Rebuilding an old Saw Bench

[john burgess]

I do not have power at my chopping area so really need it to be self powered. Yes its a side valve and it has a very basic exhaust! The Jap Engines are supposed to be very good but as you say they are ancient so inefficient, it does however have a large flywheel which i think will help the saws ability.

 

If i can get it running i will graft on a silencer and see what happens.

 

John, how well does yours cut? have you had your disc sharpened yet?

 

mine cuts very well but it does have a 12 hp twin cylinder diesel My saw blade is bigger than yours I think it's 26 inches in diameter I presume that answers your last sentence in your quote

[windfall]

Cheers John.

[tommer9]

Thought so windfall. I have relations up there.

[John Russell]

I do not have power at my chopping area so really need it to be self powered. Yes its a side valve and it has a very basic exhaust! The Jap Engines are supposed to be very good but as you say they are ancient so inefficient, it does however have a large flywheel which i think will help the saws ability.

 

If i can get it running i will graft on a silencer and see what happens.

 

John, how well does yours cut? have you had your disc sharpened yet?

 

Point taken.

 

The Hakki Pilke Eagle cuts extremely well with that 700mm blade -- but then I've no experience of anything else. The tungsten-toothed blade is an option that is well worth having (I think they charge about £120 extra for it). Hence I've never needed to sharpen it -- but then I've only had it a year, and I only use clean, newly-felled green wood.

 

Best wishes,

 

JR

[Stihlben]

I have an original one of these saws, they were made by the LINER concrete machinery company of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. oringinaly fitted with a 6hp petter AVA1 single cylinder diesel in a colour close to leyland blue. they can take a 28inch blan with no riving kife or guard or a 26 with.... absolutley brilliant saw, solid construction... There was one on Ebay about 2 weeks ago, sold between 950 - 1000

[the crafty weasel]

If you need spares for the mag, go to Independent Ignition Supplies - Magneto repairers and component suppliers.

The J.A.P. engines can be quite tempramental. If you have a good one, it's very good, if you've got a bad one, you may as well get someone to feed the wood through while you crank the handle. As much as I'm a fan of vintage machinery(I own a pile of it myself), If you're using it to try and make some money you might be better off fitting a Honda or Briggs to it. Reliability is key to having a machine you enjoy using

[Chris Sheppard]

Point taken.

 

The Hakki Pilke Eagle cuts extremely well with that 700mm blade -- but then I've no experience of anything else. The tungsten-toothed blade is an option that is well worth having (I think they charge about £120 extra for it). Hence I've never needed to sharpen it -- but then I've only had it a year, and I only use clean, newly-felled green wood.

 

Best wishes,

 

JR

 

One thing I found with mine was the blade dulled so slowly you wouldn't notice, but the difference a newly sharpened blade made was unbeleivable.

[windfall]

Loving the pictures!

 

I have the mag sitting on top of my fire place as i type, the one i had on my old grey fergy needed constant drying out. And as the saw bench has been outside for 2 years i figure that that its probably why i am not getting spark. If it will not give me spark tomorrow after 24 hours on my stove fire place then i am wiring it for a total loss system with coil & 12v battery using the original points. The engineer i got the saws from has already done this with the engine that is missing from the other saw so i know its possible.

 

I love old stuff and if i can make this work great, but i wont think twice about sticking the GX340 motor on it that i have in the garage. I pulled it out of the shed at the weekend, put fuel in it and after a year it started on the 3rd pull. I love Honda... proper job.

[windfall]

OK so the engine is still hot as i type this!

 

Managed to get the carb cleaned out and refitted it, refitted the magneto, connected up a make shift fuel tank.

 

Pulled my old goped type scooter out of the shed and fired that up to use as a starter.

 

No spark.

 

Took the mag of, went to see the Doc who i got it from and he took the mag he had already sorted for a total loss circuit of the JAP engine from the other saw that he has in his shed.

 

Fitted the new mag and all the wiring / coil and a charged battery, tested and had spark.

 

My dad turns up at this point, great as i didnt have enough hands to hold the fuel tank, operate the ped and control the throttle on the carb. So we squirted brake cleaner in carb, fired up the ped and put the tyre on the flywheel. Plenty of popping, rust and smoke and then a flame from the 'exhaust' and we have ignition!! I adjusted the advance / retard thats been built into the new mag and the engine settled down and revved up.. my phone, sockets, screwdriver all then start vibrating towards the blade which is flying round now. Dad got scared at this point and switched it off. he said it was the sparks coming from the screwdriver that he was fearful off. fair point.

 

We tried again and kept it running for 5 mins, the carb needs more work to get it ticking over, as does the governor. And of course i need to locate and mount a suitable fuel tank and fit the coil permanently. PLUS IT NEEDS SOME SORT OF EXHAUST... PARDON AM I SHOUTING? ... mind you the flames with the advance set wrong were kinda impressive.

 

Oh and on my visit to the Doc today he gave me a huge saw blade he found the other day, its brand new!

 

All in all i made the most of a very very wet day!

[John Russell]

One thing I found with mine was the blade dulled so slowly you wouldn't notice, but the difference a newly sharpened blade made was unbeleivable.

 

I don't think I've cut enough wood to reach that point, Chris, but thanks for the tip -- I'll inspect it regularly.

 

Any tips for sharpening before I get my teeth into it?

 

Best wishes,

 

John Russell

 

PS: sorry about the puns -- can't help myself!