# Log wizard debarker Anyone use one?



## sprucegum (Feb 4, 2016)

Thinking about purchasing one of the log wizard chainsaw attachments to use for removing bark on dirty logs before band milling them. I try to only saw clean wood but we all know how that works out. I keep a wire brush handy when sawing to remove dirt and sometimes use my axe to remove the bark where the blade enters the log. The videos of them it look like they would work pretty good to make a blade path on a log. They run standard 1/8" jointer knives so I can't imagine that they would stay sharp very long but I can't see that sharpening them would need to be done with great accuracy and I have a pretty good supply of old 1/8" X 12" planer blades that would be easy enough to cut to fit.


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## rockb (Feb 4, 2016)

I've got a Woodmizer so I feel your pain. Instead of a tool with planer knives you might consider one of the chainsaw chain angle grinder attachments....in a previous thread they came up.....mine is a Lancelot 14 tooth....round chain..easy to file in the field and the chain is replaceable. Wish I had bought mine years ago.


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## sprucegum (Feb 4, 2016)

rockb said:


> I've got a Woodmizer so I feel your pain. Instead of a tool with planer knives you might consider one of the chainsaw chain angle grinder attachments....in a previous thread they came up.....mine is a Lancelot 14 tooth....round chain..easy to file in the field and the chain is replaceable. Wish I had bought mine years ago.


Those are run on an angle grinder rite?


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## Kevin (Feb 4, 2016)

I've never used one but seen them on YT. If you just need debarking I like my high pressure washer, but if you need to remove the phloem/cambium/xylem and/or do some smoothing/planing it looks like a right handy tool. My sawmill has a debarker on it but I still powerwash really dirty or muddy logs. I see the log wizard as mainly a rustic furniture building tool.


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## sprucegum (Feb 4, 2016)

Kevin said:


> I've never used one but seen them on YT. If you just need debarking I like my high pressure washer, but if you need to remove the phloem/cambium/xylem and/or do some smoothing/planing it looks like a right handy tool. My sawmill has a debarker on it but I still powerwash really dirty or muddy logs. I see the log wizard as mainly a rustic furniture building tool.


I have pressure washed on occasion works great the only problem being I do not always have a source of water where I am sawing. I rarely trailer logs to the mill. I pull them out of the woods to the closest spot that I can set the mill up. The other issues with the pressure washer is that once I get it winterized with RV antifreeze I hate to use it until the weather stays above freezing. That is also a issue with a angle grinder attachment as I almost never have electricity available to run a grinder and my Makita 18 volt angle grinder is OK to do a little job site grinding but it would never run a chainsaw wheel for more than a few minuets.
I was hoping someone had used the wizard. I will probably buy one. Hudson forest equipment has them for $175. and free shipping. worst that can happen is I can't find a reason to like it and I sell it used for a loss.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Kevin (Feb 4, 2016)

Sounds like your logical solution is to leave the north pole and move south, where the unbearable winters only last a couple of months. Set your sawmill up permanent and bring the logs to your mill where the over-spray of the power washer is a welcome side effect during the warm summers here. 

I need someone to show me how to set up a syrup operation for my FBE trees anyway. We could get rich marketing the world's only _Texas FireMaple Syrup_. Let me know when you're ready, my cousin is a realtor here.


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## justallan (Feb 4, 2016)

@Kevin, have you made any FBE syrup? I tried it a few years ago, but only a little. The trees here put out plenty of sap about the first of April and I'd collected some up and boiled it down. It didn't have a much flavor, but was plenty friggin sweet for darned sure. It reminded me of rock candy from when I was a kid.

Reactions: Way Cool 1


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## Kevin (Feb 4, 2016)

justallan said:


> @Kevin, have you made any FBE syrup? I tried it a few years ago, but only a little. The trees here put out plenty of sap about the first of April and I'd collected some up and boiled it down. It didn't have a much flavor, but was plenty friggin sweet for darned sure. It reminded me of rock candy from when I was a kid.



No but I have really wanted to. With our hot climate I'm sure it would not be all that great, but you never know until you try! 

Check this article out

According to her their boxelder syrup:

_The result was a quarter of a cup of syrup that lacked the bright gold color of maple syrup and the delicate vanilla-like scent, but tasted every bit as good. (Mark said the box-elder sap might be slightly less sweet per unit volume, but he still licked his lips after the taste test!)_

They live in SW Virginia so their climate is not as hot on average as ours but I think it's sure worth a try anyway!

Reactions: Way Cool 1


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## rockb (Feb 4, 2016)

@sprucegum...yep, the Lancelot works on an angle grinder.


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## sprucegum (Feb 4, 2016)

Kevin said:


> Sounds like your logical solution is to leave the north pole and move south, where the unbearable winters only last a couple of months. Set your sawmill up permanent and bring the logs to your mill where the over-spray of the power washer is a welcome side effect during the warm summers here.
> 
> I need someone to show me how to set up a syrup operation for my FBE trees anyway. We could get rich marketing the world's only _Texas FireMaple Syrup_. Let me know when you're ready, my cousin is a realtor here.
> 
> View attachment 96501


From what I have read most maples have sweet sap, don't know if box elder needs the freeze thaw cycle like our maples do or not. Some maple producers around here are getting into birch syrup. The birches run after the maples and do not require cold nights and warm days to run. Since a lot of the equipment is the same for both I guess it makes sense. I am usually sick of making syrup by the time maple season is over. I had some birch syrup at a maple seminar 2 years ago and thought it tasted like really bad maple syrup. We have had about the warmest winter on record and if it keeps up I think it will be a really bad maple year. I have been doing some minor home renovations today and I don't even have to put on a coat to go back and forth from the house to the shop, just have to be careful where I walk or I track mud into the house.


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## sprucegum (Feb 4, 2016)

rockb said:


> @sprucegum...yep, the Lancelot works on an angle grinder.


I was thinking the angle grinder would not work for me because I usually don't have electricity on location when I am sawing but I just remember I have a 12 volt to 120 v inverter that I bought several years ago and never used much. I recall that it would run my 7.25" circular saw pretty good so I am sure it would run my angle grinder. The mill is electric start and I always have my truck or tractor on site. Could be worth a try.


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## nuttin tour (Feb 5, 2016)

I have the wizard and love it works great doesn't take very long to go a log but if the saw is a bigger one takes some muscle to hold it up.

Reactions: Like 1


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