One man crosscut saw

[TJ1]

Sometimes I like to enjoy the silence of not using a chainsaw. I use a 30 inch bow saw on occasion but would like to try a crosscut saw.

What saws would you guys recommend for bucking hardwood logs up to 18 inches in diameter?

 

[Lake Girl]

Well I got curious because I have both a one and two-man vintage saw blade that Hubby acquired for cutting ice (found that chain saw with long blade worked more efficiently). Didn't know you needed a bark spud to remove bark before cutting in order to prevent blade from dulling. Saw must be appropriate to type of wood cutting too. Made in the US http://crosscutsaw.com/product-category/crosscut-saws/one-man-saws/

German maker (broken link removed to https://www.canadianoutdoorequipment.com/one-man-crosscut-saw-by-wilhelm-putsch.html) Why they would be selling these saws in Toronto I don't understand!! Doesn't strike me as a high forestry area

 

[TJ1]

Lake Girl,
I did some reading as well and hopefully will get some opinions of people who actually use crosscut saws.
Thanks for the input.

 

[Montanalocal]

The above look to be good companies.

Alternatively, you can go on ebay and find older decorative crosscuts for around $25. They will be rusty and unsharpened. You will have to educate yourself on sharpening and maintaining them.

I have had a sideline of hand sharpening old saws. I mainly get regular hand saws, but have had a few old crosscuts come through. The best general site for information on hand sharpening is http://www.vintagesaws.com

A book that has a special section on maintaining crosscuts saws is"Keeping the Cutting Edge" by Harold Payson. It is available on Amazon, I got a copy through interlibrary loan and photocopied the sections of interest.

I recommend to my customers that the way to keep the old steel from rusting is to keep it cleaned and oiled. Keep a spray can of starting fluid to remove the wet pitch from the blade, and then spray it down with WD40 after each session. Finally, put a coat of wax on them once a year.

 

[Montanalocal]

Lake Girl,

A two man ice saw! Now that I would like to see.

 

[Lake Girl]

He was a commercial diver so it would work! They were using saws to cut trenches in ice to sink municipal water intake lines... easier to do this working off the ice than off a barge in summer. For northern reserves, the only way to move construction materials economically is on the ice roads. If you've caught the show Ice Road Truckers, most of the places they transport to are in Northern Manitoba or Ontario.

 

[Montanalocal]

When I was growing up on our farm we had an old ice house that the previous owners used. It looked like a roof set flush on the ground. You went down stairs into an underground room, piled high with straw they used to insulate the blocks of ice they cut in the winter. Back then, no electricity.

I still have one of the old ice saws. They have aluminum handles rather than the wood ones used for log bucking.

 

[Lake Girl]

A fairly remote area here so many of the 60+ folks recall cutting ice for ice houses when they were young. Didn't realize they had aluminum handles ... wood handles unable to handle the extremes in temps without breaking?

 

[Montanalocal]

Could be.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

When I was growing up on our farm we had an old ice house that the previous owners used. It looked like a roof set flush on the ground. You went down stairs into an underground room, piled high with straw they used to insulate the blocks of ice they cut in the winter. Back then, no electricity.

I still have one of the old ice saws. They have aluminum handles rather than the wood ones used for log bucking.View attachment 177844 View attachment 177845

I think you'll find that's a regular crosscut saw blade with a docking saw handle. Not that it couldn't be used to cut ice very efficiently!


Here's a crosscut that can be used by 1 or 2 people depending on where the 1 handle is positioned.

 

[TJ1]

Some interesting comments but admit I am surprised people don't use manual saws on occasion.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

for what? I have lots of handsaws for woodworking and landscaping. Processing firewood can get a little tedious with handsaws.

 

[jetsam]

Some interesting comments but admit I am surprised people don't use manual saws on occasion.

I have a couple heirloom tree saws- a big 1 man saw and a bigger 1-2 man saw. Use one to process firewood, and you will learn:

1) They work fine for that.
2) "Fine" is a relative term.
3) Chainsaws made them obsolete for very good reasons!

 

[ErikR]

Some interesting comments but admit I am surprised people don't use manual saws on occasion.

I use one..... on occasion... My family is slow to reproduce. By that I mean that my grandfather (1874-1965) came to the USA from Norway at the age of 26 in 1900. My grandfather worked as a lumberjack in various logging camps in northern WI and the U.P.. After he retired from all the hard work, he kept many of his old logging tools in a shed out at the family cabin on a small lake, a few miles from the old family home.

By the time I was born, in 1960, he was already 86 years old. He passed away when I was 5. My parents, being children of the Great Depression era, were the type that saved everything and never parted with any of the older generation's things.

After my parents passed away, my sister and I inherited the family cabin. I always knew my grandfather's tools were in the shed and a few years ago I decided to put a few of them to use. It's as if he walked out of the woods one day, sharpened them up, wiped them down and hung them up.

As far as joy in using them, I'll tell you... I think the older generations were a much hardier breed than me. A few hours of using a one man saw bucking dead, wind fallen oak will have me begging for a chain saw! Granted, I'm sure bucking oak is more work than fresh cut pine, and the saw was intended for soft woods, but still.... I'll grab a chain saw before I'll grab any of grandpa's, sharp and set, one or two man saws!

It's fun to get a taste of the old way, but for the most part I'll leave them hanging in my garage. I even put one on the wall in the kitchen as a tribute to my family's past.... Now, where's my Husqvarna, there's wood to cut!

 

[ATsawyer]

Sometimes I like to enjoy the silence of not using a chainsaw. I use a 30 inch bow saw on occasion but would like to try a crosscut saw.

What saws would you guys recommend for bucking hardwood logs up to 18 inches in diameter?

Stumbled across this old post, but given that it's fireplace season, I can give you AN answer. For single bucking hardwood, find the biggest Champion-tooth saw you can pull. A properly filed 5' saw will let you take a full body stroke and will easily convert to a two-man saw, which will double or triple the speed at which you'll cut through a log.

 

[jotul8e2]

Memories.

My grandfather was only 46 when I was born, so I got to grow up on and around his farm. I remember well their (excellent) wood burning cook stove and (lousy) pot belly heating stove. Of course the old house had not a lick of insulation, so vast quantities of firewood were necessary. My estimate is that they must have consumed 10 to 14 cords of oak/hickory a year. Granddad cut it all by hand up until the late 50's when he got a Homelite.

Most of that wood was cut alongside of neighbors using a two man saw. This was very common back in the day. Timbering is dangerous work now, but it was far more so then when it was just hand saws and axes. An extra pair of hands, an extra set of eyes, and a second brain were much used; hard hats, safety glasses, and chaps were not used at all. Everyone knew people crippled or killed by a "rocking chair", or "widow maker".

He used a double bit ax to split most stuff, with wedges and a 10 lb. sledge for the tough stuff. Never owned a maul, so far as I know, nor did I ever see an single bit ax anywhere about the place.

"You don't want him on the other end of a two man saw" was once an expression heard in these parts. My grandmother's most heartfelt compliment for granddad was that he always "had in" plenty of wood.

 

[Sawset]

If used for any length of time, a two man saw, made for pulling vs pushing throught the cut, is far better (and safer), than a one man. Not because there are two to do the work, but because the cut is done by pulling. I wonder if the shorter buck saws (such as what the op is contemplating) were used more for limbing and other smaller diameter cuts, whereas the two man crosscut saws were for larger felling and crosscutting.

 

[Sawset]

It only takes a little reminiscing to realize that thee most glorious thing to witness is a freshly sharpened o26 with a pint of fuel going through solid white oak like it's butter.