Carving bar on TH saw

[jcuish38]

Right be gentle with me guys as I'm a lowly surveyor. I'm on the safety group for my company and one of our guys has suggested using a carving bar on their top handled saw for doing aerial work. He says it reduces chance of kickback dramatically.

Now my issue is, why are they not used all the time then?

 

Any info on subject would be appreciated 😀

[john meehan]

Hes right i think mate. Thr 150s have a carving bar and they are great. Also when carving you can use the nise a lot more abd they are smoother. Maybe abit delicate on a 200 tthough.

 

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[jcuish38]

No downside then? Read something about chain having to be quite slack and something about oiling issues but as long as it's safe that's all I'm sort of concerned about.

[Woodcrafter]

He would have to change to a quater pitch chain changing the sprocket and the oil pump drive. The chain does run slacker and a carving bar not really suitable for larger felling.

Better off buying a ms150 for reductions and thinning type work.

I just use a silky personally but a lot of guys rate the 150.

[john meehan]

Its great on a 150. Like wood crafter said it runs abit slacker. 150 takes a tiny chain. Definatly safe. I love mine.

 

Not sure it would take 200 type of abuse though.

 

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[jcuish38]

Cheers for the info guys, much appreciated 👍

[Rob D]

Right be gentle with me guys as I'm a lowly surveyor. I'm on the safety group for my company and one of our guys has suggested using a carving bar on their top handled saw for doing aerial work. He says it reduces chance of kickback dramatically.

Now my issue is, why are they not used all the time then?

 

Any info on subject would be appreciated 😀

 

 

If carving bars were better on a top handle everyone would use them - but other than for special circumstances they are not the preference.

 

Yes they reduce kickback but they also need the chain to be run slack, even with the slack chain there is more friction and heat build up at the nose and on a straight cut they will not cut quite as well.

 

There is more control with a sprocket nose bar for general cutting.

 

For the above reasons a sprocket nose bar is better and I would estimate 98%+ pros stick to a sprocket nose bar (Guesstimate based on our customer sales/what I read on here/youtube vids).

 

The new Echo2511TES comes with a carving bar - we change them all to a sprocket nose - this is customer driven.

 

Many of the sprocket nose bars have a small tip and that combined with a guarded chain will keep kickback to a minimum.

 

There are guarded chains with plenty of kickback reducing features.

 

Small saws with smaller sprocket noses and guarded chains mean less chance of kickback and less violence of kick back when and if it happens. Add good work practice and positioning and it takes the need of using a carving bar for reduced kickback away.

 

All that said there will always be an exception to the rule but carving bars are designed for carving not aerial tree work.