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Other tools used in the woodshop
Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2016 3:16 pm
by robinson46176
I was thinking about this today as I was doing some shop planning... I like to pretend that I will someday be semi organized.
I bought this electric chainsaw last spring to be kept in the woodshop for at least two reasons.
One is that my wood burning furnace is there and some times I want to cut off an odd limb or knot so the piece will fit in the furnace. If I get short of wood in terrible weather I can cart in some longer logs and chop them to length inside out of the rain or screaming freezing wind.
The second is that I can use it to to cut odd pieces to size for mounting for lathe turning. It also works well for odd trimming jobs like in framing or timber use.
This one is a Remington 16" bar "Versa-saw", not the lighter "Limb & Trim" they have made for many years. Fairly inexpensive as chainsaws go but cuts well. Obviously not what I would buy to clear-cut a forest of giant redwoods

but serves my shop needs well. Zero carbon monoxide BTW.
For woods use I have a Stihl I also bought new last spring, a couple of good older Poulans, a Homelight and a very light but fast little Echo I use for limbing. I used to have a larger Poulan-Pro but it was killing my shoulder just pulling the starter rope so I gave it to my son. He still has it but doesn't really like it. His main saw is a farm model Stihl he bought new last spring. The Poulan is now his back-up saw. BTW, my Stihl has a "soft start" feature that my shoulder likes a lot.
I'll look later to see what other tools I keep in the woodshop that are kind of "semi-related"...

- Remington Versa-saw.jpg (70.31 KiB) Viewed 3138 times
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Re: Other tools used in the woodshop
Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:40 pm
by Ed in Tampa
robinson46176 wrote:I was thinking about this today as I was doing some shop planning... I like to pretend that I will someday be semi organized.
I bought this electric chainsaw last spring to be kept in the woodshop for at least two reasons.
One is that my wood burning furnace is there and some times I want to cut off an odd limb or knot so the piece will fit in the furnace. If I get short of wood in terrible weather I can cart in some longer logs and chop them to length inside out of the rain or screaming freezing wind.
The second is that I can use it to to cut odd pieces to size for mounting for lathe turning. It also works well for odd trimming jobs like in framing or timber use.
This one is a Remington 16" bar "Versa-saw", not the lighter "Limb & Trim" they have made for many years. Fairly inexpensive as chainsaws go but cuts well. Obviously not what I would buy to clear-cut a forest of giant redwoods

