Making end tables out of logs :)

[daveswoodhauler]

Ok, so my wife found this thing on line, and wants me to make one or 2 for her...just another list on the honey do list, but at least this is one that gets me outside a cutting

Anyway, the photo is using cypress, so I am not going to get that around here. I have oak, pine, maple, ash, beech to work with.....can probably pick up a few rounds from my wood guy.

So here are my questions:

I would need a bark removal type tool....any suggestions?
Which wood should I use?
After removing the bark, I am gussing I would have to let it dry in the basement for a few years?
Anything I could do from preventing from splitting?

Looks like a cool thing to make fairly easy....just don't know if I have the right wood?

 

[Brian VT]

My wife brought in 2 ash rounds for end tables. Bark and all. They look nice.
They started dryng out and checking pretty quick. In the 3 months they've been there they've split a lot.
They still work fine.

 

[Wet1]

Seal the ends to prevent cracking.

 

[LLigetfa]

I doubt you can actually prevent cracking by just sealing the ends. Check some wood turning sites on that topic.

Some species will hold their bark, others will fall off. Some come off easily when they are green. You can try bashing it for a while with a heavy rubber mallet.

 

[Andre B.]

That picture looks to me as if the block was cut apart and the center part of the splits removed.
Then the outer shell was reasembled around a disk of some other wood "plywood" for the top.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

A spud will take off the bark. I'm not sure how you could stop it from checking. Maybe bore a small hole down the center and plug the ends when the round has dried.

Matt

 

[gzecc]

I agree. That is not a whole round. The verticle lines are individual boards attached to a center circular piece. Any round will check and split if left hole to dry. The least amound of checking will be black locust or white ash. You have ash, try it.

 

[meathead]

Could use a draw knife to take the bark off and give it a hand worked look

As far as checking...I'd let it check. If you want a dead smooth top on it, maybe have someone cut you a round piece of thick glass with beveled edges that would overhang the edges of the round by an inch or two. Or make yourself a similar top piece out of wood - maybe find some interesting heart wood or something for an accent. Plus, with a seperate top you could shim it level and eliminate any imperfections in your saw work...not that there will be any of course.

 

[Jake]

my parents have a "stump" end table. I looks similar to the one in the pic, The top is sealed, it is cracked/split on the sides, but works fine. It's at least 30 years old

 

[Jake]

I had my mom snap a pic,

The top could use a sand and reseal

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Thanks for the replys and pics. Going to give it a shot next weekend and I will post pics when I am done. Going to try 3 different wood types. Maple, Pine and Oak. (Though I had some Ash, but I don't)

 

[Chief Ryan]

I built my deck out of mahogany and the first thing i was told was to seal the cut ends (every time you make a cut) with a brush on wax. It prevented splitting. All of the pieces i waxed did not split. The scraps i didn't wax did split.

 

[jebatty]

Wood shrinks quite a bit across the grain and very little with the grain as it dries, and it's that across the grain shrinking that causes the splits -- the outside is drying faster than the inside. It might be possible to prevent the cracks if you could keep the round in a very carefully controlled humidity chamber to allow for very slow, even drying throughout the whole piece. But why prevent the cracks, that's "character."

 

[jrousell]

get it longer than you need it, and seal the enmds very well with wax or some marine paint.

then let it dry somewhere for 6-9 months at least. then cut it down to size( splitting normally starts nera teh ends...


as for removing the bark - us ea drawknife-- can probably find them cheapest on ebay