cutting sleepers :-(

[kityuser]

advice needed:
*************

I`ve recently built a retaining wall in my brother-in-laws garden constructed of 6.5"x9"x8.5` 50 year old solid oak south-african railway sleepers.

I sadly need to cut around 10 of the buggers now, does ANYONE have any idea of how to go about this?

bearing in mind -> to drill them we had to use a masonary bit with the drill set to hammer action! :shock:

suggestions have been made to me to use a chain-saw (which is not a problem as I used to work for a tree surgery company), but I`m against this idea because of the state of the wood (nails, stones, dirt and tar are all a chainsaws worst enemy )

I`ve just ordered the axminster sabre saw with some bosch "wood with nails in" blades :lol:
what do people recon? do-able?

 

[Anonymous]

Chainsaw, is the only practical method. I have used a hand-held circular saw, on some dry, untreated beech (for some massive window sills), which was known to be free of nails etc, but still got tremendous kick back on several occasions. + still had to finish off with panel saw, as the sleeper was so thick.

J.

 

[kityuser]

I don`t really fancy having to re-sharpen a chainsaw after every cut!

also there are all of the safety issues associated with running a chainsaw that is`nt really sharp enough

 

[sawdustalley]

Chainsaw.

I know the BBC use a DeWALT aligator saw.

 

[kityuser]

by bbc do you mean "ground force"

if that is the case, then I can PROMISE you that I`m NOT using what they call "sleepers" ie small softwood things.


these oak beasteess are VERY hard, I`m hoping the axminster saw with the bosch blades are up to the job.


has anyone used a sabre saw to cut large timber? ie timber a similar dimension to the largest cut possible with the sabre saw blade

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Steven

I investigated this with a company in North Nottinghamshire last year and cutting the sleepers was a big problem.

The only suggestion they came up with was to take them to a sawmill and use an industrial saw. Now that's ok as long as you don't mind paying 200 odd pound for the new blade every time it hits a nail. Perhaps you will have some better luck than me.

But, back to your question. In view of the hardness of the timber and the fact that the saw would be operating virtually at it's limit, imho I doubt that it will do the job.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

Cheers
Neil

 

[Noel]

Steven,

I did a couple of sleepers for our kitchen brace and the fireplace in the living room. Certainly a chainsaw would be one's first thought but the finish (in my case) would be a bit ragged. Once having removed all the hardware with an angle grinder I used a circular saw and cut, very carefully, top and bottom. A quick swipe or two with a plane tidied up the area where the two kerfs met.
I have also, in the past, used a bandsaw although adequate support and the assistance of another person made things easier. Just gotta get a nice steady feed rate going.

Rgds

Noel

 

[kityuser]

even if I took it slowly and didn`t "strain" the saw to much?

time isn'nt really as issue, but i really dont want to have to cut them by hand :shock:

 

[Aragorn]

:?: :!: Junior hacksaw :!: :?:

Good luck mate. I had one 4' oak sleeper to crosscut AND rip a couple of years ago. Can you believe I did it by hand using those £6 Jack saws. Got through about 5 of them and it took about half a day :!: Made a nice coffee table though!

 

[kityuser]

cheers aragorn :lol:

we already had to concrete 8 of the buggers into the ground (3'6 deep) and carry 30 of `em 50 yards into by brother-in-laws backgarden.

he owes me one BBBBBBIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGG favour in return :shock:


hoping the sabre saw is up to the job........

 

[Scrit]

Hi Steven

A sabre saw will probably do the job but you may experience some wander in cut. I use a deWalt cobalt steel blade (DT2350) for sawing through timber which may contain nails (taking out door frames, etc) - it's about 11in long (the 8in version is a DT2357). Hilti make a couple of similar blades, WD15 (6in) and WD23 (9in) - I reckon these cut a bit better than the DW blades, but not enough to justify the amount of chasing around you have to do to get hold of them (and the price).

The DT2350 is about 5 tpi, so you'll have to keep an eye on things to avoid binding (they tend to clog up). Just make sure that the timber isn't soaking wet through or you'll find it binding a LOT - and when that happens they bend. I can vouch for the ability of these blades to saw straight through steel bolts and keep going, though

Scrit

 

[kityuser]

scrit:
NOW THAT IS WHAT I WANTED TO HEAR

wander in the cut is`nt really an issue, the posts are all held behind a retaining wall and are going to be covered with soil.

for the vertical posts i was planning on using steel wedges to follow the saw blade (as you would do felling a tree to stop the trunk pinching back on the chain saw) to stop the blade getting pinched.

I`m glad to hear that i may have SOME chance of cutting these flaming things! 8)

 

[sawdustalley]

No, I'm not talking about ground force - another make-over show called "Big Strong Boys" where I did some backstage prep last summer.

We had to make a table, with 4 legs made from railway sleepers - BIG and very HEAVY things, not sure if they were OAK or just old mature Pine.

The saw seemed to cope well.

 

[frank]

steven can you not use a 9inch disc grinder to start the cuts and get past the nails ect then change over to a saw .

 

[sawdustalley]

You could use a tennon saw

 

[Anonymous]

Are you sure its Oak? All the sleepers i have in my garden are teak. Extremely hard to work with and hellishly heavy. Takes two of us to move one. They are becoming very scarce and the price has rocketed. Cutting - we have a number of shops converting sleepers into furniture and they would cut for other people at a price. Either major band saw or table saw.
Cheers Jaco.

(forgot to log in )

 

[Anonymous]

Check this site. maybe the manufacturers in SA can give you some advise on cutting.
Jaco


http://www.africanselections.com/index.html

 

[kityuser]

they are most def. oak (can tell by the smell of the sawdust).

although a few of them are some other kind of hardwood........

I got the sabre saw yesterday, I`ll find out at the weekend if it`ll cut them.


One point to ask is about the blades, I bought some 150mm ones, but the manual says the saw can take upto 300mm ones. Anyone know where i can get some 300mm blades from???

 

[desmoengine]

last year i needed to cross cut a few sleepers (not oak though)
the method i used was to slit the timber from both sides using my circular saw which left about 35mm in the centre which i then cut through with my sabre saw, it worked for me.

the sleepers that are not oak could be JARA link below has som info on this now quite raea wood.

check out the grren oak prices on this link!

http://www.rbsoak.co.uk/index.html
http://www.jarabosky.co.uk/index.html
http://www.kjbownes.co.uk/materials.htm

regards
Dave W

 

[Dewy]

I have used a Bosch multi purpose saw for years around the garden. I have cut down a couple of alder trees with it by using the pruning blade. These were far thicker than the blade length. I just worked round the trees but made sure I had cut a big enough notch out on the side I wanted them to fall. Those blades are a lot cheaper than sharpening a chain saw.