How to carve blades with a chainsaw

[oztules]

This is a sort of a "how to" for cutting blades with a chainsaw. It is super fast, accurate, and easy.

I originally wrote it for our Australian windmill site, but feel that others may want to know what I wished I had been told earlier.

Full story and lots of pictures are here:

http://www.thebackshed.com/Windmill/FORUM1/forum_posts.asp?TID=1194&PN=0&TPN=1

............oztules

Also a video by imsmooth using this method on youtube is here:

href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yosQqhkdaDk">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yosQqhkdaDk

PS. Tomw,

It has become far too difficult to post with pictures here as my files have so many entries now that I can't find new ones that I have uploaded without great difficulty. It took me 5 mins to find this picture after uploading it. They used to add to the bottom of the files, now they turn up anywhere. It's just too difficult to do a multi picture story for me now... which your probably happy about I know... but... Is there anything I can do to fix this random file position? If I want to post a pic now, I cringe ... knowing I may not find the file I want for ages.... multiple files make it near impossible.

[blueyonder]

  hi oztules. its a great idea if you dont have a bandsaw.

   chainsaws are being used more and more in the carving of wood.

   i dont have a bandsaw or chainsaw  but plenty power to my elbow.

   i agree  with you 100% about the file pics.

  i need to give every pic a odd name. write it on paper. then when uploading a pic

 i need to search for the odd name.  its a nightmare.

  as you say in the past new photo files just went to the bottom of the list.

   whare theres a will theres a a way .

[Norm]

I see the problem....I've started solving this

for myself...but one just has to discipline

theirselves to organizing.

There are plenty of good programs, like windows

photo gallery, that you can organize....even now

you can go thru your files ...capture each one...

put it in a catagory...there are captions, tags

once you get back on track you can put your pics

in your own PC and photo gallery and start uploading to here from there....thats what computers are for....so you don't have to write

names on scraps of paper...

   Well back to practicing what I'm preaching.

[wooferhound]

I don't have a chainsaw either but I may be able to help "a little" with the picture file thingy. Select "Your Photo Uploads" from your User box on the top righthand side of the page, then while looking at your files Select the file with a single Dot. This will display your files in alphabetical order so you can find them easier. However when selecting files to be inserted into a story, this option is not available.

I have a super large number of files too, and it can take awhile to post a story with more than a couple of pictures.

[oztules]

Not sure how that helps Woofer.

It does as you say, but when it comes to posting it it's rabble again. I have 150 files, which makes it tedious to say the least. Having it alphabetically for a few seconds doesn't help.

I am able to use the find function in that page anyway, but cannot use it in the pull-down file menu thinggy.

Thats why I don't post pic stories here anymore, it is just too darn hard.

........oztules

[oztules]

You have lost me Norm,

I have one and a half times as many files as you have, and yours seem to be as random as mine.... I'm finding it hard to see the "organisation" you describe in your file list, it looks as disjointed as mine.... just way smaller.

In IRC you can put them into albums, and organize them there (as I have done), is that the kind of thing you are suggesting?.... I just fail to see the connection to the problem here??

Or put differently, I am at a loss to see how organising them somewhere else helps you to select them from a shambolic list is the file selection window

"There are plenty of good programs, like windows

photo gallery"....... happily I don't use windows for anything other than protel99se... and even thats rare.

I'm lost again... but thanks for trying Norm

.........oztules

[TomW]

Oz;

Well, I have been campaigning to get new software set up for the forum. There was even a perhaps misunderstood comment that it was being considered but other priorities were higher.

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting.

I don't know what you use for pictures but when I transfer from camera to computer it lets me choose a "base" name for them. I try to make it something i will recognize. Otherwise they end up being photo[168 numbers / letters].jpg or whatever random thing the computer likes. Your files seem to be sensibly named at least. I "think" they show up last uploaded on the bottom of the list in the drop down.

Personally, I just got a nice 12 inch Craftsman band saw from an estate I helped clean up. Now I guess I need the band saw blade carving how to.

