I remember one of those ancient buzz rigs. Back in the early '80s, one of my cousins had a tractor with a buzz saw attachments. Myself, dad, uncle, and cousin would get-together for a cutting party on Saturdays. Between all of us, we had three 3/4 ton pickups and a 1/2 ton. We would take all the 3/4 ton trucks to the sawmill and purchase slab wood bundles. I can still remember how the bundles squatted my truck. We would start buzzing the wood from the trucks, tossing the cut pieces into my dad's 1/2 ton truck. We would then stack the cuts at my cousin's house. As each 3/4 ton truck got empty, we would load it with wood and take it to someone else's house. Some shinning times, but looking at those ancient buzzing attachments (from modern safety standards) it is a wonder how we didn't cut an arm off.
My first endeavor started at age 6, 1968 . My Mother and Father had a house built in 1965, "which I still own" with all electric heat . My Mother decided she wanted a Franklin stove in the house, which turned out to be the "BIGGEST PIECE OF $#!T" , non-heating, smoke puking hunk of garbage ever made. So, Dad and I cut what ever we could find with a hand bow saw. We burn't "everything" wet, dry, rotten, I think we even burn't most of a demolished house one winter. In 1975, My Mother saw an Ad in the paper for the "newest" air tight Fisher stove. Two weeks later, My Father and older brother were ripping out that P.O.S. Franklin stove and a new Fisher went in! That stove delivered to the door was $429.00 I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember the guy who came out to help install it said, "Quote"... These dam things will burn everything. . Well, you just sold my Dad!!! . Sadly, over the years into the 80's Dad burn't everything, yes anything and everything. "I" still cutting wood by hand said to myself, "SCREW THIS" and I bought my first chainsaw in 1980 from Sears, a Homelite, super XL, $99.00. I learned how to sharpen the blades and ran the $#!T out of that saw until it locked up about 1986. I cut maybe 30 cord with that saw, That saw didn't owe me a dam thing! The rest is history, I got my first Stihl then, read books and studied "correct burning" asked lots of older folks about burning and actually started doing a three year plan about the same time. I had everything down to a "solid science", "for my application" about 1990. So that's my story!
My story is way less humbling...my dad gave me a Stihl 260 he had bumming around his garage in 2004 when I drove my "new to me" truck (1993 Dakota) up to Maritime school in Maine...the saw bumped around in the back of that truck for years, other than cutting up a little firewood on camping trips I hardly used it. Fast forward to 2014, my wife and I bought a house on 26 acres with an OWB. Previous owner left me maybe a cord or two and a phone number for a guy he used to deliver log trucks of wood. Gave him a call, got my first delivery in summer of 2014...8-9 cord per load, pretty much all oak. Went and picked up a DR Rapidfire splitter and a few chains for the 260 and went to town on that pile. Shortly into it the 260 stopped running on me...so I dropped it off at a dealer to fix and picked up a 261C while I was there. Got back into the pile and finished up! 260 just needed a new coil so I was at two saws at that point. Fast forward a few years, Ive still got the 260 and 261 but I also picked up a Husq 562xp and plenty of assorted axes, sharpeners, chains, etc etc. I was blessed with a pretty good paying job right out of college and continued making good money every year since, so I was able to splurge a bit on good equipment right from the get-go. I never really went through a phase where I was busting my hump with old junky equipment. I have, however, learned a lot about burning wood better and am very well on my way to getting on a 3+ year plan. I recently acquired about 35+ cord of all hardwood from a tree service company and once thats all cut/split/stacked I'll be a few years ahead...at which point I'll just continue to maintain.
Hahaha, yep, I remember pestering Gramps to let me run the saw for years. He showed me basic saw safety & handling, strongly recommended I not put the chain in the dirt, but the last warning before start up was "don't cut your leg off, your mother will be pizzed". Best advice I ever got on saw safety LOL.
Nope, 30. Don't forget, that saw was only $99.00 and the oils wern't as good back then as they are now.
My dad was raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and had to quit school after the 8th grade to work with his father in a saw mill. I started cutting wood helping others at 12-13, then at 16 would cut a pick up load at a time to sell for spending money. Then when I got our first house it had a hydro heater in it, which we then replaced with an insert. Then we have been using an OWB at our current house for 15 years or so. 16 years old was almost 36 years ago, but doesn’t seem that long.
Actually these saws are not so ancient; you can buy them brand new at dealerships today believe it or not. I have one kicking around somewhere myself, which is sort of funny because I'll often hear people say "I got an old sawmill here", and it really is just a Cordwood Saw from antiquity. Vermont Woodsman Cordwood Saw
Must have a little pioneer blood in you, most city people I've met would not have tried, fewer yet would have succeeded. You have my respect.
ME LIKE!!! Were I to have one of those beasts I'd have all my wood done in one weekend. That leaves LOTS of summer for Chaz
I would not mind having one of those buzz saws. I like my log loader, but it is a huge time-suck to have to measure and buck my trees into 8 foot sections. If I had one of these buzz saws, I could swing a tree over the saw and cut it off without having to hold it off the ground, run out a tape measure, start my chainsaw and then cut the trees to length. These are pretty common in Maine, but on a mechanized logging scale they are called "slashers". I would obviously have to scale it down, but this is what I would like to build someday.
Far more safe than a chainsaw in my opinion. With a Cordwood saw, you always know where the blade is, which is not that way with a chainsaw. It is kind of like a railroad, you will never get hit by a train if you stay away from the railroad tracks. I mean it is pretty predictable to figure out where the train is going to go.
Exactly !! I personally believe that cordwood saws get a bad reputation because of complacency, it's easy so your mind wanders and quick so.... . People have to go to the blade to get hurt. And people associate it with a table saw where you a cutting above the arbor and it can kick things back. Don't happen when the table is at the correct height. 3 guys can cut a silly amount of wood in a short amount of time.
I don't think a lot of people actually get hurt with these things very often because not a lot of people really use them. I think it is a PERCIEVED sense of danger that makes them think these things are dangerous. The most dangerous tool in the world has got to be the chainsaw, BUT it is also the most practical. You are right regarding the production though. Using my little log loader to take the lifting out of the wood pile would make them almost a dream.
You just leave the cordwood saw running then use a machine to lift logs and buck the logs into 20" (or whatever) pieces?
Yeah... The table is on a hinge and spring, so you lift the wood up onto the table, hand the wood 16 inches out over the end then push the table forward. The saw emerges and the wood is cut. The table spring back and then you reposition the piece for a second cut and push the table again. The saw makes teh cut and you have just cut 3 pieces of wood with a 25 hp engine instead of 72 cc's. It makes those two cuts quicker than you can read these words. (And if you have smaller pieces of wood, it can cut 2-3 at a time too.)
