Thread: Crosscuts

Cheaper than gym membership.


Also demonstrates how hard it is to get a big tree-saw/crosscut saw with the original other* handle.



* Someone will be along shortly to remind me what that handle is called. It's got to have a proper name, right?

Originally Posted by seanz

Cheaper than gym membership.

..for those that want one huge arm.

thats a nice little saw

Originally Posted by Berlin

..for those that want one huge arm.

That's why I call all non powered saws "Armstrong" saws.

Alan...

How do those big one man crosscuts work? I recently acquired one, it's not in great nick , and is quite badly pitted on the one side, and I bought it with the intention of having my daughter paint a name board for my house on it. But now that I've got it at home, I've been wondering if I should try to make a handle for it and restore it. It's way too flexible to be able to cut on the push stroke, and I suspect will even jam if you tried to push it through the kerf to cut on the pull.

This is what mine looks like. The handle is horrendous, and isn't even attached with screws.
crosscut.jpg

Oh god! It's hideous! Kill it with fire!

Originally Posted by seanz

Cheaper than gym membership.


Also demonstrates how hard it is to get a big tree-saw/crosscut saw with the original other* handle.



* Someone will be along shortly to remind me what that handle is called. It's got to have a proper name, right?

Hi there,

I've heard the name for the one man x - cut saws other handle, referred to as a supplemental or helper handle.

It could be mounted near the main handle for a two hand grip or at the toe end for a second sawyer to help.
I think the saws main use was, to buck a tree into manageable lengths once it was felled.

With the tree laying in a horizontal position, the saw cuts down in a vertical fashion. Keeping the saw balanced
when starting the cut can be a bit difficult, but afterwards it becomes a lot easier.

Hope that helps

Originally Posted by Colin62

How do those big one man crosscuts work? I recently acquired one, it's not in great nick , and is quite badly pitted on the one side, and I bought it with the intention of having my daughter paint a name board for my house on it. But now that I've got it at home, I've been wondering if I should try to make a handle for it and restore it. It's way too flexible to be able to cut on the push stroke, and I suspect will even jam if you tried to push it through the kerf to cut on the pull.

This is what mine looks like. The handle is horrendous, and isn't even attached with screws.

That's interesting ... how flexible is it?
A light and flexible handsaw is maybe 30 thou along the toothline (and then tapered).
A solid modern one is about 40 thou all over.
I have a similar-looking (but M-tooth) saw and it is about 80 thou and it is in no way highly flexible.

Can you measure the thickness of the plate? (micrometer ... vernier ... )

The long felling saws were very flexible ... eg this video at the 1:50 mark ... The Crosscut Sawyer - YouTube

I wouldn't have thought that length would be so floopy as to not cut?? (but I don't know much )

Cheers,
Paul

Originally Posted by pmcgee

Can you measure the thickness of the plate? (micrometer ... vernier ... )

I'll measure it this weekend.

Originally Posted by pmcgee

I wouldn't have thought that length would be so floopy as to not cut?? (but I don't know much )

It could just be my lack of skill and knowledge and I haven't actually tried cutting with it either. I suppose I'll need to start by making a handle if I'm going to go wandering around the farm looking for trees to test it on.

It's a slippery slope this - I bought the thing with no intention of restoring it, and now I'm feeling that I owe it to the saw to do what I can for it.

those real thin crosscuts are softwood saws i think.and yes it is a slippery slope next it will be an M tooth saw followed by a "peg and raker"then you'll need a couple of axes so you have a tree falling kit.......

Well, as someone who spent far more time than I care to remember on either end of 'one-man' and 'two man' saws, I can assure you that at least the one we owned will cut on the push stroke. For a start, they are heavier gauge in proportion to a dedicated two man saw - these will buckle instantly if you push as the other sawyer is pulling, which jams the saw & usually invokes a stream of invective from the bloke on the other side of the log. The 'secret' to driving a one-man on your own is not to force it -"a sharp saw will cut on its' own" - how many times I heard that from the old pot!

We often used a 6 foot 'one-man' for both felling and bucking. Mostly there was someone on each end, but if you were on your own, you switched the handle to the front, because as macq says, it gives a bit more control. When sawing the log on the ground, it is relatively easy to control the saw, it does work well under its own weight, but they are a different beast to use for felling. The old pot seemed to be able to do it easily, but I always struggled. He also used the 'two man' saws on his own, when he had to, with a 'deadman' he cobbled up from old inner tubes. He reckoned they were better than the traditional saplings, and certainly a lot quicker & easier to set up - all you need is a tree or stump in the right direction, within range.

A sharp saw and a couple of experienced sawyers can sail through a large log at an amazing speed, and yep, your arm & back muscles muscle-up, but it's still bl**dy hard yakka. I was about 7 or 8 when first put on the end of a saw "to make a few little cuts" - I thought my bloomin' arms were going to fall off! The early chainsaws weren't a huge advance, either, gutless, pollution-belching monsters that weighed a ton. Who remembers those early two-strokes that needed 15 to 1 fuel mixes? You could lay a smoke screen with it, if you ever did manage to start it! By the time you lugged one into the bush & got the mongrel thing started (near impossible in damp conditions, which meant half the year where I grew up!), you could have sawn your quota with the 'armstrong' (aka 'black snake') model & been in the pub. When I pull the cord on my big Stihl, which weighs a quarter (if that) what the old Blue Streak weighed, has ten times the power, and it fires up instantly with a virtually smokeless purr, I think yep, there has been progress in my lifetime....

Cheers,

yep the old 'blue streak' with the scratcher chain wern't they fun to sharpen

Originally Posted by 1thumb

yep the old 'blue streak' with the scratcher chain wern't they fun to sharpen

Dunno 1thumb, I never was allowed to take a file to it, that was strictly the old Pot's realm. Fortunately, I was only big enough to lift the thing (just) by about its last year or so of service with us. It was replaced with a Solo, circa 1960 (half the weight, twice the power!), which had a pretty standard chain more or less like any 'modern' chain, so I've only ever known that style as far as sharpening a chain goes.

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Dunno 1thumb, I never was allowed to take a file to it, that was strictly the old Pot's realm. Fortunately, I was only big enough to lift the thing (just) by about its last year or so of service with us. It was replaced with a Solo, circa 1960 (half the weight, twice the power!), which had a pretty standard chain more or less like any 'modern' chain, so I've only ever known that style as far as sharpening a chain goes.

Cheers,

something like a peg and raker crosscut,only ever had a brief lesson from the old man meself the results were not spectacular