Chainsaw Lathe

With one hand, I give the beam a first spin before the chain saw takes over to keep it spinning. No real danger there.
SETUP DESCRIPTION:
A beam supported by two large screws (half inch in diameter and seven inches long). Each screw is located at the center of the square ends. Each screw passed through a hole that is at the top of the metal support ground posts.
Before you screw, drill a hole with a long drill bit that is 3/16 of an inch smaller in diameter than the screws.
The ground posts were made of bed frames. But the top shinny silver part that has the hole in it came from an exercise machine. This part was about 5/16 of an inch thick. The metal that came out of the bed frame was too skinny and would have eroded the screws (and eventually cut them) while spinning. I cut the "L" shaped piece of metal that came from the bed frame in half and drove both pieces into the ground. The rest of the work involved was measurement taking and proper marking for each feature of the column.
To be completely safe, two additional poles can be inserted into the ground a couple of inches from the rotating beam. These poles will be located in front of the two areas of the beam that will remain square.
They will not interfere with the chain saw but will stop the beam from hitting you in the leg in the event that something goes wrong with the system of rotation that is hanging by two screws. Always inspect the screws every half hour to make sure that they are still intact and not getting skinnier. You need to use wood that offer resistance to the chain saw. If the wood is too soft, then the chain saw is harder to control. When shaping the narrow fragile sections to change them into rings (twin rings) I used the chainsaw like a small hammer, making quick contact with the wood. When I tie up the beam to stop it from rotating, I use the chainsaw like a paintbrush. I make several passes over the bumps until they blend with the rest of the section.

The more pressure you apply the faster the beam will rotate. You do not want it to rotate that fast. You do not want to have a section that is too skinny, because the beam can snap in two pieces. Before you can add some friction to slow down the rotation of the beam, you need to have a rounded section. This video clip shows how to cut the first round section.

The saw is not able to make the beam rotate from rest. This is why you see my had give the first initial spin.
PRPaul

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• column
• beam
• lumber
• post
• house
• homemade
• lumberjack

[ModConsoleAU]

i lol'd

[generatorblue]

@ModConsoleAU I am glad you did. I saw your nice little river. It looks like it is not always niece when there is a lot of rain. Beware of falling rocks and "big foot."

[tahwnikcufos]

There are just so many simpler, safer, and just plain better ways of doing the same thing - that it baffles me, why someone would even attempt something so ridiculous. The Amish guy down the road, with his "poor man's" wood lathe, could probably chuck one of these out in less than and an hour, and for sure, it would look better too.

[generatorblue]

@tahwnikcufos It baffles me that so many round columns with intricate designs get replaced by plain square ones because the alternative is cheap hollow columns made with glue. According to you if the Amish guy does it, it must be simple. Can you do better? People who work (or sculpt) with chainsaws have no objections to this use of the tool. But digital men always object. Kickbacks make chainsaws dangerous. This use of chainsaws is kickback free. Welcome to the lumberjack competition! Try again.

[emigrantgap]

this is goofy

[generatorblue]

@emigrantgap I agree but it worked for me. Thanks to this goofy stunt, all my columns look exactly as they did when the house was built a long time ago. I even added an extra column. It is wise to work the tools that you know how to use. In other words, if you can handle big chainsaws, this is a breeze that takes too long. Thirty years ago chainsaws use to scare me. I can relate to the strong negative reactions. Thanks for the comment!

[generatorblue]

@elpatenteu In the video "entitled chainsaw lathe revisited", I explained how I got in trouble with a chain that was too sharp and the wood too soft. The chain wanted to cut through the wood each time it touched it. I found myself constantly cutting too deep. Since I only did one every four years, I only remembered the major mistakes from the last time. I therefore made sure that the wood was harder and the chain not sharpened. I wanted a strong column. One made sixteen years ago is still strong

[generatorblue]

@elpatenteu I took me 30 minutes just to put the design markings (with a pen) on the beam. Once you setup the beam the way I did, you can make a two-inch area round manually and then put a belt around it powered by a motor (washing machine motor by example). With basic control, you will stay below 60 RPM. This could be the way to make a cheap lathe to turn a large column. I used motors to turn break drums while they were mounted (facing out) on the car axle. It took a chainsaw and two bolts.

[elpatenteu]

your chainsaw really dont seem cutting too,,,,,

[elpatenteu]

if that piece is 72 inch or less it take me less than 10 min to make it round whit my 1 1/4 roughing gouge.i only use 3 of my chiesel...

roughing gouge,bowl gouge and another one(i dont know the name)low angle tip for the details.in fact when we use a motorise cuting system(router grinder or chainsaw) the piece have to turn slowly as it possible in the reverse side direction about 60 rpm MAX.. less is better. if it's not the thoot juste dont have the time to do ther job.and the tool just float.