Deal on quality 42" bars

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

So I stumbled across a website of GB products called harvesterbars.com this week because they seem to be the only place I can get replacement GB lo pro nose sprockets in the US. They don't actually carry any lo pro bars except the usual sub-20" ones, but they do carry the full line of GB's ProTop Titanium 3/8" bars. The prices seem about normal in the 20-32" range, $55-75, but they barely go up for the 42 inch bars ($85) which seems like a steal. They have them in Husky D009 mounts in .050 and .063 and in Stihl D025 mount in .063. Best I can tell, the site is run by the GB distributor in the US, Wallingfords, which is based out of Maine, though not 100 percent sure. They've got free shipping and no sales tax.

 

[FISH BAIT]

Thanks for the heads up, I've been looking for a 42" milling bar.

 

[U&A]

i paid $99 for a 42” Oregon shipped. Sold by a drealer thru Amazon. Thats a good deal you found.

My LOCAL dealer wanted $160 for a 42”!!! They frequently have super high prices on any saw parts. They wanted somthin like $45 for a 404/7 drive sprocky and they had to order it. I ordered it on baileys for like 1/3 that price shipped.

Im really starting to not like my local dealer. They do Husky and Stihl

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

Im really starting to not like my local dealer. They do Husky and Stihl

Good local dealers are a rare thing for chainsaw stuff related to milling. I was going to get that $99 Oregon bar awhile back but kept putting it off and found this GB one. My 72" GB titanium bar is a formidable piece of steel, I'm assuming the smaller size titanium ones are still pretty high quality. Most places seem to sell the 42" GB bar for like $135-140 so I was amazed to find it for $85. A bit of strangeness I've found with Stihl dealers is that their ability to get certain bars and the prices they get for them vary wildly. There are some Stihl dealers in upstate NY I've seen who were selling a 42" .404 bar for like $123 a few years ago - but you had to pick it up in store - and a guy in midstate NY said his local dealer wanted over $200 and said it would be months to get. It's great to support local businesses, but in a specialized niche field like chainsaw milling, you have to pretty much order everything online to get what you want at a decent price cause no one local ever sells enough of the stuff to bother stocking it.

 

[U&A]

Good local dealers are a rare thing for chainsaw stuff related to milling. I was going to get that $99 Oregon bar awhile back but kept putting it off and found this GB one. My 72" GB titanium bar is a formidable piece of steel, I'm assuming the smaller size titanium ones are still pretty high quality. Most places seem to sell the 42" GB bar for like $135-140 so I was amazed to find it for $85. A bit of strangeness I've found with Stihl dealers is that their ability to get certain bars and the prices they get for them vary wildly. There are some Stihl dealers in upstate NY I've seen who were selling a 42" .404 bar for like $123 a few years ago - but you had to pick it up in store - and a guy in midstate NY said his local dealer wanted over $200 and said it would be months to get. It's great to support local businesses, but in a specialized niche field like chainsaw milling, you have to pretty much order everything online to get what you want at a decent price cause no one local ever sells enough of the stuff to bother stocking it.

I think im gonna SLOWLY replace all my oregon bars with cannons. For a smaller saw like 50cc - 60cc. Im good with most any bar. But saws with decent power and torque…. The bar seems to really take a beating.

I almost got a GB but like the belly on the Cannon for chain tension/wandering when milling.

 

[EchoShindaiwaMakitaDolmar]

I wish GB bars were still made in Australia.

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

I think im gonna SLOWLY replace all my oregon bars with cannons. For a smaller saw like 50cc - 60cc. Im good with most any bar. But saws with decent power and torque…. The bar seems to really take a beating.

Someone who mills as much big hardwood as you do for a living, buying Cannons totally makes sense. I started with a .404 42" Stihl bar and I was mildly surprised how easily I wrecked it. Granted, I pushed it too hard with dull chain way too many times, but I opened up the groove from .063 to something like .075 over time and constantly flared out the rails. The Stihls are supposed to be pretty good bars, I'm not sure a GB would have done much better against that kind of abuse of a newbie taking too long to figure things out right, but I get the impression Cannons are next level quality compared to either. I didn't realize how sloppy the groove had gotten until it was near hopeless and learned about using a bar rail closing tool to tighten the rails back up again. In talk about dressing bars no one seems to talk much about how important it is - especially for milling - to never allow the rails to get sloppy at all. Just magnifies so quickly with all that torque on a big saw with big chain causing more and more oscillation and wear.

