How To | Chainsaw Carving Chicken
- Outdoor DIY Projects
- April Wilkerson
- Updated: March 5, 2023
Wondering if you can chainsaw carving chicken? Check out this DIY project where I carved a chicken statue using a chainsaw a few other tools!
Ah, something completely completely new this week! I’ve always thought chainsaw carving was awesome but never thought I would be able to pull something off. Well, my mom finally talked me into giving it a try so I decided to try making a chicken along their walking path out of an old dead cedar tree. Keep in mind that they make special tools and bar lengths for chainsaw carving, but I only used what I had on hand for this project which was an 18″ bar on a 450 saw.
Random Orbital Sander
Multi Cutting Tool
Outdoor Wood Glue
Keep in mind that I was just winging this. I’m sure there are great methods and techniques out there for tackling a chainsaw carving, but I just did what I always did and hopped into it. I started off by trimming off the tree branch stumps all around the trunk.
Next I figured out how tall I wanted the carving over all then cut the stump down to that height.
During the course of the carving there was a ton of this!….making a cut, then standing back and looking and thinking about my next cut. I was so terrified of making a rushed cut and messing up the entire project.
Also, since I was going after a chicken for the carving I brought a little chicken out to the woods with me to give me a good reference while carving.
Overall it took me two days of whittling to get a chicken out of the trunk.
Once the body was carved as much as I could get it with the long chainsaw, I added on the beak and the mohawk with wood glue and dowels. I would like to come back with a tool designed to do more detail work so thatI can make him look more completed. But! For my first time, I’m just glad he looks somewhat like a chicken. 🙂
I found out when I started carving that the inside of the tree trunk was a little rotted so unfortunately Cornelius the chicken has a few cracks and holes in him. A huge crack going down his plume and a hole on the left side of his face! Eh. Oh well.
From a distance, the hole in his face looks like an eye socket so there’s that. : ) haha.