I liked your backshed posting. Nothing wrong with linking out to that kinda thing but it can make discussing it here a bit more effort for readers.

Anyway, sorry you're having photo issues. If I can help you know where to find me or other help like Kurt, Woof, Don, Ross, Gus, etc. At least when we are not eating our young .. [;=}.

Tom

[Capt Slog]

Hi Oztules,

I liked the write-up and it looks like a good idea.  I have a chainsaw, but I don't think I would trust it ( or me) to make a decent job of cutting blades.  I'm also guessing that the errors might be too large to make it worthwhile for smaller blades.  Perhaps its a matter of confidence, I only use mine a couple of times a year to make a stack of logs for the winter, just plain cross cutting, nothing fancy but I'm always pleased when I've finished.

On the subject of the photos, I've had difficulties too, even with my small amount of files.  Especially when I managed to upload two with the same file name; I can't see how it could happen, but I'm certain it did.

.

[zap]

"I "think" they show up last uploaded on the bottom of the list in the drop down."

Tom, maybe things show up differently on an ADMIN's account but I too noticed a few months ago that newly uploaded pictures now show up in seemingly random locations, not at the bottom of the list as they once did.

Not a big deal for me since I have few uploads but I could see it being a real pain for some.

[wooferhound]

When you upload a file it is case sensitive

These three files are different files to scoop because of the capital letters. I could upload all of them as separate files.

PoolHeat.jpg

poolheat.jpg

poolheat.JPG

[oztules]

Yes Capt'n,

I'm no expert with a chainsaw, in fact I have noticed how lousy I can sharpen blades when I'm in a hurry.... they drift all over the place.

Thats why I needed a system that took my frailties out of the equation, it cannot go deeper into the blade area than the skids will allow. Notice that the skids are wider than the chains. This means that when you are unsteady, and you inadvertantly pitch the blade up or down, it lifts the chain away from the blade blank, not into it.

If the chain is loose, I can see a problem. If the chain is firm, and you use a steady pressure and take it easy with sharp blades, it cuts incredibly flat surfaces. Totally surprising.

When you have been cutting your winter timbers, some cuts you will have made will have been near perfectly flat.... that how these come out.

The only time this doesn't happen is if you relax the pressure and let it run in the same place, the blade will slacken and droop a tiny bit. It you leave a millimeter or two of error wood, you can't come undone. Having to plane off a mm or two is childs play, and protects you from any stuff-ups.... of course I didn't leave a mm or two, so my TSR is a little higher than planned..... but these are experimental anyway.

I see no reason not to use it for blades smaller than the 4m set I made. Even my 8' set took me two days to do the usual way, these would take an hour or so if the jigs were already made..... too easy to ignore for a slack slob like me.

.......oztules

[oztules]

Tomw,

"Well, I have been campaigning to get new software set up for the forum"

Actually Tom, I quite like scoop. It is clean, no bells and whistles and is very useful for keeping track of authors, your own comments, and researching others stories and file pics.

It is a double edged sword though, trying to write up a project has become hell purely because the pics get randomised, otherwise scoop is the better forum software I have come into contact with. The others offer plenty of eye candy, but none of the archiving that scoop does.

An example is say Backshed, lovely looking software, easy to upload a story with pics, but I can't find a list of stories or comments that I have made previously. I can't find uploaded files.... unless I go through all the prior posts... I can't see what some other author has written... no... scoop has plenty of excellent points..... except this pics nonsense.

If you could upload pics into s story via browse and paste directly into the story, and a copy sent to files then it would be very useable.

I had reloaded a new linux some time back, and had not loaded Konversation. I will try and get myself familiar with the IRC protcols again, and find you at IRC in the near future.

............oztules

[kurt]

we have been telling admin that the photo uploads section needs attention for months like the last 6 or so. you can send an email to admin about your trouble if you want links at the bottom of the page. never know if he gets enough emails about it he mite fix it.... until then you can host your photos you wanna post here in the irc gallery i do it all the time just have to know how to do it. little HTML some copy paste its all done works great.... same rules apply though they have to be under 640x480 pixels and less than 150KB to display them here no matter were you host them......