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

I wish GB bars were still made in Australia.

I've seen it reiterated a few times in the past decade that only GB consumer bars were being made in China, that the titanium bars and harvester bars were still being made at the Australia GB factory. Last I saw that said was 2020, so don't know if anything has changed since. I believe the GB ArborTech bars are made in China but the ProTop Titanium line being sold by harvesterbars.com is still being made in Australia.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

Someone who mills as much big hardwood as you do for a living, buying Cannons totally makes sense. I started with a .404 42" Stihl bar and I was mildly surprised how easily I wrecked it. Granted, I pushed it too hard with dull chain way too many times, but I opened up the groove from .063 to something like .075 over time and constantly flared out the rails. The Stihls are supposed to be pretty good bars, I'm not sure a GB would have done much better against that kind of abuse of a newbie taking too long to figure things out right, but I get the impression Cannons are next level quality compared to either. I didn't realize how sloppy the groove had gotten until it was near hopeless and learned about using a bar rail closing tool to tighten the rails back up again. In talk about dressing bars no one seems to talk much about how important it is - especially for milling - to never allow the rails to get sloppy at all. Just magnifies so quickly with all that torque on a big saw with big chain causing more and more oscillation and wear.

For what that many Cannons will cost you could get a decent bandsaw mill…faster and more cost effective, imo.

 

[EchoShindaiwaMakitaDolmar]

I've seen it reiterated a few times in the past decade that only GB consumer bars were being made in China, that the titanium bars and harvester bars were still being made at the Australia GB factory. Last I saw that said was 2020, so don't know if anything has changed since. I believe the GB ArborTech bars are made in China but the ProTop Titanium line being sold by harvesterbars.com is still being made in Australia.

I read an older post somewhere from an Australian guy who lived not far from the GB plant that was closed down. I'll see if I can find it. I think he was the one who mentioned "Asian made", Australian trade laws and such.

If you would, post a pic of the bar where it says "Made in Australia". Thanks.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

I read an older post somewhere from an Australian guy who lived not far from the GB plant that was closed down. I'll see if I can find it. I think he was the one who mentioned "Asian made", Australian trade laws and such.

Been made in China for quite some time now…

 

[EchoShindaiwaMakitaDolmar]

Been made in China for quite some time now…

Then that's probably why they had to legally drop the words "Made in..." and just left the word Australia printed on the bars.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

Then that's probably why they had to legally drop the words "Made in..." and just left the word Australia printed on the bars.

Yup, still an “Australian “ company

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

Yeah, problem is most companies complete their outsourcing on the quiet or obscure what's still being made in the home country and what's being made elsewhere. Stihl, Oregon, etc manufacture a lot in China (and Brazil and elsewhere) but still maintain US factories, but they stop telling you what's made where. It's next to impossible to get reliable info. GB still does make bars in Australia, though, their factory there is not closed. Which ones, who knows. This article sheds some light on the company's evolution. https://www.forestryjournal.co.uk/features/18759487.gb-made-scotland/ It says the titanium harvester bars were produced in China once they got their factory up and running there in 2015, so entirely possible other titanium bars are made there as well. To his credit, Tom actually moved there and built the factory from the ground up to meet quality standards, he didn't just outsource it to some generic production facility making everyone's bars. Old posts about them shutting down the Aussie factory probably had to do with the recession of 2008 and them nearly shutting down completely in the wake of that before managing to rebuild their business. But there's no indication they've ever shut down their Australian manufacturing in Derrimut. From their website - "GB Forestry Australia is based in Derrimut-Victoria, where its office and manufacturing centre are located." I think for uniformity of product, most manufacturers who produce in multiple countries stop saying "Made in USA" or "Made in Australia" or "Made in Germany" on any of their products still produced at the original factory. That's why GB only stamps their bars "Australia" now.

 

[EchoShindaiwaMakitaDolmar]

Regardless of where they're made, GB makes very good stuff, and the prices are sweet on the 42 inchers and other long bars.

But many manufacturers are proud to & continue to identify "made in USA", "made in Australia", or "made in Germany" on their products that meet the legal requirements for such, because it's got a higher perceived value to the consumer. GB would be crazy to not follow that long time business strategy, but that doesn't mean they're following it.

