I talked to a neighbor I met in the neighborhood workshop, he told me he had around 2000 mm x 150 mm, each dried logs of cherry and juniper. The juniper I figure I can carve into kitchen utensils, and the cherry can be used for tool handles.

The problem is I’m a complete beginner to woodworking. I have no clue how I should go about preparing the stock for this. I have a set of chisels, a Stanley No.5, Stanley No.4½, all of which I have the ability to sharpen. I have no hatchets, froes, or logging chisels.

He said he was gonna throw this out soon, and hardwood is hard to come by where I live.

EDIT: To clarify, I share the workshop with this neighbor, and a few other neighbors. The wood has been stored in this location for several years, and I would keep storing it here. Thank you for all of your replies!

  • nyan@lemmy.cafe
    2·
    3 days ago

    If you want S4S (squared on all four sides) boards, you’ll need a table saw (or maybe a band saw would do)

    Bandsaw would be the normal choice, if I’m not mistaken (obviously it has to have enough resaw depth). 150mm is roughly 6", which I think would just barely fit through a 14" Delta or one of its many Asian-made clones. (I’ve been shopping for a bandsaw lately . . .)

    Most table saws would need a pass on each side and possibly some handsaw work to split the remaining middle bit afterwards. Doing the entire operation with a handsaw and/or hatchet is possible but requires more skill and patience than I would have.

    If you don’t have a lathe, it’s going to be very difficult, but not impossible, to get it round.

    Tool handles don’t have to be perfectly round, though. You can just carve the corners off a block until you get something kind of octagonal. I have a couple I made that are rounded rectangles—not perfectly symmetrical, maybe, but comfortable enough to hold.