How useful is a replaceable nose on a bar?

[Jay H]

How does one damage the bar itself to need to replace the nose or is this a wear and tear item, along with the guide sprocket?

If I was to buy a 24" bar, any particular brand that is good, I've seen cheap $20 Carltons to $56 Oregons to $61 Husqy brand to $120 Woodsman Pro brands out there... some hardnose, some not. I'm not worried about the weight so a basic hardened steel, not Ti is fine...

Jay

 

[computeruser]

Tips are wear items, especially where the bar steel is particularly good and well hardened, and they can fail in the field. The ability to swap out a bad tip with nothing more than a punch, hammer, and a stump, is a nice bit of insurance that you can keep working without having to hike back to the truck or drive back to the shop/house. On a more expensive bar, the ability to replace a $12 tip makes a lot of sense. The 42" WP bar in the foreground has gone through a couple tips in its lifetime, and started life as a .404" pitch setup and is now 3/8". The 16" Carlton was a $16.95 bar/chain combo from Bailey's, and is pretty much disposable.

For your 359, which is what I presume you're looking to put the 24" bar on, Windsor SpeedTip (which is what I'd choose) or Oregon PowerMatch would both work fine. I think you can get an Oregon ProLite (???) in 24", which would save you a bit of weight out front and save you a couple bucks, and would make sense if you're not going to be running it day in and day out.

 

[Jay H]

Yes, the 359 is what this would be for, I wouldn't dream of putting it on my electric Makita anyway

Well, this is not for felling trees, simply bucking up large trunks, that is if I ever need one larger than my 20" so walking around with my chainsaw is not a big deal, the wood pile is just in my driveway.

I did look at the Pro Lite Oregon bars but didn't find that Baileys had anything longer than 20" I have a Husqvarna brand 20" bar which came with my 359 on it now.

It seems the Husq 24" and the Oregon Power Match 24" bar are pretty close in price, within $10 anyway... I'll keep that in mind if I think I need a longer bar. So far so good though.

Jay

 

[cmonSTART]

my own personal experience is that when you get down to the smaller bars, 20" or less, economically it begins to make less sense to replace the tip. By the time I see most of these they could use a new bar too.

 

[downeast]

my own personal experience is that when you get down to the smaller bars, 20" or less, economically it begins to make less sense to replace the tip. By the time I see most of these they could use a new bar too.

That's our experience also. We go through at least one new bar every year on 4 saws, in mixed harvesting, TSI, blowdowns. It is tough on the bar dealing with dirty wood, wire and rounds embedded in trees, and the foolish cut errors made over time that strain or damage bars. That's why the smaller bars--14" to 18" ---work best for us: simpler to maintain and sharpen chain. I use roller tips, not ever greased, check the rails and grooves at every sharpening, and rotate the bars.
Years ago the Game of Logging (GOL) program taught us skills we never knew or used: wedge use, escape routes, limbing, planning the cut, felling exactly where you want the beast to fall, cutting faster and more efficiently, and of course, safety. Yes, I know to some it's a dirty, unmacho concept.

The first GOL class morning with mostly well-hardened pros with over a hundred years of logging and arborist time among them, and all of us "knowing" all there is about cutting, the instructor took two of our well-used chaps as an example. We all told him that "we've had these for years without problems". Originally hunter orange, the chaps were black from sap and saw oil. Andy took two of the chaps threw them over a log, and cut straight through both of the chaps. Some protection ! All bought new safety chaps for the next session.

It's only the very inexperienced that are sensitive to suggestions about techniques or safety.

When you can't learn anything, it's time to not come down for breakfast. :zip:

 

[Eric Johnson]

I heartily second both posts. At least currently, pricing doesn't favor replacement tips, although they work well in general.