Hi Fred, welcome here we try to help.
What I have done some time ago was cut about 150mm off each end of the bar and drill a hole in each end of the bar and fit Victa 24 or Honda blades to the bar. The existing bar is probably hardened but I have been able to drill them using a masonry drill bit sharpened the same as a normal HSS drill bit. Slow but sometimes you have to do what you have to do