Cordwood Saw (Buzz Saw)

   / Cordwood Saw (Buzz Saw) #1  

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What am I missing? It's driven off the pto, so the tractor is stationary. Which means the loader cannot be used to lift the log onto the table. How could this be used to cut a 12 - 15 inch log that has any length? Why would I want to do this rather than using the loader to set a log in the sawbuck to be cut with the chainsaw?

I know someone who has one of these that hooks up to the 3 point and is pto driven. He wants to give it to me. I think he just wants to get rid of it to free up some storage space. I can't see using it, and I don't want to lose my floor space.

So, as a one man wood cutting operation - why would I want the cordwood saw?
 
   / Cordwood Saw (Buzz Saw) #2  
They are handy for cutting long slab wood into fire wood.
The heavier the pc of wood the harder to handle.
 
   / Cordwood Saw (Buzz Saw) #3  
They are real handy if you have a lot of limb wood to cut up. I used one a lot with my father in law when he was around. If you buy a load of logs for your firewood, then it wouldn't help much. I cut my firewood off of my land, so end up with a lot of limb wood. I have a buzz saw that I bought earlier this year, but I discovered I can't use it on my tractor. It came off of an old Ford tractor. It has a gear box that bolts to the back of the tractor, over the PTO shaft. The saw hangs on the 3pt, and there is a wide belt that goes from a pulley on the gear box to a pulley on the saw frame. The problem I have is that the gear box / pulley that bolts to the back of the tractor, won't fit between the vertical arms of my 3pt. As I have found out, the vertical arms of a 3pt on those old Fords is quite a bit wider that those on my Cub Cadet. I know, I know, I should have checked this before I bought it, but this is something that just didn't occur to me to check before I bought it /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif.

Several guys have suggested to me that I could modify the saw frame to mount the gear box onto it, shorten the belt to accommodate the shorter distance between the pulleys, and then use a PTO driveshaft to transmit power from the tractor PTO shaft to the gearbox that is now mounted on the saw frame. They make it sound easy, but I've looked at this long and hard, and it seems like a daunting task to me with my limited fabrication skills.

Is the buzz saw that your friend has set up like mine, or does it use a PTO driveshaft between the tractor and saw frame? If it does, and if you decide not to take it, I'm in the market for one.... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Corm
 
   / Cordwood Saw (Buzz Saw) #4  
That dates back to the time WE cut fire wood in 4' lengths and then split those[sledge and wedge] and then used the buzz saw. They went out for the most part when chain saws and hyd. splitters came on the scene. For Tops and limbs they will still out prduce a chain saw. bcs
 
   / Cordwood Saw (Buzz Saw) #5  
You might try going to www.ytmag.com and trying to see if somebody will swap you something you can use for your belt pulley setup. Those guys in the "N" series forums are interested in all the old Ford attachments they can find.
 
   / Cordwood Saw (Buzz Saw) #6  
A lot of folks that cut for production still cut to 4' out here. From that 4' stick you can cut 4-12" pieces, 3-16" pieces or 2-24" pieces depending on the size of the customers stove. Makes for calculating a cord (4'X4'x8') easy too. A lot af fellas have splitters that will split 4' sticks too.
 
   / Cordwood Saw (Buzz Saw) #7  
A buzz saw is not useful on the bigger stuff. I agree with the others on how great a buzz saw is for the smaller stuff. Compared to trying to prop up the smaller limbs so you don't run the chainsaw blade into the ground and hold it with your foot so it won't move around while you cut, a buzz saw is great. Throw it on the table and cut it off instantly, shove it over the length you want, and cut it off again, etc and it doesn't take long to cut up a limb. It easy to put 2 or 3 on the table and cut through all of them in the same amount of time it takes to cut one. We tore an old barn down once and the buzz saw made short work of turning the lumber into firewood.
 
   / Cordwood Saw (Buzz Saw) #8  
How much PTO horse power is needed to run a PTO saw?
 
   / Cordwood Saw (Buzz Saw) #9  
When I get back to Texas I'll post a picture I took in New Mexico of a pair of antique buzz saws.

These were powered by the accessory flywheel on the old tractors.

When I was a kid my grandpa cut tons and tons of cordwood with one. He had an model T motor that sat sideways and turned the belt to the saw.

They are deadly. He cut off most of the fingers off one hand. We were talking about it last night with my father and he said it was more of a pulling of the fingers out of the hand than it was of cutting them off. I just remember grandpa's hand being quite a bit different from everyone else's I knew.

When I stuck my thumb into the fluting blade on my table saw the second thought across my mind was about how my grandpa had picked up his fingers and walked out to the road and hitchiked to the hospital for care.

The first thought of course was to dial 9-l-l. The second thought came to mind and I could no more have dialed for help than I could fly. It just wouldn't be the way we handle such a situation. So I drove myself to the hospital.

But, for production cutting of firewood to length the only thing better than a buzz saw is a check book.
 
   / Cordwood Saw (Buzz Saw) #10  
You do what you have to do to get there. There was a kid here in ND who lost both arms in a farm accident, only one home at the time. walked to the house and dialed 911 with a pencil in his mouth. Hope I never have to find out how much guts that takes to do.
 
 
 
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