I'm sure GB's bar markings identify the factory in which it was made- we just need to crack the code!

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

I'm sure GB's bar markings identify the factory in which it was made- we just need to crack the code!

I reached out to the GB distributor in the US to see if they could shed any light on any of this. Will share what I hear from him. And I agree, if something is made in the US or Australia or Germany, it certainly would be of benefit to marketing to have it stamped as such. Regarding quality, there's often too kneejerk a made-in-China-bad reaction when quality can still be top notch as you note that GB bars are. All depends on the company's commitment to quality, and GB's has always been pretty strong. Judging by Stihl furloughing 30 percent of its workforce temporarily at the Virginia plant last year, it's hard for companies to survive slow patches with First World higher paid workforces. Nearly put GB out of business in 2008. So some of it has been corporate greed in outsourcing to China or elsewhere, but in a lot of cases it's just a more diverse supply chain is the best way to keep a business alive and profitable. Certainly everyone who was completely dependent on China learned that lesson in 2020.

 

[EchoShindaiwaMakitaDolmar]

I reached out to the GB distributor in the US to see if they could shed any light on any of this. Will share what I hear from him. And I agree, if something is made in the US or Australia or Germany, it certainly would be of benefit to marketing to have it stamped as such. Regarding quality, there's often too kneejerk a made-in-China-bad reaction when quality can still be top notch as you note that GB bars are. All depends on the company's commitment to quality, and GB's has always been pretty strong. Judging by Stihl furloughing 30 percent of its workforce temporarily at the Virginia plant last year, it's hard for companies to survive slow patches with First World higher paid workforces. Nearly put GB out of business in 2008. So some of it has been corporate greed in outsourcing to China or elsewhere, but in a lot of cases it's just a more diverse supply chain is the best way to keep a business alive and profitable. Certainly everyone who was completely dependent on China learned that lesson in 2020.

Get it in an email or text- people often lie over the phone!

For me, it's not so much a question of China quality- it's about all the evil things China has done and is doing. YMMV

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

Get it in an email or text- people often lie over the phone!

For me, it's not so much a question of China quality- it's about all the evil things China has done and is doing. YMMV

Yeah, I get objections on ethical/political grounds that's a whole other kettle of fish. Still, we've gotta recognize it's not just labor costs that make China the world's manufacturer now, but that they have bigger better higher tech factories than we've ever built. They copied our tech and did more with it manufacturing than we have, now we need to copy their factories and onshore them back to the US. The Big Three automakers wouldn't still be in business if they hadn't sent their engineers to Japan in the 80's to learn how to build cars more efficiently. I think some companies have done that, I imagine GB is using the same tech in their Aussie factory as in their China factory that Tom Beerens built. Probably true of Oregon and Stihl as well. For GB exporting to the US, it's probably a calculation of what currency rates and tariffs are for Australia vs China as far as what and from where it makes more sense to manufacture and export to us.

Got my bar today. No clues at all as to where made. Seem like same set of model numbers as on any bar, just surface stamped, none of those engraved codes of other bars you need an Enigma Machine to decipher. Found their Facebook page and at least the Titanium-BC Harvester bars and slasher bars are bragged about as Aussie made. I suspect that's what they concentrate on in the Aussie facility and probably produce most of the chainsaw bars in China.

 

[U&A]

For what that many Cannons will cost you could get a decent bandsaw mill…faster and more cost effective, imo.

I cant get a bandsaw to the places that I mill a lot of times. Especially not one that can do 50” diameter logs

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

I cant get a bandsaw to the places that I mill a lot of times. Especially not one that can do 50” diameter logs

That's always been my argument - in my case because I do mostly urban milling salvage behind narrow gates in back yards. No matter how affordable bandsaw mills get, still a place in this world for chainsaw milling for extra large or hard to get to logs. I normally wouldn't argue with spending $339 on a 42" Cannon bar vs $100-150 for an Oregon to get a really bombproof quality bar. But if I can get a GB titanium 42" for $85, a Cannon doesn't seem enough of a bar upgrade in that size to justify spending 4x as much on it. But in a 60" bar, $565 for a GB vs $645 for a Cannon, oh yeah, both are top quality bars but hands down I'd buy the Cannon.