Woodturning (rec.crafts.woodturning) To discuss tools, techniques, styles, materials, shows and competitions, education and educational materials related to woodturning. All skill levels are welcome, from art turners to production turners, beginners to masters.

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Default Chain Saw chains

Since I know a lot of people cut up their own bowel wood, I have a question.
I was cutting up some pieces from a downed Maple tree in my son's backyard
last week. The pieces were already about 15-20" lengths and I used his
chainsaw to slice these down the middle to provide more useful starting
pieces and allow me to carry them by myself up to my car. In doing this, I
noticed that it was much harder to saw the pieces down the middle than to
cross cut them. Is this typical? If so, are there chain designs which
would cut better when cutting a block vertically down the middle as opposed
to cross cutting?

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Default Chain Saw chains

On Sep 13, 3:55*pm, "Bob Daun" wrote:
Since I know a lot of people cut up their own bowel wood, I have a question.
I was cutting up some pieces from a downed Maple tree in my son's backyard
last week. *The pieces were already about 15-20" lengths and I used his
chainsaw to slice these down the middle to provide more useful starting
pieces and allow me to carry them by myself up to my car. *In doing this, I
noticed that it was much harder to saw the pieces down the middle than to
cross cut them. *Is this typical? *If so, are there chain designs which
would cut better when cutting a block vertically down the middle as opposed
to cross cutting?


Hi Bob, the reason is because you were cutting in line with the wood
fibres and not across them , cutting in line tends to bind the wood on
the saw teeth and makes cutting a log vertically so to speak bloody
hard work and will also kill the blade teeths temper pretty quickly
making it an expensive or if you sharpen your own chains a real hassle
as the metal has lost its temper and will not hold an edge for long
anymore . The best way to get around this problem is to either buy or
hire a log splitter, you can get one at a pretty modest price nowadays
and it will pay for itself very quickly as you can split other guys
logs for a small fee to pay for it .
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Default Chain Saw chains

On Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:55:03 +0000, Bob Daun wrote:

Since I know a lot of people cut up their own bowel wood, I have a question.
I was cutting up some pieces from a downed Maple tree in my son's backyard
last week. The pieces were already about 15-20" lengths and I used his
chainsaw to slice these down the middle to provide more useful starting
pieces and allow me to carry them by myself up to my car. In doing this, I
noticed that it was much harder to saw the pieces down the middle than to
cross cut them. Is this typical? If so, are there chain designs which
would cut better when cutting a block vertically down the middle as opposed
to cross cutting?


Seems to me I recall that ripping chains were available for chain saws.
Are they still? I don't know.

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Default Chain Saw chains

I have skip tooth chains on my saw. Don't cut quite as fast as the
others, but take less horse power. I have had no problems with cross
cutting or ripping. When cutting them down the middle, you lay the
log down and rip it through the middle, not with one end on the
ground, and cutting down the end grain. End grain is harder to cut,
but flat grain cuts fairly easily. The problem is that you are cutting
in the same direction of the grain, and will get a lot of long
shavings which can plug up your saw. Just angle the saw a bit, and
this will take care of the shaving problem.
robo hippy

On Sep 13, 8:56*am, Larry Blanchard wrote:
On Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:55:03 +0000, Bob Daun wrote:
Since I know a lot of people cut up their own bowel wood, I have a question.
I was cutting up some pieces from a downed Maple tree in my son's backyard
last week. *The pieces were already about 15-20" lengths and I used his
chainsaw to slice these down the middle to provide more useful starting
pieces and allow me to carry them by myself up to my car. *In doing this, I
noticed that it was much harder to saw the pieces down the middle than to
cross cut them. *Is this typical? *If so, are there chain designs which
would cut better when cutting a block vertically down the middle as opposed
to cross cutting?


Seems to me I recall that ripping chains were available for chain saws.
Are they still? *I don't know.


