Crosscut Saw Thread

[rjdankert]

A mule shoe...

for the beer with a smile?

Bob

 

[Jim Thode]

I previously posted my winter exercise a few weeks ago:

After about three cords this is what it looks like now:

Jim

 

[Miller '72]

I previously posted my winter exercise a few weeks ago:

After about three cords this is what it looks like now:

Jim

Strong work sir.
I am loving your saw, I really like the supplement handle mounted in combination with the primary handle.
I can see the advantage of the handle placement like that, possibly an added benefit when sawing lower to the ground.

Thanks for sharing.

Miller

 

[Square_peg]

I'm guessing you usually grip the curved end of that handle? Looks like a more natural fit in the hand.

I have my saw cert class next weekend in Enumclaw. Got my first aid card last weekend (prerequisite). It's been about 5 years since I was last certified.

 

[Miller '72]

I'm guessing you usually grip the curved end of that handle? Looks like a more natural fit in the hand.

I have my saw cert class next weekend in Enumclaw. Got my first aid card last weekend (prerequisite). It's been about 5 years since I was last certified.

I use to hold up my wilderness CPR and first aid certs from my Adirondack days but they have long since lapsed.
I envy you, the Sawyer certification course you have enrolled.

Perhaps one day I will cash in my chips on Sawyer Cert. training...my wife now smiles when I mention going west for a week or two, solo...she's is at least acknowledging me

Where are those logging / logger monuments located? I feel like I have driven by them but most recently that would have been almost 18 years ago that I was out in the PNW and traveled south down the coast.

 

[muleman77]

Here's an action sequence of a crosscut and a snowy day.

 

[Square_peg]

Where are those logging / logger monuments located

In Enumclaw, WA. A town with some great logging history. Nearby Buckley, a few miles down the road still holds an annual logging festival.
http://www.cityofbuckley.com/logshow
Interestingly, Buckley is where the movie 'Rambo, First Blood' was filmed. The forest and river scenes were shot nearby.

 

[Square_peg]

Here's an action sequence of a crosscut and a snowy day.

Is that a Doug Fir? Seems like you were cutting Ponderosa earlier. You must be in the Northwest, maybe Idaho?

 

[muleman77]

I cut a lot of both. This one's A Pine. I'm in Northern CA, the SPNW

 

[Jim Thode]

I'm guessing you usually grip the curved end of that handle? Looks like a more natural fit in the hand.

Yes, with the curved handle it is much more ergonomically correct. It just fits the angle of the hand.

The whole story here: http://www.pbase.com/jimthode/ergonomic_handle

Jim

 

[Jim Thode]

Here's an action sequence of a crosscut and a snowy day.

Great photos of what looks like single sawyer falling! Other then mine I've seen few photos of single sawyers. The Forest Service has a hard time understanding that single falling is very doable and actually safer (twice as) then two fallers in the danger zone.

Jim

 

[muleman77]

Great photos of what looks like single sawyer falling! Other then mine I've seen few photos of single sawyers. The Forest Service has a hard time understanding that single falling is very doable and actually safer (twice as) then two fallers in the danger zone.

Jim

Thanks,

As far as the FS, it seems that way sometimes I'm sure. But there's no hard and fast it has to be two in the saw policy. The policy does allow two under the tree, for crosscut unlike power saw work though. And it encourages less time under a tree.
Locally, whatever the saw program managers opinions are, influence things quite a bit.

I do it a lot. I prefer it, usually. I'm promoting it in our district. Probably making no headway in the big picture. However no one questions me on it here, and I've done it enough to make it seem like a regular thing locally.

I have it figured as about 25 or 30% slower. Over about a 30" tree, i think two with a longer saw is faster enough to make it worthwhile.

I put a bunch of pics in the "use those axes what they were made for" thread, all those were done single as well.

 

[muleman77]

Here's some others in action, of a white fir the same day. They were road hazard trees, this one was going off its lean and had to be wedged.

 

[Jim Thode]

Thanks,

As far as the FS, it seems that way sometimes I'm sure. But there's no hard and fast it has to be two in the saw policy. The policy does allow two under the tree, for crosscut unlike power saw work though. And it encourages less time under a tree.
Locally, whatever the saw program managers opinions are, influence things quite a bit.

I do it a lot. I prefer it, usually. I'm promoting it in our district. Probably making no headway in the big picture. However no one questions me on it here, and I've done it enough to make it seem like a regular thing locally.

I have it figured as about 25 or 30% slower. Over about a 30" tree, i think two with a longer saw is faster enough to make it worthwhile.

