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Tractor mounted wood saws, cord wood saws

J

JOCCO

Well-known Member
Any of you have or still use them? They were called many things cord wood saws, sawing machines, saw rig (and a few others we can not put on here). Many were stationary and just used the flat belt. Years ago they were the rage and I spent a lot of time on them!!! Still have a front mount on a JD. Yes there was some horror stories (accidents) too.
 
I have one on the back of a Ford 9N---THIS Tractor was bought new by my dad and has never spent a night outside--always in a shed. 1942
 
I seem to remember seeing a circular saw mounted on the front corner of a Dodge Power Wagon, plus a splitter mounted on the back of the Power Wagon.
 
My dad used one, he called it a buzz saw. No guards, so safety, flat belt ran off a JI case. I look back and think, we used them with snow on the ground. Could have slip and it's all over with. Scary looking saws. Remember dad using a file and putting an edge on the teeth.
 
Used one on a dc case all my childhood. Was usually my job to catch the cuts and pitch them in the wagon. Spent many days between that blade and our dump wagon in the winter cold and snow. No guards either and ran off a flat belt.
 
I have 3 of the old buzz saws as I have heard them called. One has a 18 inch blade one a 24 inch and one has a 30 or 36 inch blade. I have wanted to turn the bigger one in to a small saw mill but never seem to get around to it
 
We had two different Case tractors with them. both ran with flat belts, but one was on the front, and one was on the back. Still have three of the blades.
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I posted this not long ago with the "flat belt" topic. My dad, who liked to build things made this by measuring a factory built one. I don't know where he found the 90 degree belt pulley that bolts to the pto. It's handy, when you raise it up the belt tension loosens, it's easy and fast moving from one place to another. Has a guard over the blade but still looks dangerous. He thought it saves "over-using" chainsaws. Fortunately never had an accident.
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Blades on the buzz saw are for cutting across the grain. Sawmill blades rip with the grain.
Big difference in the teeth.
You could use a different blade if you converted to saw lumber.
Richard in NW SC
 
We had two neighbors that dad liked to cut with. Typically it got done in mid to late November after the barge boxes were done with the corn harvest. September through November saw us hauling home loads of pole wood in the old gutted manure spreader. Then after deer hunting and corn picking "wood making" hit it's pinnacle. The two neighbors were always eager to lend a hand and get the latest samplings of venison sausage, homemade bread, and cherry pie
 
Yep I understand the tooth problem and while it would not be the best it would still do the job just a lot slower. I knew a guy a few years back that sharpened saw blades and he told me he could sharpen it so work as a mill blade but lost contact with him years ago
 
Don't remember the name on it but we had a green one, mounted on the front of a Farmall M with 2 bolts. When you lowered it the front legs opened up and the belt tightened, had a sliding table and somewhat of a blade guard but I was still scared of it. Ears ring just thinking about it. There was more of them in the neighbor hood, on a cold clear day you could hear one for miles.
 
Rich, I could probably send you a drawing showing how to shape the teeth and swage them to rip lumber.
Dang it, I wish we lived closer, lots of info we could share.
Richard
 
The saw I have that I can put the 36 inch blade on has a cart sort of thing so it would be easy to extend the frame and use the cart that is already there. But I would set it up as PTO drive instead of flat belt
 
We had one like this one. First mounted on IH SC then fast hitch 300U, then B414, then CIH 495. Now sits in the corner of the machine shed unused. Everyone uses a chainsaw and wood splitter now.

JimB
 
I ran the table or in other words sawed the wood!!! Taking away was not the place I wanted to be. That was as a child today I would not let a kid within 50 feet of one!!! Had 3 men one putting on.
 
Saw many on ford and ferguson 3 point. The 90 degree pulley was an option for rear. There was a few on later massey and oliver 550.
 
Yes they have fallen by the wayside now if any volume of wood people use a processor. Local guy still has one on front of Case SC.
 
Yes Buzz saw was common name too. Ditto to what the guy said about the teeth for sawmill. I have seen many tractors run a small sawmill or shingle mill but not to common now as everything went to band mills.
 
We had one like this one. First mounted on IH SC then fast hitch 300U, then B414, then CIH 495. Now sits in the corner of the machine shed unused. Everyone uses a chainsaw and wood splitter now.

JimB
 
My uncle had a Deerborn that mounted on the rear of the Ford 8N that I think wound up in WI. at my son's place. I had one that was made on a hay crimper, drove off the 90 degree gear box using the PTO. Another one I had was a factory made stationary BuzzSaw that looked like the Deerborn. That one I mounted an Electric Motor from a silo unloader on it and it worked quite well. Gave it to my Mennonite neighbor when I stopped cutting wood. Most of these were used on slab wood from the sawmill cause we didn't have much of a woodlot.
 
Dad has one for the back of his 9n ford. It was used a lot when he had us to help. Later he switched to using chainsaw for all of his wood cutting. I wish I had one but it would have a conveyor to take away the wood from the cut side and some blade protection. I know they can cut faster than a chainsaw when they are setup right but it can be more work getting the wood to the saw.
 

