Chainsaw Bar Turned Blue (Causes, Solutions & Pro Tips)

When a chainsaw bar turns blue, it is usually due to heat and friction issues. While a blue chainsaw bar may indicate overheating, it does not necessarily mean that the bar is about to fail. However, prolonged overheating can lead to damage, and in such cases, it may be necessary to replace the bar. Regular maintenance, proper lubrication, and correct chain tension can help prevent excessive heat and extend the life of the chainsaw bar.

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Has your chainsaw bar turned blue already?

If yes, I’m afraid to say that you might need to replace the bar, chain, and possibly sprocket now.

There are no other options left in most cases.

Many chainsaw users do this due to a lack of knowledge in chainsaw maintenance.

However, to prevent this issue in the future, you can take precautions. 

In this article, I’m going to discuss some earlier symptoms, common reasons, and tips to prevent turning chainsaw bar rails blue.

Chainsaw Bar Turned Blue

Checking The Cutting Edge

Take a close look at the cutting edge. Do you see a bluish color? Can you sharpen this chain more easily?

If yes, I assume it loses its temper after you overheat your chain. It will not be able to hold an edge for long.

keep in mind that after the temper is gone, the edge can’t hold the sharpness for long, even if you sharpen it.

It might make a couple of cuts, then it’s a dull chain and will smoke.

The smoke can also come from the engine. So, ensure the source of the smoke before proceeding.

Major Symptoms of Turning Chainsaw Bar Rail Blue

Symptoms #1

Symptoms: The bar is smoking, and the chain gets dull quickly, even if it is sharpened correctly. 

Solution: Try to clean or repair the oiler and make sure the oil is feeding fine.

You can test it by running full throttle w/ the bar tip a few inches away from a clean surface and checking for oil that is thrown off the chain.

Also, ensure the chains and bar are of the same gauge, and the grooves in the bar are clean of sawdust.

To clean the grooves, you can blow them out routinely w/ high a pressure air hose.

You can open the groove up using a flat-blade screwdriver.

Whenever you inspect a guide bar, try to clean the wood chips from the center of the rails and make sure the oil hole is open and functional.

Symptoms #2

Symptoms: Bar groove is worn

Solution: Are you experiencing the chain leans left and right, preventing it from cutting a straight kerf? If yes, Flip the bar over and see if that improves things.

Causes For Turning Chainsaw Bar Rail Blue

Good Practice To keep The Bar Free From Turning Blue

  1. Check your groove depth, your drive links before start cutting.
  2. Get a depth gauge and check the depths on all teeth.
  3. Invert your bar daily. it wears more evenly then
  4. Make sure you didn’t over open your bar, this can cause your chain to lean and grind on the inside groove of your bar
  5. Overtime bar and chain wear. If you maintain your chain-bar combo, you rarely have any trouble with it.
  6. Always ensure the chain is sharp including rakers before cutting. make sure you are filing even and at a good (aggressive) degree on your teeth.
  7. Make sure your bar isn’t bent.
  8. Use real bar and chain oil or motor oil. Using so-called “free” oil will cost more in the long run. Do not use “used” motor oil as it contains fuel, acid, water, and soot. These are bad for moving parts.
  9. Don’t hit the throttle hard while the brake is on. It can wear out the bar, drive links, clutch sprocket.
  10. If you want to repair your bar, first calculate the estimated cost. If the cost is half the price of a new bar, replace it instead of repairing it.

Wrapping Up

Cultivating the habit of adequately maintaining the Bar of your Chainsaw is very vital because it will increase the life of the chainsaw and curtail some unwarranted expenses.

Have you ever thought of buying new parts to replace the old parts in your chainsaw?

This usually comes after taking your measurement and the full guide and procedure have been provided in details here.

Greasing of the Bar of the chainsaw is vast and it requires the use of many chain oil for the various chainsaws.

The oil is usually exhausted at a very fast rate because of the sawdust and divergence in compulsion.

Every Chainsaw with two strokes requires enough greasing and the engine can be well maintained by maintaining the ideal fuel-oil volume, usually between 2% and 5%.

In electrical chainsaws, the Greasing is done throughout the lifetime of the engine.

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