Swordsaw

[philphilop]

I have a mafell 400 chainsaw which is a monster of a saw with a 3000 watt motor and a special blade, it also has a protective knife at the rear to prevent what would happen if you removed it. Exactly as the man from Festool says.
I also have the festool sword saw with a 200 mm blade and a 1600 watt motor and a protection knife at the rear.
Do the mathematics as to why you should not fit a 330 blade to it, it will damage the motor or more to the point you.

Chain guided saws are dangerous and will remove a limb without remorse so please be carefull

 

[Cruckman]

Absolutely agree that removing riving knife is dangerous....as for the 200mm depth limit i suspect anything more would tax the 1600 watt motor . I have bought the machine thanks to the good advice on here. look forward to putting it to good use  ( following manufacturers guidelines) on my next project will let you all know how I get on ..

Cheers

 

[jmbfestool]

Absolutely agree that removing riving knife is dangerous....as for the 200mm depth limit i suspect anything more would tax the 1600 watt motor . I have bought the machine thanks to the good advice on here. look forward to putting it to good use  ( following manufacturers guidelines) on my next project will let you all know how I get on ..

Cheers

Yeah but you see although it only cuts 200mm Deep the riving knife won't let you cut any thicker timber.  At least if the knife is removed you can cut timber much thicker even though you are only going 200mm deep even if it left 5,10,20 mm you can finish that of with a hand saw.    With the riving knife you will have to cut the entire thing by hand.

I know the riving knife is to protect the user but I have used the swordsaw many times and I have never felt the saw wanting to bind or do anything silly when the timber comes in contact with the rear end of the blade.  Like I said I do curves with this thing so thats another thing the riving knife gets in the way with.  Plus doing curves the rear end of the blade is always coming in contact with the timber and it doesn't flinch.

Each to their own like.  I left the riving knife on for as long as I possible could untill I just had to remove it because it was limiting me far to much.  I felt confident with the saw before the riving knife came off.  See how you go you might never need to remove it.

Not sure how long I have had my swordsaw for but pretty sure it's couple years or more I'll have a look.

 

[jmbfestool]

I have a mafell 400 chainsaw which is a monster of a saw with a 3000 watt motor and a special blade, it also has a protective knife at the rear to prevent what would happen if you removed it. Exactly as the man from Festool says.
I also have the festool sword saw with a 200 mm blade and a 1600 watt motor and a protection knife at the rear.
Do the mathematics as to why you should not fit a 330 blade to it, it will damage the motor or more to the point you.

Chain guided saws are dangerous and will remove a limb without remorse so please be carefull

Yeah but having a 330mm blade does mean use the entire blade length. 

I have just found that often I can be cutting 205-210 up to 250 timber and I don't think the extra 10-50mm with sharp blade going steady making sure you listen to the motor so you can hear if it starting to struggle isn't going to do it any harm at all.

Cutting 200mm pushing hard with a worn blade can Add as much strain on the motor.

 

[Phil Beckley]

Absolutely agree that removing riving knife is dangerous....as for the 200mm depth limit i suspect anything more would tax the 1600 watt motor . I have bought the machine thanks to the good advice on here. look forward to putting it to good use  ( following manufacturers guidelines) on my next project will let you all know how I get on ..

Cheers

Yeah but you see although it only cuts 200mm Deep the riving knife won't let you cut any thicker timber.  At least if the knife is removed you can cut timber much thicker even though you are only going 200mm deep even if it left 5,10,20 mm you can finish that of with a hand saw.    With the riving knife you will have to cut the entire thing by hand.

I know the riving knife is to protect the user but I have used the swordsaw many times and I have never felt the saw wanting to bind or do anything silly when the timber comes in contact with the rear end of the blade.  Like I said I do curves with this thing so thats another thing the riving knife gets in the way with.  Plus doing curves the rear end of the blade is always coming in contact with the timber and it doesn't flinch.

Each to their own like.  I left the riving knife on for as long as I possible could untill I just had to remove it because it was limiting me far to much.  I felt confident with the saw before the riving knife came off.  See how you go you might never need to remove it.

Not sure how long I have had my swordsaw for but pretty sure it's couple years or more I'll have a look.

The advice from Festool is as follows - The riving knife should not be removed from this machine.
Phil

 

[jmbfestool]

Well I was going to say look at this topic I started a while ago it has some pictures of some oak I curved using the sword saw but some reason all the photos are missing which is rather annoying!!!
http://festoolownersgroup.com/member-projects/oak-porch/

This topic is when I bought my Mighty swordsaw date shows 2010!!!!  I have owned it for more then 4 years!  jesus!!

http://festoolownersgroup.com/other-tools-accessories/the-mighty-sword!/