We currently divide our time between two places : Christchurch, the largest city on the s.island with roughly 60% of the entire population living in this area, and our favorite place in the world, Murchison with a population of 600. Murchison is the closest town to the location of our native and plantation forest. We also have a small house in the town itself. Though we haven’t made the full transition to living in Murchison yet, we are already integrating into the community and seem to know far more people there than we do living next door to us in the city.

On this, the tour of the s.island, we’ll start on the east coast, which is the Pacific ocean side, where Christchurch is located and then we’ll head through the Southern Alps, a formation of mountains created by the collision of the eastern Pacific plate and the western Australian plate forming the Alpine fault line running down the center of the island. The fault is marked by mountains, a continental divide, hot springs and lots of beautiful places and well, earthquakes too.

We’ll then travel north about 3 hours and have an extended visit of Murchison. Murchison lies just to the north of the fault line.

Finally we’ll travel another hour to the west coast, the Tasman sea, with Australia, “on the other side of the ditch” as we like to say around here. The west coast had a whole different look and feel to it, capturing most of the moisture from the Tasman and being a small narrow wooded rain-forest between the mountains and the sea.

Welcome to New Zealand!

East coast – the Pacific ocean

Christchurch – the Garden City

Heading into the mountains… Recent winter photos (July)


Notice that New Zealand native trees are all evergreen – notice the green under the snowfall!

Now over the divide. This is Arthur’s Pass area

And over the pass, everything becomes forested and green and we get to Murchison.
View of the town from one of the surrounding hills.

Panorama of the town from ground level.

Just a few steps from ‘downtown’.

and a view to the south at some of the 1200m mountains (~4000ft) – here snow covered in the winter ( this is a shot taken Aug, 2008)

Murchison itself is famous for being the epicenter of a massive 7.8 earthquake in 1929, the largest recorded quake in NZ up to that time and felt all the way to the ends of both islands. Lives were lost (17), buildings were damaged, uplifts created new waterfalls (Maruia Falls) and rockslides changed river courses forever but luckily the population density was very low and the devastation was not widespread. The bad news is that we are long overdue for another 8+ earthquake on the S.Island. Despite the risks, we still think we will be better off in Murchison than anywhere else. What’s the chance of being the epicenter twice. Don’t answer that. We still think this is our slice of heaven on earth and will plan accordingly.

And a few photos of our ‘native bush’, called Stainart forest. This is the view of Murchison from the highest point on our forest block – at about 400m ( ~1300ft). We are surrounded by Kahurangi National Park to the north and Nelson Lakes National Park to the east. You can just barely make out that the the river jogs back and forth in the valley. That’s from rock slides created during the earthquake!

One of our many 400 year old NZ Beeches ( this one is a Red Beech – the king of the forest here).

and another more typical view of our beech forest.

And now we’ll leave Murchison and travel further west – the rain increases and there are glaciers and bigger rivers and thicker forests still. Notice how clean the water is. Yes, we actually still drink from the streams here.

And we did it all in 1 day and we still have time to watch the sun set over the Tasman sea as it fries Australia. That’s probably what that yellow glow is :)

Hope you enjoyed this little corner of our world!

CutList 4.0 was beta tested by our very own Lumberjocks ( see the discussion forum which I hijacked from a question originally posted by my buddy Moshe ) and is now ready for download.

It’s being released exclusively to Lumberjocks first. You can download it here . Lest you think this is an ad, this is a completely free plugin. This plugin has been around for a while but it’s been completely revamped. It’s got the look and feel of old Woodsmith magazine cutlists and layouts. The previous version v3.3 was reviewed in the Fine Woodworking blog 'Design.Click.Build.' by Dave Richards and a later follow up.

For more information on features, limitations and known issues ( and downloading too) visit my website.

Installing. This is a two step process. Click on the link above. This will take you to a shared file located on box.net, then click on the download button.

The file is a zip file. Extract the entire contents into your sketchup plugin directory not just the ruby script. There is a folder called cutlistui which contains everything else it needs to work properly. The exact locations of the directories required for Sketchup plugins for Windows or Mac are found documented further down in the blog.

Running on a Mac. This is functional. Only the html output window for the layout does not work because of issues with the Safari browser, however, there is a workaround using the SVG export.

Someone in the forum asked a great question which I will repeat here:

Q. Not to be sarcastic (or stupid), but I’m not sure of the point of the cutting diagram?

1. Regardless of whether or not you have a cutting diagram, eventually you are going to have to cut some wood to get a project built. How many boards do you need to buy? If you go by the board feet measured ( or calculated by something like the cutlist plugin) you’re going to find that it falls short. Why? because when you to to cut the pieces out of the board, you’ll find that you will inevitable have waste. By having the cutting diagram, you can see how much waste there is going to be and you know how much to get when you to the lumber yard.
2. You’ve got a lot of parts to cut and you want your parts to be as accurate as possible before you even do anything else to the pieces. Ideally you want one setup for each size of part, so that you can cut each of the parts which are the same size at the same time. The cutting diagram lets you visualize how parts may be laid out to minimize on the cuts and the number of setups.
3. Ok, you’ve decided to build your project out of sustainably harvested plantation teak. It’s selling for $50/square foot(!) for 3/4”. You might be interested in using those $200 boards as efficiently as possible. A cutting diagram may also be used to minimize waste. Even if you have waste if you could have a larger part left over which you could reuse for another project vs having a lot of offcuts, you’ve saved yourself some money and you are using the planet’s resources efficiently and responsibly.

