Cutting With The Grain

[turnkey4099]

I do it every year at the end of the season to work up the knots/crotches. Kinda fun on a cold sunny day out at the woodpile. Put two rounds side by side, nail a 1X across them low and you have a nice 'V' notch with a stop to lay each chunk into. Straight on or at an angle? Simple. If you are having trouible with the 'fries' plugging up, just give the saw more angle with the wood and the problem goes away (mostly).

Harry K

 

[Haywire Haywood]

and another use for the curlies is if the ground is soft and muddy like mine is down at the barn, a layer of curlies keeps the mud down. Sometimes I do a few like that just to make a pad of curlies to work on.

Ian

 

[jrclen]

If the rounds are to big and heavy for me to lift, I stand them on end and saw down to half or quarter them. I cut 2/3 to 3/4 to the ground and then put a wedge in and wack it to finish the job. I stay out of the dirt and rocks that way. I just use the saw and chain I am using for blocking. I've never had a problem but I watch for the noodle build up and pull the saw if it stops throwing them out and let it clear itself.

 

[treeclimber jul]

Did a lot of cutting with o66 with the grain on some 47" cottonwood. needed some cheap emergency bedding for some 500 or so chicks.


o18 works good for construction work as well!!

Had to make 12 posts, was a lot of fun!!!

 

[windthrown]

Cutting with the grain to split logs

Go ahead. I do it all the time, been doin' for years, and I'm not the only one. It's the only way you can get through some of 'em.

Mike

Ditto here. At first I thought I was weird, dumb, or lazy. Now I do it all the time (today on some madrone rounds). Cut maybe half way through a log, and then use a wedge and sledge, and they split open. How far to cut depends on the wood. Tight grain hardwoods seem to take some more saw cutting depth (maybe 60%). Some types of pine and fir only take a 30% cut. Only thing about cutting parallel to the grain is that the wood shavings can pile up in the chain cover of the saw (as mentioned here by many).

BTW: A lot of chainsaw mills cut like that, at a slight angle. As Zemo says, wood shavings are great for starting fires, and they are great for mulching up blueberries with. Do not use cedar shavings as mulch though.

 

[Freakingstang]

someone please post a pic. There are too many here confusing ripping vs quartering a log and making curly fries....

 

[Gologit]

I free-handed some fence posts out of incense cedar and a friend suggested using full skip chain. He was right! Less clogging and better clean-out.

 

[windthrown]

Noodle cutting

someone please post a pic. There are too many here confusing ripping vs quartering a log and making curly fries....

I see what you mean. A ripping table saw type cut would be the least effective cut with a chainsaw. The guy here with the 180c photos is doing a ripping cut. I think that most here are talking here about a parallel to the grain cut, starting at the apex of the curve of the round and cutting toward the center of the log. The wood noodle cut? The curly fries cut?

I was testing a skip chain today on some big madrone rounds. Bucking the logs to length to me is a cross cut. Cutting the rounds parallel to the grain toward the center of the log (cutting into the curve of the log) is the noodle cut. Noodling is the fastest and easiest way to cut. Cross cuting is the second fastest. The slowest way to cut is to flip the log on end and cut down the center (cutting into the flat end of the log). It seems to be the way that lignin is aligned in trees that causes the differences in saw cutting method and affect.

The size of the sawdust seems to be an indicater of the effectiveness of standard type chains in wood. Large curly fries wood chips are the result of the easiest cut. The bucking or cross cut has large chips. Fairly easy cut, most chainsaw chains are designed for this type of cutting. The ripping cut has the finest sawdust. I found that is the least effective way to cut with a chainsaw long ago...

BTW, I hope someone was wearing a dust mask cutting that pressure treated wood with a chainsaw??? *cough cough*

 

[tek9tim]

Good explanation, Windthrown. To perhaps illustrate further, the noodle cut is where you put your dogs (if you have any) into the end of the log, and the bar lays out the entire length of the chunk of wood. The ripping cut is where your dogs are in the bark, and your bar goes across the diameter of the chunk. Yeah, if you're doing it the milling way for firewood, you're burning too much fuel.

