Having seen someone make a wooden bench using only a chainsaw and a sledgehammer, with no nails or screw, I thought I'd have a go, but making a table for use at the camp in the woods rather than a bench. As it was my first attempt I decided to use an old piece of sweet chestnut I'd had sitting around for a few years.
First I raised it up off the ground:
![DSC_4113](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/318/19650399772_6554372114_z.jpg)
Then used the chainsaw to rip it down the middle, cross-cutting when I had a long enough section:
![DSC_4115](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/474/19631286476_d1f1b7b761_z.jpg)
Then I put the two pieces side by side on some bearers. I flipped one of them round though, so that the combined width of the two of them is about the same all the way along.
![DSC_4116](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/483/19631288246_102f662da6_z.jpg)
To get them to fit together nicely, I then used the chainsaw to rip along the gap between them, then push them together. Having repeated this a few times I got a nice fit:![DSC_4118](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/499/19469454598_b806978938_z.jpg)
The next step was to make a 'dovetail joint'. I made two cuts with the chainsaw like this:
![DSC_4119](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/391/19631290826_ba4f5c3c47_z.jpg)
Then used a bore (or plunge) cut, followed by a bit more fiddling around with the saw to get it looking like this. You can see I've also used the saw to roughly shape a wedge of wood to go into the gap as well:
![DSC_4123](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/525/19469456968_ee8cb9b7ae_z.jpg)
Having inserted the wedge into the gap, I then used the chainsaw to carefully rip along both sides of the wedge, taking care to take wood off the wedge rather than the table top logs.
![DSC_4125](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/534/19036561393_236bdcd7c5_z.jpg)
Having repeated that several times, the wedge now fitted nicely:
![DSC_4126](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3746/19661958981_26948736ef_z.jpg)
![DSC_4127](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/425/19631295956_5d62311556_z.jpg)
After using the sledgehammer bang it securely into place, I then used the chainsaw to trim off surplus wood, so it looked like this:
![DSC_4130](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/372/19469462458_1cc4227961_z.jpg)
Then did it all over again at the other end:
![DSC_4131](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3792/19034917284_af592e84a1_z.jpg)
For the legs, I used the chainsaw to rip another log in half, and made four pieces like this:
![DSC_4136](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/491/19631300586_b1a95eb858_z.jpg)
Then I used a bore cut with the chainsaw to make holes in the table top, trimmed the tops of the legs, and hammered them through the holes:
![DSC_4138](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3773/19469511630_8b24226083_z.jpg)
Here it is with four legs in place:
![DSC_4140](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/500/19631303156_8f1ef3d7cb_z.jpg)
Of course, when I turned it over it was far from level!
![DSC_4142](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/387/19470883099_3d05b6ee0f_z.jpg)
But a bit of trimming on the ends of the legs got that sorted:
![DSC_4143](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/525/19657483325_ed4009d2f5_z.jpg)
The final step was then to use the saw to cut off the bits of leg poking through the top, and tidy up any rough spots:
![DSC_4145](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/316/19469473038_9d7e72e45c_z.jpg)
![2015-06-29 13.22.13](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3803/19650423752_f1bc7b0ea7_z.jpg)
![2015-06-29 13.40.00](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/404/19470889729_1933096c12_z.jpg)
Next time I make one I'll video it...
Mike
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