I have a buzz saw mounted on a Farmall B that has been on tractor since the late 50s and was before that it was on a trailer and powered with a VE Wisconsin engine. Still use it but not as much as in the past. I don't know what I hit but got three of same picture.
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I still have a stationary one in the shed. Ran one a lot in my dads mill when younger, we cut all the slabs and edgings up for firewood and it went up a conveyor into the back of the 52 Studebaker dump for delivery. My grandfather had one on the back of a Farmall A, cut wood and sharpened fence posts with it.
 
They were buzz saws around here. Dad had one on a 40 A jd that he used every fall for a few days to cut up branches and old boards for the cattle tank heater until the mid 70's. I remember when he pulled the A up to the hydrant to fill it with water and mice came out of the radiator! We started it up and went to sawing wood. It burned more oil than gas! I used a stationary one in the 90's when I was burning wood in a farmhouse I used to live in.
 
Here is a video of the buzz saw rig I rebuilt to fit my M Farmall. I bought the sawrig at an auction for $ 10.00. It came with 2 blades and had ball bearings on the arbor. it was not known what tractor it fit when I bought it but whatever tractor it was was about 4 inches narrower than the M was. I split the frame of the buzz saw and widened it out and drilled new holes to mount it on the M. I have only used it a couple of times but it sure works well.
 
We have one on the front of our H Farmall. It will fit on the MD too, you just don't use the frame spacers on the MD that are used with the H. I will make a bracket to put it on our Oliver's someday. It has a 30" blade, a sprung returned sliding table, works very well. Haven't used it much the last few years, but is bolted on if we need it. It has a flat belt drive with a gravity tensioner pulley built into it. Very hard on hearing, but I always liked the sound of it and how good it works. Might have to use it more this fall. Our woods across the road from my house is loaded with dead ash trees about 6"-16", just small ones, but thousands of them. My buddies have been working away at them the last few years, but they are starting to get bad they've been dead so long. Probably just cut them down, limb 'em, and cut them into poles and use the skid steer to drive around and pick them up and get into a large pile to buzz up quick.

Ross
 


I have one I still use. Run it either with a VAC or a Cockshutt 30. Great time savers and no more dangerous than any other saw. I think in small wood, under 6-8", they are the ticket. I also have a Dearborn 3pt unit I've never used. When I bought it I took the belt off and "put it someplace safe, where it wouldn't get damaged". I can't find that stupid thing! Going to have to make a belt out of round baler belting I guess.

Buzz saws are one of those things that just look a lot more dangerous than they really are. Use some common sense and you'll be fine.
 
Yes they do better in small wood. I have seen a few "knowledge knots" from them.
 
I have one on my B that I built myself many years ago. Much simpler than that contraption. Kids still use it.
 
My dad built that and if you look at it is built out of scrap steel. He put a lot of reinforcement because if you look at it you will see it has hitch on back of it to pull wagons. It is also good ballast for loader that's on tractor.
 
We had one for the 8n when we were growing up.The 8n had the sherman hi-lo step up-step down auxilary transmission,and we would put it in step up,and run lower engine rpm than the pto speed.It lost a little power on large pieces some times,but worked great on small stuff.It worked great if you had about three or four of us running it,feeding it,and taking away.The main reason they were popular,I believe,was because old chain saws were very heavy.Nowadays with lighter saws,it's faster,and easier,to cut with the chain saw.I can still hear that saw ZING when it went thru a piece of wood.Dad always made us put cotton in our ears when we ran it.
We also had a 2 man 4' chain saw that was PTO pump hydraulic powered that we used on the 8n.It was a Von Ruden brand ,I think.It was a hoss.Mark
 
id love to have one for my ford jubilee, we heat 2 houses with wood,so we cut a lot of wood , i swear house number 2 uses almost as much wood as a steam engine, lol, and it would be a help, i know there deemed dangerous and they are, but if one stays focused on the job at hand things will be fine
 
(quoted from post at 14:15:38 03/08/16) We had one for the 8n when we were growing up.The 8n had the sherman hi-lo step up-step down auxilary transmission,and we would put it in step up,and run lower engine rpm than the pto speed.It lost a little power on large pieces some times,but worked great on small stuff.It worked great if you had about three or four of us running it,feeding it,and taking away.The main reason they were popular,I believe,was because old chain saws were very heavy.Nowadays with lighter saws,it's faster,and easier,to cut with the chain saw.I can still hear that saw ZING when it went thru a piece of wood.Dad always made us put cotton in our ears when we ran it.
We also had a 2 man 4' chain saw that was PTO pump hydraulic powered that we used on the 8n.It was a Von Ruden brand ,I think.It was a hoss.Mark
Click to expand...

In my experience using a chain saw and buzz saw on small wood of the same size, the buzz saw is several times faster. Quieter too and lots easier on the back.
 
We had a home built one on the front of our H for many years. y Dad farmed with the tractor for 45 years, and now it is semi retired to my shop, where it comes out a couple times a year for shows, etc. I did put on a demonstration of cutting wood and sharpening posts a couple years ago at a local tractor show. I was amazed at how many people did not know what those old saws were used for, even though this is a rural area and they had seen them setting around farms.
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