So, to sum up, it gives you more accurate project requirements, it minimizes setup time and shop time spent cutting the boards while increasing accuracy and finally it helps to use the resources as efficiently as possible.

Finally here are some screen shots in case you still can’t quite figure out what it does or why you would want it or can’t imagine what it looks like.

Starting up cutlist. Highlight your project and select CutList from the plugin menu. Make sure all of the parts in your project are named and are either a component or a group. ( Nested components or groups are handled ok as well)

The screen that comes up allows you to select your cutlist options from the type of output you want, what you want to have included in your parts list, which parts are solid wood parts, which are sheet goods parts and which are hardware

and the next page allows you to select the layout options. There is a general options section, a tab for board options and a tab for sheet options.

Here is a sample of cutlist output. This is the cutting list in html format. This page can be printed.

If you scroll down, then there is a summary of the board feet and the materials and sheet parts and hardware are broken down to their own lists with their own summaries

If you selected the layout output, then another window will open and place all of the selected parts on boards of your choosing in a layout which minimizes waste.

Sheet parts layout is placed on the sheet sizes you specified.

There’s lots more. There is built in help on each option. Just click on the blue ? next to the option.

Feel free to pass along any comments, questions, enhancement requests or bug reports. I’m committed to maintaining the plugin and make it as useful as possible.

Having said that, this blog only grazes the surface anyway and is merely meant to show what is possible and to pique the interest or to possibly close some gaps for some others who may have had other instruction. By no means will you become an expert after reading this and by no means should you assume you know what you are doing just from reading this.

This part explores chainsaw techniques useful to the trade but also good general chainsaw skills to have.

Logs can be worked with an axe or an adze but the use of chainsaws presents its own advantages and its own skills for producing things out of logs other than firewood. Even with these tools, this should be considered a labour intensive hand craft.

The context here is log building and several cutting techniques are used repeatedly in log building but could equally be applied to other building methods or other uses (perhaps some of these techniques might be familiar to chainsaw artists).

Note that the use of a chainsaw is inherently dangerous. Appropriate safety precautions, gear ( chaps, steel capped boots, helmet, face mask ) and training should be sought before putting saw to wood. If you are unfamiliar with the safe methods of chainsaw use, please enroll in a local chainsaw safety course.

The first technique is cutting a simple flat sided notch . This is simply two angled cuts in the log which meet partway through the log, cutting a wedge out of the wood. This cut is familiar to log fellers though, of course they are not following a line. Cutting the sides of the notch to a fixed angle or to a premarked line and having the two cuts meet exactly is a skill.

The notch is used in log building in at least two different places. A rough notch is cut in each end of the log when positioning the log on the wall before final scribing and the notch cut is also useful when initially cutting out the wood for the final scribed notch ( this notch precisely fits the saddle of the log below it – more on this later). In log building, usually you are following a line when cutting.

In the rough notch, the objective is to cut as closely to the line as possible, leaving some of the line on. ( Here the line represents a ‘rough’ scribe used to drop the log closer to the one below it, as well as preventing it from rolling – preserving the angle is the most important factor ). When using this cut to begin an actual scribed notch, the cut stays as close to the line as possible but never going over it as here the line to which you are cutting is an actual scribe line to perfectly fit the log below it.

When the same technique is applied to an actual scribed notch it’s cut much more carefully – you can’t cut over the lines here, otherwise you end up with a gap between the logs. In addition only 1/2 of the notch is cut from each side, so a total of 4 cuts is used just to define the outer edges. These scribe lines should be near a straight line, since they are scribed to the saddle below them, and the saddle is sanded to a flat surface before scribing. If the scribe is such that the V-lines would not meet, then multiple cuts are made so that the wood can be knocked out within the scribe lines.

Carving. The carving cut allows a hollow to be made on the otherwise straight side of a notch. This technique involved starting the cut on the edge of a notch and cutting only the width of the chain. With no wood on one side of the chain bar, the bar can be turned in the cut and a curved cut left behind. It’s important that a semi-chiselled chain be used. A full chisel chain tends to want to cut straight as soon as it enters the wood, whereas as semi-chisel allows some wandering, which can be used to advantage.

In the carving cut, the speed is kept fairly high ( not screaming fast, however), and only the tip of the bar is doing the cutting. The chainsaw is steadied and guided against your leg and the chainsaw is merely lowered down, using the weight of the saw to set the speed of the cut.

Brushing. The brushing technique is used to precisily remove small amounts of material using the tip of the chain. The bar always runs at right angles to the wood being removed. This can be used to create coves, required to fit one log over another, and to precisiely remove wood in grooves, notches. The chainsaw runs at medium speed and the tip of the bar brushed back and forth across the wood being removed in small slow movements. This cut can leave very smooth surfaces. In fact it is operating like a small planer. Care must be taken of course not to touch any of the wood in the dangerous kickback zone of the bar, ie the top 1/2 of the tip. Keeping the bar at right angles to the wood also ensures that the saw stays put and doesn’t run across the log or up the sides of a notch cut.

