What is the purpose of a smooth bumper?
- Thread starter BarNChain
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They keep the body of the saw off of the wood to reduce damage to the saw.
They're used to keep the wood from beating up the front of the saw when you buck wood with a short bar.
Bucking spikes is an unusual name for the spikes on a saw as they're only helpful felling trees, you don't need them for bucking if your chain is sharp.
Bucking spikes is an unusual name for the spikes on a saw as they're only helpful felling trees, you don't need them for bucking if your chain is sharp.
Short bars, bucking. I like them on vent saws, I’m just cutting with the tip of the bar and don’t like dawgs getting hung up in stuff.
Contrary to what is said above, if you ever try running a 3 footer on an 046 you will need some dawgs to lever off so the tip will cut, regardless of how sharp your chain is. It’ll cut just fine by the powerhead, but there’s not enough force to feed the last 6” or so.
Contrary to what is said above, if you ever try running a 3 footer on an 046 you will need some dawgs to lever off so the tip will cut, regardless of how sharp your chain is. It’ll cut just fine by the powerhead, but there’s not enough force to feed the last 6” or so.
Smooth dogs slide on wood and also protect the saw (muffler) where there is no need for the spikes.
The second sentence is fake news. The poster has never bucked big wood especially on steep ground. When you need to cut the off side as the second cut bucking, the saw ends up with the bar pointing straight down. There is no way this can be done without the dogs dug into the bark. Also when you have both hands on the rear handle pushing up, the saw is pivoting on the dogs and forcing the nose down. This only occurs on large logs.
The second sentence is fake news. The poster has never bucked big wood especially on steep ground. When you need to cut the off side as the second cut bucking, the saw ends up with the bar pointing straight down. There is no way this can be done without the dogs dug into the bark. Also when you have both hands on the rear handle pushing up, the saw is pivoting on the dogs and forcing the nose down. This only occurs on large logs.
I've seen guys put them on their saw when they were cant racing at GTG'S for speed I guess.
Not to be confused with these.
i knew a girl once......................................
"purpose of a smooth bumper"....... Harley would have a blast with this one.
Brent Nowell
Addicted to ArboristSite
I totally agree with this, the bucking spikes are a tool for the saw. They add a fulcrum point for the saw to pivot, in most cases this can save you work.
To me they seem to be possibly used to protect the wood and not the saw, maybe for a particular mill?
I never thought of bucking large logs with long bars, the trees aren't that big around here. I learn something new every day lol.
Smooth bumpers and short bars are normal in my area.
Smooth bumpers and short bars are normal in my area.
Agree 100% , when your bucking larger logs especially with longer bars and aggressive chain , dogs / spikes are very important !
Yep , he certainly would ! lmao .
There is no stupid questions in industry. Or as they say: "The only stupid question is the question that was never asked".
I have probably only seen them a few different times in my life out on the West coast. The first time I seen a few show up in the saw shop on Husqavna 262xp In 1993/94. I believe they were a small aluminum single bumper. Since I liked to use that saw for thinning saplings then a thought that would have been great.
Everything is tip cut and you need to run an aggressive chain. We ran short 16" bars on steep terrain.
The downside of the short bar is the spikes are closer to the dense 'dog hair' or the undergrowth with Salal or Salmonberry. It is so dense you cut your way through and it gets caught up on the dog al the time. It becomes an energy waster and time consuming. If you don't have the dog on then you take risk of smashing the front of the case with a chain throw.
My bigger thinning saw was a 266 was a 272 ported head and 8 tooth sprocket so the risk increases. It is rare but it will happen.
Other way you will punch the case out without the dogs is will an aggressively filed saw when bucking. I got lucky once doing that when I restarted the buck halfway through the log and throttled up and dropping it into the wood. The case slammed hard and flat into the log. I got lucky.
(Probably I was MENTALLY tired to cut safety) If it would have hit in the middle on a stub I'm sure it would have broke.
Sweden was way ahead of the world in Silviculture practices so they likely used the 262 bumper for thinning and brushing over there and possibly for felling over in Europe with that saw.
In recent years they have included a smooth bumper with the 365/372 XT. I gave one to a log home builder and a roller catcher in response to saying he was going to take the dog off when I said he was missing the roller catcher. A guess it was more about not catching up on the wood more than a damage thing. Some cases with him or otherwise, it may be a damage concern.
All four reasons have been mentioned Pryor.
Sharp spikes always somehow cut my fingers and hands, especially when changing chain or tightening chain. Maybe smooth are for safety or they could be for saws with lower cc to prevent from overloading by levering to hard on the spike
Bumpers are meant for small diameter trees and bars 20" and under, they are very common here where trees are mostly smaller diameter. They came on Husqvarna and Jonsereds saws up to 70cc, I have made dozens of them for Stihl saws as I have never yet seen Stihl saws come with them from the factory. There is very little reason to have sharp felling spikes on short bar saws, all that is needed is a sharp self feeding chain.
The smooth bumpers work well for milling too - they keep the crankcase of the saw from running on the wood.
I'd never thought of this! Firstly, "smooth" bumpers are a new thing to me, but Jacob J's answer really makes sense!
Safe sawing!
Brent Nowell
Addicted to ArboristSite
To me that doesn’t make sense. Every milling attachment I have used keeps the saw away from the wood. There are guides on the Alaskan mill that hit the wood before the saw ever would. Also even on the timberland beam machine the saw body will not touch the wood...
so am I missing something here?
