# Made a Sawbuck Yesterday



## rdust (May 23, 2010)

After work yesterday I decided to make a sawbuck with some wood I had laying about.  I just pulled some plans from a site online and tossed it together.  It turned out pretty decent for a quickie.  

I had a bunch of ash I needed to shorten and didn't want to deal with cutting on the ground.  Today I put it to work, here are the results.(I figure it's around a cord)

Now I just have to split it!  :lol:


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## thewoodlands (May 23, 2010)

Looks good rdust, I built one with plans off the net but I have not used it yet. Do you burn a lot of ash?

zap


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## rdust (May 23, 2010)

zapny said:
			
		

> Do you burn a lot of ash?
> 
> zap



I burned a little more than 2 cords of it this past season.(yep I'm calling it past now!)  With all the dead/dying ash tree's around I'll be burning it as my primary hardwood for the next few years.  After I get what I cut to length today split I'll have about 7 or 8 cords of ash put up.


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## Backwoods Savage (May 23, 2010)

Like rdust, most of us in MI have lots of ash to burn now.

rdust, I got a chance a couple days ago to check on a couple of ash that I was hoping there would still be leaves on. No leaves to be found. Sad. We are going to end up with some of this stuff rotting before I get it all burned.

I think we're also going to put up one of those cheap shelters; one will go where the wood was that you got but not sure on the other. Maybe we'll just stick with one but then again, two would certainly be nice. One for equipment and one for wood.


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## mtarbert (May 23, 2010)

I don't remember who posted it but, the best tip I have read on here was to hold long pieces in the jaw of a splitter . Just be cearful to not and try to cut the splitter in the process.


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## ohio woodburner (May 23, 2010)

Looks good rdust.  I like to use mine for my smaller limb wood.  Other than that i cut on the ground.  Looks like you have alot of chunks and cookies to burn up.  I use mine in the fire pit


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## golfandwoodnut (May 23, 2010)

I built this style sawbuck last winter and I really like it.  I do not know how you guys do not hit the horizontal boards when bucking with the typical sawbuck and it cannot hold very much.  I can load this simple sawbuck style up with wood and cut down with no fear of hitting my sawbuck unless I go too far left or right.  I use it mostly for branches that I load up to 2 and half feet deep and cut them all at once.  Something to consider.


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## rdust (May 24, 2010)

ohio woodburner said:
			
		

> Looks good rdust.  I like to use mine for my smaller limb wood.  Other than that i cut on the ground.  Looks like you have alot of chunks and cookies to burn up.  I use mine in the fire pit



I used it for the stuff I can lift without hurting myself, the bigger stuff also gets cut on the ground.  I have a bunch of chunks/cookies and other twisted stuff to burn.  It usually gets burned in the pit, given to friends or I take it camping.



			
				Backwoods Savage said:
			
		

> rdust, I got a chance a couple days ago to check on a couple of ash that I was hoping there would still be leaves on. No leaves to be found. Sad. We are going to end up with some of this stuff rotting before I get it all burned.



I was up at my brothers place on lake Huron today and we have a lot of cutting to do up there.  I easily counted 20 ash tree's that need to come down soon.  Some still have thin leaves at the top but it won't be long.  I'll also be taking some aspen and white birch out of there when we start clearing room for his drive and house.  I need to ID another tree but I'll save that for another thread.     

As far as the wood rotting you know I'm willing to help cut and take some of that wood off your hands before it rots.


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## oldspark (May 24, 2010)

GolfandWoodNut said:
			
		

> I built this style sawbuck last winter and I really like it.  I do not know how you guys do not hit the horizontal boards when bucking with the typical sawbuck and it cannot hold very much.  I can load this simple sawbuck style up with wood and cut down with no fear of hitting my sawbuck unless I go too far left or right.  I use it mostly for branches that I load up to 2 and half feet deep and cut them all at once.  Something to consider.


 I like that one a lot, did you find the plans on the internet or is it your own design?


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## LLigetfa (May 24, 2010)

oldspark said:
			
		

> GolfandWoodNut said:
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Ja, it looks like it can hold a lot of wood.  I thought of building an H style over the more conventional X style.  Also thought of building an asymmetrical _X_.


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## wsorg (May 24, 2010)

Looks nice for a quick setup.


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## smokinj (May 24, 2010)

No issue of of hitting anything so far


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## kbrown (May 24, 2010)

GolfandWoodNut said:
			
		

> I built this style sawbuck last winter and I really like it.  I do not know how you guys do not hit the horizontal boards when bucking with the typical sawbuck and it cannot hold very much.  I can load this simple sawbuck style up with wood and cut down with no fear of hitting my sawbuck unless I go too far left or right.  I use it mostly for branches that I load up to 2 and half feet deep and cut them all at once.  Something to consider.