 

[SawTroll]

.... I was also using regular full-chisel chain. I've considered buying some ripping chain to help speed up the process, but it wasn't that bad with full-chisel. And ditto to the poster who mentioned making sure you keep the noodles clear that fill up inside the bar cover!

I don't believe that ripping chain will speed up the process, when ripping with the grain, or close to it, and regular chisel is what I use.

Ripping chain are made for ripping across the grain.

.....Yeah, if you're doing it the milling way for firewood, you're burning too much fuel.

Yep, and too much time also.....

 

[SawTroll]

I do it every year at the end of the season to work up the knots/crotches. Kinda fun on a cold sunny day out at the woodpile. Put two rounds side by side, nail a 1X across them low and you have a nice 'V' notch with a stop to lay each chunk into.
.....
Straight on or at an angle? Simple. If you are having trouible with the 'fries' plugging up, just give the saw more angle with the wood and the problem goes away (mostly).

Harry K

Good ideas x2! :rockn:

 

[Woodie]

Chances are some of that wood that you can't split may be elm...and if it is, no amount of "mauling" is going to split it!

Like all the other replies you've gotten, I rip wood all the time. Lay the log on its side, so that the bar is essentially parallel to the log. Then begin cutting with the very back of the bar, with the tip angled slightly up. (Like Troll suggests.) Maintain that angle until you're nearly at the bottom, then level out.

I use the noodles that result as mulch for the gardens. (Throw some bloodmeal on the soil first before you put the wood on so it doesn't eat up all your nitrogen as it decomposes.)

I've never found it to be particularly tough on chains, and I split frozen elm that way. Like the others mention, though...watch that those noodles don't clog your sprocket...you can throw a chain if they do.

I've found ripping wood with the bar perpendicular to the log is much slower and just vibrates the living he!! out of you.

 

[oldsaw]

In my wood(s), with my saws and chains, I can definitely cut a log in half faster if I lay it on its side. Also, I like to use the noodles for fire starter. No noodles if the round is on its end, in my experience...

If you come at it from the side, not only will it go faster, it will use less power to do so. As everyone has mentioned, you will get a bunch of "curly fries" that you have to make sure don't get packed in around your clutch. Coming at it from the end, you are going to be shearing the wood fibers off, not "carving" them off as when you are making "fries". It takes a lot more time and horsepower to do it that way. Chainsaw millers have to do it like that.

Mark

 

[jrclen]

To perhaps illustrate further, the noodle cut is where you put your dogs (if you have any) into the end of the log, and the bar lays out the entire length of the chunk of wood.

OK, I get it. I will give that a try next time out. I'm all for faster and easier.

 

[Rydaddy]

End = Sides = ???

I realized when I was reading the rest of these posts just now that I was using incorrect terminology to describe what I was doing. You guys probably think I am a lunatic. I am posting a pic showing how I have 1/4'd rounds before.

 

[sawinredneck]

I realized when I was reading the rest of these posts just now that I was using incorrect terminology to describe what I was doing. You guys probably think I am a lunatic. I am posting a pic showing how I have 1/4'd rounds before.

I don't know why you would need to cut them up, a good sledge and wedge, have at it :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Rydaddy]

Maybe

I don't know why you would need to cut them up, a good sledge and wedge, have at it :hmm3grin2orange:

Red, I usually just use MAGIC. But I had a cold that day and that inhibits my ability to utter my spells correctly otherwise....

 

[sawinredneck]

Red, I usually just use MAGIC. But I had a cold that day and that inhibits my ability to utter my spells correctly otherwise....

I understand perfectly now

 

[troutfisher]

I realized when I was reading the rest of these posts just now that I was using incorrect terminology to describe what I was doing. You guys probably think I am a lunatic. I am posting a pic showing how I have 1/4'd rounds before.

I got cut doing that very same thing. I didn't make sure I had enough room between the block I was cutting and the block behind it. The tip touched and A 7000 Partner tried to do a backflip in my hands. 8 weeks in a cast. be careful.

 

[SawTroll]

If you feel comfortable do so and if your bar is big enough cut with the spikes several inches from the log, the chips will fall more instaed of clogging the saw!

That is true, and the reason I like a backtop for the "log".