Rob D

I'm not sure as only made x3 weeks ago but I expect it will do... prob not too much though. But will soon be working on some basic furniture designs and fixings so that people who like to just bolt stuff strongly together can do so on site!

Just to answer the original question yes there will be bars for the Husky T540 but not for 4 months - sorry - they just missed the last order and am building up this next one...

No worrys Matty - I always have to do a few hours a day on holiday - which I don't be grudge as it's just what I have to do! I have someone packing all orders while I'm away so everything will still go out most of the time a day after order on a next day service.

A question I often get asked is 'how much do/can/should you charge for a days milling? And as usual it's a piece of string type question. There's people doing it for not much and some get a good days money doing it. Prices vary from £160 to £500... One way to charge better prices I think would be to offer people a green furniture option - ie. most domestic customers don't want planks but almost anyone can have some outdoor furniture or indoor furniture made green for seasoning in situ... A big outside table has got to be worth £300-00+ and so the customer feels they get good value and miller earns enough to make it worthwhile. Here's a large ash table and bench I made like this - they are going to let it dry inside (carpet is being replaced!). Really I think you need to offer customers a set design rather than give them a free hand as the legs on this were hard to make and get square... + the bench was added at short notice. They also had a big 8" thick piece left for a coffee table. Camera was low on battery and I was low on energy at the end! It's not well joined together as time was running out - but it got me thinking that with set fixings and a set design it could be much better done.

No worrys - am away until the 12th Oct though...!

Good stuff Salty! Next order is going in with them in around 2 weeks but it will be 4 months before delivery so end of Feb I'd say.

Quick search of the internet says 85cc - should be able to take a 28" bar no bother.

Thanks Jon

Yep as above post by TGB but there are x3 types of Sugi bars: Laminated super light - tough laminated bars but they are not that light really - not as light as an oregon pro lite or some of the Stihl bars but def feel tougher and should last a lot longer Pro solid - single piece steel bars - I think in terms of stiffness these are the best on the market compared to ALL other bar types (although no tests done to prove!). Using a 46" sugi pro solid on the 880 feels like using a normal chainsaw bar rather than something that flops a bit. Light type bars - these are the pro solid bars - but with areas removed and filled with a tough resin. You do loose a smidge of the stiffness but weight saving is around 20% to 25% depending on bar. They also look the best -not that is matters but it is nice! Vid on the light type bars here They don't have to come with an adapter and in fact all the bars I have are made for the correct mount - but the next order will have a lot of multi mount bars running .325 .063 and 3/8 .063. This means you can run them on both a Stihl or Husky + you only have to have 3/8 .063 chain if you run both types of saws. The adapter plates are getting better and really are simple to fit and remove (or will be!) I did a vid on all the Sugi bars here which is informative if a bit boring!

Hmmmm.... not sure - it would be close I think as cc wise with say 2x MS260 you'd have the same power as an MS880. It's more for avoiding buying the big saw on that sort of size mill/bar combo.

