In many milling operations, the basic idea is to take a natural log or large awkward chunk of wood and break it down into usable pieces.
There are many options out there, with one of the most basic being to simply hold the lumber in place with any of a dozen different methods and just cut pieces off with a hand saw or chainsaw and then take that to a bandsaw, power miter saw, or table saw for further work.
If you are looking to take natural logs (or branches) and turn them into fence blanks, you are going to want to look into the use of a band saw sled or table saw sled to use as a jig in assisting you with getting a smooth straight cut that you can use to place against the fence or table and make additional cuts at 90 degrees. This helps you end up with square cuts that help maximize the area of usable wood you can obtain from a given chunk of lumber.
If the lump is too large to fit on the bandsaw, then it's probably quite safe to do some work with it using the power miter saw or the table saw. If it's too large for either of those options, then you'll have to get out the elbow grease and a hand saw or break down and go get a chainsaw or a larger power tool that can handle the cuts you need.
Common sense is the most important tool you can have ... that and a firm understanding of your budget and what it can handle. After that, your safety and a good understanding of your tools and what they can handle are very important, as using a tool for a purpose it wasn't intended for or pushing it past it's limitations are really poor judgment calls for both your common sense and your budget.
Is a cheaper tool within your budget? yes, certainly ...
Can it do the job you want it to do now and for the near foreseeable future? most definately.
Can it do the job you need it to do and perhaps a bit more with some slight and common sense upgrades? now you've got a winner ....
Woodworkers of all stripes are of the "do it yourselfer" breed. If we can't do it with the tools we have, we can build a jig or make modifications to the tools we do have to make a new tool or give our tools new capabilities. If all else fails, you can always go out and buy the tool you need. The woodworker is responsible for their own safety in making such jigs and modifications, and that is a common sense approach to life in general that we all share to some extent.
If you don't have the workspace for your shop, build it.
If you have a circular saw but you need a table saw, you can build a table around your circular saw to do the exact same job, just with somewhat lower capability.
If your table saw doesn't have a proper fence, build it.
If your lathe tailstock is out of alignment, fix it or build a replacement or repair it.
If your lathe chisel handles get damaged, replace them with new handles that you turned yourself.
We are all do-it-yourselfers to varying degrees. Some of us are capable of doing all those things, while others have difficulty, but the plan is for all of us to one day get there or learn in the trying.
Telling someone that they NEED to have their bandsaw set up for resawing and that's all it's good for just doesn't pan out. You can use freehand methods of cutting with the bandsaw for curves and freeform objects. You can use it for rough cutting of stock to rough dimensions or you can use it for fine cutting to specific dimensions. You can use it with a fence for precision milling operations like resawing or cutting specific angles or to a specific length, or you can use a sled for similar needs. You can even set up zero clearance blade inserts or overlay a piece of sheet goods on the table for a larger work area. It's all within your power once that tool is in your shop. You can even set up a circle cutting jig that will make it VERY easy to cut bowl blanks on your lathe .... and the throat depth has NOTHING to do with how large a bowl blank you could make with that method.
For those of you who think this wall of text is a little too long and you don't want to bother reading it: Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, a woodworker's tools are in the realm of their imagination. You shape and mould the tools in your shop like you create a work of art. They fulfill your dreams and imaginations, and bring them into the real world for anybody to touch and see and share.
Please don't limit someone else's dreams and imaginations with your own by enforcing your ideals onto them.
