Cut wood by front of garage (4)
I believe the answer is:
gash
'cut' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'wood by front of garage' is the wordplay.
'wood' becomes 'ash' (I've seen this before).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'front of' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'garage' is 'g'.
'ash' after 'g' is 'GASH'.
(Other definitions for gash that I've seen before include "Spare - rubbish" , "Unnecessary" , "Open wound" , "What might need stitching" , "Deep open cut" .)