# so i had a crack at free handing a couple slabs



## porky616 (May 2, 2010)

whilst cutting some firewood last weekend i thought id have a go at cutting a couple slabs freehand. was a little easier than i thought but it was only a small log that i could stand up and cut down it. mistakes i know i made were using a way to long bar, log is 22" and i used 36" bar, and i used standard crosscut chain. but over all im pretty happy with my first time effort. any tips or hints would be much appreciated
 aaron


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## mtngun (May 2, 2010)

Pretty straight. Are you hooked yet ?


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## porky616 (May 2, 2010)

oh yeah, hooked me big time. more this week i hope, feel bad for all the good wood ive burnt that could have been slabbed


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## BobL (May 5, 2010)

porky616 said:


> whilst cutting some firewood last weekend i thought id have a go at cutting a couple slabs freehand. was a little easier than i thought but it was only a small log that i could stand up and cut down it. mistakes i know i made were using a way to long bar, log is 22" and i used 36" bar, and i used standard crosscut chain. but over all im pretty happy with my first time effort. any tips or hints would be much appreciated
> aaron



When you freehand and cut straight down don't rock or see saw your saw - just cut straight down and you won't get those jagged/stepped edges.


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## porky616 (May 6, 2010)

BobL said:


> When you freehand and cut straight down don't rock or see saw your saw - just cut straight down and you won't get those jagged/stepped edges.



thanks for that bob, i was getting a bit tired in the arms and let it sit on the dawgs. 30" bar next time for a little less weight and make sure ive got plenty of time so i dont have to rush it


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## bigbadbob (May 6, 2010)

You did good, I take my 026 in the bush to freeslab cedar for the BBQ and it's not that easy to get the wood flat like that!!!


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## Cowboy Billy (May 6, 2010)

Looks Good. Thanks for the tip Bob

I freehand slabbed a white birch last winter. I cut it off high and sawed the trunk while it was still on the stump. I needed some coat hooks and boot drying racks next to the stove. It was a good thing the cut side went to the wall as it was pretty jagged and a little twisted. Thats why I ended up with one long one and two short ones. The short one was a long one that was too twisted to sit on the wall.






Dad and me






Oops forgot. I sawed a cedar in half for my wood rack.

Billy


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## Stihl088stock (May 8, 2010)

shoot, my alaskan mill can't do a whole lot better...of course, I haven't taken the time to make or buy the aluminum "ladder" setups...


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## jimdad07 (May 9, 2010)

Not too bad. I find that a chalk line with red chalk goes a long way for making straight cuts. I say you did just fine though.


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## HUCKLEBERRY (May 10, 2010)

Since I'm not sure how much freehand chainsaw work you've done I'll throw this out there. If you'd like to take the freehand stuff a bit further "brushing" is a good technique to quickly get rid of the "gouges" and high spots. If you use a bar long enough to reach all the way across your workpiece so that you can just work the flat part of the bar it's not too hard. Brush diagonally to kinda make an x with the bar across the gouges and not into them, the rest is just experimenting with RPM and stroke. I've seen some guys that could produce an amazingly flat surface in a hurry. Just something to try if you haven't already.


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## porky616 (May 11, 2010)

HUCKLEBERRY said:


> Since I'm not sure how much freehand chainsaw work you've done I'll throw this out there. If you'd like to take the freehand stuff a bit further "brushing" is a good technique to quickly get rid of the "gouges" and high spots. If you use a bar long enough to reach all the way across your workpiece so that you can just work the flat part of the bar it's not too hard. Brush diagonally to kinda make an x with the bar across the gouges and not into them, the rest is just experimenting with RPM and stroke. I've seen some guys that could produce an amazingly flat surface in a hurry. Just something to try if you haven't already.



those slabs were my very first attempt, i will give that a try next time.


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## porky616 (Jul 7, 2010)

had another go at slabbing today, tried it laying down. worked ok but i couldnt get them as even as when i stood the last log up and cut down. pics are a bit average from my phone. and yeah the cut is a bit average.


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## betterbuilt (Jul 7, 2010)

I watched a guy from Brazil freehand a log. The log was somewhat suspended from the the top of the tree holding it up. He got up on the log and plunged the saw in about 6 inches from the end and ripped it for about 8 feet. He did put some shims in so the saw didn't pinch. He went back and made another cut. When he was done he cut the two ends off and he had made at least ten boards. They were as good as a chainsaw mill. I bet they weren't off more than an 1/8 inch. The saw he was using was a craftsman with a 18 inch bar. The way it was throwing chips I would have thought it was a lot bigger saw.


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## ChainsawmanXX (Jul 7, 2010)

I had some spalted maple that i was eager to cut up! i grabbed my old mac 10-10 (i love ripping with this saw by the way its so easy to handle and pulls out shavings up to 2.5 inches long!) this was probably my 8th time ripping small chunks of wood (everyone is right it is kind of addicting!) i put a chalk line across there cut off three sides and put it through my Stenner resaw.. i got probably 15 6"x20" long boards out of "firewood."


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## BobL (Jul 7, 2010)

ChainsawmanXX said:


> I had some spalted maple that i was eager to cut up! i grabbed my old mac 10-10 (i love ripping with this saw by the way its so easy to handle and pulls out shavings up to 2.5 inches long!) this was probably my 8th time ripping small chunks of wood (everyone is right it is kind of addicting!) i put a chalk line across there cut off three sides and put it through my Stenner resaw.. i got probably 15 6"x20" long boards out of "firewood."



In CS milling speak, what you describe isn't considered ripping , but noodling. The major limitation to noodling is that one is of course limited to the length of the bar. When noodling the cutter top plat slices through fibres at very shallow angles, certainly less than 45º, whereas CS ripping is when the chain cutter top slice through wood fibres at higher angles usually close to 90º. CS noodling, its like planing along the grain, CS ripping is like planing across the grain.


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