Dumb Question Regarding Light Weight Bars?

[Scottnc]

If one has the machine tools and skill set what would be wrong with lightening a standard weigh bar? What I'm talking about is using a 2-axis CNC mill to copy a production light weight bar, like a Sugihara or Tsumura.

Question - do the lightening holes really need to be filled?

 

[ammoaddict]

I have wondered the same thing. It would have to be a solid steel bar and I doubt many of them are as hard as the Japanese bars.

 

[John Stryker]

You might get away with open holes in a bar cutting solid wood, but twigs might catch the holes when you're brushing or limbing. I've wanted to try it myself on an old bar just to lighten it up.

 

[4CornersPuddle]

+ what Stryker said above about limbing.
Quite a few years ago, a coworker of mine proudly showed up one morning with a bar he'd cut windows in to lighten it. He wasn't felling very long that morning. Because I hadn't heard his saw for awhile, I hiked over to his strip to check on him.
He'd already been back to his pickup to retrieve a stock bar, declaring his experiment a total failure. Many cut limbs would spring back into the openings he'd made.
I suppose if you filled the holes, or only partially hollowed out each side, leaving a closed center, you might be on to something.

 

[Huntaholic]

ANY hole in that bar is going to fill up with sawdust. That may not mean much to a firewood cutter, but it means EVERYTHING to a professional feller. It will fill up and bind you in the cut at just the wrong time, causing you to split the tree youre cutting at best, destroy a saw, OR get you killed by a barberchair. I wont even use a bar with that little tiny round hole open in it.

 

[TRTermite]

ANY hole in that bar is going to fill up with sawdust. That may not mean much to a firewood cutter, but it means EVERYTHING to a professional feller. It will fill up and bind you in the cut at just the wrong time, causing you to split the tree youre cutting at best, destroy a saw, OR get you killed by a barberchair. I wont even use a bar with that little tiny round hole open in it.

Quirky that the issues sawdust and wood debris can cause but not surprising if you get anal about how things work.

 

[Fatherwheels]

If hole in bars worked we would all be using them by now,
Stihl Oregon and other manufacturers would have tested
this mileniums ago.

 

[Fatherwheels]

ANY hole in that bar is going to fill up with sawdust. That may not mean much to a firewood cutter, but it means EVERYTHING to a professional feller. It will fill up and bind you in the cut at just the wrong time, causing you to split the tree youre cutting at best, destroy a saw, OR get you killed by a barberchair. I wont even use a bar with that little tiny round hole open in it.

I used to drill holes down into rock, the last thing I ever wanted to encounter
was a hole in the rock, it caused the dust to no longer come to the surface,
it would pack in so tight around the drill bit and clamp it solid, then the trouble
really started, you lost the bit which was the expensive part, that is if you had enough power to unscrew the rods from the drill bit because they would be extremely tight from trying to turn through the dust that got packed around it.

In my opinion, no holes in the bar are required, other than bar stud and oil hoes.

 

[Squareground3691]

Tsumura light bars don’t really take that much weight off a regular tsumura unless u get into long bars 32,36” The Oregon Reduced weight bar in the long lengths actually take 11/4 to 11/2 pounds off standard bar witch is significant , I have about 6 of each . Tsumura light bars are great quality and look pretty cool lol . But the Oregon Reduced weight are little flimsy in bore cuts in longer lengths but bucking big wood it’s nice to have the less 11/4 1/1/2 pounds after several hours of cutting

 

[Fatherwheels]

I like solid bars, like light weight ones too, sugi are good,
I do not like bars that flex or bend easily.

 

[rocketnorton]

there were bars with holes in the 50s
dont think any made it into the 60s
fillin up n binding be my guess, as saws got faster n chains got smaller

 

[rocketnorton]

1948

 

[hwrdpromac7900]

If you have the skill and tools go for it. You should be able to put epoxy in the holes. If you do be sure to post pictures.

 

[ammoaddict]

It's so nice to have experts on this forum to keep us novices from making big mistakes. I had thought about drilling holes in an old bar just to see if it worked. Now I know it's a bad idea. Thanks.

 

[huskihl]

There are a few threads on O P E where guys milled holes similar to Tsumura and filled with epoxy and/or carbon fiber

 

[Square Cutter]

I thought about this too. If I were to try this I would cnc out holes on one side of the bar but only go through about 3/4. And then fill the holes in with epoxy and carbon fiber. Or even just epoxy and sand the holes flush. Companies make them. Couldn't be that hard to do just expensive.