I've seen several ways of measuring firewood length over the years and I just never got around to either spending money on one or making one. Well I finally got tired of using the bar of the saw to measure each cut I make and twisting my back around every cut. I'm not getting any younger, dang it... I saw where someone had used a magnet and small threaded rod somewhere to stick on the bar of his saw and I kinda liked that idea but wasn't sure if the vibration would mess with it. Here's my try on making it stick... My MS250 is my lightest saw and it has a hole in the end of the bar. I threw out an old boom box the other day. I bought a strong cheap magnet at HF. I have lots of hardware and JB Weld laying around the shop. So this is what happened... I took the antenna off of the boom box, opened it all the way and cut off the slug in the end that was attached to the boom box. I put a bolt through the magnet hole and slid the hollow end of the antenna down over the bolt with some JB Weld on it. This way the antenna goes through the hole in the bar and the magnet snaps onto the bar. This way it can't vibrate around on the bar and maybe get into the chain. Is it strong enough to hold on the bar during use you ask??? It was so hard to get off the bar that I ground some notches in the circlular metal cup so I can use my scrench to pry it off the bar... Using the antenna was super light weight and shouldn't cause too much stress on the magnet. I can adjust it's length to whatever length I want the firewood. I marked 16", 18", 20", and 22" on my clutch cover so I can set it then slip it through the hole and snap the magnet on the bar and start marking logs. I'll see how it holds up in the coming weeks. I'm still waiting on the JB Weld to set up or I would have taken some more pix of it snapped on the bar. I'm looking forward to using it and having more consistant wood lengths.
This is my on the bar measurement device. I only use it when I have "help" that is not as anal as me for 16" length. I can go down a log and mark pretty quick. The saw is dedicated just for this purpose.
JB Weld is impressive stuff. I used some of the two part epoxy to fix a pinhole in a trailer rim. I was curious if it would work prior to ponying up for a new rim. I don’t think you’re supposed to legally, but once painted you can’t tell the difference. It held a 2,000 lb load for a 90 mile round trip.
JB weld is at least at the same level as duct tape as for fixing things. Nice work MAF143 ! I've got a diy made firewood measuring whip for my Stihl as well. It was given to me here on FHC a number of years ago. I'll have to put it on my ms170 to use for marking lengths. NGL though, I want one of those lasers for my dolkita.
I took a 1x1 piece of oak two feet long, painted it orange, put two screws in it, 20 inches apart…. And scribe the logs
I'm completely hooked on my Mingo. Used it twice now and I can walk down logs rather quickly and be completely ready to buck.
