[S4-28] SN28-63PA Stihl GB ProTop 28″[71cm] 3/8 .063 91 drive links

We are often asked about GB bars – how long they have been around, where do they originate from, who is behind them? Here’s some answers.

Griffiths & Beerens [Hence GB] was established by Tom’s father and his business partner Jack Griffiths in 1959, manufacturing chainsaw guide bars and associated products. Tom took full ownership of the business in 2005, at which time the factory in Melbourne employed 120 people producing 300,000 bars a year.

However the company went through a rough patch, being hounded by the banks and despite Tom taking the banks to court and successfully suing them – it was enough to close the factory and stop production. But that did not stop Tom..

China, with its reduced costs, offered hope of a way forward, but rather than simply outsource production and risk a drop in quality, Tom decided to move out there himself and establish a new manufacturing facility.

“In 2010 I got a piece of land and built my own factory, from the foundations up,” said Tom. “In 2015 we finally opened for production. It took that to get a decent product.”

That product was the Titanium-XV bar, designed with an ultra-high-strength titanium alloy body and promoted as the hardest bar available in the market. GB’s customers agreed, doubling sales in its first year. Our > Extra Long GB Bars are based on the same production methods as this harvester bar – harvester bar strength and longevity – in a chainsaw bar.

“I’m an industrial engineer. I was in the factory, drilling holes in chainsaw bars at 10 years old. My entire life has been spent making bars. This is what I do. I know how to make things and I know a hell of a lot about bars.’