Log slabs into something

Back in January 2013 (or 1/27/13, to be exact), a storm knocked down a tree a few houses down, which had been growing along the side of the road.  Unfortunately, the tree's roots passed under the water mains, so when it fell over we (and our neighbors) were without water for nearly a week.  But -- I managed to gain a log, about an arm-span in length.

I think the tree might have been some sort of eucalyptus.  Certainly, it's a hardwood.

I took the log home and slabbed it so that it would dry in a controlled manner -- rather than letting it dry "in the round" and developing all sorts of splits and cracks, thus rendering it un-usable.

My first attempt was to split it with some wedges.  Unfortunately, not all trees have wood that splits cleanly -- and this species was not one of the well-behaved ones.  So, I ended up ripping them by hand, using a converted crosscut saw.

I parked the resulting slabs under the eaves, up on bricks (to keep the termites away).  Although one of the slabs ended up on our porch.


Slightly more than two years later, I took another look.  Here's how they are.


Here's a shot of three of the four slabs, showing the sides that were up.  You can see that they've been bleached by the sun.

But.  Here are their undersides, with a lovely reddish color.  Note the one in the foreground will need some cleaning up:  you can see how it didn't split cleanly.  (Click to enlarge.)

Here are the ends of two of them, giving you a sense of their thickness.  The one on the left is about a fist's thickness (i.e. four of my fingers).  That's enough mass to use for something useful.

I oiled the underside of two of them -- that is, the portions that have not been bleached by the sun.  It gives a sense of their original color.  Nice.  :)

Here's the one that's been on the porch.  It's the other section that didn't split cleanly.

And, here's the porch one, from the end.  Again, it will need some cleaning up (with a handplane, probably prefaced with an adze).  I think this section would be about three finger-widths thick, once it's cleaned up.

My inclination is to make a small-ish woodworking workbench from this log.  The more practical use of the wood would be to make a sitting bench, with a back.  However, I'm afraid that if I made the bench and had it on the porch, then the sun would bleach the lovely color -- even if I oiled it.  And the bench would be too "rustic" go inside the house.  (And there's no room in my workshop.)

In contrast, a workbench would (presumably) be indoors, and thus retain the color.


I'm thinking using two, or maybe three, of the slabs as the surface.  I've read that traditional Japanese woodworking always has the bark side up (and the heart of the log down) -- and for some reason this fits my sense of aesthetics.

In other words (see illustration to the left), most Western wood- workers would cut a log in half and use configuration "A", because it maximizes the work surface:  you can see how you actually get a "leading corner" to the work surface, because the curve of the log is to the underside, where it isn't a detriment.

In contrast, I think option "B" looks better -- at least, when viewing it from the end.  But compared to the first option, you lose a few inches due to having to make the front and back of the slab meet the top surface (where I've made the red vertical lines).  Also, I would only partially clean up the area where the front and back slab meet -- which means that there would be a small valley there.  But, I'm fine with that.

 Here's my vision for the top.  I'd use two of the slabs.  The one with the fork would go on the back, and the thicker, more rectangular one would go along the front.  Only the edge along the front of the workbench needs to be straight (for clamping boards):  the back can be oddly-shaped.

The red arrows indicate the direction of the grain:  it's easier to flatten the work surface with a handplane when both pieces have grain that runs in the same direction.

 Here's a view from the left end of the work- bench.  Note that it's not quite to scale.  Note also the "V"-shaped groove -- which is fine.

The front slab would be thicker, and the back slab -- with the fork -- is a bit thinner.  So, I'd have to supplement the back with a wooden spacer, at least where the framework would be.


Unfortunately, the log wouldn't supply enough wood to make the framework or the legs of the workbench.  (Although the extra pieces could be used as the stringers(? - the horizontal pieces that would connect the legs).)  The solution would be to use one of the many "stumps" (basically, hardwood pilings) that I saved from The Lady's grandmother's old house.  They are of a similar red color to what I've shown you above, and they're about long enough to serve as front-to-back beams, as well as the legs of the workbench.


This, of course, will go somewhere near the bottom of my "To Do" list.  Fun, and interesting -- but not a priority.


--GG

Scavenged wood

On Sunday afternoon we went to a barbeque hosted by one of The Lady's co-workers.  I noticed a small pile of wood that was lying on the ground next to his garbage can.

I finally figured out a (hopefully) diplomatic way of asking whether he was throwing away the wood -- and if he was, perhaps I could have it?  He was (or rather, he was just going to burn it as scrap) -- and yes, I could.


Above is the "before" picture.  After we got home I couldn't help but spread the wood out to assess the situation.  As you can see, it appears to have been some sort of packing framework -- maybe from some appliance?  Various staples and nails are holding many of the pieces together:  they need removing.
 

This next shot shows four additional pieces.  Luckily, they don't have any nails for me to remove.

Here's the "after" picture:  I spent maybe a half hour (I forgot to keep track) that evening, removing the staples and nails.  In the photo, I've laid out some of the tools from my nail-removing kit, which I used for this session.  Yes, I have a dedicated kit, collected in a tool tote, for removing nails from pallets and such. 

