John B here. I'm rather new here so I'm hoping my question is in the proper forum. Question: A neighbor stopped by this morning and the topic of conversation got around to wood cutting. I new he had a PTO buzz rig but I never saw him use it so decided to ask about it's status. Long story short, said neighbor offered me the machine with the caveat that it needed some repair (sounded like a sheared woodruff key issue) and if I wanted it to stop by. So, anyone out there still using a buzz rig to buck wood? Not attempting to cut really big stuff but the 3 to 5 inch stuff that takes forever to dice up a chainsaw. Really appreciate your collective opinions and experiences with buzz rigs. Thanks
I have run one, large exposed spinning blade and a high probability of wood kicking out at you. Be careful...
Very dangerous!! I can't imagine it to be faster by the time you collect all the small stuff and bring it back and lift it all to use on the buzz saw. Welcome by the way. Be kind of a cool nastalgic thing. There still is some current production buzz rigs made.
We used a belt driven buzz saw to cut up slab wood when I was a kid. It was fun. The belt would slip if you cut the wood too fast, not sure what setup this is. I would think you could cut up limb wood quick.
Buzz saws (I have run them) have sorta gone by the wayside with the advent of lightweight/affordable chainsaws. They were essentially meant to process wood that was pulled out of the woods by a horse or tractor and was a huge improvement on the buck saw/whip saw that was used previous to it. I feel the only practical application for them nowadays is for cutting slabwood if you have a source for that. They do work great for bucking small diameter round wood as well but in reality it is much less work to buck wood on site and move it as rounds than to get the logs to the buzz rig. I recently sold a buzz saw including the 90 degree pto belt adapter for $50 and was glad to get that out of it. (it didn't have a belt with it) Of course they're dangerous but can be operated with minimal risk if one is aware of the inherent dangers. Chainsaws are dangerous too and we learn to manage risk rather than avoid them and lose their capability.
Small limbs/branches/poles up to 4" or so its much quicker using my 25 yr old cast iron Delta 10" miter saw w/40tooth carbide blade.As I've gotten older its much easier for me to carry several poles 3 to 9 ft long to the trailer or truck & cut them up later than be constantly bending over cutting,picking up & carrying untold armloads of short pieces.Not to mention keeping the bar tip outta the dirt.....
Back in the day- old Massey Ferguson- flat belt drive to Buck saw on 3 point ( 36" dia blade) , tongue connection for 3 sided wagon on saw frame toddle off with the whole works spend a day cutting 6" on down for cook stove couple times a year. Other times it would be for heating much bigger diameter pieces. I still get a few of the saw blades in for sharpening and tensioning every so often. Lot of times I have to re-anneal the teeth in order to reset the kerf and sharpen them. I sold my own rig about 12 years back no use for it anymore being in town with all the amenities available ( Electric , NG ect.) Guy who bought it has a place in the UP sans power, he had a band mill there also. Haven't heard from him in about 8 years now.
Corvus may know a little about them if I read his first post right. I believe that's what he's talking about.
Hi John. Here is a nice video with (concerning supply) adaption of a buzz saw. In the vid. you see processing of "Meterholz". One advantage of this method: you just have to handle the wood. With the chain saw you need to handle both, the saw and the wood.
