Hi All,
I have been cutting/splitting up green firewood to make wood billets to use for jaws for handscrew clamp kits. I have used a Skill saw to make it easier to spilt. To do this I law the log segment flat and use a torpedo level on the ends first, using it to draw a Sharpie line vertically through the center of the segment. Once this is done on both ends I use a carpenters hatchet to take the bark off the sides between the endpoints of the two sharpie lines. I then draw a line on the sides of the segment between the two ends of the vertical lines and then use a circular saw lengthwise on the line I drew, and then turn the log over and again saw lengthwise on the opposite side of the log lengthwise
I then use a sledge and wedges to split the log in half lengthwise since the firewood is only about 11 inches in diameter maximum. If then lay one of the split segments in two brackets I clamp to two sawhorses and again draw plumb vertical lines on the ends, corresponding to how wide I want the billets to be, connect the ends of the lines using a sharpie and straight edge lengthwise down the segment, and using the circular saw then cut a groove lengthwise down the billet, I then draw in a second set of lines spaced for the width of each billet I need.
If the remaining uncut wood which remains under the saw cut, this wood remains since the segment is too thick to be cut completely in two because of the limited depth that the circular saw can cut, is not too thick, I use a hand rip sat to finish the cut and free the billet.
Cutting green wood, especially if is still part of a firewood log, is no picnic. The green wood wants to pinch the saw making the cut hard to do. In thinking about it, I thought of using wax on a plane bottom to make it easier to plane. It has been fairly chilly, and I can't remember where my wax is, so I sprayed the saw with WD 40, thinking it might make the sawing go easier in the same way wax makes planning easier.
Sure enough, the saw ran much easier. I then used 3in1 oil, since it doesn't smell as strongly as the WD40. Same result, makes sawing the green wood easier. (The good news is that I finally found my 4-1/2 point rip saw.) Ripping a partial thickness of a green log is not a 30 second job, but it gives a much better billet than does using wedges to split off the billet. Splitting does not give a nice billet like sawing does.
What techniques have you found that make ripping, especially of green wood, easier?
I did have to laugh at myself a bit though, as I told a fellow that I am sure that I am saving at least 2 or 3 bucks an hour this way.
Thanks and regards,
Stew