Wood supply

Don’t mind me… Just collecting a bit of firewood…

(Not me, found on Facebook)

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That is one ooooover loooooad, truck. One chuck hole in the road and goodbye to the suspension, frame, axle, tire, springs, Okay Something is going to Break. Chevys are not that tough.
Bob

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My thought exactly. Bob.

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You guys must not know your trucks, that is just a 1/2 ton too. Nothing personal just had to get the jab in when I seen the opportunity. I have hauled some pretty good loads of wood in my pickups but never nothing that foolish

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You may be a redneck if …

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I got my chunker blades cut to offset “snail shell” shape (back/main cutting disc is roughly 1/2 inch/1cm larger diameter than the secondary disc); welded together; and an edge put on the cutter.

During the welding phase, I used a small propane torch to give them a preheat and postheat, and my blades seem to have bonded well without cracking or warping. Pretty happy about that.

Since everything near the edge got a past-grey temper, should I try to re-harden my edge somehow?

Now I just have to get that old riding mower engine working; find some belts that fit (72 inch diameter V-belts are the smallest that would fit); and hope the motor and blades spin the correct direction… I MAY have “put my cart before my ox” on that one… :confused: oh, and I need to find an I-Beam or something to mount the whole lot to.

One step at a time…

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All right Brian!

This looks great! A realy strong blade. Hope to see some chunking soon!

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Oh, I recall that each blade is roughly 2mm thick (I haven’t mic’ed them recently and I didn’t say above), so total of 4mm thick (whatever steel they make concrete cutters from); with a third smaller 1/4 inch thick (mild steel) plate in the center, outside/away from the drive shaft for backing and compression.

I forgot to measure the cut blades before heading in tonight. >_<

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Brian, most blades are hardened more at the cutting edge than at the arbor area. This is to keep from cracking when they flex. With the pre, and post heat it should have maintained it’s hardness. Al

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(I apologize if I come across as a “young know-it-all”. I prefer to think that I’m a “young know-enough-to-know-that-I-need-to-know-more.” ;D )

@trikebuilder57 I agree that blades come more hardened at the edges than the middle, but I respectfully think that you might have the rest backwards: the centers of stock blades are left unhardened to maintain flexibility because they don’t need to be hardened.

Applying heat to hardened steel to above “grey temper” over-tempers the steel, making it softer and less brittle. Since my MIG welder brought the steel to above critical temperature, any hardening in the area of the welds would have been completely wiped away (‘normalized’). The post-heat would have slowed the cooling process, so that even if the steel was “air hardening” (which I sort of doubt), it would not have re-hardened.

This is partially good, in that the steel became and remained flexible enough not to crack during the rapid temperature shock of welding and dis-similar expansion/contraction rates (both in regards to the differing temperatures in close proximity; and between the harder unknown tool steel and mild steel in my welds.)

That’s not so great for trying to maintain a hard cutting edge that won’t immediately dull during use. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Hi Brian, looks to me the cut off wheel you are working with is for Masonary, should work fine for what you are using it for! Those are not made out of tool steel, Diamond is adhered to the outside 1/8 in and that is what does the cutting! When the diamond is gone they throw it away and get another 300$ blade out of the box! You don’t havto worry bout your welds breaking because of harder steel, what you have there looks like it will work fine to me! If you would like to keep your sharp edge a little longer heat the edge only up to a cherry red and dunk it in water, won’t make much diff but a little! Herb

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I dont know what kind of steel those blades are made off, but for my workshop, my steel analyser is my stone grinder. Or an angle grinder. The point is, l have learned to tell characteristics of a metal bi the sparks it creates while grinding it.
Some examples:
Mild steel-stright, orange yelow sparks
CrNi SS-short, orange sparks
File tool steel-yelow, long sparks that burst in the air
HSS-short, stright red sparks
Cast iron-short and thin red orange sparks

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I recall the grinder sparks were a lighter yellow-white with a bit of secondary sparking/bursting, but not a much as say leaf-spring steel…

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This followed me out of the woods today. Getting ready for next year’s heat. A good way to stay warm when it’s -10°F -23°C

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Wood warms you twice.

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I want to know your wood handling secrets Carl. For some reason I seam to handle mine enough it warms me 7 or 8 time before it ever hits the fire.

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Just curious
Does cutting frozen wood slow or damage a chain saw?

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The trees don’t seem to cut as good when it’s cold. But days like today, the bar oil doesn’t flow either. I’m going to try vegetable oil as see how that does. If that is too thin in these temps, I will add a little tackifier.
So. I’m not sure if the chains actually dull faster. There may be guys on here that can answer that question. I’m still inexperienced.

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Carl, I agree with Jim.
My firewood warms me up quite a few times.

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Hi Bill, I add just enough diesel fuel to bar oil to make it flow, you will have to experiment for your saw, and temp. Bring that log down to WV we’ll make lumber, haha!

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