A friend had asked me if I had ever chainsaw carved a chair from a stump. I told her I had not, & she replied with “Would you like to try?” & I accepted. This was my first attempt at carving anything that was still rooted into the ground so I was feeling the pressure. It took a while to size the stump up and figure out how to make my cuts to get the desired look I was going for. I ended up just spray painting a line to help keep the design somewhat straight and just going for it. I used several different size Stihl chainsaws for hogging out the majority of the chair, then I used the ArborTech TURBO Plane to smooth out some of the places that had rough cuts.
The wood was a little difficult to do any sort of detail work or nifty designs because it had a good amount of rot to contend with but the shape is there. It’s functional. There are a few places on the back where I cut too deep but it doesn’t affect the function of the stump. If I wanted to I could take some of my waste and cut a wedge to glue in, but since it was a practice project, my friend told me not to worry about it. So here’s the process.
What design elements would be cool for the next chair I try?
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