no bandsaw, any hatchet advice?

[George Tsoukalas]

Keep you feet  out of the way. Wear gloves and safety glasses. Put a block under the stave when chopping on the lower limb close to the ground or floor.

[Dogbyte]

im gonna try tonite, finally got my hotbox finished. Yall ever seen how folks with an exe hew a log thats bowed for a log cabin. was gonna try that but just on a smaller scale, to remove little chips at a time. you run the axe slightly more perpendicular to the wood, with controlled cuts for depth...all along the concave side of the log, then run the axe at more of an angle along those cuts, to chip away what you just measured, makes a nice straight surface if done right, just like you dragged a huge drawknife along the surface with one swipe. i got plenty to learn on i guess. thanks for the suggestions and tips.

[SubXeroArcher]

i've been using a small dovetail saw to make relief cuts to keep from taking too much away when i use my hatchet/machete just make sure not to cut too close to your outline and finish with scrapers/draw knife/surform to get the tool marks out