Saddle cuts. The generally accepted best practice for joining logs at the corners is using notches placed across two cuts which called saddles. These are curved cuts on either side of the log on a pitched angle ( the precise angle is unknown and not important and will vary with each log). The two cuts make the log at this location look like a saddle and hence the name. The curved cut is made with the chainsaw – yes, the chainsaw can be used to cut curves just like a bandsaw. The curves of course are not severe and can easily be made with a regular 18” bar. The curves still end leaving a flat surface along the length of the log. This is useful when scribing the notches which sits on this saddle since that now ends up being nearly a straight line for easier cutting with a chainsaw.

The saddles are best cut ‘wrong handed’. ie: the trigger is operated by the left hand and the right hand is on top of the bar pulling the saw into the cut. The saddles are marked out with a top, bottom and two side V marks and the bar is first lined up to create the angle required to just hit inside of the top and bottom cut. The cut is started on the inside of the end mark and ends just inside the end mark at the other end. This way and rough edges left by the chainsaw can be cleaned up with other chainsaw techniques or with a grinder and still leave room to flare the saddle out to the lines.

The chainsaw is running full speed on this cut because it is cutting a wide rip cut whereas the chains are usually designed for cross cuts. The chainsaw moves slowly and should always be running exactly at right angles to the log. The saw chain will want to move the saw towards the operator but the weight of the saw will want to the move the saw down into the cut. When correctly executed, the saw seems to float in the cut because of the two counteracting forces. It is a very nice feeling and the saw feels very light in the cut. This leaves the right hand to guide the saw throught he cut.

This cut is as complicated as it sounds but it can be mastered. The most difficult part of the cut is to maintain the right angle and to create a nice even flare into and out of the cut. The first few cuts usually need a lot of doctoring with the grinder but after several cuts, cutting, cleaningup and sanding this cut in could be accomplished in less than 15 minutes.

Long brushing. A technique which I call long brushing is also used whenever a large amount of material is to be removed over a flat surface. This is similar to the brushing technique but instead of only the tip of the bar being used, the entire bar is used like a small planer. A refinement of this technique is to tilt the bar to the right as you sweep left so that only the edges of the chain teeth touch the wood. With reasonable high speed and a slow sweep, a very fine plane like cut can be taken, leaving only minor saw marks. ENsure that your chain is well sharpened.

Planing. The chainsaw can be used like a planer by using the side of the chainsaw teeth. Tip the chainsaw to the right, with the engine up and hold the bar flat across the surface to be ‘planed’. Tilt the bottom of the bar up so you are sweeping the surface with the top of the bar if you are planing from right to left. Tilt the top of the bar up and cut with the bottom teeth if you are planing from left to right. This leaves an even finer finish than long brushing and is useful for flat surfaces such as a flat bottom sill, planing the curves of the saddle or possibly even a slab or a benchtop for applications other than log building.

The techniques are all ways in which you can use the chainsaw for precise and smooth cuts and most of these techniques are well known and applicable to other than log building..

No, that’s not mine. And I’m not actually building my log home. Rather, I’m on a one month long log home building course starting Nov 5 in Geraldine, New Zealand in which ( I hope) we complete a log home shell. I’m packing a computer with me and a digital camera, so I hope to share this experience as it unfolds.

The course is being offered by Robert Chambers ( author of Log Construction Manual http://www.logconstructionmanual.com )

and Graeme Mould, who together run Natural Log Homes – http://www.naturalloghomes.com headquartered in Wisconsin with production in New Zealand.

This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time and I’ve got my chainsaw, chaps, helmet, safety boots, measuring tapes, chalk lines, etc all packed and ready to start on Monday and hope to bring updates over the course of the next month.

The common themes in his work are a rejection of the straight line, bright colors, organic forms, a reconciliation of humans with nature, and a strong individualism.

While living in New Zealand and as his last major project undertaken before his death he redesigned a public toilet facility in Kawakawa. The inspiration for my table is taken from this building.

Kawakawa public toilet facility

Friendreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000) – He is buried in New Zealand, in his garden of the Happy Dead, under a tulip tree.

And here is my Hundertwasser table:

The legs are turned and painted (or could be tiled per Hundertwasser’s style). The frame is made from New Zealand recycled Rimu. I haven’t been quite true to Hundertwasser’s dislike of straight lines with the choice of table top. Putting on an organic shaped and mosaic tiled top was proving more of a challenge than I was up for, this being my first time with Sketchup…but it would be an interesting addition. Instead I opted for a boldly colored top to balance all the color from the legs. A highlight in the table top ties the frame and the top together. The frame also got a small painted rabbet along the perimeter to match the table top ( this is better seen in the rendered versions shown at the end).

The legs support the table. The decorative frame underneath is held by 10 dowels from the frame into the table top.. The dowels come through to the top of the table top to show off the joinery.

Some more views:

A couple of renders of the table. ( my first time so just the basics).

Steve