Power Inverter Wattage

[Ian]

What size power inverter do I need to run a sawzall?

[Dean Hoffman]

There's a conversion table here:

I took a quick look at sawzalls. The most amperage draw I saw was 15 amps at 120 volts.

[hubops]

It might depend on the size of the saw ... :-)

John T.

[micky]

So how big an inverter does that one need?

I've only been to a sawmill once. They used to sell half-round fence rails at the place that installed the fence, and at Home Depot, but I guees they went out of style. So I had to buy 8' fence posts at one farm store and take them to a saw mill to cut them into two. It was indoors, a pretty big set of machines. Used a circular blade, not a reciprocating one like in the video, and it went faster too, even allowing for my posts only being 4 inches and the post in the video being 3 or 4 times that. I think I had 8 posts and he din't charge that much. It's a blur but 20 or 30 or 40 dollars.

[hubops]

You must have got a puzzled look from the sawyer ? - cutting perfectly good cedar fence posts in half - to use for fence rails ! I suspect that the old-timers used the slabs - for rails - after squaring the cedar logs - just to make good use of them - rather than burning them .. dunno. but they do make for a certain nice rustic look at campgrounds & such and faux "log" siding on the small campground buildings. John T.

[micky]

I talked to him on the phone first, and I probably explained. If he still thought it was strange, he didn't say.

I don't have a truck, but I can still put 8 foot posts in the back seat of the convertible.

I've seen that. It didn't dawn on me until now that it was faux.

[Dean Hoffman]

"puzzled look from the sawyer?" Tom and Huck Finn come to mind. You did that on purpose, didn't you.

[Clare Snyder]

Minimum 1500 to run mine unless I'm not working it hard - but even then it'll trip the 1000 on startup if not carefull.

[Clare Snyder]

Around here many farms were 100 acresa with title to a few acres of swamp - sometimes up to 40 - for cedar to split for rails. Splitting them isn't fun. On the farm we had a few piles of black cherry rails. HEAVY!!! nust have been a REAL job splitting them - - -

[hubops]

Could they have been locust ? < similar colour, weight, durabiility .. ? >

... not sure about split-ability .. John T.

[Clare Snyder]

No, they were cherry - from the farm woodlot - split by his grandfather. They had no locust in the bush - did have ironwood (hornbeam) and lots of rock elm before Dutch Elm took them out - I cut a LOT of that - and split it (doesn;t split bad at about -5F - and as old Harry saif - it "heats twice") I have locust un the foulevarf. VERY hard to cut, but unless it's knotty not tearibly hard to split - not as "stringy" as elm. Wet, the axe just bounces off. Dry or frozen solid, it's like glass. (and just as hard on the axe)