Holding Wood Still?

[Jon Lanier]

I realize my bandsaw is not going to cut these green logs round for me. Tom told me and I've seen others do it with the chain saw.

Question. How do you hold the wood still? I don't like just using the ground, that dulls the the blades quicker than anything.

Thanks everyone.

-Jon

[Roger Bell]

Make yourself a low wood trestle. Similar to a very short sawhorse, except with two horizontal top members, side by side, leaving a space to cradle the log lengthwise. Make the legs as you would a sawhorse. The length can vary, but under 2' long is enough. Height should be comfortable for cutting...or about thigh high. Any scrap lumber will do.

Attached is a link to a photo from Chris Billman's site. And he links you to another at Dave Peebles site.

http://www.chrisbillman.com/Projects/Sawbuck.htm

[Pete Jordan]

Jon,

I built this and it works really well.

http://www.laymar-crafts.co.uk/tip33.htm

[Bernie Weishapl]

Jon I built the sawbuck and it works really well.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Jon - I guess that I am very low-tech compared to everyone else - I just have two logs layed out side by side with about a 4" gap between them. I place log between these (parallel) and then rip it. Cut the ripped sections into approx blank size and last step is cut the corners off the blanks. Not as pretty as cutting on the bandsaw but the lathe knocks the remaining corners off real quick!

[Jon Lanier]

I'm sorry, I must not have made myself clear. What I need to know is how do I hold the blank down so I can cut off corners? One to balance better, two to cut down to my lathe size, three to save some time.

The picture below is what I'm talking about. How do I hold that piece of wood down while I attempt to cut off the corners. I put it on a stump but it wants to jump off. Saw buck is great but won't hold a little piece.

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/9182/log4ii2.jpg

[Mike Vickery]

Jon - I guess that I am very low-tech compared to everyone else - I just have two logs layed out side by side with about a 4" gap between them. I place log between these (parallel) and then rip it. Cut the ripped sections into approx blank size and last step is cut the corners off the blanks. Not as pretty as cutting on the bandsaw but the lathe knocks the remaining corners off real quick!
Finally someone with a lower tech approach then me. I have two scrap logs of ficus I use similiar to you, but I went through the trouble of screwing some srap plywood on both end to keep them together. They are little 8 inch logs.

[Mike Vickery]

I'm sorry, I must not have made myself clear. What I need to know is how do I hold the blank down so I can cut off corners? One to balance better, two to cut down to my lathe size, three to save some time.

The picture below is what I'm talking about. How do I hold that piece of wood down while I attempt to cut off the corners. I put it on a stump but it wants to jump off. Saw buck is great but won't hold a little piece.

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/9182/log4ii2.jpg
if you look at the link posted above http://www.chrisbillman.com/Projects/Sawbuck.htm
you will noticed he flattened both sides of the log. That way you have a flat surface for it to sit on. By the way even with a rounded bottom you can lay it in between to two rails to hold it steady. So the saw buck will work either way. The stump you are using will have problems with it rolling if not flattened.

Steve and my two log method works the same way the rounded end rest betwean the two logs. A friendly word of advise try to get in fairly round with the chainsaw or it will beat you up trying to rough it out. Personally I made up plywood disks with a hole in the center that I sharpie a circle on he log then trim pretty close to round. I use the circles to mark the center when it is time to mount on the lathe. I made them on the lathe useing a screw chuck for my most common sized blank. I have a homemade compass that I use for the larger sized blanks made from scrap wood. I loosley screw it to the middle of the log and it has holes drilles the size of sharpie all down it. Just put the sharpie in the hole you want and rotate it around.
http://www.enter.net/~ultradad/logcutting.html
Bill Grumbine site has an excellent picture tutorial of how he slabs out the log. Nothing on rounding since I believe he uses a bandsaw.

[Jim Becker]

A buck like Roger mentions or even just another hunk of log will do the job...

[Steve Schlumpf]

Jon - my bowl blanks look just like yours in that I don't slab them. The rounded portion of the blank allows for a real nice fit between the two logs. I then move the blank to the end of the two logs and remove the 2 outside corners. Put the chainsaw down - rotate the blank and remove the last 2 corners. Like I said - nothing hi-tech but it works for me.

[John Hart]

This is the kind of thing I use my electric chain saw for. On a small log that I want to trim up...I'll clamp it to my tablesaw table with F clamps and trim with the electric.

[Jason Christenson]

For a long time I just tried yelling at it to hold still, the results could have been better. Now I use a pallet and a quick grip clamp.

Jason

[Frank Kobilsek]

Steve's method plus a this thing God gave me called a foot.

Works for me

Frank

[Dusty Fuller]

Take the above mentioned plywood piece(s), and make a sort of ground-mounted screw chuck... use a few appropriately-sized screws, trim from the top down. Or mount in on its side and go length-ways. Perhaps making the plywood large enough to stand on will help. It might work.

Dusty

[Reed Gray]

Like Bill Grumbine does. You need to half the log (cut down the pith). Before you cut all the way through, cut off the round outside parts so that the blank has a flat spot to sit on while you lop off the corners. I actually have plywood strips cut from 1 to 8 inches wide (in half inch increments) by about 24 long. place one on the end of the log and mark the parallel lines, one down the pith, and one towards the outside of the log. Do this on both sides of the log, and on both ends. Mark straight lines as near as you can on the top of the log to line up your cuts. Some times, due to splits coming off the pith, and if you have a big log, you may want to cut a slab out of the middle, so just leave a 2 or 3 or whatever inch gap between the two bowl blanks. Make your cuts 90% through, then turn the blank over, and finish the cuts, or cut 90% through then cut off the sides, then finish cut through the center. Usually you only need a piece of bark or other scraps to hold the log from rocking while you are cutting the slabs. Hopefully you can make perfectly parallel cuts for your bowl blanks. Then I use a compass to scribe a circle and mark the center. Then lop off the corners or take to the bandsaw and cut the circle.
robo hippy

[Jon Lanier]

Steve's method plus a this thing God gave me called a foot.

Works for me

Frank

The Lord giveth and the chainsaw taketh away. :eek:

[Roger Bell]

To tell the truth, although I have a sawbuck similar to the one I recommended to you for use in the shop setting, much of the time I cut raw blanks in the woods rather than pack out the blanks and all the attendant waste. Often I might have to pack out a few blanks some distance to the vehicle, in addition to the saw and the gas, etc. I do use some saw techniques that I would in no way recommend to anyone who is not expert and long experienced with the power saw at the advanced level. Stick with the long, slow and perfectly safe ways and you will never go wrong. I also use my foot from time to time, not that I would ever recommend that to you, either. It is perfectly safe, sometimes for some people, depending.

For your revised question, I did see a post somewhere awhile back where a guy drilled some dog holes in a trestle-like sawbuck and then used the fancy Veritas (Lee Valley) hold down bench hook to secure the block for corner trimming. Looked to me like it could work fine as long as the work held in the hook and the operator had firm control of the saw and would never, ever, allow the chain to hit the metal hold down.

Simple hold down hooks can be had for cheap from other suppliers for under $10 and will work as well.