Sawzall to clear compacted snow/ice?

[Mark Katz]

I'm wondering if this is a hair-brained scheme or something worth pursuing?

We live on a narrow street, often made narrower by cars parking on the opposite side. It's even narrower when there has been a snowstorm and the cars are parked a foot or more from the curb due to snow not being completely cleared by the plows.

What this means is that we need a snow cleared over a wide angle at the end of our driveway so that we can turn sharply on entry and exit. However, those same snow plows place huge compacted mounds of snow and ice at the end of the driveway.

When I was younger, I'd just tackle that mess with shovels, spades and a garden edger to break it up and move it out of the way. Now, I can still pick up chunks and heave them away but breaking up the compacted mess is getting beyond me.

So, I'm wondering if it would be practical to use a sawzall/reciprocating saw to slice the compacted snow into more manageable chunks? It would have to be a double-insulated saw or even cordless to eliminate any shock hazard, and would probably need a fairly long blade (12"? maybe a pruning blade?) to make the effort worthwhile.

Has anyone tried this? Is it too dangerous? Will the sawblade get trapped and yank the saw around? Will it be so slow as to be not worth the effort? Anyone know?

 

[McNally Family]

It has been my experience that you can tear a building down with nothing but a SawZall (and the right blades), so I doubt ice and snow will be much of a challange.

Since plumbers are one of the main customers for the tool, I don't think the moisture you encounter with ice will be much of a hazard.

But I could be wrong!

 

[RustE]

Several companies make scraper blades for reciprocating saws that might work for 2 inches or less of ice.

Anything thicker will probably need a small electric jackhammer or rotary hammer with a longer blade.

 

[miclee15]

Last year, I had the same problem with rock solid ice.  I broke out the chain saw.  Worked great.

 

[RKA]

If it's solid, a rotary hammer with a chipping blade or even a drill to break up sections.  Hopefully it hasn't hardened completely through and there are a few soft spots to help you out and it all falls apart as you chip at it.  I'm not sure a recip saw will be all that effective.  The chainsaw is likely to make quick work of it, however, it's a chainsaw and you're likely standing on snow/ice.  Lose your footing, however momentary, and it won't end well.  In my eyes, it's not worth the risk.   

 

[bdiemer]

Sounds like a job for a harbor freight cordless. Even harbor freight blades. Sawsalls are great for all seek and destroy missions.

 

[RussellS]

In Minnesota and other far north areas chain saws are used to cut through ice for ice fishing holes.  So a reciprocating saw should work.  But not as fast as a chain saw.  And as mentioned, slick snow and ice might cause concerns.  I think the ice hole cutters have spikes on their boots when standing on the solid clear ice.  They aren't wading around in a foot or two of snow, slush, ice, etc.

 

[peter halle]

Find a chain saw or even an electric chainsaw and make sure that it is on a GFCI circuit.

Peter

 

[PreferrablyWood]

Hire a  kid from next door. It's not worth taking risks with any of the methods described her. I do a fair bit a tackling ice and snow here in Scandinavia and used well focused handdriven equipment, small blows with a good sharp heavy metal bar, pick axe, the right shovel ergonomically tuned to my body size gets me through the ice mountains pretty quickly. I very cold work though.

 

[Hneuwirth]

Depends if you need to lose weight!

Using a Sawzall or chain saw on slippery angled surface more or less guarantees a visit to the ER every so often. Even if you are careful, you don't know what rocks and branches the snow plow stuffed into the pile.

So, you can eat a pizza, get out the hand tools and go to work.

Or, you can use the pizza eaten by the dinosaurs and plug in one of these  heaters

 

[Pike_101]

I would suggest one of these. Designed and developed to cut through 2'+ of solid lake ice, it makes incredibly short work of compacted snow and frozen banks. Cuts through a 6' bank in about 10 seconds, and the more icy and compacted the better.

 

[Holmz]

Lake [member=63255]Pike_101[/member] Do they make a rip tooth? Or just that cross cut?

 

[Michael Kellough]

...and how do you tell which way the grain runs in ice?

 

[Holmz]

The teeth looked closely spaced

 

[McNally Family]

I would suggest one of these. Designed and developed to cut through 2'+ of solid lake ice, it makes incredibly short work of compacted snow and frozen banks. Cuts through a 6' bank in about 10 seconds, and the more icy and compacted the better.

This tool gets my vote! 

 

[HarveyWildes]

Give it a try.  Send us pictures from the ER to let us know how it turned out.

Seriously, it sounds like a recipe for trouble to me, but what do I know?  Down on the Colorado plains most of the snow is melted off 2-3 days after the storm moves out.  It's probably been ten years since the last time we had snow on the ground for more than a couple of weeks.  I am constantly amazed by human ingenuity and how well it turns out most of the time.  After all, 100 years ago they sawed up blocks of lake ice, packed it in sawdust and shipped into the cities in large quantities.

If I were to use a sawzall on ice, I think I'd go with the pruning blade.

 

[Cheese]

Just take a chain saw to it...we do it all the time, it's part of our winter activities, it's called the Winter Carnival. A sawzall just slows down the process, it's doable but slow. Similar to watching paint dry...

 

[Holmz]

My great uncle used to to do that.
From memory the description of it was more like  a large circular saw and he talked about how to make the cuts straight...
Then they broken them out with a crowbar (I think)

 

[Pike_101]

Lake [member=63255]Pike_101[/member] Do they make a rip tooth? Or just that cross cut?

Ask and you shall receive.

I just happen to have one with a Rip-tooth grind. Not the clearest picture. One may also note it takes a fair amount of Set to make an ice saw work well.

 

[RussellS]

Designed and developed to cut through 2'+ of solid lake ice, it makes incredibly short work of compacted snow and frozen banks. Cuts through a 6' bank in about 10 seconds, and the more icy and compacted the better.

How do you get it into the snow/ice?  Its very easy to see how it would cut very easily ONCE the blade is through the ice.  But how do you get it through the 2 feet of ice to start with?  I see it has a sharp tip.  Are you supposed to spin it around in your hand like a top and drill your own starting hole?  And for that 6 feet of snow bank, do you shove it REAL hard into the bank and hope it comes out the other side.  Or are you supposed to climb on top of the bank and cut from the edge back?  The picture you showed is nice.  Just like cutting a board laying on the workbench.  But hand saws don't work too well if you are in the middle of the room trying to cut a hole into a solid floor.  Hard to get started.  The tool here seems ideal for perfect conditions.  But not useful in every other situation.