Reciprocating saw

[Marc1]

On the topic of strange saw, I remember some 30 years ago to see a saw that had no chain nor bar but a piece of stiff saw blade that would go back and forth in what I can only describe as a reciprocating movement.
I never saw them in action and I assume they must have been rather poor performers. Has anyone seen them?

 

[04ultra]

Wright saws made reciprocating in the late 50's and into the 60's..



..

 

[klickitatsacket]

The wright saws have a big following with the timber framers and with guys sing them for quartering up beef and such. I have sold many of them for both purposes.

 

[rmihalek]

Sedanman ran one at one of Joker's GTGs; it was slower, alot slower, than a bowsaw.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Dad bought one of those Wright saws when i was a kid. I still have it here.... I remember how mad he'd get at my brothers for "pinching" the bar all the time!

Rob

 

[woodshop]

Are you talking about one of these? This thing was relativly slow, but took a nice deep cut with every back and forth stroke. It was cranking out about 60 strokes a minute, one every second. It is owned by my Brother-In-Law, whos Dad used to use it on the farm to cut firewood. Those two rear wheels rotate 90 degrees when towing, and are cocked like in the pic when hooked to a log with that chain you see in the first pic, and sawing.

 

[Urbicide]

Reply to Woodshop

That is a really neat saw. Nice restoration. Cast iron construction. Can't sandblast plastic. That saw will probably still be functioning long after we are not. Thanks for posting the pics.

 

[Ianab]

Woodshop, thats called a dragsaw. I bet it was a real improvement on bucking logs by hand in it's day

But the Wright reciprocating saw looks like a conventional chainsaw, it just has a saw blade like a giant sawzall instead of a chain. It was supposed to be safer than a chainsaw, but it just didn't cut as fast so the idea never caught on.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Urbicide]

A couple of links for Wright blade saws that have pics from Mike Acres site.

http://www.acresinternet.com/cscc.n...fb65f1314dcfebc388256e3e000c8eb5?OpenDocument

http://www.acresinternet.com/cscc.n...56a182ef20fad50a88256e3e000eaace?OpenDocument

http://www.acresinternet.com/cscc.n...391677b313c9d05d88256e3e000c26d9?OpenDocument

 

[artie__bc]

I've always wondered, with those Wright saws what happened when you pinched the blade in a cut. Did the blade stay still and the operator reciprocate?

 

[woodshop]

Woodshop, thats called a dragsaw. I bet it was a real improvement on bucking logs by hand in it's day

But the Wright reciprocating saw looks like a conventional chainsaw, it just has a saw blade like a giant sawzall instead of a chain. It was supposed to be safer than a chainsaw, but it just didn't cut as fast so the idea never caught on.

Cheers

Ian

Thanks for clearing that up for us ianab. Now that I'm picturing this reciprocating saw, I too wonder as artie what would happen if the thing got stuck. I suppose the clutch would not let it throw the operator around, just like a chain stops but the powerhead is still going?