I put a bunch of pics in the "use those axes what they were made for" thread, all those were done single as well.

We agree. Here is my one man falling video:

And if you really want to get away form the danger, remote falling is an option:

Jim

 

[muleman77]

The remote sawing video, that is something I've never seen. Very interesting!

 

[Square_peg]

They were road hazard trees, this one was going off its lean and had to be wedged.

There doesn't appear to be much hanging that one up. Did it slowing come down on its own from there? Or is that an action shot?

 

[muleman77]

There doesn't appear to be much hanging that one up. Did it slowing come down on its own from there? Or is that an action shot?

It's video still, actually. So an action shot. I put it in a nice little opening, and as you thought, it came right on down.

 

[jake pogg]

Gents,thanks for this great discussion.I don't own a good saw,nor have much of a need for one,so it's great to just read and learn a bit about
saws and sawing(meant to say Thanks for a while now actually).

I do have a goofy question:I've a no-class kinds saw(Lehman Bros product of the '90-ies,i seem to remember the friend that gave it to me ordering it then).
I've used it one spring,and it was kinda...unimpressive...i dunno...It worked,that's all i can say.
It's a two-man,and i was using it for bucking on a buck,as it was,out of the box.It Seemed sharp(and was definitely joined),just felt not as good as a classy old saws i've used in my youth...

But,this is a heavy silt country,glacial silt blows about getting into not just the bark but the wood itself,into the cracks of the dryer stuff and of course drift that i use mainly.
In any case,silly to own a tool and not be able to maintain it,and here's my puzzlement:The set that came with it:https://imgur.com/a/oOZhs

I take it it's a simple bang-down sort of a deal?And that spider is the gauge of sorts? What confuses me is all the talk of fine adjustments and measurements in 1/1000's,and this seems like a pretty basic rig...am i missing something?
(i'm ok at sharpening and joining carpenter's saws,and have an adjustable pistol-grip type set for them,and a vice,and kinda ok with the process as a whole).
I'd appreciate any ideas,or feel free to tell me that them's the breaks,bang it down on a stump by eyeball,or go get yourself a decent saw

 

[phantomknives]

i'm not sure what the other thing is but spider gauges (cross lookin thing) are always nice to have. since you know your way around a carpenter's saw, i expect you know what set is.

there's two things on a saw that need to be filed to 1/1000th increments. that being the set of each tooth and the depth of the rakers, (the odd shaped tooth between the cutters) the set is pounded in with a small anvil (about 2 pounds IIRC) that has a slightly rounded face, or faceted face with 2 facets, one flat the other angled slightly. since you have the spider gauge, that's the tool you use to measure that with. it's tailored to the woods you cut, the harder the wood, the thinner the set. Oak is about .010 and coniferous is .015.

Miller has posted picture of his vice, but really any way you find to hold one securely is fine for this.

a raker gauge is a flat bar with a screw set to a certain increment proud of the flat bar. this can be made with some angle iron, threaded rod and a jam nut.
Wranglerstar, as much as you guys seem to dislike him, has a few good videos about setting up a spider gauge and cross cut saw tool.

I like to run .012/.012 on mine because i have woods like hickory but also woods like tulip poplar

 

[jake pogg]

Thanks,Phantomknives,

there's two things on a saw that need to be filed to 1/1000th increments. that being the set of each tooth and the depth of the rakers, (the odd shaped tooth between the cutters) the set is pounded in with a small anvil (about 2 pounds IIRC) that has a slightly rounded face, or faceted face with 2 facets, one flat the other angled slightly. since you have the spider gauge, that's the tool you use to measure that with. it's tailored to the woods you cut, the harder the wood, the thinner the set. Oak is about .010 and coniferous is .015.

That other dooh-dah seems to have that rounded surface across which,i presume,you set the tooth...(but to do it to +/-.005?...i suppose i can try...).What's a mystery to me is how to index that anvil to each tooth,so it's the same on each,or it don't signify just where the bend will be,do only the very tips matter?

a raker gauge is a flat bar with a screw set to a certain increment proud of the flat bar. this can be made with some angle iron, threaded rod and a jam nut.

Ok,got that,thanks.So you span a few teeth and that's where the raker height is gauged from.

I do have a classy old vice,but it's for smaller saws,maybe a foot-long jaws...Is that too short?...I could cobble one out of wood 3-4',if it's better to keep the longer section clamped...

(yeah,i'm kinda puzzled by Wranglestar....nothing personal,but i have seen him dispense patently false advise,and there's a degree of yahooism that can be annoying...).