I saw a video once with Barn the Spoon talking about his axe block, a raised platform for taking an axe, or hatchet, to wood. I wanted to make one, but couldn’t remember where I saw the video. So I made it from memory.
I went out into the woods with a borrowed electric chain saw, and found a small birch tree that had been knocked over by a larger tree that fell in a recent storm. I cut a piece large enough for me to get three legs and dragged it home.
There’s been a nice birch stump in my woodshed for a few years and I decided to use that as the block. About five minutes with the chainsaw got me a relatively flat surface for the top.
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I used a No. 24 (1 1/2″) Irwin pattern bit in my brace and made the three holes for the leg tenons. I chose the rake and splay angles by eye, set a bevel gauge, and used that as a guide to drill. I never made angled mortises before and didn’t really know what I was doing, and the curve at the bottom of the log made it a bit difficult to set the drilling angle precisely, but I wasn’t so worried about it. I sharpened and waxed the bit, set a depth gauge for 2″, and vacuumed the hole as the chips built up. Took about two minutes per hole.
I used the same bit to mark the size of the tenon on the ends of the legs. One of the legs had a big knot in the waste area and I thought it would be hard to get through with the drawknife, so I sawed it off. Then over to my new shave horse. Quick, enjoyable work with a drawknife and a knife.
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Banged the legs in with a mallet and done. I didn’t measure it after it was assembled, but the legs were 33″, including the tenon. I did a bit of chopping on it and it seems like a comfortable height. An lovely way to spend an afternoon.