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Default Chain Saw chains

On Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:55:03 GMT, "Bob Daun" wrote:

Since I know a lot of people cut up their own bowel wood, I have a question.
I was cutting up some pieces from a downed Maple tree in my son's backyard
last week. The pieces were already about 15-20" lengths and I used his
chainsaw to slice these down the middle to provide more useful starting
pieces and allow me to carry them by myself up to my car. In doing this, I
noticed that it was much harder to saw the pieces down the middle than to
cross cut them. Is this typical? If so, are there chain designs which
would cut better when cutting a block vertically down the middle as opposed
to cross cutting?



I realized this too. Chain saw cross cutting is easy, but they don't
rip well.


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Default Chain Saw chains

Larry Blanchard wrote:
On Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:55:03 +0000, Bob Daun wrote:


Since I know a lot of people cut up their own bowel wood, I have a question.
I was cutting up some pieces from a downed Maple tree in my son's backyard
last week. The pieces were already about 15-20" lengths and I used his
chainsaw to slice these down the middle to provide more useful starting
pieces and allow me to carry them by myself up to my car. In doing this, I
noticed that it was much harder to saw the pieces down the middle than to
cross cut them. Is this typical? If so, are there chain designs which
would cut better when cutting a block vertically down the middle as opposed
to cross cutting?



Seems to me I recall that ripping chains were available for chain saws.
Are they still? I don't know.


Ripping chains are available but they are not recommended for use with a
hand held saw. They're designed for chain saw mills. See:

http://www.loghomestore.com/tools-ch...#ripping-chain

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA

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Default Chain Saw chains

Thanks everyone for your responses. At least I know the whole thing was not
my imagination.

Bob

"Phisherman" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:55:03 GMT, "Bob Daun" wrote:

Since I know a lot of people cut up their own bowel wood, I have a
question.
I was cutting up some pieces from a downed Maple tree in my son's backyard
last week. The pieces were already about 15-20" lengths and I used his
chainsaw to slice these down the middle to provide more useful starting
pieces and allow me to carry them by myself up to my car. In doing this,
I
noticed that it was much harder to saw the pieces down the middle than to
cross cut them. Is this typical? If so, are there chain designs which
would cut better when cutting a block vertically down the middle as
opposed
to cross cutting?



I realized this too. Chain saw cross cutting is easy, but they don't
rip well.


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Default Chain Saw chains

Yep - rip chains are there for professionals. Some times they have
to rip logs to make them smaller. And some for sawmills that use them...
Martin
Martin H. Eastburn
@ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net
TSRA, Endowed; NRA LOH & Patron Member, Golden Eagle, Patriot's Medal.
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder
IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member.
http://lufkinced.com/


Larry Blanchard wrote:
On Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:55:03 +0000, Bob Daun wrote:

Since I know a lot of people cut up their own bowel wood, I have a question.
I was cutting up some pieces from a downed Maple tree in my son's backyard
last week. The pieces were already about 15-20" lengths and I used his
chainsaw to slice these down the middle to provide more useful starting
pieces and allow me to carry them by myself up to my car. In doing this, I
noticed that it was much harder to saw the pieces down the middle than to
cross cut them. Is this typical? If so, are there chain designs which
would cut better when cutting a block vertically down the middle as opposed
to cross cutting?


Seems to me I recall that ripping chains were available for chain saws.
Are they still? I don't know.



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Default Chain Saw chains

On Sep 13, 7:55 am, "Bob Daun" wrote:
Since I know a lot of people cut up their own bowel wood, I have a question.
I was cutting up some pieces from a downed Maple tree in my son's backyard
last week. The pieces were already about 15-20" lengths and I used his
chainsaw to slice these down the middle to provide more useful starting
pieces and allow me to carry them by myself up to my car. In doing this, I
noticed that it was much harder to saw the pieces down the middle than to
cross cut them. Is this typical? If so, are there chain designs which
would cut better when cutting a block vertically down the middle as opposed
to cross cutting?


