Chainsaw Bar worn out?

[johnsayen]

My wife insists that I have a bar problem..........

Is she talking about chainsaw bars, alcohol bars, granola bars, innuendo, all of the above?

 

[Woodslasher]

My wife insists that I have a bar problem..........

You always seem to be surrounded by them?

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

You always seem to be surrounded by them?

Bars- or wives?

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

Decades of saw use, and I've never had a problem that could be traced to the bar. Not to say that it can't happen, but I've never seen it in almost 50 years. Of course I maintain my bars.

When a saw cuts a curve thru the wood, it's because the teeth on one side of the chain are doing their job correctly, and the other teeth are not. You may have hit stone, steel, or whatever that affected one side of cutters but not the other. Or, through repeated sharpening you may have shortened the cutters on one side more than the other.

Your chain is most likely at fault. Easy diagnosis--fit a new chain and see how it cuts. You'll know in an instant. If the new chain cuts right, you're good to go. If not, then you have a bar problem.

No truer words spoken- but if the bar is that worn the OP suspects it, it may be burred that well that it will still bind in the kerf of a new chain and more than likely the drive sprocket is the original one the saw was sold with.

 

[wde_1978]

I did not read all the replies so this may have been stated already.

The bar rails may be worn down so far that the chains drive links bottom out in the bars groove.
That will make a brand new chain cut crooked.

As far as bar rail dressing goes, get a cheap bar dresser off eBay, or if You are willing to swing the coin buy the same thing from Your trusted dealer.
I have a cheap eBay bar dresser and it serves me well.
Use a flat racker file to remove burrs from the bar rails sides.

 

[Cliff R]

I agree with the decades of saw use and not having bar issues, but I've worn out one bar to a point where it would not cut no matter how sharp the chain was. That bar was the cheaper "laminated" bar that came on my Echo CS-590. It reached a point where it just wouldn't cut unless you "forced" it and even then it would cut crooked even with a perfect chain on it. I replaced that bar and it instantly cured the issues even using the same chain. Other than that one scenario all cutting issues over the years have not been related to the bar. For sure you want to make sure that the groove in the bar is well fitted to the chain and that the chain is correctly sharpened, rakers even, teeth the same size/height/angle, etc......

 

[HarleyT]

Bars- or wives?

I tend to stick with straight bars...

 

[Woodslasher]

Bars- or wives?

(In a James Bond voice) Bars, jail bars.

 

[HarleyT]

I am writing the manuscript for the next James Bond movie....
I am going to call it "The Living Dogshit".....

 

[Stihl a grasshopper]

How to tell if the bar is worn? If a .404 63 fits in your 3/8 50 bar like this… Here’s your sign.
I tried hand filing and thought it seemed to be a bit wobbly in the groove. Lacking feeler gauges I just figured I would try a different gauge to see if it fit.



In addition to ordering a 3/8 63 gauge chain next time, I’ll also be replacing the factory sprocket