GB Forestry Chainsaw Bars etc

I've just been talking to a gentleman from GB Forestry about some chainsaw bars and chain sprocket alternatives for my slabbing mill build. Their stuff seems to be pretty good quality and I know that they supply bars to Lucas and Peterson for their slabbing mills as well as some other mill manufacturers. After a few minutes of discussion I began to think that I am potentially better off getting a longer bar to start with than just going for the ebay variety 42" bar. It would certainly be easier to just have to engineer everything once. The widest log I have at the moment is about 4' (1.2m), so a 42" bar wont be long enough without taking some cuts off the top and then turning the log - that's quite doable though. GB Forestry have a 72" wide bar that is quite tempting for something over $800. Does any one have any thoughts or experience using GB Forestry gear and how does it compare to other bars etc from other manufacturers? What are your thoughts about what bar length I should be considering too? My initial plan was to make the track 1.5m wide, but that can be adjusted without too much trouble before I start cutting lengths of steel. Simon

I have 3 GB baRs, 42, 44 and 60", I also have a Stihl 60" bar although I have not used it for anything serious and also have or had a bunch of 20 - 36" Stihl and Oregon bars.
I'd say provided the bars re well maintained there's nothing significant between these 3 makes.

The 42" GB has done the bulk of my cutting, maybe 150 logs. I use auxiliary oilers on all my my mills which I thinK makes a big difference in reducing wRR. I think I have dressed THE 42" GB maybe 3 times.

Hi Simon,

Agree with Bob, all the well known brand bars are fine. I've had both GB and Stihl bars for 25 years, both are good. I chainsaw milled with 36, 48 and 60" bars for a long time in Tassie and on the mainland. In Tassie I found the 48" to be the best, it could handle about everything without being difficult to use by myself. Myrtle, huon, king billy, big paddock blackwoods, macro and anything that was available to me at the time (it was 1998). It was only when I came back to Victoria and got into milling massive redgums that I pulled out the 60". By then, it was time to upgrade to the Lucas slabber, then the dedicated slabber, then the super slabber! The 72" you mentioned is too cumbersome to operate and takes too long to sharpen!

So I'd say a 48" will sort you out 95% of the time. And remember, a 1.5m diameter log only mills to about 1.2m before hitting the heart area, so you can always mill down to the widest slab, roll the log over, mill down the other side, then rip the remaining heart flitch and mill that separately. And if you getting too many 1.5m diameter logs, your in need of more than a chainsaw mill......or I'll gladly take those problem logs off your hands hehe!

Cheers,

James

Just in case you thought I was joking about massive redgums.....enjoy the milling! But be careful....it starts with just one saw and one log.....:2tsup::2tsup:

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Thanks for the advice James. I see what you mean about the lengths of bars etc. What I have planned is a similar thing to a Lucas Dedicated Slabber with ground mounted tracks similar to some of the Peterson mills, so the length of the bar shouldn't be much of an issue other than conscripting someone to help move slabs. �� My Alaskan setup will take up to a 48" bar and I wouldn't really want to be pushing that thing for very long, let alone carry it very far. There's been a heap of big Macrocarpa Pines just piled up and burned around her in the last couple of years. I suppose that it has been a lot of "hedges" around old farm houses that may contain all manner of foreign objects besides fencing wire, but it still seems sad.

Thanks again, I'll reassess what I'm planning. I am getting closer to something workable. This is the sort of thing I've got lined up so far:

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Simon

Haha, James, I didn't think you were joking, but that is a pretty big log. Years ago we got a single rider Myrtle log from Preolenna that wouldn't fit between the bolsters on the jinker, so we carried it on our low loader trailer. I'll have to see if I can find a picture. I reckon that log would have been similar to yours. Thanks for the picture.

Cheers,
Simon

Looks like those size trees are easily handled. It's comes down to what size trees you want to tackle, and what gear you have to tackle them. No use wearing out long lengths of chain on medium sized logs. Can you somehow build it to suit a 72" bar, but between the rails have a frame that takes a 48" bar that can be lifted out and change to the 72" when needed? I had the one chainsaw mill originally that would extend to take all size bars, from 24"-60". Just something to ponder, I'm sure others have built similar things.

Now you're talking my language...single riders! They are pretty rare these days, just windblown giants are the only way we come across them now, which is good thing really as they should be preserved. Fellas at the mill would have trouble getting that big myrtle through the break down saws I reckon!

That redgum went 25t so we milled it on the spot, but we have done probably 10 logs in the 15-20t range over the years. Its pretty special milling those amazing trees.

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