Rob D

Made a vid recently of the range of Sugi bars - what the differences are between the various sorts and types and what have you.

They are not as shiny - but still very good bars indeed (I would say that I suppose.... ) but I had a call from a firewood processor fellow yesterday... He was using cannon 15" bars on his processor but having to adapt them slightly to fit... I didn't have any sugi solids - so he took x3 laminated. He bought them around 14 months ago and has called to order more... the ones he has have all done 300 ton each on his processor and are still going but he wants three more so as they do wear out he has spares... They are heavy duty laminated bars and will still last a long time. But you can't beat the shiny finish on the light types.... ! is a vid on the line up... not all the bar sizes are there as could not fit on the table.

An update to show current stocks of various Sugi bars...next order is underway but will take 4 months. Jonsie still has the full range of bars so if I am out of some lines he may still have some left... Have inc a word doc so you can download and print if needed. Stocking list 29th Jan.docx

Hmmm - got a load of these but they have the 3/8" standard rims on them... (rims come in small and standard spline sizes)... so the smaller 1/4" rims do not fit on them... .

It's an oregon D176 mount according to selector - I don't at the moment but on the next bar order I'm putting together now will be getting a load of spacers that will mean you can then put the Sugi bars on other saws... ... won't be here for 4 months though

It was "buy a bench I have had for ages and I will sell it cheap week!"

Ha ha! Sorry mate that bench sold for £19,150-00 at a recent Christie's auction - anonymous foreign buyer... Still got it here... no rush to collect...

Few pics from Tommy Craggs - he has not used it much but said when he has done it's lovely! You can do much smaller scale work with the tip than with a standard dime...

Good stuff - they are very well built - just bear in mind these are for extreme detail carving only... Glad the gloves are standing up well - you can wash them on low temp.

Have ordered x20 of these bars - further pics and info hopefully from Tommy Craggs (Treecarver Tommy on here) who is the only person in the UK to have one... pretty unique bar based on the 1/4" .043 chain by Stihl. Pre order offer - you will get x2 free chains if you order before the 7th Feb - this to help mitigate the £95-00+vat of each bar.... Carving bars - put in MS150 to bring the bar up. You can use on other saws as it has a universal mount but wants to be under 30cc - too much power will cause the bar tip to fail prematurely. This is the smallest nose chainsaw bar in the world - R6 (radius 6mm). Smallest dime tips are R9. Note - this is for experienced carvers as this bar is for finishing detail and very fine work with a chainsaw. It will not stand up to heavy duty use and blocking large areas out. You should already have another carving bar and saw set up for this. There will be Sugihara bars in 4 months for the MS150 with an R9 tip which will be stronger for more general use. Notes from the manufacturuer: 'The bar is laminate style (3 pieces, not solid one piece) The reason is that the bar tip is so small that it is very hard to carve our the inner rail particularly around bar tip area. So we decided to employ 3 pieces process, which makes us easier to shape the precise inner plate. This is not a heavily used carving bar, so we decided to trade off some of the bar strength. Instead, the bar is much lighter than normal solid 9", 11"bars, by applying lightning holes to inner plate. We have added extra welding process to the inner bar tip area to retain strength against the tip split opening. The Stelite is molded on to the bar tip, and it is slightly softer than our other bars and many of other brands' bar tips. Also, the bar tip is individually grounded and shaped by hands. Being so small, we are more concerned about cracking. (The harder, the more chance of cracking) We are aware that some carvers prefer much harder bartips, but we needed to make sure the balance is good. The whole logo, by the way, is laser engraved instead of printing, so will stay almost permanently. We have been selling specialty carving bars over the past 10 years, started from 9R carving bars almost first in the market. From that success, we started 7R carving bar about 6 years ago. This was a challenge for us to persuade our contracted manufacture and test the market, since it was the smallest possible radius for Oregon 1/4 saw chain, but turned out that many carvers were very happy to add it to the line of bars they use. The 6R started obviously when we saw Stihl's making new carving saw chain, so it has only been a year or so. So far, over here in Japan, people are happy with the performance. Hayashi Takao is our partnered carver, and he has been using the bar at many occasions including US carving events, since we produced the prototype. He said the bar is extremely useful for detail work of course, but also recommended not to use it for too much bulk cutting work. '

I may try and get both for max options....

That's brilliant!

It's a lovely timber to saw - so soft and quick - what you going to use it for?

Only really the oregon lo pro - but really that chain is only rated for 50cc saws... although that said people seem to use it on more powerful ones...

I was thinking that Si - but perhaps a 16" Quarter tip rather than toonie for mid Stihl mounts? And 16" quarter for mid Husky.

I'd agree with that - I buy all my saws off Jonsie - if there's a problem I send them back, they get repaired and sent back to me. It's painless and easy - I suppose because I'm used to using couriers... but courier sites are getting better and easier to use to send parcels... What happens when a large dealer offers a free pick up/free postage back service with a max turnaround of 5 days or similar? Or less time even? I know that won't cover mowers/ride ons but it can't be far off - there's plenty of sites that let you send chains back for a quick turn around on a sharpening service...

I think the trouble is as in the amazon example you can now sometimes get what you want quickly... And I'd say that a lot of small dealers are indeed well grounded in common sense.... but they are not moving with the times... ie. just doing some of the modern basics such as good website, using the internet for advertising etc. There's plenty out there who don't use the internet and would rather do things face to face - but this seems to be the older generation... what happens as they start using the internet more/and the next generation come through? .

A lot of the states in the US do not have VAT or the equivalent... (there's 20% straight away). A lot of manufacturing is still done in the US still hence no import/export costs to deal with. For some reason it is cheaper to send from the US to the UK rather than the other way round (not sure why and varies from courier to courier - only a small % but makes a difference). The main thing is that prices are not fixed from the manufacturer to the retailer from country to country - ie. the manufacturer looks to charge what they feel the market will pay... There's not much to stop you from buying a load of saws from one country and importing them here - but where would you sell them? What about warranty back up?

You can't sell things, make no money and stay in business or if you do then I can't see how you can offer any sort of service... Surely customer service is the way to build a loyal customer base? And exactly what are over inflated prices - retail price for instance? Not having a go at you in particular DN22 - but in my experience - if you make no money on something = poor customer service.... So how about those that sell very cheaply AND offer good service? IMO - chainsaws are like bread in the supermarket - very price dependent and sold almost at cost - yet rarely do you go into a supermarket and just buy bread....

I would never alter the mix to being stronger - maybe spud or one of the teccies's on here can say why - but it can have the opposite effect ie. less lubrication not more... modern saws are designed to run on 50:1 - changing that mix will surely cause problems IMO.

Always be prepared to walk away from a tree - there are too many that believe the myths of what timber is worth...

I think it it just safer not to grease rather than grease... but I don't think the noses last as long as a result... but if in doubt prob best not to do it... Going to start a thread on this issue?

I'd agree ref greasing the nose sprocket - it is safer not to grease it... I think the problems come from a) over greasing - filling the nose full of grease but not then turning it to work the excess out then revving gently for a minute or to.... b) greasing it after/before dressing the bar - filings stick to the grease... c) greasing it without using an air line to blow out the grease hole first - or you just push grit into the bearing... I don't think the grease attracts grit - how would grit get under the chain and onto the drive links when the chain is in use? If this was the case then the chain oil would do this... Hmmm... starting to hi jack this thread!

Good work thinking outside the box - and a +ve outcome for ebay as a useful tool as well! I thought that cedar looked fine from the pics - ideal there is no clear up to be done and it's nearby.