r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/danielminds • 22h ago

Video A chainsaw powered by a steam engine

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1.3k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

95 comments sorted by

208

u/Weird_Lawfulness_298 22h ago

Only problem is that you have to bring the trees to the saw instead of the other way around.

68

u/Small_Insect_8275 22h ago

Just plant them within 30cm of the saw and reap the rewards in 30 years no?

29

u/f_n_a_ 21h ago

Easy does it Warren buffet

8

u/Small_Insect_8275 21h ago

Sometimes my brilliance is a burden

3

u/Fur_and_Whiskers 15h ago

No, he drives to them. I think this is the same guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRUW9ebXdXo

2

u/Wandering_Gypsy_ 22h ago

Nah just gotta put a lift kit on it and send er

1

u/KIDNEYST0NEZ 22h ago

This is more of a decorative saw, like for making furnishings for a cabin. So it actually seems handy. Just a lot of shit to haul around for a small ass saw.

3

u/Loud-Echidna-8555 16h ago

Yeah, it definitely looks more suited for show than for actual heavy-duty work. But I guess if you want to impress people while doing some woodworking, it could be a fun conversation starter!

67

u/Luciferousllamas 22h ago

Great, now I can get second degree burns while I cut things 

14

u/SakanaToDoubutsu 22h ago

But this object isn't of the world so it makes Amish Jesus happy. 

1

u/ManWhoIsDrunk 22h ago

I know a guy who got a burn mark from a chainsaw exhaust on his arm. How he managed to hug that chainsaw i'll never know...

101

u/DoctorHugoHackenbush 22h ago

It's not exactly the latest cutting edge technology..

8

u/lurkersforlife 22h ago

Works very well when you’re in the middle of nowhere with no electricity or gas

6

u/Zer0TheGamer 22h ago

He does have gas. Wood gas

2

u/two-ls 20h ago

Yeah, just have to lug out the steam engine first. And damn, if chainsaws weren't hot enough, we got the steam to bring up the temp a bit too

4

u/in1gom0ntoya 22h ago

saw what you did there

2

u/dengop 10h ago

I also saw what you did there

2

u/rIceCream_King 11h ago

He came, he saw

1

u/WiskeyUniformTango 22h ago

But something we should all probably learn with the cost of energy skyrocketing.

4

u/Nihlo_2001 22h ago

And in the face of oncoming civilizational collapse.

-1

u/WiskeyUniformTango 22h ago

We need to learn to live like an average African. They may have never advanced to the same levels - but they are sure are going to outlast the west in a collapse.

26

u/Excellent_Outside_71 22h ago

Terribly not practical but wow, how cool

12

u/tackleboxjohnson 22h ago

If/when gasoline becomes scarce, then being able to power the chainsaw with the wood you’re cutting seems pretty practical

13

u/Excellent_Outside_71 22h ago

I mean, true. But if gas or electricity is gone, you have bigger issues than firing up a steam chainsaw. Id just keep a normal saw in the garage and call it good OR get an electric chain saw with a small solar inverter

7

u/tackleboxjohnson 22h ago

A functional solution to a problem doesn’t become less valid because you have bigger problems

5

u/Excellent_Outside_71 22h ago

Thats fair. Im just saying, you can go to Lowes today and get an electric chain saw for that situation. Not sure where to snag or build this steam setup

1

u/stuffeh 22h ago edited 22h ago

Air gun, maybe a gas chainsaw, or at least parts of one. Then a bunch of aluminum or copper tubes, rubber tubes rated for steam, and a big pot you can heat up for the boiler. That's the supper high level starting point, then strip each part down to work on attaching to each other. While at it, I'd try to attach a gas generator and air compressor so you can charge things.

