My New Stove-wood Processing Tool

[CTYank]

A 14" Grizzly bandsaw with 3 tpi band. (G0555LX, should you ask.)

My little Morso works best with 8" long splits. They don't stack well, slowing air-drying, so the sticks in the stacks are 16". Usable in friends' fireplaces besides.

Been using a "disposable" HF 10" tablesaw, but that's been getting old. Forget chainsaw.

Bandsaw has much narrower kerf- about .040" vs about .1" with tablesaw- less waste. Fewer ways to get hurt with bandsaw than tablesaw- they don't kick backward/forward like tablesaw or chainsaw. Fast-cutting 3 tpi blades go for little over $10. Used indoors, much easier to control dust via Shop-Vac connection.

Discovering, meanwhile, the many other neat things a quality bandsaw can do. Wish I'd done it sooner. Resawing cherry firewood forks can show off some spectacular grain. Some stickered stacks are now drying slowly.

Nobody's got any comment?

[westyswoods]

What are you doing cross cutting or using it as a splitter, guess I am missing something here.

[r.man]

Whatever works for you is good. Knew a fellow who processed all of his winters stove slab wood with a skillsaw. Moved the slabs with a small truck and then would slide the pieces onto a workbench to be processed. It worked well for him for years.

[CTYank]

What are you doing cross cutting or using it as a splitter, guess I am missing something here.

As stated, taking 16" long splits to 8" long. Cross-cutting is the only way. (A 14" bandsaw can buzz sticks that will stand on their sides less than 6" vertically to ~14" long. Without riser. Can't conceive of reason to rip 16" splits, except maybe part-way, through nasty knots.

Main point is that a 1 hp motor can drive a 3 tpi band in such a machine so that it quickly slices up stove splits in a safe, efficient manner. And when you can buy that bandsaw for $445, why not?