Belsaw Edger

[woodhick]

I recently found on of these older belsaw edgers for sale at a good price.  Just  wandering if anyone has any experience with them.  Pros, Cons, etc?   ??? ???

[D._Frederick]

Wood-,

On one of the forums a while back some one was complaining about the roller chain sprocket used for feeding that it imprinted the wood being edged.  (Should not be a problem on hardwoods)

What kind of wood are you planning to saw and how big?

[woodhick]

I saw mostly hardwoods.  Softwoods are usally used for barns etc. so marking  probably wouldn't be a problem.  I can get it with electric motor for $250-$300 ;), so I guess I should give it a try

[UNCLEBUCK]

Woodhick I have a 2 gang belsaw edger that I bought for 400$ and it had all rotten wood and a old wisconsin one lung motor so I put new wood on and took a 4 cylinder wisconsin motor off a old grain swather and it really flies ! I got a extra new box of insert teeth with it for that price . Isnt much that can go wrong with them and there is no guess work to them . I have a throttle that can be adjusted and the feed automatically follows the rpm of the motor but I run at idle . I took the guide off of it on the exit side . Rigged up a cable to pull that throws the drive out of gear for safety , I never stand directly behind it , thats like the danger zone but never had anything fly by me but always a first . This pic was taken about 2 years ago before I had the sawmill working good so I had to buy lumber .

[woodhick]

Thanks uncle buck for the pics and info.  I did buy the edger but it didn't have any table or rolls,but it did have the book so I have all the dimensions to build my own.  It was missing the scale that goes at the end of the frame to set dimensions if anyone could provide a good picture and dimesions of one  of these i'm sure it won't be hard to make. 
Slabs,  the guy I got mine from was runnig it with a 3 horsepower electric motor.  wasn't hooked up when I got there.  Seems aful small to me so I bought it without the motor as I plan on a small gas engine.  I think I am going to try 10 HP.

Uncle Buck, one more  question? Does your's have insert teeth?  If it does do you know what type and size.  Thanks, ;)

[UNCLEBUCK]

I take a good pic and put it on here tomorrow night of the scale ok so you can make one out of old iron  and I will take a close up of the blades and the insert teeth and size and style ok .  ;D

[J_T]

Hey Woodhick I would call Timberking if you didn't get the tool to remove them teeth they can tell you about the bits too. I had one those edgers and gave it to a buddy that though needed one :D If you don't want to make those parts TimberKing has them and arn't to bad on price .

[UNCLEBUCK]

Sorry for the delay woodhick , here is the scale , could be made from anything , its 52 inches from the scale to the bolt where the handle pivots and 56 inches from there to the center of the blade , you can tweak out your adjustment later by when your ready to drill a hole for the pivot bolt, I cant tell or see any markings on the inserts or the teeth so maybe someone here can identify it . Good luck with your project .

[UNCLEBUCK]

[UNCLEBUCK]

[woodhick]

Thinks uncle buck for the pics and everybody for the information.  As always I currently have way too many irons in the fire ;D, so it will probably be a while before I can get to setting up the edger.  I  guess I need to build a bigger fire to keep the irons hot or quit hauling so much "JUNK" in to work on :D.  Thanks again for the info hope I can help you all out some time. ;)

[woodhick]

Uncle buck, one more question?  I read on another place that these edgers won't cut straight.  Do you have any problems with yours.  I would guess this person didn't have it aligned properly.  I have a buddy that has a large Tower brand edger at his circle mill and the belsaw looks almost identical just  a lighter version.  Thanks. ???

[Dan_Shade]

do these things have anything to keep you from putting your flitch into it crooked?

I'll have to get a bunch of pictures next time I visit the folks, my grandfather had an old circle mill, and there's an old PTO edger there too.  I should probably claim all that stuff