2

u/Saint-Michael901 22h ago

Wouldn’t it be most practical to manually cut the wood then use the steam to power other things? If/when this hypothetical situation happens

3

u/sultan_of_gin 22h ago

If i ended up needing even more firewood because other energy isn’t available i’d be really happy if i could keep the speed and power of a regular chainsaw. I’m already burning so much that i wouldn’t have the time or energy to do it with a regular saw.

2

u/FG910 18h ago

How do you cut wood to power the wood cutter if the wood cutter doesn’t have wood to burn

2

u/throwsplasticattrees 21h ago

The modernized version of "from the tree comes the handle for the axe"

38

u/HF_Martini6 22h ago

So it's actually a airtool with a saw blade on its end that's driven by steam instead of compressed air

7

u/Imliterallyadogg 22h ago

Yeah when I first heard the sound I knew exactly what it was. Crazy ingenuitive

3

u/mantenner 18h ago

My thoughts when I saw it too.

Just pnuematic with extra steps.

1

u/DTRite 16h ago

I wonder what else it could power?

-2

u/Timo_schroe 22h ago

As I understand the steam engine is powering the Air compressor through the chain from underneath (?)

5

u/niconpat 22h ago

Nope, that's a radial steam engine to drive the car.

3

u/talltime 22h ago

No. Pretty sure that mess you see on the front of the vehicle is for propelling the vehicle with the same boiler.

3

u/Timo_schroe 22h ago

Ah yes, that Seems to be Right

7

u/LeatherfacesChainsaw 22h ago

Hell yeah

1

u/Role-Perfect 22h ago

I don't have anything to chain up or saw down nor will I ever but I want it

5

u/Dry-Debate-6893 22h ago

I saw a gas powered clothes iron in an Amish community once, so this may as well exist too.

5

u/broken_sword001 22h ago

Steam punk!

4

u/Fuzzy-Bird-3641 22h ago

Basically, it’s compressed air.
In this case it’s got the added risk of being very hot, and the internal parts will rust considerably faster than using an air compressor.

1

u/Jive_Turk 2h ago

Yeah what kinda pointless junk is this. At first I thought it was really cool until I realized it's wired/tethered to a whole fucking trailer and not a handheld portable chainsaw like... I dunno, every other practical one.

Might as well just use compressed air and have a portable tank the size of a paintball gun tank

5

u/Shot_Site9377 17h ago

I'm a power engineer by trade. Worked in power plants most of my adult life. Of all the steam-driven items I've seen over the years, this is one of the coolest and least practical implements I've ever seen. Me and my coworkers are enjoying the video of this little setup

1

u/Turbinemechanic 14h ago

As someone who’s done many outages in power plants, I couldn’t agree more!

3

u/Zailema0s 22h ago

Burning wood to cut wood 🤣

1

u/Porn-Again-Christian 20h ago

Presumably to feed the cut pieces of wood into the burner to cut more wood.

3

u/themonovingian 18h ago

His thumb looks exactly like I expected it to!

4

u/Zestyclose-Spite-718 22h ago

So the steam powers an air compressor and the saw is powered by air. It looks like a impact driver rigged to a chainsaw blade. Not sure how much torque that driver has. But it appears to be either on or off. No variable throttle. In the end the only fuel costs is the wood

2

u/niconpat 22h ago

There's no air compressor involved, the high pressure steam is driving the impact driver directly. The thing on the front of the vehicle is to drive the vehicle. Some kind of radial steam engine.

1

u/Zestyclose-Spite-718 22h ago

Ahh thanks for setting me straight

1

u/shnaily 22h ago

I cut wood, I put cut wood in furnace, I power the wood cutter, I cut more wood

2

u/Better-Culture-7770 9h ago

I'm so disappointed there wasn't another door with some roasting sausages.

2

u/General_MacCready 22h ago

Thats a good way to destroy a pneumatic impact... running all that water through it... would of been a lot easier and cheaper in the long run just to get a proper air compressor. Plenty of air compressor designs out there that do not rely on electricity or tool destroying steam...