I like this design; would be interested in getting some plans for that if you don't mind. I built one from internet plans last summer and did find that it's very easy to cut the horizontal but that was due to the design. Horizontals should always be just below the intersection of the crosses. My challenge is to have some type of jig on the buck to line up all the smaller pieces that just need one cut to take off 4 - 6". Mine does have an adjustable cross member which slides along a horizontal pole, but it's really not the most efficient process.


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## kbrown (May 24, 2010)

This is the one I built; modified the plan to move the horizontals down to be parallel with the dowel. Don't know how you would expect to use it in the original location.
www.lcwoodworkers.com/images/Archive/Sawbuckp.pdf


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## golfandwoodnut (May 25, 2010)

Thanks everyone.  I had a post on this in the winter that had my plans.  Unfortuneately all of my posts got deleted accidently by the webmaster (craig) when he was deleting some spam users.  He got me by accident.  I know I saw a video on this design on a website that was selling a metal one (which is not good if you hit it with a saw).  It looked really simple and I had an old Red Wood table so I disassembled it and rebuilt it in this design.  Really simple, I just made the H's spaced so that the center would be 20 inches apart (my preferred log length).  Then I put a support 2X4 around the entire bottom.  I also connected the H's at the bottom for more support.  It is amazing how much wood you can hold in this thing and when you cut down you end up with a pile of logs in very short order.  I did not mean to hijack this post, but I think you guys will like it.  The attached picture shows a pile of logs once they are cut.


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## Backwoods Savage (May 25, 2010)

rdust said:
			
		

> ohio woodburner said:
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rdust, I am going to keep you in mind. I think we're going to put up a shed late this summer....and some of the danged wood will be right in the way. So if it has to be moved, I'd rather someone else move it rather than me doing it. So if need be, have that trailer handy and you can have what you can haul!


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## firefighterjake (May 25, 2010)

This may sound a bit odd, but I tried using a sawbuck and didn't like it . . . too much lifting. I prefer to buck the wood up where it sits in the woods . . . or if I haul it out tree length to cut it up at the pile without having to lift it up off the ground.


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## golfandwoodnut (May 25, 2010)

firefighterjake said:
			
		

> This may sound a bit odd, but I tried using a sawbuck and didn't like it . . . too much lifting. I prefer to buck the wood up where it sits in the woods . . . or if I haul it out tree length to cut it up at the pile without having to lift it up off the ground.



For the most part I agree with you, especially the big stuff.  I was clearing alot of small trees from around my house and found that the branches took too much time to cut up individually, this made short order of it (one pass with the saw can cut up to 10 or more at a time and they are all the same size while measuring once).  Also one time a tree service was getting rid of a bunch of branches they had cut into 6 foot lengths.  I threw them in the trailer and chopped them up in a flash.


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## Flatbedford (May 27, 2010)

I threw this together out of scrap that I had around a few years ago. I set it up for trimming scrounged wood to my optimal length of about 17". I can load both sides and cut a bunch of rounds or splits in one pass each end.




It is plywood and 2x4s.


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## rdust (May 28, 2010)

Backwoods Savage said:
			
		

> rdust, I am going to keep you in mind. I think we're going to put up a shed late this summer....and some of the danged wood will be right in the way. So if it has to be moved, I'd rather someone else move it rather than me doing it. So if need be, have that trailer handy and you can have what you can haul!



Thanks for keeping me in mind!  Not sure I'll be able to take on anymore wood by the time you'll need it moved but we can figure that out if need be.  I was worried about finding enough free wood when I started out on this wood heat adventure and now I don't know what to do with it all.  Sure the first year was a lot of work to get ahead but with almost 15 cords up I can cruise a little now.


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## WoodPorn (May 28, 2010)

Flatbedford said:
			
		

> I threw this together out of scrap that I had around a few years ago. I set it up for trimming scrounged wood to my optimal length of about 17". I can load both sides and cut a bunch of rounds or splits in one pass each end.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Flatbed, I like this design, looks like the horizontals can be nicked/cut without major comprimise.


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## Jags (May 28, 2010)

mtarbert said:
			
		

> I don't remember who posted it but, the best tip I have read on here was to hold long pieces in the jaw of a splitter . Just be cearful to not and try to cut the splitter in the process.



I think both Rick and myself have posted about using this method.  Works very well for me (but I have a sawbuck as well).


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