Sorry about the spelling, but are there any "standards" more or less for the Norwiegan chair that's carved from a (usually basswood) log called a Kubesttol? I went out to the woods yesterday and sawed several sections out of a large ugly basswood that had broken off in a recent storm. As many of you know, the Basswood hollows out often when it gets big and the hollow often goes 10 or 20 feet up. This makes it easy to prepare a section for "Kubesttol" use. I made an 18" long chisel from
1045 steel to carve out all the rotten material. This way I can prepare the "blank" so it will last a long time inside and out of the weather. In the case of this tree, the core is soft, but it's still there. Whereas, if there is already a hole, its easy to chisel the soft stuff out, in this case I tried drilling for a while with a 12" auger, but that was too slow. I finally got the chain saw out and simply "bored" directly into the soft material from both ends. Then it was easy to chisel out the rest. These sections are about 36" long and 16" to about 20" in diameter. Will they work? I have never made one of these chairs.The alternative is to put them on a campfire for our annual blacksmith conference at the end of May. One of the guys brings an 8 foot rod with a cross piece welded on. You drive the rod into the ground a foot or two, so the cross piece it about 2 feet off the ground. The main post extends another 3 or 4 feet up. Then you drop a hollow log over that so its bottom rests on the cross piece. The log acts as a chimney and give very pleasing campfire effects. Sometimes someone will toss in a bit of copper to see the blue flames. Sort of like the 4th of July without the bang.
Pete Stanaitis