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

[kellog]

Reply to Stanton

Stanton, the guard rarely gets in the way. Only if you have a very crooked piece and you put the crooked part down or back(just keep it up and forward). If you have a branch sticking out of your wood and you put it down or back you have the same issue. The guard really is no bother in general and even if it was I would use it.

One issue about the guard is that although most of the saw dust goes down, a little goes all the way around and comes out at the top of the guard. If you are in the plane of the blade it gives you a light saw dust shower. The modifications that I am making now will take care of that issue (and really you should not be in the plane of the blade anyway).

 

[kellog]

Reply to Infomet

Infomet, I would like to see some good sharpening directions also. I use a file to file the teeth (Carbon steel blade). I don't really know how to "properly" sharpen the blade but I have sharpened way to many metal cutting tools in my day. I use the same theory. After sharpening the blade it cuts much faster than my chainsaw with a new chain so I think it is good but maybe there is a better way. I have never reset the teeth of my blade. It still has a good kerf and again cuts well.


If any one has good directions can you share them?

 

[kellog]

Reply to Stanton

Stanton,

I forgot one important fact about the blade guard. With an unguarded blade you need a catcher to take the cut pieces away from the saw. You cannot let them pile up or they will interfere with the blade. With the guard, you can let them pile up until the piece you are cutting hits the pile (3 feet high). Generally I can cut ten 84" pieces of wood into 21" pieces before moving any wood away from the saw. This makes you more flexible in how labor is distributed around the saw.

 

[Monkeyman13]

WOW, looks like I started quite the debate. I have used my old saw for a number of years and never really concidered it to be too dangerious in the design of it. But after reading the posts from everyone, I will try to rig up some safty guards. Once the snow goes away, and I can pull it out of the shop, I will see what we can do to make it more safe.

One of the things that you guys got me thinking about and never ever concidered before is the RPMs the saw runs at. My thought was always the faster I can get it going, the better it will saw through logs. How would i measure the RPMs that the blade is running at? I would be courious to know where it is at....

Thanks for all the advice..

 

[kellog]

Reply to Monkeyman

Monkeyman,

Thanks for being open to the suggestions offered by the group. I think you will not only find the saw safer but your productivity will go up with a guard. You can let the rounds fall and pile up instead of moving each one away.

The blade speed should be the engine speed times the ratio of the pulleys. For example if you have a 3600 RPM motor with a 4” pulley on it and you have an 8” pulley on the saw shaft, then you will have the blade running at 1800 RPM (3600 x 4 / 8 =1800).

 

[atgreene]

WOW, looks like I started quite the debate. I have used my old saw for a number of years and never really concidered it to be too dangerious in the design of it. But after reading the posts from everyone, I will try to rig up some safty guards. Once the snow goes away, and I can pull it out of the shop, I will see what we can do to make it more safe.

One of the things that you guys got me thinking about and never ever concidered before is the RPMs the saw runs at. My thought was always the faster I can get it going, the better it will saw through logs. How would i measure the RPMs that the blade is running at? I would be courious to know where it is at....

Thanks for all the advice..

Monkeyman, I just found this site and happened upon your thread. Nice saw, we've got several and they work great. Around here we call them cordwood saws. From the time I was a little guy we have used them for cutting stove wood (primarily limb wood) for both the wood stove and the syrup evaporator. Some years we would do 6-10 cord on the cordwood saw. We had both 3 point hitch mounted belt and pto run as well as electric and one-lunger engines. My job as a kid was to take away the wood and stack in the trailer. I hated feeding to my father, so I always stuck my brother with that job. As long as you grab the wood from the end and catch it before if falls, I never had any trouble.

As far as safety, it's like anything else, it's as safe as the person running it. Our shingle mill has an open blade inches from our fingers, our sawmill has a 42" blade that you stand next to, and yes, you could loose a finger, we prefer to keep our fingers away from the blade. Some people shouldn't run machinery, if your not comfortable with it, use what you're comfortable with.

One trick to the saw that my father and grandfather always taught me was to always stand so that you don't straddle the blade. Keep your right hand left of the blade cut at all times. The edge of the table should be the furthest you ever get with your right hand. If so, you have nothing to worry about.