I have used both a splitter and a maul with a sledge hammer. Thry both
work but you need to be careful with both or you will lose one or both
halves. Well, not really lose but they become firewood.
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Default Chain Saw chains

Bob
Stay with the regular chain. I can sharpen the thing for cutting straight
down the log on end, but rarely do it as I then need to either change the
chain or resharpen for regular cuts or make do with the changed edge. It is
sort of like using a general purpose grind on a saw blade when a rip is
better. The best thing to do is rip down the side with the saw at a 60*
angle. This is better described he
http://aroundthewoods.com/firewood01.shtml Hope this helps.

--
God bless and safe turning
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS Canada
http://aroundthewoods.com
http://roundopinions.blogspot.com
"Bob Daun" wrote in message
. net...
Thanks everyone for your responses. At least I know the whole thing was
not my imagination.

Bob

"Phisherman" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:55:03 GMT, "Bob Daun" wrote:

Since I know a lot of people cut up their own bowel wood, I have a
question.
I was cutting up some pieces from a downed Maple tree in my son's
backyard
last week. The pieces were already about 15-20" lengths and I used his
chainsaw to slice these down the middle to provide more useful starting
pieces and allow me to carry them by myself up to my car. In doing this,
I
noticed that it was much harder to saw the pieces down the middle than to
cross cut them. Is this typical? If so, are there chain designs which
would cut better when cutting a block vertically down the middle as
opposed
to cross cutting?



I realized this too. Chain saw cross cutting is easy, but they don't
rip well.






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Default Chain Saw chains



I have used a ripping chain and it does work better for what you want to
do than a standard (crossuctting) chain does. But, the cutter design
makes them pretty hard to resharpen; for me at least. This is the style
of chain that works best for those log sawing gadgets that clamp to the
chain saw bar. I had to special order that chain.

Someone else already mentioned splitting the log with a log splitter,
but here's the cheapest and best answer:
A Froe. It is like a large knife with a handle at a right angle to
the blade. You drive it into the end grain as far as you can then twist
the handle to open up the split.
Here's one:
http://www.woodcraft.com/depts.aspx?...FSemQQodUjB-YQ
If you were going to use it a lot for bowl turning, where you might be
using woods that are less prone to splitting than cedar, I'd get one
with a "deeper" blade. That'll give you more twisting ability, but the
one on that webpage should work well. (I make my own from old car leaf
spring).


A decent Froe won't cost any more than a ripping chain and it give you
very good control of the split.

This tool works particularly well on short rounds such as you have
there. A friend of mine makes his living demonstrating wood turning
on a spring pole lathe. He uses the froe to even split off sections for
platter turning.

The only caveat as I see it is that if you were splitting an Elm or
other really stringy wood, the normal Froe might not totally part the
round. In that case, I'd get a couple of steel (or wooden) wedges,
remove the Froe and complete the split with them. Very satisfying
method and makes hardly any noise.

Pete Stanaitia
------------------------------
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Default Chain Saw chains

One thing to watch for is that if you switch to a special ripping chain it
may no longer be an anti kickback chain. Just something to watch for.

Also you didn't mention what saw you used. I have used smaller saws for
cross cutting without a problem but they are slow on ripping everything but
the smallest logs. I bought a larger saw with more power and now regularly
rip and cut logs as big as I can haul easily, it still isn't as easy as
crosscutting. But with a sharp chain it really does move through the wood.

Also you didn't mention how long your bar was. Your logs should be shorter
than the bar length so that your chips can eject better.

Have Fun.

"Bob Daun" wrote in message
et...
Since I know a lot of people cut up their own bowel wood, I have a

question.
I was cutting up some pieces from a downed Maple tree in my son's backyard
last week. The pieces were already about 15-20" lengths and I used his
chainsaw to slice these down the middle to provide more useful starting
pieces and allow me to carry them by myself up to my car. In doing this,

I
noticed that it was much harder to saw the pieces down the middle than to
cross cut them. Is this typical? If so, are there chain designs which
would cut better when cutting a block vertically down the middle as

opposed
to cross cutting?



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