Sawing wood for multifuel fire

spartacus173500

keith969 wrote: »

I jsut use a circular saw to cut scrap wood into about 6" pieces, then an axe to split it into kindling.

That's it exactly - just that the 'chop saw' I was using was a lot easier to handle than a circular saw.

Sounds like looking for a suitable replacement - if it had broken on Saturday I could have used 15% off at B&Q

Wonder if they'll do another?

spartacus173500

Officer_Dibble wrote: »

You may need to get in quick.

Thanks for 'steer' - but too late.

Good site for future reference though.

Thx

spakkker

A decent powered jigsaw with a good blade is easiest for pallets. Don't see how a bench mitre saw can do a pallet ? Also as you cut the pallets into half/thirds, whatever, they are much easier to handle. I found an alluminium cutting blade worked very well cutting wood. May be that a mitre saw will be easier on lengths of timber than a hand held circular saw.

Atelier

There is no single machine that will chop up all types of wood you might come across.

If you are only looking at chopping wood then I would stay away from a cheap table saw as it won't have enough cutting depth to deal with the 3"x3" blocks of wood from pallets.

The mitre saws are good for chopping lengths up but for pallets then you will need to dismantle the pallet first and logs are lethal to cut.

Jigsaws are just not beefy enough if you cut up thick wood.

Therefore by dismissing the others then my best suggestion would be a circular saw. I personally don't like them but they are portable, can cut across lengthways and do not have a limit to how long the cut is (try cutting a 8' x 4' sheet of plywood on a mitre saw), quick to chop up pallets and can do logs or at least cut enough to snap them.



HTH

spartacus173500 wrote: »

I've been cutting up surplus / scrap timber and pallets for a while now with a relatively inexpensive electric bench mitre saw ex B&Q.
It finally gave up the ghost earlier today and I was wondering whether to replace it with something similar or a cheap table type saw.

Anyone similar experiences and/or recommendations?

MX5huggy

For fire wood you need a chain saw, preferably petrol anything else is just a compromise. The blade needs to be longer than the diameter of your largest logs.

savemoney

OP doesn't need a chain saw they are only cutting "scrap timber and pallets"

MX5huggy

The OP does not say the quantity they are chopping, They have already broken 1 inappropriate DIY tool doing this. If they are going to buy a tool for the job then it should be a chain saw. I chop scrap timber and pallets, I would not want to do it with anything other than a chain saw.

Pete*G_4

I mostly use a bow saw for cutting logs and an axe for splitting them for kindling, but for pallets, fenceposts etc I either use my dad's table saw (like the one posted in the ukworkshops link) or I have a Black & Decker Scorpion, similar to this:



http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Black-%26-Decker-Scorpion-Multi-Saw_W0QQitemZ280419452159QQcmdZViewItem?rvr_id=&rvr_id=&cguid=8a6896141260a0e2044059f0fff8bee3

savemoney

Depends on how much usage, odd few pallets a year and scrap wood probably not justify buying a chainsaw particularly if its a petrol one as they cost quiet a bit plus they can be quite dangerous in wrong hands

duncan303

ok I have a petrol chainsaw and an electric chainsaw, a reciprocal saw, a bench mitre saw, a table saw, a bandsaw and three circular saws and two jigsaws. and every conceivable type of manual saw. These seem to be the tools discussed so far.

I keep a small circular with a trashed blade in for wrecking, and anything I know has nails etc in .watch out for kickback!! My preferred method is the electric chainsaw again less kickback ,but the most important thing by far MILES is material handling and for that I use a set of superjaws with a log attachment, I can safely clamp a full pallet by the corner and just slice it up whilst it is up in the air.

Most of the tools above incorporate material handling by applying pressure to a base plate. So whatever method you choose have a decent stable chopping block for axe, decent stable saw horse for logs etc etc.

I once saw a guy attack a loose pile of pallets with a chainsaw, he never made any effort to clear away he just kept plunging the blade into the pile.. Absolute madness.... I can tell you It scared the hell out of me and made the hair on the back of my neck rise............


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