I found another way to saw short logs on an m8. I made a wooden bed upon which to place the log. I made it 14 inches wide by 8 feet long. I made it from two-by stock, glued to make the width (one two-by-eight and two two-by-fours as I recall.). I added two two-by-fours to the bottom of the bed between the two m8 log supports. I glued and screwed them to the bottom of bed. I placed them over to overlap the joints in the bed above them, just to provide some extra strength to the assembly. They were of a length to keep the bed from sliding in the length-wise direction between the m8 log supports.
I clamped the bed to the m8 using the two m8 log dogs/clamps that came with the m8. This keeps the bed from moving side to side. The log itself is not secured using the regular m8 dogs. Just the bed itself is secured.
The log is placed on the bed and held in place by two pieces of angle iron, one on each end of the log. The angle iron was previously drilled in several places so screws can go through without interference. Screws are driven horizontally through the holes in the angle iron and into the endgrain of the log and also vertically through the angle iron and into the bed. This holds the log securely in place.
At this point the first cut can be made on the log without the possibility of the log moving.
After the first cut I turn the log over and secure it in place again using the angle iron method. However, this time, because the bottom of the log is now flat, I can use smaller angle iron. (3/4" angle iron, about 14" long, although the length is not very important. That's about 35 cm long of ~2 cm angle iron.) Small angle iron is better (e.g. 3/4") than big angle iron because one can cut more of the board without hitting the angle iron with the chainsaw. Note, for the first cut big angle iron is better than 3/4” angle iron, for reasons that will become evident to anyone who tries this method, but after the first cut small angle iron is better for reasons just discussed.
It takes a little time to secure the board to the bed using the angle iron and screws, but actually not that much time. Eventually the bed might get chewed up by the screws used in securing the logs, but one can do a lot of logs before this happens. I don't know how many, but probably dozens or maybe even hundreds of short logs. Anyway, if that is a concern one could patch the screw holes with glue-covered match sticks or glue covered toothpicks and get even longer use from the bed.
I tried this method with one log so far, and it worked quite well for me.
I saw a similar method in a video somewhere, i.e. using angle iron to secure the logs to the bed at the ends of the logs, but I can't remember where I saw it, so I can't give proper credit to the originator of the idea.
I'm a lot happier now with my purchase of the full-size m8 than I was before. For a while I was starting to wish I had bought the smaller farmers m8 because of the short log issue.
Now, if I can only figure out how to convince my chain saw to be less thirsty..., but that's another story I guess.
