My new Free Chainsaw bucking and ripping station

[Kathy Marshall]

Chainsawing at ground level or just above has been a major pain in my back :eek:, so a couple months ago I asked my trimmer friends to cut me a big, tall log the next time they took out a big palm tree. Well they took one out yesterday and I picked it up today after work. This thing is big, almost 3' diameter, and it is Heavy (it dwarfs my big mesquite root stump)! I was able to drag it off the trailer and when the base hit the ground it was still leaning on the trailer (keeping the tongue in the air), so I was able to hang off the tongue and lever the log into an upright position. I never would have been able to move it if it had fallen on it's side.
In the next few days I get the chainsaw out and cut a shallow v notch in the center to keep the logs I cut stable. The top of the log is at about hip level to me, so no more bending over :D which my back will appreciate and which should be much safer too.
Best of all it was free!
226421

[Doug W Swanson]

C'mon Kathy, core some bowls from it!

[Jeff Fagen]

Gee lady it's like you're feeding a furnace there!
:)

[Jon McElwain]

That's a nice hunk of wood! I bet it will see a lot of action over the years - if you can keep it off the lathe!

[Jon Prouty]

That poor trailer of yours! Pretty cool though.

JP

[robert baccus]

Neat chuck of wood? i think you should do a hollow form on it - video the whole thing and we'll get rich yeah!

[Bill Wyko]

Very nice. Being that big around should make a soild base for chopping up blanks. How much swing is your lathe? I want to see what the grain looks like in the Mesquite root behind it.:D

[Steve Campbell]

Wow Kathy that should be solid enough. I had to make a saw buck to get things up off the ground. I'm sure you are going to use that a lot.

Steve

[Tony De Masi]

Ah, but now you must lift your logs up to hip level. That's the reason I've kept mine low to the ground.

[Cory Norgart]

Sweet Kathy,,,,, Let er buck!!!!!

[Dale Miner]

Kathy,

Curious. You mention that you asked your tree cutters to let you know the next time they cut a large palm. Is there a particular reason you wanted Palm for your chainsawing stump?

And of course, here in Ohio, there ain't no palm trees and I'm more that a little envious of your weather that permits them in your area.

[Steve Schlumpf]

I hope it works out for you! I'm with Tony on this... now you have to lift those heavy logs into place. I just leave mine very low on the ground and roll into place for cutting. Makes the blanks a heck of a lot easier to lift once they are cut to a manageable size.

[Roger Chandler]

Tony and Steve mirrored my concern.........Kathy, here is what you need now.......construct yourself a gantry crane, then you won't have to lift........somewhere on the turners forum there was a guy who made one out of pressure treated lumber with wheels and all he has to do is lift the blank after putting a strap around it to bring it up to proper height.

[Wally Dickerman]

Kathy, do yourself a favor. Use your chain saw to cut a V into the top the block. It will be a big help in holding logs as you saw them down the middle.

[Kathy Marshall]

Well, when I got home today I cut a V on the top, grabbed a log that was about 9" diameter and very quickly turned it into 4 blanks. The V held the log very steady and my back was very happy! It's just a hair taller than perfect, so I'll cut it down about 4 - 6". Cutting out the V was like a hot knife through butter, so taking a little off the top should take all of about 20 seconds.

Very nice. Being that big around should make a soild base for chopping up blanks. How much swing is your lathe? I want to see what the grain looks like in the Mesquite root behind it.:D
Bill, my lathe is just a 12" swing. I've turned a few pieces of the mesquite root and it's nice, a little harder than the tree wood, tighter grained and darker. It's also more stable. I turned one closed bowl form, side grain using the whole diameter of the log, with the pith running right through sides at the widest point, and even months later there isn't even a hint of a crack in the pith. I really need to get that stump cut up.


Kathy,

Curious. You mention that you asked your tree cutters to let you know the next time they cut a large palm. Is there a particular reason you wanted Palm for your chainsawing stump?

And of course, here in Ohio, there ain't no palm trees and I'm more that a little envious of your weather that permits them in your area.
Dale, I knew I would never be tempted to turn my chainsaw block if it was palm, the same can't be said if I'd used a hardwood log. I also knew I'd have a better chance of getting a large diameter palm log than a tree log. I also won't have to worry about the palm log cracking or splitting.
We had a cold front move in today, got down to the low 60's brrrrrrrrr! It's been in the mid 80's and should get back up there this weekend.

Tony, Steve and Roger, lifting up the logs doesn't bother me so much, but bending over for any length of time is a killer. When I've got a big log, I can always cut it into sections on the ground so I have more manageable sized pieces to lift up.

I think it's going to work out well and hopefully I'll be better about getting my logs cut into blanks.

[Dan Forman]

Kathy--- so long as you are cutting smaller pieces, that looks like a great solution.

Here is the contraption I think Roger was referring to. I've been threatening to make one of these for myself.

Hilton Handcraft - The Easy-Lift Sawbuck (http://www.hiltonhandcraft.com/Articles/Sawbuck.asp)

I do the little stuff on a more traditional sawbuck, the big ones on a big short maple round that I can roll the logs to, but it sure takes a toll bending over like that.

Dan

[Roger Chandler]

Kathy--- so long as you are cutting smaller pieces, that looks like a great solution.

Here is the contraption I think Roger was referring to. I've been threatening to make one of these for myself.

Hilton Handcraft - The Easy-Lift Sawbuck (http://www.hiltonhandcraft.com/Articles/Sawbuck.asp)

I do the little stuff on a more traditional sawbuck, the big ones on a big short maple round that I can roll the logs to, but it sure takes a toll bending over like that.

Dan

Hi Dan,

that was not the one I was thinking about, but that is not a bad option at all! The one I was thinking of was a gantry crane a guy built out of pressure treated lumber, had 4 wheels on it and had a chain hoist and a strap on it for putting underneath the log........just roll the log into the strap, and lift.......roll the whole unit over to his sawbuck and cut the blanks.

I searched for the thread, but could not find it..........it was over a year ago and was pretty ingenious and would work well where someone had room for it like Kathy appears to have in the pics she shows of her woodpile.

Thanks for showing us the one you did .........that has definite possibilities.

[Cory Norgart]

Kathy, do yourself a favor. Use your chain saw to cut a V into the top the block. It will be a big help in holding logs as you saw them down the middle.


+1 on Wally with the V cut, safety, safety, safety......