bar straightness

[huskyhank]

I've got a couple of bars that are bowed over the length. One is new (32" out 1/8") the other is almost new (42" out 3/16"). How straight do bars need to be to cut straight and wear properly?

The manufacturer has issued me a return tag for the 42" to be replaced. The 32" just came in today on UPS and its going back to the seller unless 1/8" bow is acceptable (I'm thinking not). I have a big tree to cut on Friday and at this point am out of back-ups if anything goes wrong.

So how straight do bars need to be?
It seems that new bars ought to be straight - or am I too picky?
What is straight enough?

Thanks

(first posted in "chainsaw forum" but then thought I might get better input from y'all.)

 

[Billy_Bob]

I have one 32" bar which is bent a little (have not measured its "bentness") and it is frustrating to use period! It will not cut straight and gets hung up in the cuts.

I bought a new bar when it got bent because I did not have the time to get it fixed or see if they could fix it. So it is just hanging in my shed. I will not use it.

One of these days I'll take it to the chainsaw shop and see if they can fix it?

As to how it got bent, an idiot grabbed my saw without asking me, then proceeded to cut into a large log laying on the ground and there was downward pressure in the center of the log where he was cutting. He was cutting from the top down - the bar quickly got hung up and the saw stalled. Then he proceeded to start "yanking" on the saw trying to get it to come out of the cut! (Would not come out.)

This whole time I was screaming my lungs out at him telling him to stop cutting then stop yanking. Finally he stopped after he had wrecked the bar. A friend said there was smoke coming out my ears (because I was so mad!).

The "idiot" seemed to figure out he had best go home and did so...

 

[Greystoke]

I've got a couple of bars that are bowed over the length. One is new (32" out 1/8") the other is almost new (42" out 3/16"). How straight do bars need to be to cut straight and wear properly?

The manufacturer has issued me a return tag for the 42" to be replaced. The 32" just came in today on UPS and its going back to the seller unless 1/8" bow is acceptable (I'm thinking not). I have a big tree to cut on Friday and at this point am out of back-ups if anything goes wrong.

So how straight do bars need to be?
It seems that new bars ought to be straight - or am I too picky?
What is straight enough?

Thanks

(first posted in "chainsaw forum" but then thought I might get better input from y'all.)

If you can't see all the way down the rail groove from the back of the bar to the tip, then it needs straightened out, or sent back (especially if it has not been used). My thoughts are: If you want to make laser cuts, your bar should be as straight as a laser...of course if your bar is straight as a laser, you could still make crooked cuts if your chain is not filed or ground (including rakers) just right, especially from one side to the other.

 

[056kid]

Thats what I like to do, look down the rail groove. the last new bar I bought (from baileys) was off alittle, probably happened during shipping, workes well enough for a 28''. A real good chain seems to compensate for a bar thats slightly out of true, once that chain gets dull though, your cuts realy start to get screwed up.

 

[tlandrum]

i cant stand even a 20" bar to be bent seems that as soon as you bury the bar in the cut it will hang up. when i have one doing this i trash it. like said in earlier post some times a razor sharp chain will help on a mild tweaked bar but usually if its not glass straight i chuck it.

 

[Greystoke]

Another thing to look for when you are hand-picking a bar, especially longer bars for bigger wood, is to make sure that both rails are the same thickness. If one is even a smidge thicker than the other it will wear faster than the other.

 

[huskyhank]

Thanks to all of y'all for the many fine comments.
Funny how things seem to run in packs sometimes - I got two at once.

This is a good common sense test:

tarzanstree:

If you can't see all the way down the rail groove from the back of the bar to the tip, then it needs straightened out, or sent back....

It'd be nice to get to handpick my saw stuff but almost all of it has to come via UPS so I get what comes in the box.

 

[oregoncutter]

One man's trash?

i cant stand even a 20" bar to be bent seems that as soon as you bury the bar in the cut it will hang up. when i have one doing this i trash it. like said in earlier post some times a razor sharp chain will help on a mild tweaked bar but usually if its not glass straight i chuck it.

I wish You lived closer to me, I'd be real interested in taking You're throw away bars, probably even pay for them. I have had pretty good luck straightening, and having bars straightened in the past.

 

[joesawer]

A new bar should not have any easily noticeable bend when put against a straight edge.
Some one handy with hammer and anvil can straighten a lot out of a bar as long as the tension side has not stretched much.

 

[slowp]

Rigging crew saws ALWAYS have bent bars. :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Gologit]

Rigging crew saws ALWAYS have bent bars. :hmm3grin2orange:

Of course. It's easier to notch out a good tail hold that way.

 

[John Ellison]

And they fit better when you shackle them on a butt hook.

 

[tlandrum]

I wish You lived closer to me, I'd be real interested in taking You're throw away bars, probably even pay for them. I have had pretty good luck straightening, and having bars straightened in the past.

lol i threw away 6 bars that had collected in my toolbox that was bent last week... when the guys working for you dont care about tools bars get bent quick. they rely on the skidder to stay out of a pinch in the tree instead of skill.

 

[056kid]

Sounds like you need some new help!

 

[tlandrum]

as a matter of fact i do, i got rid of everybody a few weeks ago and am logging by myself. when you can get in the woods. which is not very often lately.by noon the skidder sinks to the pan.

 

[056kid]

Ide offer my skills, but the commute would be long, very very long,(I ride a bike).....

 

[oregoncutter]

I know a cure for that!

lol i threw away 6 bars that had collected in my toolbox that was bent last week... when the guys working for you dont care about tools bars get bent quick. they rely on the skidder to stay out of a pinch in the tree instead of skill.

I think at that rate, I'd sh??t can the ones that don't care, when I started chasing under a swing yarder You did'nt have time to f??ck up like that very often, in a pinch on the landing especialy bucking and limbing in the chute ( get in and out like it needed to be done yesterday} kills precious time and holds things up( like the riggin, and log loader), and out of the chute still burns Your'es and others time. It's you're buisiness but I'd say ya done right by freeing up their futures for em. I don't know about You're neck of the woods but around here there is alot of good loggers that are looking for work, so there would be no point in keeping guys like that around for very long.

 

[joesawer]

lol i threw away 6 bars that had collected in my toolbox that was bent last week... when the guys working for you dont care about tools bars get bent quick. they rely on the skidder to stay out of a pinch in the tree instead of skill.

Where are you located in east TN?
I cut a lot of trees around Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg back in the mid 90s when the pine beetle was killing so many trees there.

 

[tlandrum]

i live in morgan co and try to stay as close to home as possible. just 2 weeks ago i hired a new skidder man and he lasted 1 day. i hurt his feelings by telling him what to do and when to do it. my mistake i thought i was in charge. a few weeks ago i fired the timber cutter becouse he did not want to cut my way. i yhought when you topped in the woods you cut close but he thought you cut it wherever you can reach from one spot and the landing guy will finish trimming it up. sure,,, i want to pay twice for the same job.... i bought my partner out becouse he did not want to do his part. and my truck driver was sick more than healthy ,so, its just me now.

 

[huskyhank]

That's some beautiful country up there around Wartburg. I've kayaked up on the plateau a good bit. Some of my favorite rivers ever.