Things You'll Need:
- Safety gear.
- To carve you'll need two saws, a basic "firewood saw" for blocking out and a small saw set up for detail carving.
- A bark spud or sidewalk ice scraper for peeling logs.
- A lumber crayon.
- Reference photos
- Help and advice from pros.
- A good imagination, a desire to create and a love of wood!
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Step 1
This moose was 100% chainsaw carved by Jim Rourke of Pa. and required gluing seven logs together.Basic chainsaw skills are needed to learn chainsaw carving. If you have little or no experience with a chainsaw please be sure to get someone with experience to show you the dangers involved and the methods of safe operation. Chainsaw carving involves using a chainsaw abnormally as compared to firewood cutting. Until you are very skilled with a regular chainsaw use only saws with carving bars to learn chainsaw carving or sculpting and stick to small logs that are fastened down when working. Carving bars are bars that taper to small diameter ends and are categorized as "dime tip" or "quarter Tip' and "Toonies". Dime tips are the size of a dime on the end, quarter tips are the size of a quarter and toonies are slightly larger than quarter tips. Remember that the smaller the tip the less chance of kickback there is so they are safer to use...but all chainsaws are dangerous so wear all safety gear! See below for where to purchase carving bars.
If you have experience already with chainsaw then you can use your basic firewood saw to "rough out" or "block out" carvings, which means to do the basic starting cuts that roughly define your ultimate sculpture. A .325 or 3/8 low profile pitch chain in semi-chisel are good roughing out saw chains to use. -
Step 2
Chainsaw carvings can also be painted like this snowy owl with exterior latex paints.Safety is of upmost importance when chainsaw carving. After you've acquired saws you'll need saftey wear. Chainsaw resistant chaps, protective glasses, work boots and hearing protectors are required. A safe area to work where onlookers are prohibited from getting too close should be cordoned off or poultry netting can be used around a canopy tent to stop flying chips from hurting someone nearby. A chainsaw can throw chips and chunks of wood quite far or a chain may even fly off and not get caught by the saw's chain-catcher and seriously injure someone, so please take all precautions. Many people have no idea how dangerous it can be to approach someone running a chainsaw so make it impossible for them to do so. You'll be engrossed in your carving so don't let surprises happen.
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Step 3
A swimming river otter carved from an aged oak root system found in the woods. The wood inspires!To carve of course you'll need wood to carve. Softwoods are better for the beginner than hardwoods such as oak. White Pine is excellent, cedar is also great. Poplar is used widely but tends to check (crack) more than white pine. Hemlock gets "shakes" and isn't very good. Shakes are seperations that follow the rings of the tree through the log. Elm is too stringy, boxwood is nicely grained. Learn what grows in your area and what's available cheaply or free from sawmills, landscapers and tree services. Sometimes they want to get rid of wood from jobs and won't charge you for it. Sawmills may have oddly shaped trunks that won't go through a mill so ask about them and the weird shapes or crotches may give you carving ideas! Green logs work fine.
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Step 4
A catalpa log transformed into a St. Francis sculpture using only chainsaws.Now that you have the tools, safety gear, the log and a place to work you are ready to begin the process of creating a work of art from a raw log. Stand the log up so it's steady and take the bark off with a bark spud or ice scraper by getting under the bark and prying it off. This will save your chain from hitting grit and dulling. Use a lumber crayon or marker to sketch your design on the log. Approach the log from all sides and think three dimensionally. Having a reference picture to look at will help you visualize your subject in the log. You want to picture the completed sculpture in the log and in your head before ever making a cut.
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Step 5
Native American subjects like this Buffalo Warrior are popular chainsaw carving projects.Now that you're physically ready to start carving it's time to seek guidance and advice, maybe you'll want to take a class, attend an event or competition, visit some websites or read some books and watch a few video tapes to learn the processes involved. Following are resources for you to check into that will help you tremendously as a chainsaw carver, even if you have already done some chainsaw carving. Good luck and I hope you enjoy this extreme art form for a long time!
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Step 6
These three owlets are carved from a large sycamore branch by chainsaw, then sanded and stained.There are a few chainsaw carving guilds you can join; The United Chainsaw Carvers' Guild, http://www.uccg.org/index.html and The Cascade Chainsaw Sculptors Guild at http://theccsg.com/ Both offer newsletters and very helpful websites with forums for showing and viewing chainsaw art work and interacting with other carvers.
The National Woodcarvers Association (NWCA) publishes a fantastic magazine called Chip Chats that covers all types of carving styles and methods. Becoming a member is highly reccomended.
A very popular discussion forum that chainsaw carvers from all over the world visit regularly is called The Carving Post and can be found at http://www.network54.com/Forum/118564/
Visit this other great site known as chainsaw sculptors.com at http://www.chainsawsculptors.com/index.htm. Here you will find a forum, supplies, tools, books, videos, on-line contests and lots more good info. There's also a listing service here of carvers and a page where you can post an ad if you are looking for a carver in your area. -
Step 7
Chainsaw carving saw suppliers include all the chainsaw manufacturers such as Husqvarna, Echo, Stihl, Red Max, Jonsered, Poulan, John Deere, Makita, Efco, Tanaka and others. Buy from a reputable dealer.
For chainsaw carving specialty tools, books and videos try; ChainsawSculptor's.com, or Bailey's Logging Supply at http://www.baileysonline.com/ or www.loghomestore.com or http://chainsawsculpture.com/.
