Working with Bark

show us a photo Jeff

-- work from your heart and your spirit will live forever

I have an old catalpa stump that I put three legs on in 1973 and then put shellac on it. It is still all together and the bark is as tight as it ever was. I used to put a coat of varnish or shellac on it every 2 or 3 years but have not now in probably 20 some years, yet it still is as good as new as it was when I first made it in 73. I’ll have to take a picture of it and put it up for a project.

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

shellac is probably the best, it penetrates well, builds up nicely and gets pretty hard.. Also it covers, any other finish very well.

-- work from your heart and your spirit will live forever

Will add once again what I was taught years ago.
Trees cut dormant will retain the bark after drying, trees cut while actively growing will loose the bark after drying.
Good luck with the loose bark.

-- mtnwild (Jack), It's not what you see, it's how you see it.

What Jack said

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture ,maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com

Hi!
From what I know and what I go by when doing my projects is that if the tree is cut in the winter then the bark stays on and if cut in summer it falls off. But I have used polyurethane on loose bark and it has held…..so far but not sure later on haha!
Good Luck

you can use one CA glue to try and stabilize it… a finish wont hold it together at all…there needs to be some actual bond between the wood and bark. to get that with finish you would need it to be really thick