Eight years ago, a logging truck pulled up to Howard Werner’s studio outside Phoenix with a delivery. The truck’s crane hoisted the trunk of a 7-ft.-dia. cottonwood tree and nimbly set it on the covered concrete slab where Werner carves his furniture and sculpture with a chainsaw. The scale on the crane read “15,000 lb.” Werner used his largest saw to cut two 3-ft.-sq. chunks from the trunk for these tables and to saw their top and bottom faces flat and parallel. After finessing those surfaces with a power planer, he laid out the spirals in chalk and pencil—a large spiral on top, a smaller one on the bottom. Then with the blanks on their side, he carved the spiral channels, plunging in from the top and bottom faces. When the rough carving was complete, he put the tables aside to dry—for six years—before tuning their shapes and refining their textures, compensating for warpage and leaving clean, clear saw marks on the vertical surfaces. The top, by contrast, he power-planed and hand-sanded to near perfect flatness and a fine polish. Then another truck arrived and took the tables to the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, where they’ll be on display in an exhibit of his work until March 19.

Photos: John Dowd.

From Fine Woodworking #302

	Furniture by chainsaw Working with different chainsaw bodies and the sharpest blades, Howard Werner moves deftly through a log, discovering the full design of each piece as it emerges.
	How to add strength and style to any slab Inlays transform a flawed slab into a sturdy work of art.
	Ash and ice Start with some big blocks of ice. Watch them melt. Then create your furniture design.