My folks cut down a birch in their front yard a couple weeks ago and saved me a 5-foot length of the trunk. Craigslist helped me find “Tom the Sawyer”, about 20 minutes from the office. Made an appointment and stopped by this morning. Thirty minutes later I had three 12/4 slabs approximately 11 inches wide and 5 feet long…...pretty cool! Now I just have to let it dry, and I think I will try my hand at flattening via hand planes. Not sure what to do with the lumber just yet, but was thinking a natural edge bench seat with through-mortise/tenon joinery.
Later,
joe
-- Measuring twice and cutting once only works if you read the tape correctly!
6 comments so far
Brandon
home | projects | blog
3968 posts in 1149 days
#1 posted 435 days ago
WHat a nice way to spend part of the day! Too bad they didn’t save more for you! :-) I think that slab will make a nice live edge bench.
-- "hold fast to that which is good"
MOJOE
home | projects | blog
543 posts in 1467 days
#2 posted 435 days ago
I actually think the sawyer did a pretty good job leaving me with the majority of the log…...you can’t see it from the picture, but there was a large dished out area that went nearly the entire length of this section. He skimmed it off slowly until we had two perpendicular edges to work with.
Now for the next question…...how long to dry? Currently, the slabs are stickered and resting in my garage.
-- Measuring twice and cutting once only works if you read the tape correctly!
ShaneA
home | projects | blog
4013 posts in 796 days
#3 posted 435 days ago
Wow, 12/4 could take a little while. Can you get them into the attic? That heat should help speed it up.
Karson
home | projects | blog
34396 posts in 2598 days
#4 posted 435 days ago
Nice job. Good luck on the drying. I had a barn and I stored my wood in the attic of the barn to dry.
-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
MOJOE
home | projects | blog
543 posts in 1467 days
#5 posted 435 days ago
Kinda hoping the 12/4 thickness helps keep the movement to a minimum…...but really have no justification for this thought…..never done this before ;)
-- Measuring twice and cutting once only works if you read the tape correctly!
TheBoxStoreCraftsman
home | projects | blog
37 posts in 338 days
#6 posted 163 days ago
Good looking stock Mojoe. think that slab will make a nice live edge bench.......Sounds like a good idea.
-- The project is never finished until the workbench is full of tools!"
Have your say...