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21-02-2005, 10:01 PM

(Koi-ichi) wrote:

Stephen Henning wrote:
===The brush bar is designed for cutting at the end.

Been dealin g iwith chainsaws all my life and this is a new one on
me. Are you perhaps talking about a bow type bar........

They are called brush bars. Bow bars are similar. Mine is made by
Homelite. They were more popular in the west. I used them when I was
working for the Forest Service in the Cascade Mountains and decided I
wanted one for myself. The local dealer here in PA had no trouble
getting one for me. They are longer than a bow bar and designed to cut
brush off at the base. You can cut things off at ground level. You can
also cut small trees down with the tip of a brush bar. They have an
anti-kickback bar on the tip. They are especially useful when cutting
brush and smaller diameter trees off close to the ground.

===The fastest cutting are the Stihl 025C & Stihl Super Farm Boss 029, and
===Husqvarna 345 & 350. They also have the greatest kickback. They are
===probably the ones to avoid.

Why do they have more kickback than any other saw........engine /
chain speed........they all use asymetrical bars and anti kick back
chain, use a saw properly and its not a problem.

For the same reason they cut faster. They have a more aggressive
design. Other saws cut almost as fast and are safer to use. Kick back
is more of a problem with a longer bar. Most of todays saws just have
short bars. I personally grew up around chain saws, but todays
purchases are usually made by homeowners who have never used one and
have received no training on how to use one properly. I would never
recommend they use anything but the safest available that does a good
job. We have chain saw shops that provide lessons, but places like Home
Depot and Lowes just hand you a box and you are on your own.

Talking about using chain saws for a long time. One of the first chain
saws I used was a two man Mercury saw. The man on the tip of the bar
was the oiler and controlled the cutting end of the saw. The operator
had a two handed handle bar and controlled the 2-cylinder 4-cycle
engine. The Mercury saws used engines similar to Mercury outboard
motors. They were heavy but could cut down a 12' diameter Douglas Fir.
They had an awful lot of teeth to sharpen. We usually left a chain in
our maintenance shop and took a sharpened chain out each day.

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Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA
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