Chainsaw carving – Carving with the chainsaw

Chainsaw carving is a special way of shaping wood with a machine. Originally from the USA, chainsaw carving has now also become an independent form of sculpture in Germany. There are also courses and symposia in many places.

What requirements does chainsaw carving place on chainsaws?

Not all chainsaws are suitable for chainsaw carving: It is important that the machine and blade are light manoeuvrable and easy to handle. Unlike chainsaws for forestry work in the forest, a carving saw does not focus on cutting performance. Rather, the chainsaw, guide bar and chain should be well matched to each other and to the work to be done.

If the saw is too heavily motorised, this can lead to increased wear on the guidebar and chain. Powerful chainsaws generally have a higher weight. They are difficult to guide, especially when carrying out very detailed and delicate work. Overpowering can also lead to dangerous situations.

The chainsaw

The mainsaw should be as light and handy as possible for chainsaw carving, so it is also possible to work comfortably with the machines for longer periods of time. It is therefore advisable to use special carving chainsaws. At bildhau you will find chainsaws from the Japanese manufacturer ECHO. These carving saws have a low weight, perfect handling and very good balance. This also makes them very popular in the chainsaw carving scene – the machines are suitable for professional carvers, but can also be used very well in the hobby sector.

In principle, it is of course also possible to retrofit an existing chainsaw with a carving bar (please pay attention to the type of mount!) and a corresponding chain. However, care should always be taken to ensure a balanced ratio between bar length and chainsaw power!

The carving sword

There are various names for the blade of your chainsaw: chainsaw blade, carving bar, carving bar, carving sword.

A short and narrow blade is important for chainsaw carving: This allows the machine to be guided very easily and precisely and enables you to carve out even the smallest details to optimum effect. A blade tip that is as narrow as possible also ensures that the chainsaw has as low a kickback tendency as possible, which not only makes working more comfortable and precise, but also much safer.

The carving blades from CANNON, which you can obtain from  bildhau with the ECHO chainsaws, have proven very successful for chainsaw carving. Due to their design, the carving blades already have a low kickback tendency.

The radius of the sword tip of the carving swords that you can find at  bildhau is 2 cm (the term for this format is "dime") and has an even lower kickback tendency than the so-called "quarter" tips with a radius of 2.5 cm.

The saw chain

Since cutting performance is not the main focus of carving chainsaws, small chains can be used. Chains with a 1/4 inch pitch are common in the carving sector. They are more precise than chains with a 3/8 inch pitch, for example. The chain pitch describes the distance between the rivet pins. It is measured from centre to centre.

Another variable of saw chains is the chain width (width of the drive links, usable width of the guide bar) and is 1.1 mm or 1.3 mm for carving chains, for example.

The third variable is the number of driving elements.

The relationship between blade length and chainsaw power

In order to prevent unnecessary wear, but also to make working with the chainsaw safer and more comfortable, it is important to ensure that the length of the blade and the power of the chainsaw are in a sensible ratio to each other: If you want to work with a 45 cm blade, for example, it is not sensible to install it on a 1.5 hp chainsaw, as the machine is too weak for it. On the other hand, it can be very dangerous if you install a very short blade on a high-powered machine – it has far too much power!

Saw chain sharpening

Like all woodworking tools, saw chains need to be as sharp as possible to enable comfortable, clean and precise work. Saw chains can be sharpened relatively easily by hand using a chainsaw file. The sharpening angle must be observed. A sharpening grid, which is placed on the bar with magnets, can help with this.

Further processing of the chainsaw sculpture

The sculptures formed with the chainsaw can of course be further processed, e.g. with ARBORTECH- or SABURRTOOTH milling tools for the angle grinders , the flex shank or other milling machines . If you prefer a sanded surface, the first steps can also be done very well and quickly with  sanding fans and a drill or straight sander.

Occupational safety

Even though carving chainsaws are small and easy to handle, working with a chainsaw is fundamentally dangerous and can lead to serious injuries if handled carelessly or inexperienced. If you have never worked with a chainsaw before, please seek professional instruction on how to use the machine.

Please also ensure work safety by wearing appropriate protective clothing: cut protection trousers, head protection/helmet, ear muffs , safety or cut-resistant shoes, cut-resistant jacket if necessary and cut-resistant gloves.