homemade firewood chop saw

[smiley]

Originally I was going to ask on this site if anyone had built anything like this. But, my registration got held up, so I went ahead and built this rig today.

I got a load of wood that was cut for a different stove than I'm going to use it in now, so have to chop a few inches off each piece. Having somebody set and hold chunks on the sawbuck and me hanging on my big saw, through 6 cords, didn't sound too appealing, so I got thinking about setting up my little electric chain saw like a chop saw. After looking it over and drawing a couple plans, I wasn't sure I wanted to pull down on a handle, with that chain spinning inches away. Poked around the net a little and found a dandy set up on Mother Earth News, but it was a lot more sophisticated than what I needed, for one load of wood.
The photos are pretty much self explanatory. I originally intended to have a spring loaded return and a foot pedal to operate the saw, attached to the J bolt holding the saw down, but got it this far and it works so great, just from the weight of the saw, I may leave it like this. I will add a short cable under the J bolt to prevent any possible kickback.
This rig could also be easily set up with an adjustable stop, so you could feed in limb wood and have them all the right length.
Smiley

 

[hamradio]

Where on Mother Earth News?

You should see what a friend has. A bucksaw on a Farmall H. Huge circular saw blade mounted on the front of a tractor. Lots of fun.

 

[sedanman]

Where on Mother Earth News?

You should see what a friend has. A bucksaw on a Farmall H. Huge circular saw blade mounted on the front of a tractor. Lots of fun.

I once met a man with 7 fingers because of one of those saws. He took all four fingers off his right hand and never got them back, incident happened 40 years ago. He has just enough of a pinkey stump to hold a beer.

 

[LarryTheCableGuy]

I once met a man with 7 fingers because of one of those saws. He took all four fingers off his right hand and never got them back, incident happened 40 years ago. He has just enough of a pinkey stump to hold a beer.

I'm probably not the only one wondering about this but how many did he start with??

I had a supply of firewood that was too long for my new stove so I just set my chop saw up. Didn't have to worry about kickback.

.

 

[sawinredneck]

I'm probably not the only one wondering about this but how many did he start with??

I had a supply of firewood that was too long for my new stove so I just set my chop saw up. Didn't have to worry about kickback.

.

WELL................ That crossed my mind as well as some other things, just didn't really want to go there:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[sedanman]

OK, ok SIX fingers, it's late and I've had a few.

 

[turnkey4099]

WELL................ That crossed my mind as well as some other things, just didn't really want to go there:hmm3grin2orange:

At geezer age I still have all my appendages and can count to 20 1/2 by dropping my pants.

Harry K

 

[smiley]

Ham,
Here's the link to MEN, http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green_Home_Building/1982_May_June/Mother_s_Cordwood_Cutoff_Saw
We had one of those tractor mounted buzz saws years ago, worked good but I didn't want to chase one down and buy it for one load of wood.

Sedanman,
I wonder how many of those fingers were holding the beer right before he ran them through the saw. As they say; Alcohol and gunpowder don't mix, Also applys to saws.

Larry,
I tried my chop saw but it's just to heavy a work for it and some chunks don't fit under it. This is a "git er done" method
Smiley

 

[RaisedByWolves]

I was right there with the thing about the fingers but you guys beayt me to it! LOL





I Have a mark on my splitter that represents the longest length I can put in my stove -1/2". If Im splitting and anything comes up longer than this I simply use the splitter to Nip off the end.


Yeah, I doubted it when I first thought of it, but it works suprisingly well.

 

[sawinredneck]

At geezer age I still have all my appendages and can count to 20 1/2 by dropping my pants.

Harry K

YA got me beat there!!!!! I can count to 9 1/2 with my fingers, ten if I drop my pants:hmm3grin2orange: :hmm3grin2orange:
Andy

 

[JUDGE1162]

I have seen a set up where it is more like a table saw, they mounted the chainsaw off the edge of a saw horse verticle so that the bar was perpendicular to the edge of the table and then the just run the the edge of the logs to trim them to length. I'll see if I can find a photo

 

[hamradio]

Thanks for the link. I'd much rather cut logs into 5' or 6' lengths, haul them with the four wheeler, and cut them exactly to length.

 

[smiley]

I have seen a set up where it is more like a table saw, they mounted the chainsaw off the edge of a saw horse verticle so that the bar was perpendicular to the edge of the table and then the just run the the edge of the logs to trim them to length. I'll see if I can find a photo

Judge,
I had thought about doing it that way, but sort of liked the idea of the chop saw where the chunks remain stationary against the stop and the saw moves.

Ham,
If anyone put up a lot of wood, That rig looks like it would work out good and be easily adapted to make it a one man operation. I've seen those electric powered, air actuated, cut off saws in mills and they work slick

 

[smiley]

modifications to saw

I made a couple modifications to the saw today; I added a foot pedal (board wired to the anti kickback chain) and the handy dandy grid that lets the sawdust drop into a box and the cutoff pieces fall into the coal skuttle.
As crude as this thing is, it works great. I think I'll go ahead and make a decent stand with spring or counterweight return, foot pedal downpressure and switch for the saw. When it happens I'll post the new improved model.

 

[Patrick62]

I done somethin' like that once

Years ago we were burning broken rail ties, and they would dull out a chain fast. So... I created!

I made a table chainsaw! Used a 1/2 hp washing machine motor hooked to a 16" bar, then filed the rakers pretty much off. Chain ran slow enough that the dirt didn't really dull it, and the motor had PLENTY of power! I could shove a tie thru the vertical mounted bar and make a small rooster tail of chips.

Dangerous? Yep. Effective? Worked for me.

Burning rail ties is another story that relates to the special stove....

-Pat

 

[smiley]

Pat,
That sounds like the one the Judge is talking about, 3 or 4 replies back.
Smiley

 

[ciscoguy01]

Hey dude

I made a couple modifications to the saw today; I added a foot pedal (board wired to the anti kickback chain) and the handy dandy grid that lets the sawdust drop into a box and the cutoff pieces fall into the coal skuttle.
As crude as this thing is, it works great. I think I'll go ahead and make a decent stand with spring or counterweight return, foot pedal downpressure and switch for the saw. When it happens I'll post the new improved model.

What part of upstate, NY you from???

 

[smiley]

Up in the hills near Utica. I see you're in the Adirondacks. We built my house where it is, specificaly so we could see the Adirondack peaks from the living room & kitchen windows.
Smiley

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

That approach sounds very workable, but slow. Here's another approach:

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=32840


And here's my method:

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=35417


It's working very well for me. I've been using it a lot. Very quick and easy.

 

[smiley]

Mark,
I had done the crib idea with some slab wood, but was trying to avoid stacking in the crib and sawing, loading and restacking. Now I just saw it and throw it in the loader bucket and dump it on the porch but!!! Now you've got me thinking.
If I put the forks on, I could build a crib to fit on the forks, run over to the pile and load the crib, buzz off a whole bunch at once then go dump them on the porch. That would definatly speed it up.
Thanks for the thoughts.
Smiley