The More Rewarding Woodpile

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Come along as the author of The Chain Saw Craft Book explains how to create useful house hold furnishings, artful crafts, and extra income-all with your chain saw. He calls it . . .

The best "beginner" project is a twolegged, split-log bench that-with altered dimensions-can easily become anything from a footstool to a picnic table. Let's start with a dry, well-seasoned, crack-free log that's at least 17" in diameter and about an inch shorter than your saw's guide bar. [EDITOR'S NOTE: Many of the chain saw techniques in this article should not be attempted by less-than-expert sawyers.]

With your project log cut to length, elevate and brace it for ripping by supporting it on a mound of scrap wood, as shown in Fig. 1-A. Be sure that the supporting scraps run parallel to the project log (to avoid setting up a possible kickback situation), and that the block to be ripped is firmly seated and not wobbly.

Now you're set to produce the short slabs that you'll need for the projects that follow. For these crafts, the slabs should be between 1-1/4" and 2-1/2" thick. To rip, first eye down your saw to align the guide bar with one of the outside edges of the log. Now, holding the saw parallel to the edge of the log, begin the first ripping cut. This first, halfround edge slab should be at least 2" thick, since it will serve as the top of a bench or table. (If you're ripping a large-diameter log, you may find it necessary to shut the saw off, rebrace the project log on its supports, clean the accumulated saw chips out of the cut, then restart the saw and continue. As always, pa tience is a virtue.) In order to keep the thickness and bevel of the slabs uniform on the second and subsequent cuts, hold the bar parallel with the first cut (Figs. 1-B, 1-C, and 1-D).

After ripping the entire log into slabs, choose two flat pieces to serve as the bench's legs. Legs for stools, low benches, and chairs will need to be about 13" high, while end tables and larger benches will require 16" legs. Now decide on a design for the legs, work it out on paper, and transfer it to the first of the two slabs. (If you don't like my design, as shown in Fig. 1-E, feel free to invent one of your own.)

Next, lay the marked slab on a flat piece of elevated wood (a stump about two or three feet tall works beautifully), and brace it so that it can't slide around while you're cutting. This can be safely accomplished by using nothing but one of your booted feet as a clamp if you keep that foot well away from the action, work slowly so as not to force the cut, and keep your eyes on what you're doing. You can also brace the slab with three wooden dowels driven firmly into holes bored into the elevated platform.

Begin the cut at the end of the slab farthest from you, using a smooth, sweeping, indownback motion that draws the saw toward. you and off to one side, as shown in Fig. 1-F. Never try to cut in-forward-up: There's too much risk of inducing a guide-bar kickback situation. To execute a curved cut without executing yourself, trace along the pattern line with the saw, making the first cut no more than 1/4" deep, and repeat the process until the slab is cut completely through. You may have to stand the slab on its tip in order to clean out the V in the bottom of the leg, using the saw . . . or do it with a chisel and mallet.

Now use the first leg as a pattern for the second, and repeat the entire process exactly.