Carving Bars

[DMShaver]

I have a customer who is in the market for some new carving bars and am looking for brand recommendations. He is currently using a Stihl dime tip 1/4" pitch, but can only get a few months out of it before the bar breaks out or splits at the tip. Not being a carver myself, I don't know what caring bar brands hold up the best. Any suggestions?

 

[ultimate buzz]

Baileys carries two different brands of carving bars and they both hold up OK.
Jamie Dorian of www.chainsawsculptures.com carries a custom line of carving bars called "Dagger" that seem to hold up exceptionally well. No matter what brand dime tip a carver uses, the tips of the carving bars are going to take a beating because there is no roller tip,and minimal bearing on the tip . What you might suggest to your carver that you are working with,is to do more finish detail wiith a quarter tip bar using 3/8 low profile chain. This is also available through Baileys and www.chainsawsculptures.com -ken

 

[mer66]

DMSHAVER,

CANNON. have two 025 stihls with these, one dime tip, and one quarter tip.
had them for two years now,and no issues.
$57.00 for the 12" dime and $74.00 for the quarter tip. both bars are 12".
12" dime uses 1/4" pitch, so you'll have to get chain and new sprocket for this one. not sure on prices today. but you can call cannon for current prices.

hope this helps.


mike.

 

[DMShaver]

DMSHAVER,

CANNON. have two 025 stihls with these, one dime tip, and one quarter tip.
had them for two years now,and no issues.
$57.00 for the 12" dime and $74.00 for the quarter tip. both bars are 12".
12" dime uses 1/4" pitch, so you'll have to get chain and new sprocket for this one. not sure on prices today. but you can call cannon for current prices.

hope this helps.


mike.

I always heard that Cannon was a good carving bar, so I ordered a few him to try and he loves them so far. He carved for me at a trade show middle of last month for 12+ hours and just barely took the paint off the tip of the quarter bar. Another thing that helps too I think, is the Dolmar PS-420 that I gave him to use has an adjustable oiler, and with it turned up all the way, the bar gets more than enough oil.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[RobbinW]

Hi Mike, I have Cannons, GB's out of Australia, Daggers from Jamie, A couple of the older Stihl bars & a few different designs of Sugi Haras also. Out of all the bars I have run I have found the two to be the best which I have been running one of them for over a year & a half is the Sugi Hara Pro Carver that Baileys used to sell. I bought 4 Max's from Jamie last Spring & he had 5 of the Sugi Hara Sumari bars & these bars are the best quality I have seen to date but the trick is to dress them first as I believe & know from experience now they must all be as right from the factory they are a rough enough surface finish to start the damage to the chain in turn back onto the bar instantly. As soon as you install a new bar & chain you will get black "swarf" coming off the tip instantly. I used to "chalk this up to a break in of the chain & bar removing any irregularities & coming off the bar in the form of black crap" but I have found that there is a large variation in manufacturing & the grinding or finish tolerances & if the bar is dressed makes all the difference in the world right from the start. I also have been running Canola oil two years as of August & my bars now only need dressing about once every 3 to 4 weeks & the wear is taken care of in minutes with a stone whearas when running regular chain oil I was dressing bars at least once a week & now I run the machines way harder than I did previously also. Watch for Sugi Haras on the market shortly!
Thanks, Robbin
http://www.robbinsamazingart.com