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I Forge Iron

chainsaw bars?


adamj

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Not 100% sure but I seem to remember reading somewhere that they were high carbon. The article I read said the chains and bars both had to be high carbon to stand up to the rigors of chainsawing. Can't remember where I read it but know I did at one point.

Hopefully someone else will stop in and give a clear concise answer because I was thinking of trying the same thing later.

If you try it for kicks and giggles let me know how it turns out cause it sounds interesting. :P

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i'm not at all sure either but HC would seem a darn good guess since i really work mine to death and the bar still is in good shape.
would be interesting to see what you do with it since i have a few sitting around the shop here.
ohh hey try calling a chainsaw place or a repair shop they should know

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They used to be higher C before the roller bar but they're still pretty tough. Last I heard they were an air hardening steel and made decent knives. That was a couple decades ago though, not making knives I don't keep up on these things.

Frosty

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Hi fella's, was doing a search for something else and found this Q and forum.

Having looked into this, bars can vary a bit in composition.

GB use, or at least used to use Australian Bisalloy Bisplate 500 in their top of the range bars.
It's a through hardened low/mid carbon/silicon/manganese/nickel/moly and relatively high levels of chrome type steel, originally developed for mining applications (gougers, buckets, dump truck liners, etc)
It has a UTS of around 1640mPa

Tsumura from Japan who make excellent bars every bit as good or better than anyone else use Japanese SKS51 tool steel, which has a much higher carbon content than Bisplate 500 (0.75-0.85% vs 0.29% for BP500) and mid levels of silicon/manganese/copper, very high nickel levels and no moly.
It's primarily developed for knives, tools and handsaws.

Bisplate500.pdf

Edited by tdi-rick
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I made a hunting knife out of a chain saw bar a friend gave me. As I recall it was an Oregon Bar about 3 feet long. The smaller ones are laminated. This one hardened and tempered like carbon steel and made a very good knife. I dressed and skinned several Elk, Deer, and Antelope with it be for my son lost it. I have made another one but have not used it much yet. I triple heat treated it. Heated it to critical and quenched in Marvel Mystery oil.
John

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All my bars are laminated 3 layers, spot welded in a bunch of places. I have 2 14 inch bars, 1 16 inch and 1 12 inch. The 12 and 16 are from the early 80's I think. The 14's are about a year old, one is on the saw from the early 80's, and the other came with the new saw. All saws are Poulan and all bars are Oregon.

I only use the 14 inch and set up both good saws to use the same size/type bar and chain. I had been trying to get 12 inch chain for a climbing saw, but gave up and put a 14 on.

I am thinking on scrapping the 12 and 16 to make something eventually. I wonder if all 3 layers are the same grade of steel.

Phil

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I've always been told chainsaw bars are mostly made from O1 tool steel, very good for making knives out of. The 3 layered bars have 2 different steels & from the spark test the middle one is iron. The outer layers spark the same as other single piece bars. I know it makes an easy way to build up layers for a damascus billet & the contrast when etched is great! Hope this helps:) Wayne

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  • 1 year later...

g'day, i made 2 throwing knives about 8 inches long from a laminated bar.they don't bend or brake no matter how much i abuse them. i cut them out with an angle grinder (slowly and kept cooling with water) shaped them with a bench grinder (as it warms in your hand stick in water) and finished with a file. the steel can be polished easily but mine are sprayed with bright pink marking out paint so i can find them when i miss the target.

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