Cutting logs: Buzz Vs Chainsaw etc.

[SensibleNick]

Hi all.

Before too long I'll be getting interested in cutting up the logs I have at home before splitting them. Admittedly, just using the chainsaw will save time, but I love making toys.

My understanding so far is that buzz-saws (big circular saws) are the thing of nightmares for many people: Small cracks turning blades into lethal clouds of shrapnel etc. Dangers aside, Building a PTO-driven one definitely comes under the title of "simple".

Hydraulic chainsaws are damned cute, and less dangerous. I think it'd end up with me needing to make a PTO driven hyd-system, and that's pushing us into expensive territory.

I have a boat-load of old servo motors. Big, powerful 30kg things that can be used as 3-phase generators. One of these could easily be PTO driven to produce a fairly punchy 400v 3-phase current. I saved them from the scrap bin with windmills in mind... but I don't think I'll get around to that.
I also have a few too many 3-ph motors lying around, and a few frequency converters that will allow me to start/stop and adjust the speed of the 3-ph motor.

Half of me is looking for an excuse to use the expensive scrap I've saved from my job.. the other half just wants simplicity.

If however my 27l/min 160 bar hyd. system will do the job with a small hydraulic saw, I'll be very happy The largest log I have is 12" diameter you see... a 15" bar will do the job.

Any comments?

I like buzz-saws, but if people are seriously against the idea, I'll steer clear of it too.

 

[magicheater]

A man after my own heart! I love to tinker too. Some thoughts: If you build a saw rig you will have to move the log somehow. If you use the tractor to power the rig you will need another tractor to move the logs. If you just use the chainsaw you move and the log doesn't. I drag logs out of the woods and cut them on a landing, using the tractor to assist when needed.
There has to be a higher end use for your "goodies" Are you cutting firewood for heat or lumber? If for heat, do you use a wood stove or a masonry heater?

 

[Bedlam]

Personally I fine the 'buzz saw' to be quite safe. Ive used one for many years, But I do just use it for the smaller stuff. limbs etc. I have to cut someof my wood to under 12 inches in legnth . I paid 800 dollars for mine 19 years ago...

 

[SensibleNick]

I attacked the trees that the logs came from last year (Before Tractor), and in a crafty hernia-avoiding scheme, cut most of them down to about 1.2 meters / 4 ft.

I'll have no problem hoiking them onto a saw table.

I also have a decent array of pneumatic bits and bobs lying around: As there's no way that the servo motor or buzzsaw will take 18hp worth of power from the PTO shaft, I can use it to drive a compressor at the same time and run a pneumatic system for lifting, clamping and positioning logs. I've been toying with the idea of using a large pneumatic cylinder to swing a heft mass, and physically hammer the logs though the splitter. Noisier, less efficient and considerably more silly than the gentle hydraulic process, but wouldn't it be FUN??

I'd be splitting/cutting for firewood: we have a little cast iron stove/heater and will have a log-fired hot-tub... when I get round to building it.

^^^ Ours is less ugly.

So.. it's not wood we need... it's wood to make us a wee bit more cozy in the winter, and I'll be wanting to cut it down to about 10" lengths.

In the future we'll be scavenging for wood that is left over from the guys who're using their trees for lumber.

 

[JuHaa]

I have a firewood processor where log is cut with chainsaw. 13" bar. Biggest log is 12" in diameter that can be cut.

There is video about similar processor I have YouTube - Hakki Pilke 2XS+

And there is different model YouTube - HakkiPilke

Power to chain saw is taken from PTO with V belts

 

[turnkey4099]

I attacked the trees that the logs came from last year (Before Tractor), and in a crafty hernia-avoiding scheme, cut most of them down to about 1.2 meters / 4 ft.

I'll have no problem hoiking them onto a saw table.

I also have a decent array of pneumatic bits and bobs lying around: As there's no way that the servo motor or buzzsaw will take 18hp worth of power from the PTO shaft, I can use it to drive a compressor at the same time and run a pneumatic system for lifting, clamping and positioning logs. I've been toying with the idea of using a large pneumatic cylinder to swing a heft mass, and physically hammer the logs though the splitter. Noisier, less efficient and considerably more silly than the gentle hydraulic process, but wouldn't it be FUN??

I'd be splitting/cutting for firewood: we have a little cast iron stove/heater and will have a log-fired hot-tub... when I get round to building it.

^^^ Ours is less ugly.

So.. it's not wood we need... it's wood to make us a wee bit more cozy in the winter, and I'll be wanting to cut it down to about 10" lengths.

In the future we'll be scavenging for wood that is left over from the guys who're using their trees for lumber.

With all those 'bits and pieces' to play with you will have a ball. Eventually a conveyor to self feed the stove?

Harry K

 

[SensibleNick]

The boiler downstairs (fired with wood pellets) is already fed with an auger, though I may one day fix a similar system to remove the ash.
The one upstairs will only ever be hand-stoked with logs. .. the Hot-tub.. now that might need a feed system of sorts...

The bits and pieces will certainly be fun.. First off is finding out how much power I can produce with one of those servo motors, and working out if I can do it with the tractor idling...

Hakkipilke: Woah!! That's a weee bit bigger than I had in mind.

By the way... are we in agreement that the output of a fairly standard hyd. Remote will not be enough for a hyd. chainsaw?