Carve a DIY Wooden Stool From a Log

Chainsaw furniture. Those two words don’t seem to co-exist easily in the same sentence. And while furniture carved out of a log using a chainsaw certainly does not qualify as fine, it is fun to make and perfectly useful. Until recently, I had never used a chainsaw for anything other than making firewood. But after a little research, I decided to give chainsaw furniture a try. I picked up my Stihl MS 261, went out to the firewood pile and selected a straight-grain log, and went to work.

Chainsaw Furniture Supplies

A few notes on equipment. Whether you’re equipped with a battery-powered chainsaw or a smaller gas-engine chainsaw, the process is the same.

My Stihl is a pro-duty saw equipped with an 18-inch bar. It’s designed for timber felling, tree work, and firewood production. Doing carving work with a saw this powerful goes pretty quickly. The chainsaw part of the job takes no more than about 30 minutes. The rest of the work is bark stripping, grinding, sanding, sealing, and painting. All that accounts for another two to three hours.

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I used a DeWalt right-angle grinder equipped with a wood-grinding wheel to smooth out the rough surfaces left by the saw. Then I sanded to achieve a pleasing surface finish. I’m simplifying, but not by much, to say that the project comes down to cut, grind, sand. Below are links to some of the supplies that I used that you might find helpful.

• Chainsaw: Stihl MS 261
• Right-angle grinder: DeWalt DW 840
• Wood grinding disc: Rollbin 5/8-Inch Arbor
• Random orbit oscillating sander: DeWalt DWE 6420
• Sanding discs: Diablo 100-grit and 150-grit

Preparing the Log

I selected a log about 14 inches in diameter and crosscut a piece out of it that was about 23 inches long.

Select as round a log as possible and a part of the log as free of knots as you can. Crosscut it neatly to 23 inches.

Next, using an old carpenter’s hatchet, I stripped the bark off the log, being careful not to gouge the wood. Remember that any damage you do removing the bark will have to be removed later by grinding and sanding.

A carpenter’s hatchet is a good tool for stripping bark. Find yourself a comfortable log to sit on and carve away.

Next, as close as you can, mark the center of the log with a carpenter’s pencil. Since the log doesn’t have a perfectly round circumference, it’s impossible to mark an exact center. Still, you can estimate it. From the approximate center, mark out three lines to the circumference using the pencil and a straight edge so that the end of the log is divided into three segments that are approximately equal.

Mark the log’s center with a carpenter’s pencil, then use a ruler or straight edge to divide the log into three equal sections.

Divide each of these sections in half and continue the marks down the side of the log for approximately 18.5 inches. The math: the seat is approximately 4.5 inches thick; the legs are about 18.5 inches long. Later, you will trim off 2.5 inches from the legs to produce a stool with a finished height of 20.5 inches. Mark crosshatches on every other section so that you know which three you’ll cut away and which three will remain to form the legs.

Working With the Chainsaw

Make initial cuts into the end grain of the log. Now lay the log on its side and trace along the pencil line with the tip of the saw. Stand the log back up and finish the vertical cuts.

With the log standing, make the first cuts in the end grain. The crosshatched areas are the portions to be cut away.

Tip the log on its side and trace the cut line with the. Tip the saw so its bar is aligned with the log’s center.

Repeat the three-cut procedure on each leg: A vertical cut into the end grain, a ripping cut through the side of the log, and then drop out with the saw's tip to remove the wedge-shaped cutoff. (Bonus: These pieces are perfectly sized for firewood.)

The procedure is the same for each leg: an end-grain cut, followed by a side grain cut.

Drop out the remaining wedge by making a horizontal cut with the saw’s tip worked down as close to the apex of the wedge as possible.

Once the legs are roughed out, lay the log down and trace the arch-shaped cuts with the tip of the saw. Stand the log up and finish making the arch cuts.

Lay the log on its side and finish cutting out the legs by making the arch-shaped cuts. Align the saw’s bar with the center of the log.

Smoothing. Trimming, and Painting

The surface left from the chainsaw is rough. You could leave the stool alone at this point, but if you want a slightly more finished work, you need to grind away some of the saw marks and sand the surface of the seat.

If you go this route, the most practical tool for this job is a right-angle grinder fitted with a wood-grinding wheel (these wheels are essentially disc-shaped rasps).

Smooth out the stool’s legs using a right-angle grinder and a wood-grinding wheel.

With the legs smoothed and their shape refined, stand the stool up and wedge it so it stands level. Mark a cut line around its circumference as shown so that the finished height of the stool will be 20.5 inches tall. Tip the stool on its side and saw on the cut line.

Rest a builder’s level on top of the stool and place shims under the stool’s legs to hold it in position. Use a wood block with a carpenter’s pencil taped to it to mark the cutline on the legs.

Lay the stool on its side to cut its legs to length. We used an ordinary carpenter’s handsaw to make the cuts that make the stool sit level and bring it to its final height of 20.5 inches.

Finish the stool by using a random orbit oscillating sander and 100- and 150-grit discs to smooth its outside surface and the seat. Use exterior wood filler to fill any ugly holes and cracks and then apply a clear transparent sealer or exterior wood stain. Apply a coat of latex primer on the inside of the legs; when that’s dry, apply a coat of flat black paint.

Brush a coat of exterior latex primer on the inside of the legs using a 2.5-inch paint brush. Also coat the bottom of the stool’s feet.

After the primer has dried, apply a coat of flat black exterior latex paint to the inside of the legs. Apply the paint on the bottom of the stool’s feet.

The paint was barely dry when my son Luke put the stool to work and found it the perfect height and size for comfortably roasting marshmallows around our firepit. I hope you find the little stool project enjoyable to make and even more so to use.