Portable Band Saw Goes To The Woods

Portable Band Saw Goes To The Woods WOODLOT EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous Pat Burrington says using his portable 3-pt tractor-mounted bandsaw in the woods to cut firewood is a lot quieter and more efficient than running a chain saw “With this rig I can cut much smaller pieces into kindling and get more wood out of a downed tree I can take a log or branch and saw it while standing upright like I’m working on a raised table The cut pieces go into my ATV cart and the brush goes into a burn pile ” Burrington says he built the portable saw because his back was getting tired from constant bending while using a chain saw and he was leaving too much usable wood for scrap “I just wanted to be done with the chain saw and all that bending ” he adds Framework for the saw is made out of scrap iron from Burrington’s metalwork shop “I made a main frame out of channel iron with a 3-pt hitch for the front so I could haul the saw with my tractor ” Burrington says He’s used it on several smaller horsepower tractors and says it works fine on all of them The main horizontal beam holds a 4-hp Briggs & Stratton engine on one side and supports the center-mounted vertical pulley pole A small metal platform at the base of the upright holds the gearbox and a bracket for the lower blade pulley The top idler pulley is mounted 48-in up on the center upright with a guide platform in between Flat metal bracing keeps the setup sturdy “The whole idea was simple ” Burrington says “I bolted the engine to the frame so I can keep the v-belt that drives the gearbox tight For the 1-in 10-12 TPI blade I used two 12-in pulleys The bottom one drives and the top one spins and has a blade tensioner The blade guides are some inexpensive bearings I bought four saw blades online and it was pretty much done ” Burrington says “Using this saw I’m amazed how much more kindling and small diameter wood I can get from a tree compared to a chainsaw I have a chain supporting the cutting platform so I’m always standing and cutting With the chainsaw I’d get tired and leave small branches and now that’s usable wood I built the saw over one weekend 8 years ago for about $600 but that would be considerably more now with more expensive materials It’s been a great investment without any problems ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Pat Burrington Rapid Creek Cutters 130 Garnet Dr Stevensville Mont 59870 ph 406-642-3155; www rapidcreekcutters com

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.