Just joined- thought I'd share a couple Pics...

[Bowtie]

When I was a teenager I used one of those, and had fun doing so while drinking beer with my family and friends. Fast Forward to pushing 30, wife and 2 and a half your old baby girl, that thing scares the hell out of me. You have an awesome tool there, please be careful and follow these guys advise and put some kind of safety guard on that saw.

 

[fubar2]

Looks like a real meateater you've got there without a guard. I have one that was sold by Sears. I rigged it up to fit an Allis Chalmers with three point hitch and run it off a CA. Works good but you've got to watch that cut offs dont get piled too high under the blade. Mine grabbed one and flung it into the blade guard which went fifteen to twenty feet airborne. Theyre mean and theyre deadly, treat it with respect and put a guard on it. Always keep an eye out for things to trip over around it too.

 

[bigmac]

Hey Folks, I just joined on March 5th 2007, I actually stumbled across your site while looking for some info on a chainsaw I am looking at buying. I got pretty excited as I have been trying to find info on several questions or issues I occasionally ran into over the last couple years, and was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled onto your site:

I have been cutting my own firewood for the last 10 years and when I first begun to get my own firewood, I did it entirely by chain saw, (cutting axp 6-8 cords and splitting by Axe) Then about 3 years ago, I was talking to a local farmer in my area, and asked if he knows anyone that has a buzz saw for sale or if he ever happens to run across one at an auction to grab it for me if it isn't too much $$$. So a week later he drives up to my place with a buzz saw in the back of his truck. It only cost me $100.00, but had to put some sweat equity into it to get it working... It used to run off a pulley rigged up for a tractor, but I wanted it to run off a gas engine.

Attached is a pic of the saw, as it was just after modifying it. I have already made some additional mods to it. Runs like a charm, needless to say, saves a tonne of work...

the pictures where to big hard to see the saw in its real size.
its not hard to resize pictures befor posting them,

anyway cool vintage saw


LOOK AT THE PICTURES NOW

 

[sawinredneck]

Maybe I've read too many Stephen King novels, those pictures gave me the willies. You are a braver man than I.

Man you aint kidding there Darin!!! I've heard too many horror stories, and seem to be to acident prone, to even think that thing looks cool, much less want to run it!!!!

 

[STEELHEAD]

Osha

OSHA, wood have a field day with alot of our backwoods contraptons,. If you have ever been down on the farm pics and stories like this dont get you stired up much,..there are alot of worse things used every day down on the farm , Like pto shafts, I cant imagine anything worse, then gettin your shirt sleve or pant leg etc cought in a open shaft with a 100 hp diesel engine driving it , And it happens way to often,..Some times being in a hurry and some times its just fate...Ive always said,.. machinery has no concinece. And like the gentilman said (keep your witts about you) There are worse things you could be doin,.. Just keep in mind Weather its a chain saw buzz saw, or heavy equipment ,.1 wrong move and things can get ugly real quick,..Be safe not sorry,...E, J

 

[sredlin]

Yikes!! I think I would rather walk around Bagdad with one of those American Flag shirts on.

 

[59Billy]

Never thought I'd ever get to say this, but:

I think a chaionsaw might be a safer tool for that job.

On the other hand... with a little engineering, that thing would make a heck of a sawmill.

 

[infomet]

You get so many questions and suggestions here because many of us envy someone having something finished and usable! Your rig has certainly caused me to reevaluate my plans for the one I'm hooking up. I like the small engine drive, rather than a tractor. I may wind up with the Briggs mounted in the saw frame and the whole thing transportable on the three point hitch!

Is that a flat belt drive? I can't tell from the picture. It looks to me like the idler wheel is on the wrong side of the belt. Usually it would push "inward" on the belt, so as to increase the wrap and get more friction on the drive pulley.
If it can be pivoted, it would make a great clutch.

Also, I notice the little vertical brackets sticking up from the swing table have holes in them. I'd bet a six pack there is supposed to be a board bolted acrosss there. That would give you a more secure surface to locate the log and a better place for your hands. As it is, a small piece could get its end between brackets and not be stable for the cut.

I'm gonna start looking for pulleys!

 

[STEELHEAD]

farmall H

If you got the tractor ,..stick with it,..You will be sawin real slow with a lil gas motor,runin it.. like havin a table saw with a 1/3 hp motor on it,.. You wont like runin it And good luck getin it started ,If you dont have a clutch,. The tractor is all set up with one ,.. Trying to start a lil gas motor with a 30" saw blade hooked up direct is not going to be user friendly,..another good thing is, the tractor mounted buzz saw is self propeled,... E J

 

[kellog]

Safety

Monkeyman, I too am a new commer to this site and like it very much. I think you will too.

I have a healthy fear of chain saws. My philosophy is that a blade moving at the speed of a chainsaw chain should be bolted to something. I use chainsaws but as little as necessary. Therefore I am a great fan of cordwood saws. However.....

Your pictures scared me to death. They took my breath away. You must guard that blade.

I am attaching a few old pictures of my cordwood saw from a couple of years ago (when I had just completed it) that I had on the computer. The blade is mostly guarded and this year I am making a movable guard to protect the open part of the blade. It will move with the table. I will also have a treadle that will have to be depressed to move the table. In this way the saw will be as safe as humanly possible.

Please don't use that thing until you guard it. One false step and you could be history and we want you around for a long time on this site.

I would be interested in the tensioning mechanism you spoke of. Do you have a picture?

