«Previous    Next»
Chainsaw Jig Makes Dovetail Cuts
Over the past several decades Mark Waite has built and remodeled houses, designed and built furniture, and is widely known for his custom knife-making skills. Recently he decided to produce custom siding for his Colorado house using a large supply of beetle-killed timber.
Waite says he liked the idea of dovetail joints on the corners of his house, but the sawmill that was cutting his lumber didn’t have the equipment to make the precision joints he wanted.
So Waite designed and built a custom jig for his chainsaw. After a few modifications he was able to make a series of uniform trapezoidal cuts on one end of each 1 by 12-in. rough sawn board. Those ends were rough cut with a beam-like piece about 6 in. thick and 12 in. long. Waite says the jig he designed clamps to the end of the board and he saws the angles just like cutting a tree limb.
After he completed the cuts, Waite stained the boards and installed them as siding. To get the desired interlocking effect he alternated pieces from the side and end of the house from just above ground level to the base of the soffit. The finished look gives the appearance of authentic stacked interlocking beams when in fact it’s specially cut siding.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mark Waite, 28928 Fairway Drive, Buena Vista, Colo. 81211 (info@buffalopeaks.com).


  Click here to download page story appeared in.



  Click here to read entire issue




To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.
Order the Issue Containing This Story
2020 - Volume #44, Issue #2