Does anyone use a buzz saw any more?
- Thread starter Backwoods Savage
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I am of an older generation. My father and I used a crossbuck saw for sawing large logs. Raw labor supplied the power. Good exercise.
bboulier said:
bboulier, I've never fell a tree with a crosscut saw but have cut a lot of wood with one. There were 3 of us boys growing up and one of the jobs was to cut the smaller stuff. The men just cut the big stuff and rather than taking the time, they figured it was good work for the boys. I can't say that I ever enjoyed that though. I guess that is the only part of wood handling that I have not enjoyed.
We have a trailer mounted one down in the shed that has a Wisconsin engine on it. Dad last used it back in the 70's cutting up slabwood for his Longwood duel fuel. I remember helping him and I would have been 5 or 6 at the time. To be honest I was pretty scared of it at the time.
Chargerman said:
At 5 years old, that would have been the equivalent of a T-Rex staring down at you. :ahhh:
I've seen logging crews take down and process fantastic amounts of wood with something similar to the stationary buzz saw. They had the blade mounted to a hydraulic arm. They used a claw to position the wood on a rack of logs and then chopped away. 3 guys a few hours and what was woods is now a field. Loud as hell too. Happened upon the scene hiking through Upton, Maine (which is actually the real "middle of nowhere").
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Jags, those are fantastic machines.
On the buzz saw, they can be a bit scary, especially the first time you work with one; especially the guy taking the cut wood from the saw as he is really close to that spinning cutter. It concentrates the attention!
On the buzz saw, they can be a bit scary, especially the first time you work with one; especially the guy taking the cut wood from the saw as he is really close to that spinning cutter. It concentrates the attention!
![[Hearth.com] Does anyone use a buzz saw any more?](/talk/data/attachments/35/35760-09e66989da924c34276760305056edbc.jpg?hash=zwQAEXb4Sp)
I've been looking for one for a while now. I found one at a local antique tractor show that was for sale for $100. at the time I didn't have the cash, and couldn't talk my wife into allowing it. I also didn't have a truck/trailer with me. I don't see them for sale locally, but I'm keeping my eyes open. the one I saw (and want) is much like 48Rob describes. It is a freestanding belt driven deal. I don't think my stationary engine will have enough oomph for it (1.5hp) but I think I could run it off of dad's A... (or it's an excuse to buy another stationary engine)
Jags said:
nope, neither of these, although they are cool....this was a giant (4'+, didnt want to get too close) circular blade attached to a track driven vehicle and wielded by a hydraulic arm with 3 points of articulation. It didn't have any "grippers" of its own. There was a second vehicle with grippers stacking the logs parallel and then this thing just came over and dropped the blade right through a few logs at a time.
it didn't look very "OSHA Approved" if you know what I mean. Far too many ways to get hurt just being near it. Wood chips were flying everywhere and from 80 yards my ears were bleeding, but it was that combined "horror and curiosity" that locked me into watching it. Have seen the walking harvester at work in the state forest along the Kancamaugus Hwy, and that thing is cool too, though it lacks the "horror" aspect.
Danno77 said:
Danno, it is getting to be that time of year when one fellow sets his out by the road. He has it all painted up and has been trying to sell it the last 2 or 3 years. He leaves it out for a while then takes it in. A bit later it will be out for sale again. We do see others for sale every now and then. I don't think that 1.5 hp will do much for the saw but that A will certainly do the trick.
Delta-T said:
That sounds like the machine they bring in every so often to clear around the high wires. The last time they came onto our place a neighbor and I were talking with one of the workers and we were about 80 yards from it. They came over to ask us to move because we were too close! Yes, it did make the wood fly!
kenny chaos said:
I have a scrapper freind who has one of these at his junkyard. I could likely get it cheap. It doesn't have near the guards the new one has, but that is easy to fix. Of course I would have to run it electric. Worth it?
Not sure what size electric you'd need but if you think you have a large enough motor, go for it. Also, you need to take into consideration whether or not you have the necessary help to run it. Working with a buzz saw is really not a one man job. Three is ideal.
Backwoods Savage said:
On Kenny's website, it says not for large logs. What is a practical diameter to expect to be able to cut?
No more than 12" usually but you need pretty good power to get through. Usually at 10" or more a chain saw will out perform a buzz saw. Smaller than maybe 10" and the buzz saw wins.
I guess I'm an antique. I used to use one of the 3 pt hitch/belt driven buzz saws like that shown on the Ferguson video, except ours didn't have any guards. The day after Thanksgiving my wife's family would cut up the winter's firewood for the farm. It would have been stacked in 4 to 6 foot lengths for the past year or more. My father-in-law would do the cutting, while I did the catching/throwing duties. Other siblings-in-law would do the carrying-to and carting away. When they stopped burning wood at the farm, I would borrow the saw (the 9N tractor that powered it was mine by then) and use it alone to cut wood at my place 2 miles up the road. Using it alone wasn't nearly as efficient because I'd have to keep shutting it down to pull the cut pieces away from the blade so the cut-offs wouldn't bounce off the pile back into the rotating blade.
The part of the story I really wanted to tell, though, was how these tractors had to have the clutch engaged to lower the PTO and draft arms. My FIL would always just raise the 3 point hitch to fold up the saw with the saw still spinning, then just lean to the left so the spinning blade didn't cut him as it folded in next to the seat! (Raising it brought the two pullies closer together, slackening the leather drive belt so the blade was disengaged) I wasn't that brave, and would disengage the PTO and let the blade coast to a stop before raising it for transport!
The part of the story I really wanted to tell, though, was how these tractors had to have the clutch engaged to lower the PTO and draft arms. My FIL would always just raise the 3 point hitch to fold up the saw with the saw still spinning, then just lean to the left so the spinning blade didn't cut him as it folded in next to the seat! (Raising it brought the two pullies closer together, slackening the leather drive belt so the blade was disengaged) I wasn't that brave, and would disengage the PTO and let the blade coast to a stop before raising it for transport!
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