I may very well have out-thought myself with the one way bearing. Although it will work perfectly when driving the carriage into the saw, there is absolutely no good, practical way to disengage it after the log has been fully sawn so that the carriage can be returned to the other end. I may go back to the ratchet and paul, simply because it is so easy to disengage the paul from the ratchet and return the carriage. Due to the small size of the machinery, I can't depend on gravity to do too much. As a consequence, the lever or"paul" which engages the ratchet wheel would have a light tension spring to keep it engaged. By simply swinging the lever away from the ratchet wheel by hand, the carriage can be backed up by hand with no problem. Since there is a very distinct relationship between the stroke of the saw and the advance of the carriage, and the carriage stops but the saw doesn't, I'm not sure how you re-engage the "paul" at the correct notch on the ratchet wheel to maintain this relationship.
