Ever seen a bar like this before?

[SLawyer Dave]

http://chico.craigslist.org/tls/3758275854.html

The add says "homelite", but the body clearly says Stihl.  Never seen a bar like that though. 

[beenthere]

Used a lot for cutting pulpwood, or cordwood, and maybe even for bucking limbs. With the 'dog' on the end, it prolly is safer against kickback than a more conventional bar.

[Ianab]

Called a Bowsaw. Lots of threads on the forum about them.Now you know what it's called you can look them up 
Like this one
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,18810.msg270327.html#msg270327

Ian

[Todd]

It's designed to let those small diameter trees fall through the middle and wrench the saw out of your hands as it falls! :D

[NCFarmboy]

It's a bow bar used primarily for underbrushing.
Shep

[thecfarm]

I have no idea if those types was in my area or not. I never saw one used, not that it means anything.

[sawguy21]

They seem to have been more popular in the south.

[giant splinter]

Good for limbing, they hang on a twig easily also

[beenthere]

It's designed to let those small diameter trees fall through the middle and wrench the saw out of your hands as it falls! :D

That from experience or perception?  ;)

[thecfarm]

They seem to have been more popular in the south.

Kinda like grits.  ;D

[cuterz]

Yes it is a bowsaw, never tried one though

[SLawyer Dave]

See, even after 30+ years of cutting wood, always something new to learn.  Thanks for the info.

[Claybraker]

They were common here in the south, but started to disappear 30 years ago, along with bob tail pulpwood trucks and dipping turpentine.

[Red Clay Hound]

I cut many cords of firewood with an old McCulloch saw with a bow on it.  It worked great for bucking up firewood.  You didn't have to bend over - you could just stand up straight and push the bow into the log.  It was less likely to get pinched in the log too.  They were kind of dangerous though (I'm sure that's why they are no longer available).  Since you were cutting with the end of the bow it's tendency was to kick back toward the operator.  As long as you put the dogs against the log it was fine.  Those saws didn't have anti-kickback either!

[SLawyer Dave]

I don't have a picture of it, but when I was about 8 years old, I remember my grandfather had a 'beast' of a saw with an "oscillating" (my word) bar.  This had a power head from the 30s or 40s, (I couldn't lift the thing) and instead of a single chain, it had two sets of teeth that worked back and forth.  I've never seen another like it, even after searching on the internet.  I never saw the thing working, but my dad says he does, and that my grandfather had it as long as my father could remember which puts us back to the late 40's.  Maybe some of you have seen one or know what it was called.  Seems to me, it was some sort of an attempt to make a 'man portable' drag saw. 

[beenthere]

The Wright saw, sounds like

Think they were a saw in the 50's and 60's. Not the 30's and 40's, I don't think.

See
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,63034.msg934159.html#msg934159

post 13 for Jeff's collection and manual for the Wright, and other info

Also
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,60886.msg893709.html#msg893709

And a video.... slow cutting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VwpufO9DKA

[Ianab]

While we are on the subject of unusual saws, may as well add this one.


It's a Barker Rimsaw, read more about it here.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,1161.0.html

Just thought we should have all those oddball saws in the same place  :D

[SLawyer Dave]

My grandfather's was not the nice looking red model featured, but yeah, that is the 'beast' I remember.  My grandfather's looked more like:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.oldminibikes.com/forum/photopost/data/1599/medium/Wright_Reciprocating_Saw.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.oldminibikes.com/forum/engines-modifications/31091-good-day-scrap-yard.html&h=450&w=600&sz=52&tbnid=js1CVFWleTjhBM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=121&zoom=1&usg=__9O0c1_58cXVVB7bWL81HgoJkD_g=&docid=-yckgDr0uHxcLM&sa=X&ei=QCR2UbaHPKLr2AX3iIGgCA&ved=0CEMQ9QEwAg&dur=742

[limbrat]

That is a odd looking bow saw, it is narrow. The 054 i had had a much wider bow and the old homelites and polands ran a wider bow also. Any way you could not under cut with them and the narrow bar at the tip allowed you to buck a small log without pinching the bar. The log would pinch behind the bar. You could buck straight down through a log untill the spur touched the ground then rock the saw foreward to finish the cut. Felling was different you would rev the saw then push the tip into the tree while standing straight up. About half way through the cut would take your left hand off the saw and use it to push the tree over. When the tree started to go you would put both hands back on the saw. all the stumps stood at about 30%. You could fell with one cut and buck with one cut and put a lot of pulpwood on the ground with little effort. The effort came in when you would put the 8' sticks of wood on your shoulder and pack them to the truck then flip them up on the truck. When the load got to high to flip them i would lay chokers beside the truck lay the logs in the chokers untill they made a bundle then lift them with the pto and over head boom untill i finished the load. On my uncles 1 ton short wood truck it took three loads a day before i made any money. I was soo happy when school started back in the fall.

[Knute]

The first saw I ever had was a Wright saw back in the sixties. Have seen those bow saws on ebay a couple of times.

[Todd]

They were just real man sawzalls..lol

[two-legged-sawmill]

Hello, nice little saw! All the comments are in line, at the time these came about they were a God Sent
for the fellow cutting the right size pulp wood. In the south where they had plantation pine was where
they were used the most. That spike on the end of the bar would be against the wood before you started sawing so that the tip of the bar would remain on the log for a plunge cut, it was very effective
and the sawyer would eliminate bending overfor every cut!  Checkout www.cnychainsawmuseum.com;
We have a very large collection of Old SAWS on display. We have a Sally Sawwhich works pretty much
like the saw the one from NZ

[tyb525]

I have an old Homelite with a bowsaw, probably about 24" long.