Firewooding aids

[turnkey4099]

After finally breaking down and buying a "hookeroon" (log rite) a few years ago I decided climbing up in the truck bed to unload stuff that was out of reach was a nuisance.

Buit myself a 7' hookeroon:

8' closet pole cut to 7 (should have been a bit longer). Compression fitting (Dressler Coupling) from the plumbing department. I think it is 1 1/2" - has to be sized to the closet pole. Cross drilled for a short length of 1/2" all thread sharpened and "hooked" on one end.

Haven't crawled up in the bed since (except for any small stuff - too much of a nuisance tryint to hook them). _However_ that is my "wooding" truck and the bed is beat to piss already. I still shudder everyting one of those big chunks come off the pile and pile drives the bed. Even leaving a layer or two of unloaded rounds still makes big noisees.

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After hours of cutting I hate loading small rounds - ones that won't need splitting. Decided it would save cutting and loading time in the field if I were to cut the small but usuable limbs in lenghts up to 8' and haul them home. Built a 'limb wood sawbuck. I set it up on a couple unsplit rounds.

Loaded up:

Cut up:

Folds flat when done:

Harry K

 

[DAY]

Very Nice; I like how it folds up.

 

[easygo]

My contraption is not as nice as Turnkey's but it only cost me eight 20d nails.
I have a similar sawbuck but it is made out of two rounds of wood about 14-15" long and a couple of 4' branches nailed to the sides for the uprights creating two crude "U" shaped things. I just put them next to each other and stack the small wood in there. I ALWAYS put 4-5 branches on the very top of the stack that are about 4-5" diameter and 5-6' long to weigh it down. That way the saw will not pull them in quite so easy, but it is still best to point the bar up at the beginning of the cut and be VERY careful.

I have to mention that I use everything for firewood. I mean branches as small as 1.5" also make it on the pile. I really only leave a the smallest of stuff in the woods. So. A contraption like that makes life a bit easier.

 

[yomax4]

Nice stuff. I need to build the same setup. I did make a hookeroon type tool for getting the logs out my F350 Wood hauler/Plow truck. No more climbing up in that beast. Also being an outdoor wood boiler owner, I too cut and keep all the small stuff and I keep it to the side to heat water only prior to the real heating season. What I end up with is a large shed full of hard woods and a smaller lean too full of small stuff and soft wood that I use for heating the water. We call it water wood.

 

[Short Game]

Soon after I got my first tractor, I searched online for a PTO buzz saw. I got an old one with babbitt bearings for a hundred bucks that had been modified from wide belt to 3PH. Only had to drive about 80 miles out to get it. Great luck for me to find it, and the best C-note I ever dropped.

I later added a receiver hitch to it and if I jackknife my cart to the right, the bucked limbs fall right into it.

I know I didn't build it myself, but as a firewooding aid, and loving to burn limb wood (best fuel in the tree), I thought I'd post this. I did build my splitter, pickaroon, saw scabbard, and log forks, but this aid ranks right up there with them for me.

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The limb wood sawbucks are a great way to go too. I learned too many times that standing in a pile of limbs with a chainsaw is a fool's mission. If I wasn't cutting my boot, the saw was grabbing rounds and slamming them into my shins. I hate it when that happens!

I knew a guy who built one of these sawbucks with double uprights that the saw went between. He would lay a piece of bailing twine across each section before he'd put in the limbs. After he bucked everything, he'd tie each section into a bundle with the twine. He'd even add another twine and do multiple layers, getting two or three bundles from each section.

 

[Combustix]

Thats a awesome set up Short Game, is it possible to cut planks, as that would be a great benifit.

 

[turnkey4099]

Soon after I got my first tractor, I searched online for a PTO buzz saw. I got an old one with babbitt bearings for a hundred bucks that had been modified from wide belt to 3PH. Only had to drive about 80 miles out to get it. Great luck for me to find it, and the best C-note I ever dropped.

I later added a receiver hitch to it and if I jackknife my cart to the right, the bucked limbs fall right into it.

I know I didn't build it myself, but as a firewooding aid, and loving to burn limb wood (best fuel in the tree), I thought I'd post this. I did build my splitter, pickaroon, saw scabbard, and log forks, but this aid ranks right up there with them for me.

================================

The limb wood sawbucks are a great way to go too. I learned too many times that standing in a pile of limbs with a chainsaw is a fool's mission. If I wasn't cutting my boot, the saw was grabbing rounds and slamming them into my shins. I hate it when that happens!