1

u/danielminds 22h ago

Source: @professorpardalbrasil on TikTok

1

u/Due-Waltz4458 22h ago

I wonder how that performs over time with the moisture.  If shavings get wet they could collect inside and gum things up.

1

u/Purplepeal 22h ago

Thank god its got wheels!

1

u/thejourneybegins42 22h ago

Someone invented the chainsaw to make shit easier, and this guy did the exact opposite.

1

u/neutronjeff 22h ago

Prepping for the apocalypse

1

u/slowwwwdowwwwn 21h ago

Man I didn’t know my phone was still connected to a large Bluetooth speaker in the bedroom where my gf is currently asleep and I kept turning my volume up to hear what this sounds like only to realize I was blasting steam chainsaw sounds at her

1

u/Jaded_Addendum4040 21h ago

And then you burn them for the steam.

1

u/alaskaguyindk 21h ago

Can someone for the love of god make me a diagram so I can understand this because thats fuckin amazing!!!

1

u/blackthornjohn 21h ago

, you might not find it so impressive when you find out the "engine" is actually a ½inch drive compressed air impact wrench fed with steam rather than air.

1

u/koldlaser77 21h ago

This is good reference if when the world ever get decimated by a ravenous zombies apocalypse type event when gasoline is no longer viable and the horde is coming for you. Nice.

1

u/AboveAverage1988 21h ago

Does it go into ugga-dugga mode when it gets stuck, or did you weld the hammer mechanism together?

1

u/Timely-General9962 20h ago

Does it work on wood that isn't so punky a tweaker with a butter knife could cut it.

1

u/gravljaw 20h ago

While its very cool its also very impractical.

1

u/MnkyBzns 19h ago

This seems incredibly inefficient

1

u/Something_Else_2112 19h ago

I'd like to see him cut some real hardwood, and not a rotten 4" branch which is already falling apart by itself.

1

u/Burntarchitect 19h ago

I was thinking 'wow, how did he make that so compact?!'

'...oh'

1

u/Kingstad 19h ago

apparently the steam punk setting needs more chainsaws

1

u/revdon 18h ago

And that is how he trims wood to fit in his steam engine.

1

u/vellius 17h ago

Hours to build up the steam?

How much wood did he need to burn to be able to cut those logs? If the guy needs to burn 3 logs for every 10 that sort of stupid...

1

u/perfect_insanity93 16h ago

Pwah! Pwah pwah!

1

u/ArmpitofD00m 15h ago

It’s more of a steam tool than a portable unit.

1

u/woodbanger04 15h ago

Did nobody notice that it is accessory to a steam powered vehicle?

1

u/Fur_and_Whiskers 14h ago

Found YouTube video demonstrating the steam vehicle & saw. Then fabricating the chainsaw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRUW9ebXdXo

1

u/uorderitueatit 13h ago

I was sitting here thinking. That cool AF steam n that small!! Hey what those hoses to ohhh nm

1

u/ChicagoHellhound 13h ago

That chain is going to rust so fast

1

u/lantern264 12h ago

Credits for his youtube channel

He does a lot of projects like this

1

u/vespers191 12h ago

I mean, neato, but now instead of just sweating into air you are now sweating inside a steam cloud.

1

u/kcstrom 11h ago

Thought I was on r/doohickeycorp

1

u/Mugpup 6h ago

Big deal my Stihl smokes 10x that much and takes 4x as long to cut through a log that size.

1

u/TechnicalPlatform182 2h ago

GabeN would be proud of that Steam Machine

1

u/northgacpl 54m ago

Mandatory in California..

0

u/hiro111 13h ago

This seems like a bad idea inherently. Steam is good at exerting massive torque at low speeds. It's basically the opposite of what a chainsaw needs. Also, you need to have a separate boiler and water tank to power it. That's not portable. This means that anything you want to cut needs to come to the saw instead of the other way around. That makes this effectively useless.