GB double ended bars... As said in another thread I have started reimporting GB bars into the UK. GB (Griffiths and Beerens) are an Australian bar manufacturer with a lot of experience and good reputation. To cut a long story short the company went through some turbulent times and now is run and directed by Tom Bereens. 6/7 years ago (have not got exact date) Tom built his own factory out in China and started making guidebars out there. I think there were a couple of years of finding his feet but he is now producing good quality bars again - mainly for harvesters. So although yes these bars are made in China they are at Tom's own factory which he lives next door to to oversee everything - I've been using a double ended bar with a Husky 395XP and Husky 372XP and it's worked very well. These GB bars are a lot better priced than the competition and existing Granberg bars I currently sell. Double ended bars available here: Products for the category: Double ended bars Vid of a setup using 395XP and 372XP So some things to note: One aspect of milling that puts many off is having to buy a massive chainsaw that will only be used for milling. What if you could use x2 existing saws? What if these saws are not the same - will it still work? There's a lot of myths and talk on double ended chainsaw milling - the saws need to be revving the same etc etc. In practice I have found they don't. So you can set up with say an MS361 and MS660 or x2 MS260s etc etc. you may have to change the drive rim ie. on smaller saws like say you have a 260 and 361 - you will need to change the 361 to 3/8" or the 260 to 3/8"... inboard sprockets are a pain - you can get away with one end having an inboard sprocket but I don't think both... too hard to get the chain around when fitting drive link counts vary depending on saws used so need to be prepared to shorten or lengthen chain bars are made with a multi mount - you'll need spacers for Husky saws which will be supplied. Husky saws will need to have the D009 mount ie saws 65cc +. Stihl saws from MS260+ will also need a spacer (again can be supplied with bar). So in the range I have now there is: 87" - to fit the Alaskan 72" mill and give 70" cutting width. 72" - to fit the Alaskan 56" mill and give 54" cutting width. 60" - to fit the Alaskan 48" mill and give 48" cutting width. 50" - to fit the Alaskan 36" mill and give 34" cutting width. Bear in mind ordering this today for a job tomorrow will be a recipe for problems - getting set up takes some thought and time and as said the chain may need to be altered. With this in mind I'm offering free chain breaker and free chain mender (RRP £132+vat - yes FREE) with every GB double ended bar ordered. Here's video of how to break and mend chain Other accessories like different anvils etc available here Products for the category: Breaking and mending Each chain with the bar will be supplied with some extra chain links and joining links - chains will need to be ordered here Custom chain loops How do I know how many links there are - only tells me the .404 drive link count? You'll have to do a calculation or ask - ie. to get a .325 drive link count for a 50" GB double ended bar: Takes 138 drive links of .404 chain. 138x.404 = 55.752 55.752/.325 = 171.54 so 172 drive links. It's not foolproof but gives an idea.

I'd love to have a shop in the end with rows of gleaming bars in an orderly line.... but think this is sometime away as yet!

Are you using a solid nose bar? They can give the symptoms you're describing.

Great work - very original - always good to see!

Ref the debate what are the best chainsaw bars I think that it's always going to be a tricky and ongoing one... a few thoughts as below to add to the pot! Husky bars - bear in mind pretty much all Husky bars that are under 24" long are made by Husky in their own factory. All bars that are 24" and over are re branded oregon bars (I have on pretty good authority). Not many people are fans of Husky bars or their after service from people I've spoken to.... Oregon bars - Oregon are pretty much the benchmark of the industry and the bars most compared to. They are average really - average price, average looking, average lasting. One major good point of them is the range across all manufacturers and good distribution - whatever the saw you will usually find an oregon bar to fit! Cannon bars (main importer Dougie Bennett Tavistock chainsaws The UK home of Cannon™ Bar Chainsaw bars) are very good robust quality and very tough. They are certainly the most expensive. I don't think they are as hard wearing as the Sugi bars on the rails in that I have had around x9 cannon and still need regularly dressing where the Sugi bars don't so much. They are also a lot heavier than the light type Sugis. (I'm going to be majorly biased on comparing cannon to Sugi though aren't I!) They have yet to make a small R7 carving nose for the MS150 C-E (please don't compare the Sugi to the Samarai R6 bars I got where quite a few failed at the nose prematurely . They are both made in Japan but totally different companies). But - the exception to this is the Cannon carving bars - they are tougher on the nose and are slightly thicker and heavier built - also they are 20% heavier than equivalent Sugi. Stihl bars are good quality through their range on the whole if not that glamorous. Their sealed nose bearing is unique to them and works well although they can still fail prematurely. Sugihara bars (exclusive importer Chainsawbars ? chainsaw chains, chainsaw bars and chainsaw accessories)- Huge range, good looking, long lasting and willing to try new ideas they've been making bars in their factory in Japan for 50 years. I'd say the reason not seen so much in Europe is that they have no distribution network - but that is set to change as now Chainsawbars ? chainsaw chains, chainsaw bars and chainsaw accessories has a good workable range which will only be increased in Stihl and Husky and also the other manufacturers... trouble is a long long long lead time on orders and no account terms. FR Jones are the only other supplier to sell them (and are selling a lot of them!) - not much interest from other suppliers... I'd say 35% of all Sugi sales are into Europe with largest order of x20 bars... Sugihara bars seem to like their noses regularly greased - at least the few failures I've had back were as dry as a bone - and that's what the factory have told me... don't want to get into the 'grease the nose sprocket or not' debate but doing it correctly every 6 hours use should mean no problems - if there are let me know! Weak area of Sugihara (and Tsumura) is they don't make very long bars - many ask why is there a 46" Sugihara bar - why not 48"? This is because 46" is the longest they can currently make - they have never been asked to make longer than 42" in the past! Tsumura bars (no current importer) - they are another Japanese bar manufacturer - I've thought about bringing some in but not convinced they are better than the Sugi bars. Plenty of info in the catelogue here http://www.suehiroseiko.jp/download/catalogue_en.pdf GB bars (exclusive importer Chainsawbars ? chainsaw chains, chainsaw bars and chainsaw accessories) - GB (Griffiths and Beerens) are an Australian bar manufacturer with a lot of experience and good reputation. To cut a long story short the company went through some turbulent times and now is run and directed by Tom Bereens. 6/7 years ago (have not got exact date) Tom built his own factory out in China and started making guidebars out there. I think there were a couple of years of finding his feet but he is now producing good quality bars again - mainly for harvesters. In fact I've now started bringing these in again mainly for the long bars ie. 56" and 64" ideal for Alaskan 48" and 56". Cost £225+vat and £265+vat respectively... also 50",60",72" and 87" double ended bars for x2 chainsaw run mills - the idea is to run x2 different chainsaws and save yourself getting an 880 or 3120! GB are also very open to making other useful bits and pieces such as bar adapters for multi mount bars... Also GB used to make all the sought after lo pro bars that Logosol sold - I've got sample of these now to see what people think in 20",25",36" and 42" - £40+vat,£50+vat,£72+vat,£84+vat respectively... not got them on the website yet as am away and had no time to test myself but a few have gone out... If the GB bars work out well then I'll be increasing the range of them. Something to chew on!

