Cutting off in the ground fence posts squarely
 

On May 22, 7:30 pm, Jim Willemin
wrote:
Chris Wilson wrote :

I have a need to cut from one to three inches off 4 inch machined
round softwood fence posts that are already in the ground. There are
over 200 of the things...I want the ends factory cut square and neat,
any ideas on the easiest way to do this? Hand sawing them will be very
time consuming, but I have power available that can reach all of them
(petrol generator). I was thinking of a big circular saw? Depth of cut
is the issue with those however. Thanks for any replies

I have no idea if this would work, but: maybe make a cutting jig using
something like 4inch PVC pipe to form a shoulder against which the edge of
your circular saw footplate would ride, then cut by dancing around the
pole. Or get one of those PVC flanges for 4 inch pipe, for a wider
shoulder (better stability). You could use a couple of clamps to hold the
jig in place. Even better, see if there are fixtures to put a flange in
the middle of a section of pipe (a disk with a tube through it), then on
the first cut the pipe will be cut so all you need to do is put the end of
the pipe on your cutting mark, clamp it, and just go zoop zoop.

Maybe instead of a circular saw, you could make a jig as mentioned
above, but use a hand held portable band saw. As long as your jig has
enough surface area to slide the saw along, you should be able to get
a straight cut.

Chuck