As an EMT for 20 years or so, I've seen more accidents from chainsaws than from any other saws (and there are a lot of these cordwood saws in this area). I would rather run a cordwood than a chain saw, you stand in one spot, you're off-set from the blade, you never have to move your feet or loose your balance in the cut and the wood doesn't move while your cutting it. I think a lot of the criticizem you are receiving on it is from a lack of knowledge about it and how it works. People who don't run chain saws are scared of them as well.

As far as guards, make sure whatever you do doesn't creat an unsafe condition by jamming wood where it doesn't belong. If a small piece gets bound in between a guard and a saw, you could have a real problem on your hands.

Take care, good luck.

 

[huskydave]

I WANT ONE!!!!!!!! looks like fun to me keep a healthy respect for it and feed the wood in at the right speed and you should be fine imo

 

[kellog]

Reply to Atgreene

Atgreene, I agree with you that safe operation falls first and foremost to the operator. There is nobody smarter than a complete idiot when it comes to figuring out how to get hurt, safety devices or not.

You had the luxury of cheap labor when you were a kid so you used three people to run the saw. I generally use two people. I run the saw (the easiest job) and my son stages the wood and stacks the cut rounds (he is 6’2” 235 lbs and young). With the guard, he has time to do both jobs. He does not have to take each piece off the blade individually.

You are right about not being in the plane of the blade. If the blade were to ever come apart there would instantly be two of you.

I’m really glad you brought up the point about not letting a piece get inside the blade guard. I never cut very short pieces. The cut off piece must be at least 5” long so it will fall away from the blade and not sit up on the guard or worse fall between the blade and guard.

My biggest fear around a cordwood saw is losing footing while walking around the machine and falling toward the blade. Without a guard, you will meet your maker quickly. With a guard, you have good odds of being able to avoid the blade.

 

[Happyjack]

Lets talk processing speed. How much faster does it cut through a log than saw a 50cc saw with a sharp blade on say a 16" piece of hard wood? Is entire process of blocking wood with cordsaw a lot faster than a chainsawsaw? It seems like you would have to lift the big sticks to the cord saw, as opposed to sawing them on the ground then rolling them over with a chainsaw. That machine looks scary!:fart:

 

[atgreene]

We always did it because cord wood is so easy to handle in 4' bolts. We had a 2 cord trailer and would load up from various piles we had staged in the woods as we logged. Any limb wood would be bolted and piled beside a skid road so we could come back later and pick it up. That, and all the small 3-4" diameter stuff that we trimmed from around the sugar maples. It saved handle small fire wood in the woods.

I'm in the process of building a 1 1/2 cord bolt trailer to haul with my excavator in the woods to pick up small wood like this. Should make a neat set-up to gather up all the stuff that tends to get left behind.

 

[Monkeyman13]

Lets talk processing speed. How much faster does it cut through a log than saw a 50cc saw with a sharp blade on say a 16" piece of hard wood? Is entire process of blocking wood with cordsaw a lot faster than a chainsawsaw? It seems like you would have to lift the big sticks to the cord saw, as opposed to sawing them on the ground then rolling them over with a chainsaw. That machine looks scary!:fart:

For me, the cordsaw is much faster and easier on the ol back. I used to chain saw all my firewood. I had a couple sawhorses set up with a jig to space out my cuttings evenly. I work on my own so I'd have to put the chain saw down each time I wanted to move the log, to cut by chain saw took a long time the cordsaw on the other hand, in my mind 10 times faster and 100 times easier on the back.

 

[kellog]

Cordwood Saw Efficiency – Happyjack

Happyjack,

I don’t cut anything over 12” diameter with the cordwood saw. Larger pieces get cut with a chain saw. However 95% of what I cut for my personal use is under 12” and most is under 10”. When I have help getting it up on the saw, it goes to 12”.

The actual cutting speed is faster with a cordwood saw but the staging is slower. So a good, healthy, young, strong chainsaw man could likely do more in 8 hrs than a single man with a cordwood saw. However if I am cutting alone I can only cut for two hours max with a chainsaw before my back is killing me (I have celebrated my 39th birthday entirely too many times). I can cut all day long with a cordwood saw.

