Non-Stihl bars and chains any good on Stihl?

Are those Forester brand bars and chains any good that are all over Ebay? Or some of the other non-Stihl brands? Do they offer full-chisel chains or other rapid cut types? I'm thinking stay with Stihl, but the prices for the off-brands are tempting.

I actually like the GB Titanium bars better than stihl.

I have used all kinds of chain. I notice very little differance.
Some of the really cheap chain is just that. But the Carlton and Oregon are top notch.

Scott.

I bought a 24"forester bar once and won't do that again.

charkan said:

I bought a 24"forester bar once and won't do that again.

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Apples and Oranges. You cannot beat the GB Titanium bar. It is a premium quality bar.

charkan said:

I bought a 24"forester bar once and won't do that again.

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What problem did you have with the bar and which bar was it?

My boss thought he'd make a few more bucks and bought a bunch of Forester 16-24 inch bars a couple of years back. Homeowners - no problem. Pro users - they all came back within few months - - mostly tip failures, or bent...

Well that is interesting

Because a couple years back the Forester Pro bars were made by GB

yep....

PES+ said:

Because a couple years back the Forester Pro bars were made by GB

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+1 for you! Forester Pro bars with the replacable sprocket nose were definitely made by GB - I have a brand new 24" in my garage to prove it.

I also thought STENS is the only distributor of GB products in North America, and everyone who sells GB is a dealer!?

GB Titanium bars are nice...but they are spendy...especially since the price hike. If I couldn't get a good deal on a Windsor/Oregon/exploited GB bar with off-brand paint for under $25/bar on the net somewhere, I'd buy Stihl ES bars, support my dealer and run them on my Husky mount saws with an adapter.

And be fair

GB dropped that bar from production

Those bars had problems often and are what made Woody find other suppliers
The new bars are Asian and are surprisingly good and durable.

I struggled with the whole made in the USA thing but GB isn't American either.

The new Foresters are quite good at a good price

Gb

I've been using GB now for just over a year. I've got 3 of their bars, at the suggestion of the guys at the Cutting Edge here in NY. I gotta tell ya, you wouldn't believe some of the stuff i've put those bars through. I had a 40 or so foot long limb about 36" in diameter hanging off with my 24" GB bar in between Pinched on my 7900. I prodded, yanked, twisted and figger'ed it was all done. While the saw was stuck in it I even took my Jeep and yanked on the limb trying to get it to break. Ended up having to take another saw and a bunch of work to get it down but I still use the bar all the time... I'd swear by them hands down over Stihl, Oregon, Husky's, and anything else out there...

As far as chains, the Stihl chains were always my fave, durability, sharpness etc... The oregons never stood up to them far as I'm concerned, I cut around a lot of dirt and stuff usually. The new Oregons with the Blued Teeth are the closest thing I've found to the Stihl's. They seem to be just as, or almost as good as the Stihl's. I still don't really like the standard oregon chains, but these newer ones seem excellent...

No one is saying the current GB Ti bars are not good

I personally observe that a lot of the new Stihl bars are not as rugged as in the past.

I am not at all impressed with the GB paint and the rivets holding the tip but the bar bodies and the tips themselves are very good and rugged.

Stihl bars - I'm not seeing what you see Pest...

The Stihl ES and Duramatic are very good bars. In my experience the E series bars are junk. The tips split like any cheap Asian bar. The GB Ti bars are good but the Cannon/Woodsman Pro are the best.

If you never used a bar besides the Stihl ES you would not go wrong. I'm talking about 361 and larger. On my 260 Pro I use a Duramatic or an Oregon ProLite.

I've been impressed with the 42" Oregon PowerMatch I use as my milling bar. Until this point, I've been fairly unimpressed with Oregon bars.

I've got a 20" GB Titanium on my 372, not enough hours yet to really tell you anything, but it's definitely a nice bar.

The good Stihl bars are top notch. I've got a well used 36" and a newer 36".

I've got two of the Carlton bars that Baileys no longer sells, made by Tsumura (sic?), which are very good as well. Have a 24" with a few hours on it, and it is holding up very well. Have a 16" I haven't used yet.

That is my relatively limited experience with bars.

Mark

Money is no object? Get a Cannon or Tsumara, I've heard nothing but good of them. The GB protop bars are/were a good buy. I have been impressed with the GB titanium bars, but with the price increase, I would rather run a Stihl ES bar!!! The GB titanium was a "bang for buck" shinning star, now, not so much.

Kogafortwo said:

Are those Forester brand bars and chains any good that are all over Ebay? Or some of the other non-Stihl brands? Do they offer full-chisel chains or other rapid cut types? I'm thinking stay with Stihl, but the prices for the off-brands are tempting.

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I just started using some forester semi chisel chain on my 044. Looks like Windsor I think. I always thought Windsor was softer then Stihl and most Oregon. Would sharpen easy and seemed to hold an edge ok, but not as good as stihl. I thought it stretched a bit more then stihl also.
I bought some orange screnches a while back and I am pretty sure they were labled Forester. I give them the thumbs down. Today I tried using the screwdriver end to loosen the aluminum screw that holds the air filter cover on , from my 032 and the screwdriver tip broke. Typical made in China junk.
If you have or get one I would use the scewdriver only for loose screws.
I bought some gb laminate bars a while back and stuck one on an 026. About the second time I used it I let the chain run loose about 10 minute and it wore a big groove on the bar nose. Seems like very soft metal.

in my experience, the Stihl steel is very high quality.
That being said, I havent had problems with Husky bars either.
I have NOT liked all of the others, namely Carlton, or Oregon.
I have a regular (not titanium) GB bar, but I really havent run it enough to have formed an opinion.

So I guess what I am saying is that the Stihl bars, although really expensive, probably last long enough to make them worth the investment.

If you are willing to fork out for a replacement down the road, try the cheap bar, knowing that you might have to pony up in the future.

I have a super cheap laminated Carlton bar on my 346 xp, but all I do it cut small stuff with it, so it doesn't matter to me at all.

As far as chain goes, I like Baileys woodsman chain. I don't think Stihl is any better at holding an edge, it all depends what you are running it through.

PES+ said:

I personally observe that a lot of the new Stihl bars are not as rugged as in the past.

I am not at all impressed with the GB paint and the rivets holding the tip but the bar bodies and the tips themselves are very good and rugged.

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Lakeside53 said:

Stihl bars - I'm not seeing what you see Pest...

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I have read several times that the Stihl bars sold in Canada are made by Oregon, not by Stihl.........

musch said:

....
That being said, I havent had problems with Husky bars either.
I have NOT liked all of the others, namely Carlton, or Oregon.
......

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Husky bars mostly are rebadged Oregon in the US...