Saw horse for chainsaw – ideas? (mcmoonter to the forum please)

I’d like a saw horse to use when cutting wood with the chainsaw, for safety, as I’m not keen on chopping my foot off.

But, I don’t want to spend much (any) money if possible. I’m competent at carpentry, and capable of some pretty agricultural welding/fabrication. Have spare timber & metal around the farm I can salvage.

So, has anybody else made one, what size logs can they cope with, and any decent commercial designs out there that could be copied?

Photo’s/links appreciated.

Cheers,

Sam

Make a wooden X. Slightly smaller on the top bit. Make 2 more. Join them with the middle one not in the middle. Try to avoid nails where saw may go.
Handier way is two rows of stakes in the ground. File the gap with wood and cut.
I use railway sleepers in the bottom to keep everything off the ground.

I used an old square gate post I had hanging around for the base and then attached 4 pairs of uprights (old fence rails) and added a diagonal brace between each pair of uprights – this stops the saw hitting the floor, adds some strength and stops thinner branches from rolling around in the ‘horse’ while your cutting them.
It holds a lot!
Don’t use metal…… you’ll realise why when you accidentally try to cut it with the chainsaw and then spend the next half hour sharpening you no-knackered chain.
Not the best picture but you can see mine to the right of the picture below. I can take a better pic tomorrow if needed.
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I made this years ago. Based on a metal cantilever product you can buy.

Great for cutting longer cords.

then I made something a bit like sharkbaits

Then when I could stack straight cords from the coppice easier, I now just cut them in the stack

Stoner isn’t there a risk of kickback from the tip touching branches deeper in the stack with your last method?

I copied the one that was here when we came but modified it a little. I made it from 4×4 fence posts which I drilled and bolted together with threaded rod. Then added the long and cross bearers.

Make sure there is a decent gap drop to the highest bearer from the crux of the log bearer. If it’s too close you will cut through it. If you can, recess the bolts to stop your chainsaw catching them. Space the X legs so that your middle cut through the closer two will cut your logs to fit your firebox.

I tend to fill the cradle with a number of logs and cut them together. Keep light stuff at the bottom and weigh it down with a big log on top, there’s less chance of anything leaping around.

With long lengths I rack it up and cut it like Stoner, sometimes while it’s still on the trailer.

Old one in the foreground, new one behind.

I bought one of these, http://www.portek.co.uk/LogMaster_Index.html Works a treat, and safely, too.

sb – in theory, yes.
But 1) a not too powerful saw with sensible length depth gauges and not too long a bar and 2) good technique means Ive not had the saw give any indication of kicking up at all.

I cheated and bought an Oregon ‘Easy-Cut’ saw horse – it’s been ideal for my needs. Just kind of ran out of time/enthusiasm to make one… pathetic, really.

Cheers chaps, just what I was after. A couple of questions: I presume when using the X type
horse you space the two closest X’s at the length you want your logs, push the logs through to the end of the horse, then cut it tight against the next X?

I like the look of the cantilever type too as it holds the log rigid and stops the arse end kicking up without having to have weight on top.

Home made version, just load it up, a few cuts=lots of logs:

Hell, you lot make fancy devices to cuts stacks don’t you. Mine has just 2 rows of scrap wood beaten into the ground.

Todays effort

My latest is a clone of richmars. I can get half a trailer load out of one filling, which feels like a lot less work than doing one log at a time (might not be in reality though).