Joined: Dec 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 721 Location: Northern CA
building a drag saw « Thread Started on Jun 4, 2009, 1:27am »
Hi Gang,
My wife, a couple friends and I recently returned from a whirlwind trip to Arizona for some Petrified Wood (rainbow and black/brown woodworthia). Some we got at the Jim Gray shop in south-Holbrook and some from a rancher that my friend got into contact with.
Anyways, my friend is even worse than I am about bringing home the biggest rock he can find. So, now we are trying to figure out how to cut this 400# log (almost 3' diameter, by 4' long). His wife wants to make a standup table out of it so needs both ends cut flat.
I figure a drag saw should do the job (we have other large pieces so this won't be a one-time-use effort). I've done some online searching and not been able to come up with much. I can find the blades at Barranca (which is good, cause we have a Barranca friend that prob can help get a better deal) but we want to build the rest ourselves. Soooooo, anybody have or know of some decent plans for a drag saw?
(Oh yeah, of course I know y'all want some photos. I'm working on it, just so doggone busy. Too many projects and hobbies and not enough time.)
Joined: Dec 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 721 Location: Northern CA
Re: building a drag saw « Reply #3 on Jun 4, 2009, 10:13pm »
It was a whirlwind tour. Left Bay Area on a Friday at 6A. Drove to Holbrook. Picked up wood on Saturday. Drove home on Sunday. No time for extra stops, *sigh*.
Joined: Dec 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 721 Location: Northern CA
Re: building a drag saw « Reply #5 on Jun 11, 2009, 11:24pm »
Thanks for the pics and ideas. I'll have to look into wire saws some more also.
One thought is to use the diamond brazing rods to make our own drag saw blade. One example is here. I figure we can make a segmented blade similar to the Barranca blades by making brazing onto some segments and then simply pinching them between two pieces of steel bolted together, maybe. Some issues to think through.
He has a pretty good line drawing of the saw; basically it's a motor, large flywheel, and a blade held between two standards and attached to the outer diameter of the flywheel. The blade he describes is a simple piece of mild steel that uses a slurry drip of coarse SiC grit to provide the cutting action.
Eigth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: Eight comic books, Seven packs of smokes, six packs of two-four, Five golden touques! Four pounds of backbacon, three French toast, two turtlenecks, And a beer, On my tree!
Dave Austin Fully Equiped for Tumbling member is offline
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Re: building a drag saw « Reply #7 on Jun 12, 2009, 11:20am »
Hi, just scanned the image that I think Chuck mentioned for you here, hope it helps.
All rocks are precious, doesn't matter if they are well known or not, what matters is what you are left with at the end of the process, after all there is a lot of YOU in the finished item! http://www.roughrocks.co.uk
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Re: building a drag saw « Reply #8 on Jun 12, 2009, 11:25am »
Eigth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: Eight comic books, Seven packs of smokes, six packs of two-four, Five golden touques! Four pounds of backbacon, three French toast, two turtlenecks, And a beer, On my tree!
Dave Austin Fully Equiped for Tumbling member is offline
Older than dirt and at home with the rocks!
Joined: Jan 2008 Gender: Male Posts: 75 Location: Stamford, UK
Re: building a drag saw « Reply #9 on Jun 12, 2009, 12:13pm »
All rocks are precious, doesn't matter if they are well known or not, what matters is what you are left with at the end of the process, after all there is a lot of YOU in the finished item! http://www.roughrocks.co.uk
Joined: Dec 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 721 Location: Northern CA
Re: building a drag saw « Reply #10 on Jun 25, 2009, 10:47pm »
Thanks for that info Dave & Chuck.
Has anybody seen (or more importantly handled) one of the Barranca drag blades? What I'm really trying to figure out is how are the segments held in place?
julietom Fully Equiped for Tumbling member is offline
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Re: building a drag saw « Reply #11 on Oct 30, 2009, 9:50pm »
HI Dean, Ive heard that you can buy a type of arc-welding rod that has diamond abrasive as a part of it's makeup. Ive been told that you just hard-face the sharp edge of your saw with an arc bead and your all set to cut.
Remember those huge drag saws down at the salinas estate, several years ago? those were made that-a-way. speaking of which, do you remember the little drag-saw from the workshop there, that used 16" flat blades? Ive been waiting to figure out where I can find some diamond blades for that puppy.
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