Buying and restoring old cross cut hand saws and two man saws

[Paul in the woods]

38 minutes ago, dumper said:

Has anyone got one of the cross cut saws

I know someone who has an they are in the process of making a video of it in action. I would love to see one in use but wonder if it's more aimed at timber production than firewood logging.

 

I've cut up a few cubic meters with a bow saw before and it was doable. You need a good quality blade, and the right one (wet wood blade for fresh wood). I picked up a cheap saw as a backup and it was useless.

[dumper]

1 hour ago, Paul in the woods said:

I know someone who has an they are in the process of making a video of it in action. I would love to see one in use but wonder if it's more aimed at timber production than firewood logging.

 

I've cut up a few cubic meters with a bow saw before and it was doable. You need a good quality blade, and the right one (wet wood blade for fresh wood). I picked up a cheap saw as a backup and it was useless.

I should like to see the video

[Peasgood]

I have a 4 foot two man saw, it is an old one but sharp. I use it on the rare occasion my chainsaw won't quite get through a very big log, just to do that bit in the middle that you can't quite get. It works but I have no intention of ditching my chainsaw.

I like them and understand the attraction but for the money I think I would be getting a 240V chainsaw assuming you have power on site.

 

You must have seen the crosscut races at shows, they are damned quick but don't do a right lot of logs.

Edited April 10, 2021 by Peasgood

[agg221]

2 hours ago, Mark Bolam said:

They look great.

 

I really fancy getting one to mount above the fireplace.

I haven't got space for one - there is already a sword hanging there. It belongs to my wife!

 

Alec

[dumper]

7 minutes ago, Peasgood said:

I have a 4 foot two man saw, it is an old one but sharp. I use it on the rare occasion my chainsaw won't quite get through a very big log, just to do that bit in the middle that you can't quite get. It works but I have no intention of ditching my chainsaw.

I like them and understand the attraction but for the money I think I would be getting a 240V chainsaw assuming you have power on site.

 

You must have seen the crosscut races at shows, they are damned quick but don't do a right lot of logs.

Many sites don’t allow the use of chainsaws, battery,mains or petrol to cut angles on large timber construction I have tried circular saws jig saws and sabre saws none give the accuracy or depth of cut required std hand saws are set to cut dry wood not green wet timber hence I’m looking at one of these, I have a old Victorian version but it has had its time 

[agg221]

Before we moved here in 2008, we used to live in the centre of a village and I made a fair dent in the heating bill by using the open fire in the living room of our Victorian cottage. I burned anything I could get which, given that I was rebuilding a wooden boat at the time, included a lot of oak offcuts and sapwood.

 

We were next to the village hall which had formerly been the school (our house was originally the schoolteacher's house). The other side of the hall lived the most miserable individual imaginable. He used to write letters to the council complaining about the noise of the children playing in the school playground, which were ignored. Unfortunately, by the time we lived there, noise had become something that the council would take seriously, even when it was minor, infrequent and at reasonable hours. I remember arriving at the hall for the village fete one year and being greeted by someone who asked us to please talk quietly to avoid disturbing him!

 

Anyway, the point was that I used to cut the firewood on the drive of an evening, using a handsaw. It was perfectly feasible to cut as much as I burned and because of the material I had it didn't generally need splitting. He still complained about the noise though, with a nasty little note stating that making so much noise (a handsaw) in the evening (7-8pm when I got home from work) was antisocial behaviour and threatening to report me to the council for running a business from my home. Let's just say a discussion ensued and I continued cutting my firewood.

 

Where I now live the neighbours would generally prefer it if I stop using the chainsaw by 10pm and please can they have some of the sawdust when it's oak, for use in their smoker.

 

Alec

[harvey b davison]

When I was a lad, we had an allotment, I started a little business supplying sticks to local people (live in the heart of a mining community ) and I used to do all my cutting and chopping in an old brick pig sty. Started with an old rusty bowsaw and an old rusty axe. But soon made enough money to buy a gleaming new bowsaw and axe. Will always have a soft spot for the trusty bowsaw.

[carbs for arbs]

Just a quick one to say thanks for all the helpful replies and information.  I've got lots of saw related questions buzzing in my head but have been away at work for the week and go away again tomorrow morning for the weekend.  I just didn't want to leave it any longer before saying thanks to y'all, and will return with a fuller response when time allows next week.  

 

Cheers   

[rarefish383]

As humans we tend to forget quickly. When my Dad started climbing before WWII he used nothing but hand saws and axes for limbing out trees. There were no small chains saws. In the 60's he still climbed with big hand saws.  Any thing under 16" he cut with a hand saw. I remember being 8-10 years old and tying a Disston DA211 two man chain saw on his rope to cut big wood up in trees. I jumped ahead, so if someone already said this, my apologies. If you are going to use these saws, besides files, you will need a "Tooth Set". It looks like a weird set of plyers. As the saw is used, the constant dragging of the blade through the wood, flattens out the teeth. Periodically you have to "Set" the teeth. It bends them out slightly. Here's a couple pics of Dad's climbing saws. The one hanging on the wall is the last one he climbed with, so it's in nice shape. The helper handle on it was not there when he used it. I found it somewhere and thought it looked nice, so I put it on, the holes to mount it were there. The curved hand saw with the scabbard was from the 70's and is Teflon coated. When Dad retired in 1986, I kept using it until I quit climbing about 10 years ago. It cuts on the pull stroke. One of the first times I used it, I was cutting a limb about 4-5 inches, and on the third pull it cut through. I was pulling so hard it kept going and stuck in my right knee. I had to come out of the tree and have one of the ground crew pull it out. I never was good with cross cut saws. Dad said a good team always pulls on their stroke. If you try to push, and you are faster than your team mate, the blade will buckle and snap back and hit you in the face. By the time I started climbing we had plenty of chain saws, and the big cross cuts just hung in the barn. I have one in good usable condition and another one that hangs over the door of my shed. The curved Teflon coated saw will still cut sticks 6" or so. But, I'm 65 and can only cut a few pieces and I'm done. Cheers, Joe.

https://i.imgur.com/0VCObN3.jpg[/img]

https://i.imgur.com/xYYHokF.jpg[/img]

 

[Mick Dempsey]

Here’s the photos in case anyone can’t be arsed to open the Imgur thing.