Sawing Lumber in a BIG Way with Large Circular Saws
By: The Working Man



Saw Mill Saws

Sawmills use very large circulars saws that can be up to
nine feet (about three meters) in diameter. They can be left
or right handed depending on which side of the blade drops
the plank. It is determined by benching (the leveling and
tensioning of the saw) which hand you use to operate the
saw.

Saws this large have a shear pin with a hole that is off
axis. If they become overloaded, the pin breaks and the saw
will spin free. The most common large circular saw is the
ITCO or Insert Tooth Cut Off, which has teeth that can be
replaced. Saw mill saws are run for from four to twenty-four
hours (depending on the hardness of the wood being cut) and
then sent to the saw filer for maintenance.


Cord Wood or Buzz Saws

Cord wood Saws, otherwise known as buzz saws in some parts
of the world, use blades similar to those used by sawmills.
Cord wood saws are used to cut across the grain, unlike the
sawmill saws that cut with the grain. The size of a cordwood
saw blade is from twenty to over thirty-six inches in
diameter depending on what powers the saw. They are used to
cut long logs and slabs into pieces for cordwood to burn in
the home.

Cord wood saws are composed of a blade, frame, cradle,
mandrel and a power source. The cradle is a sliding or
tilting guide that braces the logs while they are being cut.
The mandrel transfers power to the blade through a series of
bearings. The frame of the saw supports the blade and the
cradle at a good working height.

Some cord wood saws are run with a belt from a farm tractor
power takeoff pulley. Some have small to large electric
motors and still others have a small gasoline engine to
power the saw.

The cord wood saw was popular in rural America. It was used
to cut firewood for the home when the only other option was
a handsaw. Logs that were too large to be cut by a cord wood
saw were cut by hand. The chainsaw has replace the cord wood
saw as a more convenient alternative but there are still
some cord wood industries that still use cord wood saws to
add more life to their chainsaws. The cord wood saw is
generally considered to be outdated and unsafe compared with
today's technology.


Go Back To:

All About Tools