but serves my shop needs well. Zero carbon monoxide BTW.
For woods use I have a Stihl I also bought new last spring, a couple of good older Poulans, a Homelight and a very light but fast little Echo I use for limbing. I used to have a larger Poulan-Pro but it was killing my shoulder just pulling the starter rope so I gave it to my son. He still has it but doesn't really like it. His main saw is a farm model Stihl he bought new last spring. The Poulan is now his back-up saw. BTW, my Stihl has a "soft start" feature that my shoulder likes a lot.
I'll look later to see what other tools I keep in the woodshop that are kind of "semi-related"...
Remington Versa-saw.jpg
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I have an old McCulloch chain saw but I also have the smaller Remington. It has a 12 inch bar but I cut down a camphor tree that was 27 in diameter. The little saw cut up 5 tons of tree that I carted to recycle dump. The Biggest factor with electric chain saws is the extension cord. Use one that is too small and you will burn up the saw. Get one that is large enough and the saw will run fairly cool all day long. Since getting the Remington I never reach for the McColloch. Hasn't,t ran in ten years or longer probably never be able to start it now
Re: Other tools used in the woodshop
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2017 9:32 pm
by alohacnc
When I moved in to a "city" house I got rid of all my gas powered tools and haven't regretted it a second. I hated having to tune and clean the motors for something I used once a week. I sold a NICE chainsaw, a NICE gas powered lawn mower, and a NICE weed eater with blower attachement. I found all new electric power tools and love it. Just plug it in and they go.
I keep my chainsaw handy at all times for trimming logs and wood for projects. I also use it for roughing tooling foam that goes up on my CNC macines.
Re: Other tools used in the woodshop
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2017 9:51 pm
by jsburger
alohacnc wrote:When I moved in to a "city" house I got rid of all my gas powered tools and haven't regretted it a second. I hated having to tune and clean the motors for something I used once a week. I sold a NICE chainsaw, a NICE gas powered lawn mower, and a NICE weed eater with blower attachement. I found all new electric power tools and love it. Just plug it in and they go.
I keep my chainsaw handy at all times for trimming logs and wood for projects. I also use it for roughing tooling foam that goes up on my CNC macines.
I own 2 acres and mow 1/2+ acre. How would that work for me?
Re: Other tools used in the woodshop
Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2017 4:50 pm
by JPG
Re: Other tools used in the woodshop
Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2017 6:42 pm
by jsburger
Re: Other tools used in the woodshop
Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2017 8:15 pm
by JPG
'Necessary' or not, I thought it appropriate.
P.S. I live in a 'city' house. I do not think highly of electric yard tools other than a hedge trimmer.
Re: Other tools used in the woodshop
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 12:40 am
by robinson46176
As a bit of a "tool freak" and somebody that has done a lot of different stuff over a lot of years, I have a lot of tools of the trade for a lot of different trades.
Sometimes it takes a little head scratching deciding what things belong in what shop area. The basement "woodshop" is 24' x 40' and I still have about another 500 sq. ft. of heated and cooled basement where I can store and use tools and machinery that do not make sawdust. We also have a 12' x 32' room on the main floor that is kind of a craft room / catch-all sort of thing and a mostly glass 12' x 20' solar room that joins it. There is a recumbent exercise bike, a treadmill and some weights in there but also a lot of stuff like artist supplies, jewelery making tools and some other hobby and collecting stuff. As you might expect there is also a lot of other crap there that should be somewhere else...
Woodworking things in the woodshop that you might not see in most shops is stuff like my broadaxe, broad-hatchet, foot-adze, crosscut saws and similar tools. I used to keep those things in another smallish (about 16' x 18') old shop building but I'm trying to get it emptied out. Other stuff in the basement are things like upholstery tools and leather working tools and sewing machines for both. Some of my leather machines are quite large and heavy. I'm keeping all of my sharpening stuff in the woodshop including my chainsaw grinder but I do lawnmower blade grinding in the farm shop.
The "farm shop" is in a very old converted 36' x 50' barn. It's based mostly as a mechanics garage, for cars, trucks and tractors, a welding and blacksmith shop, a tire shop, my metal lathe and some other machining tools and is home to a lot of other trade tools. Stuff like sheet metal tools, masonry tools, framing tools, soldering stuff, lots of plumbing stuff for copper, plastic, steel and cast iron soil pipe. I can thread steel pipe up to 4". Electricians tools and supplies also live there along with my regular chainsaws and too much other crap like fencing tools and supplies. Then there is all of that horse stuff...
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Re: Other tools used in the woodshop
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 9:22 am
by BuckeyeDennis
With all that stuff at your disposal, Farmer, sounds as if a nuclear holocaust wouldn't be much more than a minor inconvenience to you!
On second thought, you might want to add a small silicon foundry and electronics shop ...

Re: Other tools used in the woodshop
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 6:08 pm
by robinson46176
BuckeyeDennis wrote:With all that stuff at your disposal, Farmer, sounds as if a nuclear holocaust wouldn't be much more than a minor inconvenience to you!
On second thought, you might want to add a small silicon foundry and electronics shop ...

I work so slow these days the radiation would age out before I got a make-shift shelter rigged up...
This afternoon I decided to rebuild one of the bathroom commodes after the arm on the flush handle broke (really cheap plastic). I got a new (all metal) flush handle, new ballcock, flapper etc. Zip right through it right?

It took me nearly two hours of rather intense talking to it... It seemed like "everything" was rusty, limed up and binding and of course it was in an easy access location "NOT!". When you are my age and my weight and have my spine full of arthritis there is no easy access location except right in front of you and about 36" off of the floor.
It's working perfectly now and may be good for another 35 years. That was the age of most of the stuff I took out.
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