chain sawing suggestions?

[Paul Rains]

Any suggestions on making chain saw rough out blanks for NE any easier, I thought about going ahead and attaching faceplate where I want it and then find a way to screw it on a pipe welded or mounted to something heavy??? That way I could trim corners and side the way I want them to maximize my blank, my 14 inch bandsaw seems to always be a little low.

[Kevin McPeek]

A lot of guys just cut out circles of ply and screw them to the blank and saw around them. Just make a bunch of them up to the size you can swing on the lathe. One screw in the center is all you need.

[Nathan Hawkes]

Any suggestions on making chain saw rough out blanks for NE any easier, I thought about going ahead and attaching faceplate where I want it and then find a way to screw it on a pipe welded or mounted to something heavy??? That way I could trim corners and side the way I want them to maximize my blank, my 14 inch bandsaw seems to always be a little low.

Is your bandsaw a standard 14" without a riser--i.e. 6" resaw thickness capacity? I put a riser in mine, for 12" capacity. Anyway, when I'm sawing natural edge blanks, I start with a half-log section, I leave the corners on, and cut one or two off with the bandsaw at a very rough approximation of where they should be cut, then mark the biggest available circle on the flat part of the wood, and use the two corners I cut off as wedges to keep the blank from rolling over in the cut and binding, or worse. When i can't use the saw, I put the half log piece on top of the firewood pile as level as possible, and mark the corners with chalk or a crayon, and steady the dogs of the saw first. Yeah, its a PITA.

I've seen people use tie-down straps for securing things in the bed of a pickup truck as restraints, and small pieces of firewood (or some scrap corner pieces you might have already trimmed off) as wedges to hold the blank level, and cut away. You have to use another log section, or heavy sawhorses as the ballast to keep the log from moving. This method seems the best to me, but just make sure that you keep the strap as far away from your cut as possible, and keep the loose ends tucked in!! And, for the safety conscious readers, ALWAYS wear your kevlar chainsaw chaps! (I recommend Labonville's 12 layer "extreme chaps" that are UL class "A" rated for hotsaws)

[Paul Rains]

The safety thing is my concern, your right, I probably need to get riser blocks for band saw, but I can't keep up with spending on turning equipment in general, it is a big vacuum.
I need to be able to keep log cut off still when trying to true up corners and possibly width, it wants to run up chain saw blade, and it is hard to get to corners, I was looking for way to suspend it in middle using face plate. I was wondering if anyone had found a pipe with same threading and then mount pipe to something heavey and then mount blank in air for easy trimming about 3 ft up?

[scott schmidt grasshopper]

you might try making a sawbuck. I used a pair of pallets. cut off one pallets edge 2x4 then stick them interlaced into a V put this at the end of the wood pile and some wood on/ under the legs to hold it still. over time with shavings and such its pretty firm . I can then put my log in the V and cut into 1/2 log. then can stick a corner between the slates to make it stay put till i cut the corner off. rotate 90' and do it again. you have to watch for nails as you will hit the pallets time and again but. after it falls apart you can replace it cheap with another pallet.. if you wanted to make a sawbuck try 2x6 on the ends with several 2x4 at short intervals( say 8",16",24" from the end
ps when cutting corners off I try to get the dogs of the saw to the block as soon as possible to keep the saw from grabbing the block and throwing it at me

[Burt Alcantara]

...but I can't keep up with spending on turning equipment in general, it is a big vacuum.

Paul,
This is why it is called a vortex. We are all swallowed up in it.

Burt

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Anyone think of an engine stand? That just brought back memories of rebuilding engines, and they can be rotated around. That could work. 4 lag screws to hold the wood up.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Paul here's a good website that shows how to get a bowl blank and do it up off of the ground, I do basically the same but use a big stump to lay the log on and use cuoffs to wedge the halflog.
Anyway you should have this website bookmarked, as it has a lot of good info and all very down to earth, nothing to sell either just good info.

http://aroundthewoods.com/firewood01.shtml

[Wally Wenzel]

Paul, There is a plumbing part called a pipe flange that threads on a pipe that has a flange very much like a face plate has the counter sunk holes and all, that would work for what you have in mind. Wally

[Paul Rains]

Some great advice and tips, hopefully it will hlep others too.