Fixture to rough bowl blanks with a chainsaw
I’m looking for safe ways to rough cut bowl blanks, mostly from large rounds (think 20-40 inches in diameter), for mounting on my lathe. Ideally using a chainsaw.
I’ve tried roughing out bowl blanks with my bandsaw and that’s fine when I start with logs under a certain size (say 18 inches round), but my bandsaw isn’t big enough (nor does it feel safe) with larger rounds.
I’m thinking about building a cradle to hold log blanks vertically (grain oriented vertically), but looking for inspiration. I know I need to hold the logs up off the ground to avoid running my saw into the pavement underneath.
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Cutting blanks the easy way
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mike Nathal
I have seen a video showing Johannes Michelson (the hat guy) cutting large blanks with a chain saw. It was all free-hand. First he cuts down the middle along the pith. I am pretty sure the next step was to make a parallel cut on the bark side so the piece can sit flat on either side. ...The bigger the blank, the lower to the ground you want the sawbuck, to avoid the need for heavy lifting. ...
For ease of ripping a big log down the pith nothing beats a bandsaw mill! I have a small manual woodmizer behind the barn and have cut truck loads of blanks for people who like to turn bowls and for club wood auctions. Since the woodmizer normally needs a log about 4' long to support and clamp it sufficiently, I build a sacrificial fence by fastening two 2x12s together with lag screws in to an L shape, set than on the bed, and clamp the short sections to that for cutting. This also lets me easily cut a perfectly parallel flat spot on the top if desired. I often take the opportunity to cut a few 8/4 or 16/4 short pieces to cut up further and air dry for smaller bowls, platters, vessels, spindles.
It's a lot quicker and easier to get the logs in longer sections then cut them up with the chainsaw later but more often people bring shorter pieces since they load them by hand.
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I used to use forks or skidding tongs on the tractor bucket on the tractor to load even long logs on the mill. These days I use a new machine that will easily unload and carry a 2500lb log and either set it gently on the mill or hold it off the ground for chainsawing. (BTW, chains last longer if you hold the log off the ground and hose the dirt and rocks off the bark.)
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And BTW, I have no trouble cutting a log section down the pith with a chainsaw with a normal blade (not ground for ripping). I hold it an an angle rather than straight across the end grain, or parallel with the grain if the blank is short enough. I get long shavings. Most of what I cut up by one means or another I section into slabs/planks or turning squares from 1x1 up to 12x12 and put them up for drying. I have no interest in turning a bunch of big bowls. Enough people do that. The first picture is of a few blanks cut from a large stash of ambrosia maple. The tree was over 3' in diameter.
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One other thing about chainsaws. After many years of using typical Stihl chains I finally bought a carbide toothed Stilh chain. So far I've used it to cut up a LOT of logs, some with dirt embedded in the bark, and it does not yet show signs of getting dull. A friend used his for years before sharpening. The cost for carbide chains has dropped a lot over the last decade or so. I think I paid $60 from Baileys On Line.
JKJ