Buzz Saw

Brian Rupnow · Feb 9, 2015

In days of old, when knights were bold--and chainsaws hadn't been invented----People still had to saw logs up into 16" lengths for "stove-wood" to burn in the kitchen stove, or the box-stove for heating. Although this could be done with a cross-cut saw (I sweat even thinking about it), to get enough wood cut up to last all winter, most people used a tractor driven "buzz saw". This was generally a 36" or so diameter circular saw, fitted to one end of a shaft which had a flat faced pulley on the other end. The saw was driven by a flat belt from the tractors power take off. The saw and bearing supports stayed stationary, but a "swing cradle" attached to the same supporting frame had a place to lay a four foot length of log on, and was pivoted near the bottom so the cradle and log could be swung into the saw blade to cut off a 16" length of "firewood", then the log was advanced by hand and swung in again to cut off another length. I know from experience that you could cut a prodigious amount of wood in a day, and if you didn't keep damned good awarenes of where your hands were at all times, it would cut a hand off just as quickly as a piece of log. Since I have already designed and built a sawmill and a wood splitter (and even though they were separated in time by about a century) I am thinking of building a "buzz saw" to add to my collection of engine driven models. I just did a bit of internet searching, and there are commercially available circular saw blades 3 3/8" diameter with a 15mm center hole, which would just be about right for sawing up 1" diameter broom trees into 1 1/2" lengths---for the wood splitter, of course. I don't want to build anything for a while now, but you do have to admit, it would fit right in with my other "forestry" themed models.---Brian

Swifty · Feb 10, 2015

Hi Brian, I am so wary of circular saws that I don't even own a proper one, but I do have a small saw with the small dia blade that you mention. I needed to cut through my decking to reach a pit drain, so the little saw fitted the bill, just checked the blade size, 76mm dia x 1,2mm thick with a 10mm hole, it is also carbide tipped. The small width of these blades will help with the power required to cut through the broom trees.

Paul.

Cogsy · Feb 10, 2015

My dad has a buzz saw at his property. We last used it about 5 years ago. It used to have a 48" blade but it developed a crack and he had it professionally reworked to about 36" to eliminate the crack (a very long time ago).

I hated the thing and always expected to either die or lose a limb when we used it. I much prefer my chainsaw (although that's caught me out majorly a couple of times as well). It just feels a lot safer.

But a mini one would be very cool to see.

Brian Rupnow · Feb 11, 2015

Here we go!!! That's a 3 3/8" diameter Makita wood-saw blade, with 3/8" diameter shaft and all frames made from 1/4" aluminum plate, the cross ties between end-frames are 1/4" diameter round. and the log tray angle is 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" x 1/8" aluminum. The "log" shown is 1" diameter. There is no welding anywhere.

rodw · Feb 12, 2015

Go for it Brian. I have used the tractor mounted version in your first picture. When the saw was lifted on the PTO for travel, the geometry disengaged the drive belt which went slack. The spinning saw blade was very close to your ear when in the drivers seat which was very disconcerting! She would bounce a bit at the top of the travel and it scared the bejesus out of me first time! Of course sawdust and wood chips were flying everywhere.

My father used to remove his belt and strap his leg to the upright when cutting firewood so he could engage the table without using his hands. We thought he was mad! But he did have all of his fingers when he passed away.

We also had another fixed mount circular saw which had a sliding table on roller bearings doused in a thick coating of grease. We just backed the tractor up and hooked up the flat belt. But we had to double handle the logs and bring them into the wood heap where the saw table was. You can add that one to your project list too!

The PTO saw made the job much easier. The circular saw was much faster than a chainsaw so we'd cut logs down to manageable lengths and cut to woodbox size with the circular saw.

What we called a buz saw was quite different. Some called it death on wheels

I remember they were made by Mobilco. Fortunately Dad got rid of his when I was about 4 so never had to pilot one!

rodw · Feb 12, 2015

You can make a whole collection of sawmills Brian. This kind of thing is similar to the bench saw i was describing.

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Brian Rupnow · Feb 12, 2015

There have been a hundred different ways to hook up circular saw blades to machinery since they were invented. The one I modeled is what I grew up knowing as a "buzz saw". Thank you for taking the time to answer my thread and for the pictures.---Brian