Sorry that has been your experience - but a lot of firewood processor boys have switched to the laminated Sugi bars and find they outlast the oregon bars by a long way. If you feel it has failed prematurely then send it in and I'll have a look at it. If it's a fault it will be warrantied.

What a cracking piece of oak - shame it has to be felled... But def worth milling - there has got to be some really interesting things going on inside there. It sort of looks like a burr and sort of doesn't!

So far in all experimentation I've done with gearing up a saw I've found myself going back to using the standard set up ie. going for torque over increased chain speed.... But that's me personally - it's one of those if it works for you then fair enough!

Many thanks but I almost need a full list of all Echo saws with what there oregon mount is - most are on the oregon selector guide but a lot of the newer ones aren't.

Ah - after you have uploaded one saw you can go in and add other pics. Noticed a couple of mine (pics) are upside down - is there any way of rotating? These were uploaded from an ipad.

Steve - just loading up my gear on there now. I've engraved each saw underneath as well... is there a way of uploading more than one picture per item ie. one pic of the saw as a whole, another of where it is engraved?

Does anyone have any info on all the various Echo mounts and sprockets etc.... one of the problems I find with Echo is that Oregon don't keep their selector guide that up to date. Echo have changed the sprockets on eg carving saws so all WES models have to have a 1/4 drive sprocket from Echo... They will be the next manufacturer to add to the guidebar selectors but it would be good to have an up to date bar mount list that's accurate. I'd then maybe look to get some multi mount bars that would also fit the D176 mount.

I'd try and stay clear of the duromatic bars if possible - nose gets hot and causes problems but fine in the short term. Personally with an 880 I'd stick to .404 chain - better chip clearance and stay sharp - 3/8 saves negligible kerf and is no faster (In my experience that is - some like it!). Run on a 7 pin - torque is what you want not chain speed even with an 880 it has to work hard. If in doubt play around with options as everyone has their favourite and ideas of what works best - I know someone who runs .325 chain with x2 MS880s on a double ended set up... they like it and have had no problems although not something I would do.

Around 700 seems a very good price given the cost of some of the other similar gear out there...

The bar and chain bit is easy - not sure about the drive sprocket - Oregon do plenty for the MS290 but not sure if the MS291 shares the same sprockets... In fact I think they don't match - so need to find out if they do a .325 rim and sprocket and will be a Stihl part (unless someone knows for def if an oregon sprocket fits).