Firewood Processor

[muddstopper]

Has anyone considered a saw blade vs a chainsaw?

In what little research Ive done so far, sawblades seem to be winning in speed of cut and low maintenance fronts. Ive seen people who claim 50+ cord (actual number escapes me) before sharpening.

muddstopper, yes Im considering a gas engine to drive both the saw and the splitter. I think it was Hudson Badger who's design I was getting inspired by

Actually, I think a direct drive gas or diesel engine would be a lot more economical than all the hydraulics. I have seen a few on youtube so I know they can be made to work. I have seen a few with more than one engine too, not sure i liked that design concept. You do what you can do with what you got sometimes.

 

[Scooby074]

I too have looked at the circular blades. They are plenty expensive and take tons of oil to work well. They do last longer between sharpenings, but require a professional to keep sharp and true. Another drawback is size. To cut 24in dia wood, you would need a 52in dia blade. A lot of my wood is bigger than 24in dia, which would mean a even bigger blade. Economics sort of dictated to me to go with the .404 chain and bar. Simply put, I cant afford the expense since I dont do commercial firewood.

Yeah, big wood requires a huge blade. Not practical in your case. Most of my wood is under 20".

Sharpening a non-carbide blade isnt "that" bad. However carbide, is a bit of a difference. When I worked in a sawmill all the saws were stellite or carbide toothed. There was a full shop of filers to keep things running smooth both in sharpening and welding on new teeth. Saws on the main lines were changed every 4 hours or sooner! There is a lot more to keeping a percision saw on a sawline running true then what you'd think, a chopsaw cutting up firewood isn't quite at that same level though.

Direct drive of a sawblade is something Im considering. Cost wise I think it will be a wash when comparing a harvester bar and 404 chain vs a med duty carbide tooth saw. I know some filers so sharpening is not a problem, especially if I get a couple years wood/ sharpen.

 

[muddstopper]

Scooby, I would guess that someone makes some sort of clamp on shapening guide for those big circular blades. I havent checked into it, so cant say for sure. I'm interested in what you comeup with if you decide to go that route. I have heard that you have to have those circular bladed round and trued ever now and then, using a hammer and peening process. Saw a youtube video of that being done. Looks like it would be a learned art to doing so properly. Not sure i have the patience for that sort of thing. One thing with the bar and chain setup, chain get dull, just throw another one on and your back to cutting in just a few minutes.

I actually did look around for a old frick circlesaw blade, but didnt have any luck finding one. Not many circle saw mills around here anymore. Thats the real reason I decided to go with the harvester bar and chain. Cost was a little over $100, while a new circle blade was several hundred $$.

 

[johndeerkiwi]

Scooby, I looked at circular saws and eventually decided to go chainsaw, yet I was initially very keen on circular. My reasoning for changing my mind was mostly initial high cost of the circular saw, even though a circular saw was less complex ie no oiler & continuous running which could be direct drive through a slip clutch(I've done that before in a smaller firewood saw, and it works great)
We also wanted to saw logs over 2 feet and that's a big mother of a circular saw.There's also the risk factor....there's a whole bunch of energy stored up in a circular saw if the logs shifts and it grabs, and I didn't want to be flying through the air towards Australia .....
There's no doubt the circular saws have the advantage of less sharpening though.
If you look at the u tube videos you will see examples of fast cutting chainsaws, and if you go that route, I have already posted some guff. Basically, if you get your chain speed right, there is a direct correlation between input power and cutting rate.

 

[johndeerkiwi]

Some random thoughts.....
Another two positives in favour of chainsaws is:
(a) The extra speed of cut of circular saws is not in question, but is partly mitigated by their (usually) slower retract....often the whole cycle is not much faster that a good hydraulic chain-saw set-up.
(b) when you hit a bridge spike buried in your tree(as I did), you are going again with a new chain in 10 minutes. I have also seen a saw with two blades that hit a draught horse shoe buried in a log!! The horse shoe won!)
Over-all, I think circular saw is best, but we're fairly scotch and source our trees from around farms, so bits of machinery in the trees seems to come with the territory.
Lots of firewood people source their logs from a plantation forest, so they should be clean, favouring a circular saw.



I use a proper chainsaw disc sharpener, and a hand file with raker guide for keeping the raker height correct. Hand files with guides are ok for the teeth, but when I sharpened chainsaws professionally, I noted that most the professional bushmen with hand files would eventually become my customers, limiting their hand files to out in the field, between machine sharpens.

I have found a supplier of 17 tooth .404 sprockets (and matching wider bars) in Australia(G.B. Forestry). That seems to be the largest available sprokets.(could help speed up the chain a bit more, for those choosing to use a direct drive on a slower gear motor of 3000 to 3500 rpm, but correct chain speed with 17 teeth is still 6840 revs)

Anyway, it's spring here in New Zealand, time to sharpen the fishing hooks instead!