A few years back I semi-retired from building custom commercial and residential cabinets. To keep my hand in(our out) I started to build log furniture. Going from custom cabinets to log furniture has been a learning experience indeed. Turning tenons on a log is much different than turning dimension lumber spindles. I have a Record 48" woodworking lathe that is almost useless for spinning an unbalanced log.(to get 200-400 rpm's on an unbalanced log sets up so much vibration that it will yank a chisel right out of your hand, plus you are limited to 48" length. I looked at the pencil sharpener type tenon cutters that you mount on a drill. They are limited to a narrow range of diameters, and there is no provision for the tenon at one end to be parallel with the other end. With not much else on the market in the way of log furniture making tools other than ridiculously expensive metal cutting machine lathes, I decided I needed to build an inexpensive homemade lathe that would cut a round, parallel tenon of any size on either end of a 10" dia. x 8' log.(for bed frames, handrail, ect. I would use live tooling(router) instead of a chisel for the cutter. That would allow me to use a much slower rpm(40-60 rpm) than with a traditional woodworking lathe. It would also allow a much deeper cut and provide more accuracy than with a handheld chisel. I experimented with some wooden mockups of a benchtop lathe. I used 3-D solid modeling software to build virtual mockups and designs. I decided to build out of steel rather than wood. I used "off the shelf" bearings, shafts and gears, and standard size steel tubing and angles to simplify construction. While designing the lathe I realized that by combining a drill I could also have a giant drill press. I further realized that I could use the router as a giant mortise machine. To top it off I added a chainsaw so I could use it as a sawmill also. Sound like a tall order for a cabinetmaker? Maybe so, but I was going to give it a shot. I spent a year of Sundays drawing, building mockups, measuring tool lengths and strokes necessary for the different functions before I cut a piece of metal one. I used the old SHOPSMITH as inspiration for the design. It took several more months of Sundays to build. I am really pleased with the results and would like to hear your comments and opinions on how I did. Go to attached dropbox links for more detailed pics and info on how you can build your own from my prints.

machine:    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nr4yw91iv2hgdl0/AACv5-Unq_KSGyYK-2YHwWIBa?dl=0

furniture it can build:   https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pq9hfk8rqr7l416/AADQZxeku_HGeIBLpz4MeasIa?dl=0 

The word; "VISION" comes to mind. That's quite a machine and I really like that pic a nic table!

 

Steve

 

 

That is one awesome design! Thank you for being so generous as to share your build pictures and notes.

Way to go Brian, very cool.  And has been said, thanks for sharing.

What Lew said, even more

Wonderful work Brian!

Got a question, are you also selling these mills?

 

   No. When I first came up with the idea to build the machine I was in the "need a sawmill" phase of a woodworkers natural development. I looked at TIMBERKINGs and WOODMIZERs. But that was way more than I could afford to spend on a hobby. I didn't want to be in the lumber business, I just wanted to cut my own lumber. I was aware of chainsaw lumbermaking, so I said to myself- "self, you can do that". I looked at some of the rigs on the market
and how they worked, and said to myself "self, you could build one of those".
I welded one up out of steel that I salvaged and bought an 8.5 hp Sthil chainsaw with a sixty inch bar. The whole thing weighed about 175 lbs and would wear a man smooth out, but it would slice a 46" diameter log into slabs. I soon found out that trying to cut and dry your own lumber with a chainsaw was like shaving a pig- lots of squealing, not much hair. While I was waiting for my slabs to dry(years, I have some I cut 3 years ago that still isn't dry), I started to make benches and tables out of the offcuts. I did it just for fun at first. When I found out I could sell them for more money than anything I could make out of the boards, I started looking for ways to speed up the process. Having built cabinets for over thirty years I was familiar with reading and drawing blueprints, CAD and CNC, production jigs and pattern making, but none of that really applies to building log furniture. I have a 48" RECORD lathe, that if you spin an unbalanced log at anything more than about 40 rpms, you could count yourself lucky if it just yanks the chisel out of your hand and hurls it into the nearest wall(trust me on this). Plus you are limited to 48" length. I was familiar with machine tools and CNC routers but if a sawmill was out of my price range, that kind of gear was pie in the sky. I decided I needed to build some jigs to account for the inherent variations in logs. While I was experimenting with different sliding mechanisms to make a crude, 8' capacity lathe using a router to cut the tenons instead of a chisel I realized I needed a jig that would operate like like a cross-slide vise. I'm old enough to remember the SHOPSMITH, so I was thinking along those lines. I built several "articulated jigs" from plywood, teflon, allthread, angle iron and nuts and bolts for the different functions needed to build the furniture. At the time I wasn't thinking of selling "log furniture making machines", or even blueprints for a "log furniture making machine". I just wanted to build more log furniture in a reasonable amount of time. Before I combined the different jigs into one, I had 120-150 hrs building a bed like those I show, that I could get $1200 dollars for on a good day. Not really worth building unless I was going to give them away.By building a sturdy robust frame of standard size steel angle and tubing I could combine all of the functions in one jig, taking up much less space in my tiny shop, and brought the hours necessary to build a  bed down to 20-25 hrs. That is a much better rate of return.(more than I could make building cabinets). The machine was designed with two priciples that had to overide all other considerations- it had increase my production of log furniture, and be simple enough, and and cheap enough to build in my backyard shop on a shoestring budget(just one string, no spare).
   The most frequent remark from people who have seen the machine in action has been "You need to patent this". Well, as my Granddad used to tell me all the time, "If it was easy, everyone would be doing it". Despite sound archeological evidence that there was a lathe in use around the time the pyramids were built, and that there was a metal cutting milling machine milling in Augsburg, Germany in 1532 that looks suspiciously like my machine, I gave it a think.(as we say here in Texas).I don't own a factory in the third world and it seemed to me that I would have to associate with some extremly detestable people in order to patent and produce the machine.(lawyers, bankers, low-level government functionaries, not the third world, I can relate to the third world after living in America fifty some years.).That doesn't sound like much fun to me.(I'd rather scrub the latrines after an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet, thanks). Let those aforementioned detestable people get thier slimey mitts out for a piece of pie, and it would drive the cost of said machine beyond the reach of the fellow who just wants to build log furniture. And who else would be the market for it? To save all that unpleasantness I just copyrighted my blueprints. I am much better protected legally from either liability or infringement, and none of those aforementioned people had to be involved. The machine just represents a new and creative way to use traditional wood and metal working tools produce an even older, more traditional form of furniture. The fact that I designed the machine using 3-D solid modeling software just adds to the multi-generational
aspect of building the furniture. I don't care if I don't lease a single copy
of my blueprints, In fact, any target market would mostly be people who could look at the pics I have posted and build thier own working copy anyway. I say
to myself- "self, more power to them." I think it takes a special kind of passion for woodworking to even want to build log furniture in the twenty first century, and I am sure that a person who wants to, probably has the skill sets and motivation to build from my plans.
  All that being said, I have had offers into five figures to buy the machine. It would take some more figures than that before I would expose myself to that kind of potential liability and litigation(my mama raised a fool, but it was my brother, not me.) I always ask them why don't they just make me an offer to buy the copyright itself, and the machine, that it could be less than they might think. No one has made a serious offer as of now, and I'm not holding my breath. Myself, I almost think I'd rather see us all living in homes that we built ourself, filled with fine handcrafted wooden furniture, and we could teach our children to hunt those aforementioned people with slingshots, then poke them repeatedly with sharp sticks.