at least until I touched the tractor bucket with it! ("But it was only for a second, honest!" Still wrecked 12 teeth!)

 

[Eagleview]

Our chainsaw shop is able to crimp the bar and regrind the slot and rails , it gives the bar another life to live . Skip chains are used for cutting stringy bark type trees as they are less prone to clogging by the bark . They are also used for cutting with the grain as in a slab mill . Use proper chain and bar oil instead of motor oil , the chain will run cooler because of less friction and wont stretch like they do using motor oil .

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Our chainsaw shop is able to crimp the bar and regrind the slot and rails , it gives the bar another life to live . Skip chains are used for cutting stringy bark type trees as they are less prone to clogging by the bark . They are also used for cutting with the grain as in a slab mill . Use proper chain and bar oil instead of motor oil , the chain will run cooler because of less friction and wont stretch like they do using motor oil .

That reminds me. I need to get more bar and chain oil. Thanks for mentioning it.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I ordered the sprocket and air filter from ordertree.com. They just turned up in an internet search and looked good enough; so I ordered.

This is just a report on Ordertree.com.

I got the stuff Saturday. Shipping was reasonable, their prices were as good as anywhere else on the internet, and they had live chat help. Seems like a good place to do business.

This was the first thing I'd ever bought from them.