I Want This Saw

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Battenkiller

Minister of Fire
Nov 26, 2009
3,741
Just Outside the Blue Line
Check out this guy. He's a chainsaw carver from Vermont named Barre Pinske, and he's trying to carve his way out of debt in a month. To do that, he has to carve $30,000 worth of bears in 30 days. He has a live feed going and has gotten 7 huge bears done since he began on October 31. Here is a link to his feed. Wonder how long he'll actually go.


http://www.ustream.tv/channel/barre-pinske-studio


He is using a Stanley CS05 hydraulic chain saw with a 7.5 HP hydraulic power unit designed and built by his dad. These are the saws often used in buckets trucks by tree trimmers and utility workers. Hydraulics are what power those huge wood processors that cut through 20" logs in a few seconds. They are near-zero maintenance tools of simple design and incredible power.


Stanley’s hydraulic chain saws offer the highest power-to-weight ratio of any chain saw on the market today.

Hydraulic power doesn’t require a flywheel to smooth power pulses so there is no chain coasting when you release the trigger.

Kickback is also reduced without the centrifugal force from the flywheel used on gas driven saws. Features a floating rim sprocket for longer wear and easy replacement.


The use of hydraulics to power the saw makes for a tool that has all the power of a 120cc gas powered chainsaw at 1/3 of the weight. Plus, all of the torque is always available at any chain speed, so you can just feather the trigger and still not bog down in the cut. Kickback is all but eliminated because of the lack of a massive flywheel generating rotational forces, and due to the fact that the thing stops instantly whenever the tip gets bound or the instant you let off the trigger. No brake required, it's just a function of how the saw works.

No gas or oil to add (the chain oil is supplied by the hydraulic fluid itself), no tricky starting, no warm up, no periodic tune-ups or rebuilding, very little noise and no motor vibration at all. Cuts like a light saber. Anything bad to say about it?

$4238.50

And it's kinda hard to carry through the woods.

Anyway, check this guy out, he's a madman. Carves in his bare feet and shorts in the summer, no other PPE in sight.
 
he’s trying to carve his way out of debt in a month. To do that, he has to carve $30,000 worth of bears in 30 days.

Correction. He has to SELL $30,000 worth of carved bears in a month.

Feed is off the air, so I can't see it, but the saw sounds pretty cool. Might be a pain to lug around in the woods though, what with needing a hose and powerful motor to push the fluid.
 
mayhem said:
he’s trying to carve his way out of debt in a month. To do that, he has to carve $30,000 worth of bears in 30 days.

Correction. He has to SELL $30,000 worth of carved bears in a month.

Feed is off the air, so I can't see it, but the saw sounds pretty cool. Might be a pain to lug around in the woods though, what with needing a hose and powerful motor to push the fluid.


Yeah, good point! Not only would you have to carry the power unit to the woods, you'd have to tote along a generator capable of 30 amps at 220 volts to run the thing off of. Make a hell of a bucking tool for the home, though.


Feed is back up, but the guy takes plenty of breaks. Right now he's talking to some guy on the phone about carving bars. Somehow, he's still able to carve one huge bear a day. It'll probably take all year to sell them, so he might as well take it easy on himself and take the whole year to do 30. Time to revisit the fable of the tortoise and the hare again. :p
 
Battenkiller said:
Stanley’s hydraulic chain saws offer the highest power-to-weight ratio of any chain saw on the market today.

Hydraulic power doesn’t require a flywheel to smooth power pulses so there is no chain coasting when you release the trigger.

Kickback is also reduced without the centrifugal force from the flywheel used on gas driven saws. Features a floating rim sprocket for longer wear and easy replacement

Just from basic physics, I'd argue that "centrifugal force from the flywheel" is irrelevant here re kickback. In fact, this is a new & wondrous concept.

If you're still applying power when the upper quadrant of the bar tip hits, it's coming at you. Having run one a little, the low mass of the hydraulic saw might let it accelerate more rapidly at you. (Was the original quote from some marketeer?)
 
CTYank said:
Just from basic physics, I'd argue that "centrifugal force from the flywheel" is irrelevant here re kickback. In fact, this is a new & wondrous concept.

If you're still applying power when the upper quadrant of the bar tip hits, it's coming at you. Having run one a little, the low mass of the hydraulic saw might let it accelerate more rapidly at you. (Was the original quote from some marketeer?)
I agree, I don't understand how the flywheel increases kickback force, but it does make manuevering the saw more difficult. I'd think the lighter the saw, the less forcefull the kickback regardless. If the chain grabs I'd guess the saw tip accelerates to near chain speed regardless of the weight of the saw since it's acting way out on the end of a lever. Bar weight & length = big factors too obviously.

Anyway that saw is cool, and the artist has created a pretty unique & smart marketing strategy with the "Bear-a-thon" IMO.
 
CTYank said:
Just from basic physics, I'd argue that "centrifugal force from the flywheel" is irrelevant here re kickback. In fact, this is a new & wondrous concept.

If you're still applying power when the upper quadrant of the bar tip hits, it's coming at you. Having run one a little, the low mass of the hydraulic saw might let it accelerate more rapidly at you. (Was the original quote from some marketeer?)

Yeah, that was actually a direct quote from Stanley Tools. Thinking about it, you are probably right. I believe that the kickback reduction actually is because the saw is designed to stop dead in its tracks if it binds, more to protect the unit from 2000 PSI of force than for safety reasons. Plus, all power is stopped the instant you release the trigger. With no power being delivered to the unit and no flywheel, there is zero torque being generated at that instant.

Any engineers find fault with this reasoning?

I agree about the whole thing being marketing hype, probably more to sell the saws and power units than to sell the bears (his dad does own the company). Still, a cool thing that I'd love to try.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.