Crosscut saw manual

[ChainsawGrandpa]

Thought I'd post this on the public forum for all to see.

The care, use, and selection of the crosscut saw is covered in the Log Home Builders Journal, issue #1, and the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture has a downloadable thirty page manual in http, or PDF formats.

Chainsaws are great, but there are times (no power machines in the forest between the dates XX to XX, and between the hours of XX:00
to XX:00) when a power saw just won't do. A properly ground, and sharpened buck or falling saw can saw just as fast (or faster!) than a
well maintained chainsaw...just not for as long!

The manual is very similar to the article in issue #1, but goes into greater detail. This is an excellent manual and is a MUST HAVE!

Here's the site:

http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/pubs/pdfpubs/pdf77712508/pdf77712508dpi300.pdf

On the low end, you can buy nice saws for $50 -$75 (but don't expect that to happen every day), and all the way up to $1,500 for a nice used French racing saw. Those saws you see at the lumber jack contests are special made for competition sawing...they didn't come from Home Depot! Here's a link to racing saws:

http://pages.videotron.com/saws/product/

My personal favorite is the perforated lance, but this type of in particular tooth must be kept sharp, and with a proper set to achieve a fast cut with minimum effort. You might experiment and see what type of saw works best for you. I have several saws and all are perforated lance.

-Rick

[rreidnauer]

Another .pdf I've had for some time which more fully covers the techniques in using crosscut saws can be found at http://www.pcta.org/pdf/STUCHAP4_web.pdf

[nobleknight]

Wow, I liked those links. They are definitely keeper files.



Tom



nobleknight



class 01-15-05

[Kola]

Thanks Rick and yes, this is what I am hoping to get, a good honking logging saw. What great exercise too.

I ran out of wood three days ago and was scavenging for firewood. Finally yesterday it was a nice day and I cut down two huge beetle kill pines. I used a chainsaw and disliked using it beacuse it disturbs the entire area with noise and it vibrates my head loose. I honestly would have preferred cutting by hand with a good saw. Anyway I cut them into sections loaded them on a trailer and hauled them back to the tipi. Then I started splitting. (my "Rod ax" is a master-blaster of an ax) and makes splitting a simple chore.

I worked until 3 pm and decided this old body had enough. I fired up my woodstove and had a relaxing hot shower and then took a nap. It was 85 degrees inside the tipi and I had a good hard sleep of an hour. I can not tell you the rewards I get from cutting woord and the pleasing reassurance that I have a good supply of firewood for the next month.

I think there would be less people with depression if they chopped wood. :)





KOla

[rreidnauer]

Here's two that I own.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/titantornado/crosscut_saws-1.jpg

They don't look nearly as rough as the flash photo makes them out to be. I haven't tried them out yet, but I'm sure they are a work out. I always liked the perforated lance tooth design too, but it's meant for softwoods. The Champion-tooth design of mine is meant for hardwoods, makes sense, since Pennsylvania is the hardwood harvesting capitol of the USA.