I knew a guy who built one of these sawbucks with double uprights that the saw went between. He would lay a piece of bailing twine across each section before he'd put in the limbs. After he bucked everything, he'd tie each section into a bundle with the twine. He'd even add another twine and do multiple layers, getting two or three bundles from each section.

As a kid...well, if 12 YOA qualifies as a 'kid', I always hated it when Dad set up the buzz saw. I was the designated take-off guy. Even dumb as I was I knew how dangerous that equipment is. Of course ours was old, old, old and had never heard of any kind of a gaurd.

That string idea is great for making bundles of kindling sized stuff.

Harry K

 

[Short Game]

....is it possible to cut planks, as that would be a great benifit.

Like slab wood from a mill? That's what the old guy I bought it from used it for. He was in his 80s and had outgrown it, along with his big old circular sawmill. He had no idea his ad was on the internet. He didn't know that The Oregon Iron Trader had an online version. I was so lucky to find one the first time I looked, and it was close to boot.

 

[Short Game]

I just found the same saw as mine in its original form here:

http://www.pomeroyfarm.org/Images/buzz_saw.jpg

A search also turned this up:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kubota-owning-operating/191521-3-point-buzz-saw.html

 

[chopped]

Here is the newest version of the Buzz Saw. I ahve this model hard to believe I paid 450 dollars in 1989 its now 1400. But its a good investemtn over the years..
Vermont Woodsman Buzz Saw

 

[Short Game]

Man, those new ones are sure purdy.

I don't know the gearing of the 3PH conversion gearbox, but I run mine at fairly low engine RPM. I'm way under 540 and the saw just flywheels through what I feed it. Mine is very good on fuel.

 

[Ductape]

Here is the newest version of the Buzz Saw. I ahve this model hard to believe I paid 450 dollars in 1989 its now 1400. But its a good investemtn over the years..
Vermont Woodsman Buzz Saw

If yours is in good condition, I'd pay you back every one of those four hundred and fifty dollars you paid for it new !

 

[chopped]

Thanks for the offer. I actually looked at it a year ago and thought,I only use it maybe once a year for a couple hours so maybe id get rid of it. thinking id be lucky to get more than half what I paid. Then I saw it online and said nope ill keep it.
Interestingly,Mine is kept inside a shed. and my neighbors is outside on the dirt, What a difference it makes....

 

[radioman]

turnkey- I like how you made that sawbuck. Can you post more pics how it was made/works? That looks like something I'd like to make for me and my father.

 

[turnkey4099]

turnkey- I like how you made that sawbuck. Can you post more pics how it was made/works? That looks like something I'd like to make for me and my father.

I'll try for some closeups tomorrow. Not much to it. I also have some pics of the way others copied it.

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

turnkey- I like how you made that sawbuck. Can you post more pics how it was made/works? That looks like something I'd like to make for me and my father.

I see I already had a close-up:

Frames made of 1 1/2"x1 1/2" Angle irons, drilled for 1/4" lag screw clearance. Drill one and use it as guide for the others. They must be very close to exact or it won't fold. 2 2x6 on edge with frames mounted with fairly long (don't recall) 1/4" lag bolts left "rattling" loose.

Size the frames to your bar lenght. I used a 14" inside dimension for my 20" bar. Probably could have pushed it to 16".

I built that a manylong years ago and about chopped the 2x6s in half by the time I retired it. I was heating with Willow back then and found that limbs that size just weren't worth the effort.

Recently the Locust Borer began killing off the locusts in this area - one of the top four firewood species on any list. That stuff I save the small stuff!

I later added 1x4" boards across the frames at the bottom to give a bit more room when the saw comes through the bottom of the stack. Still nick the 2x6 occasionally.

In use it is very important to have a sharp chain and be sure that the top log(s) are securely placed. At the start of the cut a loosely laid one on top will try to climb right over the upright.

One of the nice things about it is that the stacks of cut wood pretty much stay in there for easy picking up.

 

[turnkey4099]

Edit function doesn't seem to be working.

Adding: Be sure the spacing along the 2x6 are also exact or it won't fold. Mine are spaced 16" OC starting at 8" on the right end. Extra long limbs hang out the left side and can be either eyeballed for cutting or the cut-off lengths added to the next load up.