I have a huge cedar round that I want to make into a table. Does anyone know a quick way to remove all the bark. The round sides are not smooth, it it has valleys which make bark removal difficult.
Stripping bark from round
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If you have the wallet, they make debarking attachments:
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200326354_200326354
But if it is just a single log, you could buy one of the manual ones (essentially just a blade with handles for scraping). If you don't want to spend any money I sometimes just use my estwing axe and wedge it behind the bark and hit it with a hammer. Cedar doesn't really have thick bark though so I'm not sure how that would work. Somebody else might have a better method.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200326354_200326354
But if it is just a single log, you could buy one of the manual ones (essentially just a blade with handles for scraping). If you don't want to spend any money I sometimes just use my estwing axe and wedge it behind the bark and hit it with a hammer. Cedar doesn't really have thick bark though so I'm not sure how that would work. Somebody else might have a better method.
Cedar actually peels pretty easy. At least the cedar I've peeled. For one round,I wouldn't by anything. Jam a screwdriver under The bark at one end & peel back in strips.
I have some cedar around the tree line that is completely bare. Wonder how that happened naturally. This round is about 2.5 ft in diameter, I wonder if I keep wetting it and leave it in the sun. I'll also start working away the bark .
bassJAM
Feeling the Heat
The round sides are not smooth, it it has vertical valleys which make bark removal difficult. This is also what makes it desirable as a furniture piece.
Have maul will travel
New Member
Paulywalnut
Minister of Fire
nrford
Minister of Fire
Google "Bark Spud" they even have photos! Old school tool from the days they debarked hemlock to extract the tannins to use for tanning leather. I have several Antique Spuds I used to display in the Mill Office.
Have maul will travel
New Member
A draw shave is a straight or slightly curved blade between two handles. You rest it on the round and pull, it works well for the round part.
A bark spud is a bit like a curved chisel on a stick, some have rounded corners (I like these best) they work well for the furrowed valleys that a draw shave won't reach.
As nrford pointed out, google has photos
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Tools might mar the wood, if you are using the wood for furniture. I thought cedar bark peeled? What the adirondack furniture makers told me was to cut the wood in the spring if you want the bark off. If you want the bark to remain attached to the wood you cut the tree in deepest of winter. Inner bark seperates easiest from the cambium at the onset of heaviest sap flow.
I would peel off as much as I could by hand and then soak the wood and use steel wool. If you are reluctant to put water back into the wood fibers maybe just dip the steel wool in water. If it was my project.
I would peel off as much as I could by hand and then soak the wood and use steel wool. If you are reluctant to put water back into the wood fibers maybe just dip the steel wool in water. If it was my project.
The best success of debarking would be when the tree is fresh cut. After that window period has passed then I think you would have to wait till the tree has fully dried and the wood has shrank. If you wanted nature to do it.
i think this tree was cut in winter, not by me. I was able to remove some bark as a test area using a blunt wedge by hand. It does leave some slight marring, but I might use your steel wool idea on that to smooth it out again. The marring is not a big issue cause under the bark I found insect "trails" anyway. I'm still playing with what I want to look like after its done.
woodsman416
Burning Hunk
Carry it into the house. The bark always falls off my wood as soon as I walk through the door!
Bug trails can be attractive like the Elm bark beetles. But yeah...thats usually the reason I debark. If the bark is half eaten and it mostly falls off. Best to leave that nasty stuff for the birds to peck at.
woodsman416
Burning Hunk
See, when I carry any wood into my house the bark falls off and makes a mess.Than I have to take the time to clean it up. If the bark fell off OUTSIDE the house than I would have more time on my hands and my house would be cleaner. I guess you could say it's an ironic situation. I thought that the application of my irony to your conundrum might be viewed as humorous to some. Perhaps I should have closed with LOL or some such acronym. LOL!
I guess it would have, if not for the thought of lifting that round more than 2" off the ground.
Have maul will travel
New Member
I have peeled a fair number of logs in my day and it is usually not too hard to keep from marring the wood too much with a draw shave, it gives you pretty good control of your depth and can both peel like a potato peeler as well as get under a corner or edge to pry up and facilitate hand peeling if that is possible. This is also why I prefer the rounded bark spud as the corners of chisels can catch and dig into the wood and mar it. Of course any tools need practice to develop skill with, but the right tools are generally much more forgiving of errors, and if the furniture is to be your own then you can do a little more forgiving as well.
One of my favorite mottos to live by is: "When all else fails, lower your standards." Then again there's rustic and then there's "rustic."
Applesister is exactly right about when to cut trees you wish to keep or not keep their bark.
One of my favorite mottos to live by is: "When all else fails, lower your standards." Then again there's rustic and then there's "rustic."
Applesister is exactly right about when to cut trees you wish to keep or not keep their bark.
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