Somewhat Out of the loop bar wise?

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Huskybill

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I put cheap new bars and chains on my keeper saws. But one saw I’d like to put a good bar on that will get the most use. I seen GB Titainium top pro bars at Stahl supplies I think they were $45 for 18”/.058/18” bar any good? What are the quality affordable bars today?

In the past I’ve used Oregon and Windsor a lot.

I have huztl bars so the kids can learn on. Funny to talk with them. One cut a big blow down with the ball roots exposed. We talked about where do we cut first. He was buckin the top while watching the trunk moving up a tad each buck. We have to seperate the root first. Putting some bucked pieces to hold the trunk up once it’s separated from the roots.
I crack up to talk with him, he’s learning. Years ago I did the felling, he did the bucking up. I weened him with a 266se.
 
GB Titanium are bloody good guide bars.
Typical Aussie product- no mucking about, just a good quality bar that wears and lasts well, with no fancy gimmicks, no frill and no lightweight epoxy add in's.
Probably better than the current offerings from Oregon, almost on par with Stihl, maybe slightly better than Sugi Hara, slightly under Tsumura and not up with Cannon- but then neither is the asking price!
For an 18" bar, lightweight does not really come in to it and the GB are hard to beat in this general 16-24 inch range.
 
Best of the best Cannon, Stihl. Sugihara, Tsumura have excellent steel and fit and finish, but some find the tips to not last as long in certain applications. Oregon bars have good tips but the steel is soft. I prefer reduced weight when applicable.
+1 to what he said. I have recently been running the Stihl ES Light bars, and I would never go back now. A 28" ES Light weighs less than a standard 20" ES. I also picked up a 25" Sugihara Lightweight a couple days ago. I haven't gotten to put it to work, but Ive got compliments on how good my 462 looks with it lol
 
Last two GB bars I had were made in China and of low quality, they're also near impossible to get in the U.S. now. About ten years ago I had a couple that were made in Australia, those were really nice, but I wouldn't put them up there with Stihl or Cannon.

That is interesting, I did not know they had slipped production out of Aussie and in to China- but that kind of thing certainly happens....... usually with a drop in quality to match the drop in production costs.
The comments I made above apply only to the made in Australia models and at the time I was using them, I would rate them every bit as good as the Windsor bars I was also using at the time.
It should also be noted- there are/were several grades of GB bar, the Titanium Pro is the one to aim for.
 
Years ago the swedish steels were the best in quality. I think it’s because they used electric furnaces. We here in the us changed over and Japan followed the same path. I guess China is lagging behind.

When I was building machine tools at Bullards they had the most modern gray iron foundry east of the Mississippi. We would pick up the coke that falls off the rail road cars near the foundry. My point is in the 80’s they met the epa clean air standards. I’m sure we can still do it today.
 
That is interesting, I did not know they had slipped production out of Aussie and in to China- but that kind of thing certainly happens....... usually with a drop in quality to match the drop in production costs.
The comments I made above apply only to the made in Australia models and at the time I was using them, I would rate them every bit as good as the Windsor bars I was also using at the time.
It should also be noted- there are/were several grades of GB bar, the Titanium Pro is the one to aim for.
Is that like the bars on Ebay that have a kangaroo on them but are made in China?
 
Griffith & Bereens did a joint venture a while back like 10+ years ago where they partners up with a China or Taiwan guy and produced a few runs of cheap homeowner bars. G/B broke off that arrangement and part of the deal was letting their Asian partner keep all the chitty bars. Now all the bars are produced in Australia as far as I know. Quality should be good. The titaniums which aren't really titanium (maybe 3% or something) are damn expensive here, if you can get them at $45 for 18" that is good value.
 
Griffith & Bereens did a joint venture a while back like 10+ years ago where they partners up with a China or Taiwan guy and produced a few runs of cheap homeowner bars. G/B broke off that arrangement and part of the deal was letting their Asian partner keep all the chitty bars. Now all the bars are produced in Australia as far as I know. Quality should be good. The titaniums which aren't really titanium (maybe 3% or something) are damn expensive here, if you can get them at $45 for 18" that is good value.
I hope that is correct, still near impossible to get here. The old titanium bar I had on my 362 was really nice, so I ordered two more, those were nothing like the first one I had and it was marked made in China. This was about 2010-11, and GB as a company was in limbo if I remember correctly?[emoji111]
 

Nothing smartarsed about it- we don't have ebay here and Archer are not GB affiliated as far as I know, but you are right- they have a Kangaroo and Australia on the packaging- so that could be where the confusion arose from.
Never owned an Archer bar to pass comment on them.
 
Nothing smartarsed about it- we don't have ebay here and Archer are not GB affiliated as far as I know, but you are right- they have a Kangaroo and Australia on the packaging- so that could be where the confusion arose from.
Never owned an Archer bar to pass comment on them.
I haven't owned one either, and my emjois didn't show up.
 
The GB Pro-Top & Titanium bars I used were very good. Then all of a sudden they seemed to disappear stateside, at least where I was working. Assuming they’re still the same I put them up in the same tier as Cannon & Stihl. Good tips and good, long wearing rails.
I believe the company changed hands or something around 2010, and Stens was selling them when they started making some junk. Sounds like they reorganized and are pretty much only selling in Australia. Again the Australian made bar I had was top-notch.
 
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