That good healthy man with the chain saw is going to be tired by the end of the day. The cordwood saw guy will be able to party all night. Cordwood sawing is really less tiring because you stand straight up most of the time.

You are right in that a chainsaw is more flexible and perhaps faster but when you get to be 39 as many times as I have, I bet you will be eyeing a cordwood saw also.

Nice to have another CT person chiming in.

 

[A100HVA]

i am too,going to build one to haul around with atv to saw limbs with. i have this burning desire to saw with one now that the chainsaw thing has been met.lot of good sound tips here,thanks

 

[kellog]

Reply to Infomet

Infomet,

I totally forgot that I was going to take a couple of pictures of the belt tensioning mechanism for my cordwood saw for you. If you recall when we discussed it on this thread (on 16 March) there was a raging nor’easter going on here and I wasn’t going to go out in it to take a picture for you.

Well I forgot about it and today as I was taking the machine out to cut some wood I remembered. So here are the pictures. 862 is with the belt loose and 863 is with it tight.
Both the black bar with the roller on it and the perforated square tube pivot about their respective upper ends. There is a slot cut almost all the way up the perforated tube with a bolt going thru it. There is a thumb screw to tighten the bolt.

I hope this is clear. Sorry for taking so long.

 

[SawTroll]

....

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...

Ouuccchhhh, I just hate those buzz-saws, just for the sound, and remembering my then 85ish FIL standing to the left of the blade, and throwing the cut off pieces away with his right arm, at the right side of the blade - no protection shields or anything like it......:jawdrop: :jawdrop:


...a decent chainsaw is much more efficient anyway.....:greenchainsaw: :greenchainsaw:

 

[kellog]

Reply to Sawtroll

Sawtroll,

Your father-in-law came from a different era. I would never do what he did, never. You are correct in that Cordwood saws does give off a rather irritating buzz when cutting. That is why we wear hearing protection at all times when using the saw. A good pair of shooter’s earmuffs do the job quite well. You should also use them when chain sawing.

Although I believe a chain saw has more flexibility, I think chain saw safety is not the best (in fact it is downright poor). A blade going that fast needs to be bolted to something so you know exactly where it is at all times. Further it should be guarded to prevent inadvertent contact at most times. This is my personal philosophy.

Cordwood saws are also very good for us old farts that have bad backs because you stand up straight most of the time.

I use chain saws and will always use them however I use them only when I must. If a cordwood saw or chop saw can get the job done I will use it.

We all have our different opinions on things and that is a good thing. The above is mine.

By the way how did you learn such good English. Belgian was a KGB agent.

Should have my modifications done to the cordwood saw next week. Will post pictures soon.

 

[046]

good grief! that got to be one of the most unsafe tools... I've ever seen. no way in H*ll you'd catch me operating something that unsafe.

but to each it's own....

 

[kellog]

As promised, attached are pictures of some of the modifications to my cordwood saw that I said I would do this spring.

I incorporated the moving blade guard which covers the blade most of the time. It rolls on unground ball bearings (like the ones in file drawers) along a track of 1/8” x 1" x 1” angle iron on top of the original blade guard.

Also added the “knee treadle” to lock the table in the out position. You lift the treadle with your knee and move the table an inch or so and then it is free to move in without touching the treadle.

I also added a measuring bar (the white bar attached to the table). This bar is marked off in inches with zero being at the blade and the numbers increasing both to the left and right. It difficult to see the markings in the pictures.

I just finished the mods and have not even tried them out yet. The paint is still pretty. Pictures of the saw before the mods are in this thread.

One more mod to add sometime and that is the spring load on the table to the outward position. That may have to wait as I have to cut wood before it gets to 98 degrees in the shade (that’s 37 to you Belgian).

Safety First!!

 

[roy clarke]

You get so many questions and suggestions here because many of us envy someone having something finished and usable! ...........

Finished??? FINISHED!!!?????? It isn't "finished" it's just a lab lash-up to see if a motor can turn a blade, it is NOT finished, but anyone using could be.

PS, I don't like regulations either, but I do find a use for ten fingers most days.