 

[infomet]

Great job! What's the overall gear ratio?
Do you know what rpm you run the blade?
I'm a little afraid one could shatter a blade by overspeeding.
The tractor ones seem to run about one to one on the PTO, making the blade speed about 550?? That's about 3500 ft/min at the teeth of a 2 ft blade.
Is there a clutch? Moving tensioner?
What's the metal bar sticking up for?
What size wood can the 6HP handle?
I'm thinking of something similar, maybe with a flywheel of some sort to help the engine a bit.

 

[kellog]

Reply to Infomet

Infomet, not sure if you were referring to my post but I can answer your questions anyway. The overall ratio on my cordwood saw is 3 to 1. This puts the blade speed at about 1200 Rpm or 9400 feet per min (30" steel blade). This is the recommended speed for circular saw blades for wood. I think your 7 1/4" Black and Decker runs at approximately the same surface speed.

My machine has a belt tensioner. I loosen it to start the motor and then tighten it slowly to start the blade moving.

Not sure what metal bar you are refferring to but it may be part of the tensioner.

With the 6 HP B&S motor I have on mine I can cut anything I can get on the table. Normally 10" dia X 84" long piece is all I can get on there by lifting one end to stand it straight up and letting it fall onto the table (it sucks to be old). The blade cuts it like a hot knife thru butter. The key is a sharp blade. I dress mine every 3 cords with clean wood. More often with dirty wood or if I hit something like barbed wire. I normally cut four 21" long pieces from 84-86" long ones.

I thought of putting a flywheel on mine and actually set up the jack shaft for one but on second thought I decided not to. With a flywheel you will mask the fact that the blade is dull. With a sharp blade 6 HP is more than enough. How many HPs does your chainsaw have? Also sharp tools make for safe cutting.

 

[Patrick62]

I saw one kinda like that

Fella had it hooked to what was left of a car. Idled it if I recall, and it was effective. Dangerous, but effective. There is no such thing as damn fool proof. In spite of possible guards that thing would be dangerous. If it cuts wood, it would cut people, simple as that.

Chainsaw has a trigger, and the rotating mass is low enough that a chain brake is actually possible. With the buzzsaw there is no practical way to stop the blade instantly.

If I had such a blade I would seriously consider using it for a small mill rather than blocking. way cool setup

-Pat

 

[kellog]

Reply to Patrick

Patrick, you make some good points so I guess we will have to agree to disagree on the safety of a properly guarded cordwood saw vs a chainsaw.

Maybe we can get some others to weigh in on this subject. As a newbie here I am not sure how to start that dialog with the larger group but maybe someone who knows how could get it going.

I know a guy who works for Underwriters Lab who might be able to shed some light.

I think the dialog would also get people thinking safety which is never a bad thing.

 

[belgian]

WOW!!! that thing scares the hell out of me and your like 1500 miles away!

To anyone his own, but that thing should not be allowed to be used. If you would let someone use such a tool in europe, you'd be in big trouble if an accident were to happen.

Seriously, throw that saw in the dumpster and buy a safe device. You only have one life to live (and preferably with all attachment still to it)

 

[infomet]

AH, Belgian, hello.
We really needed a shot of the old "We do it differently in Europe." thing. I haven't heard it for a while and it always gets my circulation going! Were you talking about Monkeyman's unguarded saw or Kellog's excellent rig with a full guard?

Fortunately many of us still believe in personal choice rather than creeping government by incompetent people who live to make decisions by others. We have creep, of course, just much less than "enlightened" Europe! I'd far rather a few people get their hands cut off than a few hundred million be arbitrarily restricted in their activities! By the way, whom do you want making "your" decisions? Ah yes, the European Parliament, now there's a great, efficient, and effective organization! HO HO.

BTW, I have travelled extensively in Europe and done business there. I love many things about it but have no patience with the overreaching regulatory frenzy that is going on! I expect you will become completely paralyzed and noncompetitive if things continue as they are. We are on the same road, just a generation or two behind you!

Well, anyway, this is not a political forum and everyone interested in trees is welcome, as far as I can tell, even Europeans. What are your sawing acivities?

Proudly making my own stupid mistakes,

 

[Haywire Haywood]

---steps up on his soap box, waves to the crowd---​

This is where I part with the Safety Harpies. It's his saw, for his personal use to be operated on his property. He's aware that it's a dangerous thing to use, especially in it's current configuration. He is solely and totally responsible for the results of him using it. It is nobody's business or duty to protect him from lopping off his arm and neither the saw's manufacturer nor the farmer that brought it to him (at his request) should hold one little thread of liability. If he were operating a business and hiring folk to run it, or having his children run it, then that would be a different situation of course. There's a fine line between being safety conscious and being a Safety Harpy. We as a nation are close to crossing that line, and if my perception is correct, our European friends have forgotten there ever was one. I don't like "the man" in my backyard trying to protect me from myself.

Ian

---soap box collapses under his weight, crowd laughs uncontrollably and he promptly sues Dial Soap Co. for defamation of character---​

 

[kellog]

Reply to Belgian

Belgian, it is always good to hear other perspectives on an issue especially from totally outside the region. As we all know "None of us is as smart as all of us".

Do you think that this unit can be made safe or do you think it really should be thrown out?

Also can you weigh in on the Chainsaw verses a properly guarded Cordwood saw issue?

 

[59Billy]

Hey, infomet and Haywire -- you guys sound like a couple of dangerous anarchists. I'm going to have to report you to the Safety Police.



For your own good, of course.

 

[NYCHA FORESTER]

WOW!!! that thing scares the hell out of me and your like 1500 miles away!

Me too