Carl Heth`s Oxen-Powered Drag Saw

Carl Heth's Oxen-Powered Drag Saw
C
arl Heth of Rolla, Missouri, recently finished
constructing a drag saw powered by a sweep he hooks
to his oxen.
He started with a 46 IH baler main drive gear box
on its side to which he attached a large steel plate
to connect the sweep arms. The base sits on 7-inch
channel iron. Each full revolution of the sweep turns
the shaft 7 times. He estimates his oxen travel at four
rounds per minute which translates to a shaft speed of
28 rpms.
He found the blade at an old antique shop in Rolla. It
measures 5 feet long and 1/8 inches thick. It has a right
and left cutter with a drag tooth in the center. Carl built
a 24" flywheel using his circle cutter and welding a 1/4inch by 1-inch flat strap around the edge to prevent it
from flexing as the pitmen arm traveled back and forth.
Carl Heth
This photo shows the square plate mounted on the main drive gear box. One sweep arm is attached to the plate with hardware
available to attach a second sweep arm.
Here we can see the flywheel, pitmen arm and saw blade.
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A closeup of the saw blade.
Carl increased the speed of the saw by 75% with a
gearbox he made using roller chain. With the increase
in speed, Carl estimates that, at a nice walk, the blade
provides 45 strokes per minute and will cut through an
8" log in about 45 seconds. He then added a counterweight to the flywheel to improve the trueness of its
rotation.
The entire setup was built small enough that he could
take it apart and fit it into his trailer with the cattle to
put on demonstrations.
Carl is well known to many Rural Heritage readers.
His experience with draft animal power goes back
many years when he drove ponies and then draft
horses. An injury several years ago left him without
much feeling in his right hand and he decided it was
time to give up the lines. Driving cattle, something he
had never done before, suddenly appealed to him as it
did not require sensitive control with his hands.
He had been an accomplished teamsters with large
hitches of ponies and horses and was soon earning a
reputation with large hitches of oxen. He served as
an instructor and lecturer at last month's Midwest
Ox Drovers Association Gathering held at Tiller's
International in Scotts Mills, Michigan.
When he is not working his cattle, Carl works as a
self-employed carpenter. And when he isn't doing that,
he is often in the kitchen, baking cakes. A few years
ago he started baking cakes and sculpting them in a
variety of shapes. He brought a cake shaped like an ox
yoke and bows to the Gathering last month.
His two sheds are filled with tools, equipment and
raw materials. And at the edge of his pasture stands a
round barn he built himself.
Next on his list of things to build is a sweep-powered
12-volt generator to charge batteries.
—JM
A view of the flywheel counterweight.
A good view of the blade as it enters the log.
The gearbox mechanism Carl built to increase the saw speed.
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Carl demonstrated the saw last June with a young pair of steers providing the power at Ozark Heritage Days held each year
at nearby Big Spring Park.
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