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

Hot dang!

I was trying to figure out how to do something similar with a table saw and a jig to tilt the nearly-vertical board to achieve the right twist.  But this is MUCH simpler.

And I have a fine electric chainsaw that's just had a swap to its second chain...

[Norm]

You're right in that respect...It is a mess but

if you know what you're looking for if you give

the files a unique name...or at least have them

in some kind of organized gallery that you can know

exactly the name. I went to your photo files

(150 found)....knowing the file name was partcut

I ran down the list and found it in 20 seconds.

Still it is a pain isn't it?

 sorry I couldn't be of more help.

I use a bandsaw, I can only use it on something

no wider than 4 inches....but for me that would

be a big blade anyhow......

[oztules]

Your better than me Norm, I knew the name, but took three attempts to find it. In the end I figured it just wasn't there so used the files page, used the find in firefox to get an idea of it's position in the file list and found it that way... went back into the drop down and found it then.

Your recognition faculties are obviously better than mine.... or it was a lucky find

..... dislex..dislux..dislook...can't read or write.... oztules

[elt]

Well, if Scoop is written in Perl then surely the issue with the sorting the picture list alphabetically is just a one-liner? ... could add another line and get rid of those ugly dot and dotdot entries as well... too easy, so I'm figuring that the issue is something deeper?

- Ed.

[gizmo]

Hi Oz

You can use the backshed's forums search button to find stories by author. Just type in the forum members username ( or part thereof ) and select to search in username option. Also you can browse the member list and find their stories that way.

It does treat files differently to Scoop. Each uploaded file has a date stampe added to the file name, making it unique, eg one of your files was renamed to 2008-08-02_184615_innerskid.jpg. If its an image, the software then resizes it to 500 pixels wide.

Unfortunately there is no "user file's" page as such, as you said, though this is something I could add in the future if there's enough interrest in it.

Glenn  

[12AX7]

Hello Oztules!

It's been Awhile!   I see you've been keeping yourself busy.

Looks pretty good!   what does your Alt. look like?

My location is windmill unfriendly, so I'm not in a hurry to cut myself some blades.

Still working/thinking of my waterwheel.

Right now closer to the front burner is a new pair of speakers. (can I say that here?)

I think I might try your trick at cutting myself some nice "thick" baffles.

I recently fixed up a Fisher 500c now find my old 86db/w@8r speakers to be "unfriendly"

Got anything 93 or better?

That mill your making...   going to power the Island?

ax7!

[oztules]

Thanks Glen, It's all true, but you cannot browse through a persons stories...

Sometimes I wish to see a compilation of material from a particular contributor because they do interesting things, or explain difficult concepts easily, or more to the point just to see what they have gotten up to.

Search engines are fine, but you need to have something to search for. The interesting things just seem to crop up. Google search of here or backshed will achieve the same result, but with scoop I can go and see all the projects of say jacquesm or zubbly or a host of other talented builders.... just to get ideas, rather than research a topic.

Not knocking, just pointing out the salient differences for me.

........oztules

or is there a way to do it, but I just haven't found it.

[oztules]

Gidday Twin Triode

The mill will power a very tiny part of the island, the pics of the alt are here: http://www.anotherpower.com/gallery/album96

The chainsaw jig seems to allow all kinds of things, and baffle are no problem, I'm now going  use the same kind of thing to slit logs into planks into blades perhaps. There are some slitting blades that do the long grain cutting a bit faster...but could be prone to drift if not sharpened properly.. will check up on this soon.

>93.... tough ask I think. Particularly in now days of cheap high power.

nice unit the fisher smooth

......oztules

[bsafe]

How long is the blade on your chainsaw? In your experience, how much longer should the chainsaw blade be relative to the width of the  wood for the turbine blade? Thank you, bsafe.