GB extra long bar between .404 .375 bar thickness

[smuzz]

Been reading here for a couple weeks soaking up all the good info about to start building my first CSM. Been looking for a economical longer bar have a couple forks in trees I would like to saw and just need bigger for some select trees. Already have a 36" bar with .375 drive found a good deal on a gb extra long 44" while not as long as I would like the price is nice and think this would make a good size for normal milling for me. The bar is .404 so I asked the seller when I went to order if he could send me a .375 roller nose for me to change it too for less kerf and so I wouldn't have to change the drive sprocket on the saw everytime I needed to do some cutting. He replied with this

"GB only made those extra long bars in .404 I don't have any tips to convert them either. I did at one time but I ran into a problem in that these extra long bars are 6mm thick- about 1mm thicker than standard short bars and the kurf of the 3/8 chain after a few sharpenings wasn't
wide enough for the bar. So I don't recommend that."

Gb seems to be one of the few producers of long enough bars to mill what I might be interested in the future beside cannon or woodland pro which seem to be rebranded bars. Just wondering if this was a issue or if the seller had been mistaken, I think I have found replacement tips .375 roller noses that will fit the bar else where. Couldn't find info on this issue in search everyone seems to switch from .404 to .375 for milling and didn't seem like a issue till I heard from him.

Part number on the bar is HV44-63RQ if that helps anyone.

Thanks and looking forward to starting to mill some trees in the future.

 

[Stihlman441]

I have a 50'' GB Titanium Extra Long bar and had the sprocket nose changed to 3/8 and not had any problems with kerf so far and my chain is about 30 % less cutter length.

 

[smuzz]

Thanks for the info, I thought it would work but just wanted to check before I dropped the coin...

 

[BobL]

Been reading here for a couple weeks soaking up all the good info about to start building my first CSM. Been looking for a economical longer bar have a couple forks in trees I would like to saw and just need bigger for some select trees. Already have a 36" bar with .375 drive found a good deal on a gb extra long 44" while not as long as I would like the price is nice and think this would make a good size for normal milling for me. The bar is .404 so I asked the seller when I went to order if he could send me a .375 roller nose for me to change it too for less kerf and so I wouldn't have to change the drive sprocket on the saw everytime I needed to do some cutting. He replied with this

"GB only made those extra long bars in .404 I don't have any tips to convert them either. I did at one time but I ran into a problem in that these extra long bars are 6mm thick- about 1mm thicker than standard short bars and the kurf of the 3/8 chain after a few sharpenings wasn't
wide enough for the bar. So I don't recommend that."

I have a 60" GB bar with a roller nose and have been milling with 3/8 chain for some time. My most worn chain has cutters which are ~40% of the original length and is still cutting well.

Gb seems to be one of the few producers of long enough bars to mill what I might be interested in the future beside cannon or woodland pro which seem to be rebranded bars. Just wondering if this was a issue or if the seller had been mistaken, I think I have found replacement tips .375 roller noses that will fit the bar else where. Couldn't find info on this issue in search everyone seems to switch from .404 to .375 for milling and didn't seem like a issue till I heard from him.

When I bought my never used second hand 880 it came with a Stihl 60" 404 sprocket nose so I made an adapter for the bar so it will take a roller nose. See here for some details and a few photos.

The Stihl bar is definitely thicker than the GB and as your GB contact says, I expect it will not allow me to use 3/8 chain for as long as the GB bar. What I plan to do is run the 3/8 for as long as I can and then pass that chain to the GB bar.

I found it very difficult to get a spare GB roller nose - my understanding is that GB no longer makes roller noses?

 

[smuzz]

Thanks for the info Bobl I have looked at many of your mill evolution over time threads and very helpful to give me some ideas along with others too, thanks for all the info you all put on here helpful for us first time millers. I think I have located a roller nose just waiting on conformation maybe I should buy two if I do find a supplier upon your suggestion of them not making them anymore. If not I have a basic machine shop, so I can come up with a nose similar to yours now that I know the bar isn't too thick to work for awhile at least. If I can get to 30 percent life out of the chain I think I will be satisfied with using 3/8 chain less waste.