Ok team, I was getting keen test drive the H frame sawbuck from my previous post, How I cut up my humans, unfortunately I only had these small lengths of birch. Anyways the amount of wood that is able to be loaded is surprising and unloading is also a breeze as most of it just falls away. Cutting time/fuel consumption is reduced as the chain is being fully utilized for the entire time of the cut.
Right on Fulltang I don't think you'd want the sawbuck much bigger than that one. The only one I've seen much bigger was a man who used it for cutting up slab wood. He used it every spring when making maple syrup.
Makes it much easier to cut when its just packed and under control doesn't it? You made an excellent example I'll give ya that! Most V stands are just unpredictable.
Ive cut limbs that had flipped out as they come unbalanced. Its my needing to build another one for this purpose but it also becomes cumbersome as more stands can make it awkward. I do try to balance by going back and forth. My sawbuck is just two X sections with a cross beam. Simple gets it done.
Having only 2 X sections is why you have a bit of a problem with it. 3 works much nicer. Here is one built by Shawn Curry
Yes I will likely start over on this. Mainly I made it because I had lots of oak branches to be cut to size. Still have a few to do and make it safe. Thanks!
Smaller branches can jump on you, no matter how you're cutting them. IMO its much more dangerous trying to cut them on the ground compared to waist level on a sawbuck. There's a couple things you can do to prevent the jumping. First of all, load the small ones on the bottom of the pile, and put the heavier branches on top. If they're all small or you just don't feel like putting them on the bottom, start your cut with the portion of the bar closest to the spikes, and then use the spikes to pin it down as you cut. Now, H bucks would seem to have less of a tendency to spit the branches back out compared to the X buck. But the thing I didn't like about that design is that you would have to lift the branches higher to load it. I never have to lift much higher than waist level with mine. (Shameless plug - I just purchased materials to build 3 more of these, only one of which is sold. If anyone is interested send me a PM. ) Looks good Fulltang !
Most likely I want to build another that is more stronger to hold better logs. The waist height is probably what I need to think about as well. The X's i have is much higher than that. Unnecessarily so.
If you're interested I could dig up the plans for mine and send them to you. Though they're rather rudimentary. Mine uses half-lapped joinery and its extremely strong. I've seen pics of guys loading logs onto it with a forklift. Sorry for the Fulltang!
I don't lift the branches high with my pole rack , I just load in from the end. I still think for some things an X buck would be better , one of these days I'll make one, most of my wood I get from CL and it's already cut up.
Logs in the v tend to roll and can jump around if u have an aggressive chain.. ie rake not right height... yada yada..
