Electric Chain-Saw

Wood Hauler

Electric Chain-Saw testing...

As mentioned in the previous section, this is the tongue that ties the sled to the skidoo.

The heavy cast pin & loop hinges on the sled side are bolted right through the decking, while the plate is bolted with 6" lags into the 4X4 runners.

The tip of the tongue has 3/16th" plate of stainless steel that ties to the snow machine's hitch.

The sled & machine have already been rolled once with no damage to the hitch or tongue.

Pictured here is yet another "proof of concept" project...

...an electric chain-saw!

I got the idea after reading an article in "HomePower Magazine" about Pete Seeger's Ford Ranger - Electric conversion and his electric chain-saw.

As luck would have it, I stripped too much detail from this shot in the process of optimizing load times for the web.

Regardless, pictured to the right are 2 (two) 100Ah deep cycle marine batteries, a 24V 1200VA inverter, 100ft extension cord and a Remington 1.5HP electric chainsaw.

Either the Saw is over-rated at 1.5HP or the inverter is under-rated at 1200VA as there were no "Overload" issues during the test run.

I was quite pleased with the performance of the saw over-all, especially it's light weight and reduced noise compared to either my trusty Husqvarna or HomeLite gas saws. The trailing extension cord took some getting used to especially when moving about through saplings and brush, as it would tend to introduce snags and drag on the line.

Unfortunately I was only able to cut a minimal qty of wood before one of the marine batteries died, I've known for quite some time that it was weak, but the demands of the saw certainly is a good test.

If you look closely at the back of the sled, you'll make-out a tripod and Video Camera. This was bungeed into place to capture the trails and sights for an up-coming video release slated for this fall.

The video production has been underway since late December of 2005 and is enormously time consuming, to date I have almost 26 hrs of tape that has been edited down to less than 1 1/2 hrs between 4 different episodes, with at least twice as much still to film.

In reviewing the footage there seems to be an excessive amount of scenes where I'm sitting (not working) smoking, drinking coffee and mouthing-off about the government, peak-oil theory and the general decline of western civilization... I think that may create a very narrow demographic of viewers.

Given that I'm essentially out of wood for the shop, I did have to return to the house, dump the test gear and get my gas saw to actually make-up a full load of wood.

The weather is hovering between the -5C and -15C range, so this wood represents about 3 days worth of heat for the shop.

The mix is largely Red Oak, Hard Maple and Ironwood. In scouting about I've found lots of dead fall that is clear of the snow and is relatively dry (enough to be burnt the day it's cut).

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