[TheForge] Brainstorming -- Trouble with trees (OT)

Sat Feb 6 07:12:24 EST 2016

What you are describing is what is known as a wire saw. There are many different types out there, ranging from 20 dollar models that are just a stick and ten feet of string, to multi-million dollar models that use a mile long piece of diamond coated stainless wire.
The concept is very sound.
The devil, as always, is in the details.
Mud? depends on whats in it, how abrasive it is, and what kind of string/wire you use, and how well the two work together.

The tried and true way is wire that is commercially impregnated with an abrasive, up to an including diamond.
Fighting Kites, in Asia, use ordinary string, rolled in white glue, and then, while the glue is still wet, rolled in broken glass, which has been pulverized to fine dust.

Here is a cute little contractor size model-
http://www.husqvarna.com/us/construction/innovations/wire-saw/ <http://www.husqvarna.com/us/construction/innovations/wire-saw/>

these guys cut up bridges, nuclear power plants, and other gigantic things with one-
http://www.cuttingtechnologies.com/services_wire_sawing.html <http://www.cuttingtechnologies.com/services_wire_sawing.html>

so, you could certainly do this. What type of wire, and what type of mud, may take some time and experimentation to figure out, of course.

ries

> On Feb 6, 2016, at 3:55 AM, jerry Frost <akfrosty at mtaonline.net> wrote:
> 
> Sometime in the early '80s I was visiting the Folks in Portola Ca. A friend
> and I hit the Ponderosa Ranch. On display was a 17hp steam traction engine
> that pulled a land train from St. Louis IIRC pre-civil war. Anyway, being
> steam powered it burned wood, lots of wood. 
> 
> As part of the display was the chain saw. The chain was your basic tie down
> type with triangular points welded in the center of each link. There was a
> sprocket that could be mounted on several PTO points. The chain was hauled
> around the target tree and reconnected in a loop. The traction engine backed
> up till the chain was tight and the pto engaged. The chain simply fed like
> the chain on a bicycle and it sawed through the tree.
> 
> Once felled it was skidded back to the engine, bucked with the onboard
> circle saw and loaded in the tender.
> 
> Jer
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TheForge [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bruce
> .
> Sent: Friday, February 5, 2016 7:56 PM
> To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Brainstorming -- Trouble with trees (OT)
> 
> It's been a few years since this thread, but I just got another idea.  I
> just watched a YouTube video of a guy sawing through PVC pipe using nothing
> but string.  Of course, that's plastic, not wood, but ROCK can be sawn with
> a mudsaw which is nothing more than a flexible wire carrying grit.
> 
> So, why not a mudsaw for trees?  Imagine a wire wrapped halfway (or maybe
> once and a half?) around a tree (or tree limb), each end of which is
> connected to a reciprocating pulley.  I'm envisioning the wire moving at
> least several tree diameters in each direction before reversing direction.
> Alternatively, the wire could run continuously in one direction -- whichever
> is easier to implement.  I suggest the former because the latter requires a
> full loop of wire, and that might be more difficult to get around a tree.
> 
> Now to work, the wire needs to be carry grit. We also don't want to be
> nearby if the wire breaks (under tension).  Solve both problems by using
> semi-rigid tubing around the wire.  The tubing acts as a safety if the wire
> snaps. It also can be used to transport grit to the wire, which the wire
> carries to the tree, just like a mudsaw for rock.
> 
> I'm envisioning the mud to be like toothpaste with coarser grit.  Maybe 100
> grit -- I don't know.  Suspend the grit in something non-polluting, like
> soap softened to toothpaste consistency.
> 
> A variation on this might be to use a common chain (not a chainsaw chain)
> instead of a wire.  Possibly it would be easier to power a chain, but a
> mudsaw doesn't work by power but by patience, so that might not matter.
> 
> Why bother with all this?  Because you could operate this thing remotely
> from the tree.  It's low tech and possibly safer than other common methods.
> 
> 
> Any thoughts?
> 
> Bruce
> NJ
> 
> On Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 6:21 PM, Jerry Frost <akfrosty at mtaonline.net> wrote:
> 
>> The only maple we have here are ornamental, need special care and 
>> don't get large. One of my therapists grew up in Wa. in a loging 
>> family so, seeing as how I ended up in his office we talk cutting 
>> timber. I was passing on info I picked up from him about vine maple. 
>> Seems they get to be mid sized trees where he worked. I'll have to ask 
>> for more details next time we talk.
>> 
>> Jer
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: <wmullett at bright.net>
>> To: "Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Friday, January 20, 2012 8:12 PM
>> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Brainstorming -- Trouble with trees (OT)
>> 
>> 
>>> I had to look up a Vine Maple - non around here.  But it says they are:
>>> "Maple Family (Aceraceae). Vine maple is a native, deciduous shrub or
>> small
>>> tree that ranges between ten to twenty feet."
>>> 
>>> If only 20' tall it seems like they can't be too dangerous.  I have 
>>> seen
>> a
>>> 20" Dia plus tree rotate about 180 degrees when cut while still 
>>> standing on the stump.  Scared the heck out of all of us.  There can 
>>> be some real built-in stresses in some tress.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
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