This kit includes nail-sets and a hefty hammer (for driving nails back out of the hole), a "cat's paw" prybar for getting between pieces and prying them apart; and a pair of pliers to straighten bent-over nails, so that I can drive them back out; I also sometime hold the nail with the pliers, during the "driving out", to provide some extra rigidity, so the nail doesn't collapse.

Oh:  and a crummy margerine tub, for holding the discarded, bent nails.


As you can see, it's a pretty decent haul of wood for "free" -- if you disregard my labor.  I have a few ideas for what I'll build from at least some of this wood -- although it'll have to join the queue:  I have a backlog of projects (which I guess means that I won't get bored!).


Four of the pieces of wood got damaged in the process of separating them.  So today I glued them back together.

Then -- as usual -- I labelled each piece with the source (i.e. "the guy's house") and the date I got them.  I just wrote directly on them with a permanent marker.

As I think I've mentioned, I generally try to make my projects out of pieces from the same source.  Part of the design -- and engineering -- challenge, for me, is to figure out how to accomplish my design goals while using the available materials.


--GG

Wood for America

Construction cousin's stepdad does woodworking -- a lot of jewelry-box-sized items.  When I was visiting the U.S. recently I told him I'd save a nice piece of wattle for him:  wattle is a local wood that has a lovely reddish-color, and isn't used commercially because it's too knotty, and the trees are too small, to get commerically-sustainable lumber out of it.

At least, that's what I figuire.


The first photo is two of the boards that I rough-prepped.  I handplaned them a bit, and sprayed them with alcohol just to show off the grain.  If you click on the photo you can get a closer look.

The second photo is of all the slabs I got from the short log.  I think it was from my brother-in-law's place (I'm actually writing this post a month later, and I don't remember offhand; but it's written on the slabs).

I'll let them season for a year or two, and bring them with me the next time I visit the U.S.


--GG

Ripping lumber by hand

As I think I've mentioned before, one of my de facto hobbies is apparently ripping logs into lumber by hand.  Sawing the log by hand isn't the aim -- it's just the way to get interesting slabs of wood.  The logs aren't large enough to pay a portable sawmill person to come over, but the logs are too large a diameter for anything short of an industrial-sized bandsaw.  So, I do it by hand.

The photo to the left shows my set-up -- although I've since replaced the wood-holding device with something beefier.

Notice the saw ("That's not a saw.  This is a saw.")  It's a one-person crosscut saw, which I've re-filed to be a rip saw.  Here's a size comparison with a "regular" rip saw -- which is itself a few inches longer than a "typical" handsaw.

 The "smaller" saw, by the way, is my favorite saw.  And that's probably a sign of woodworking geekery:  having a "favorite" saw.  ;)


I'm certain you want to see some YouTube footage of me sawing a log.  So, here's some of me sawing left-handed -- and one or me sawing right-handed.  I switch arms just to stave off the monotony:  with a sharp saw it's not particularly hard work -- but unless you're feeling "zen", it can get a little tedious.  (When you are feeling "zen", it's meditative.)


And again, it's not about the sawing:  it's about the wood that's generated.  Here's an example of "before":

And here's the "after":

Purty nice, eh?  Custom cut, and some sentimental value as well (comes from my brother-in-law's backyard).  IIRC, I rubbed some oil on it to make the grain stand out.


And, here's a closer look:

Dunno what I'll make from this:  maybe a jewelry box?  First thing, though, I need to store it away and let it dry out for a year or two, to stabilize.


--GG

Active back yard

My back yard gives the impression that I'm busy with some sort of project. Which is actually a correct assessment.

About two weeks ago, we had a bit of a storm. My next-door neighbor lost two trees -- and he was kind enough to save the trunks for me.

Also, at the university campus where I work (two days a week), I always drive past the end of the parking lot where the maintenance guys dump the branches and lawn clippings, in search of useable chunks of log. (I have standing permission to pick things up.) Last week, I found three decent logs, each of them a nice color and two or three feet long.

So, my current hobby seems to be de-barking various chunks of wood with a mallet and wide chisel, than using a coarse-toothed ripsaw to cut them in half, then quarters, to minimize their splitting as they dry (and thus being less use-able as slabs of wood).

In addition, a few weeks ago my other next-door neighbor's pool and patio deck was completed. He gave me permission to come by and grab whatever leftover lumber was in the discard pile. (Sadly, I missed the first round of discarded lumber: the bulldozer scooped it up and took it off to the dump.)

So: The top photo shows a (labeled) overview of my yard: the three piles of wood from the swimming pool (two need brushing with a stiff wire brush); the various piles of wood to be de-barked; things soaking in the wading pool; and my custom-built sawbuck.

The second photo shows a closer view of my de-barking area. I have the logs up on cinder blocks, to keep them up off the wet grass (it's been raining every few days), and away from the termites.

You can also see the sawbuck, holding up the log that I'm currently de-barking.

The third photo shows a bunch of logs -- both de-barked and to-be-debarked -- that I'm trying to keep wet, so that they don't dry out and start splitting before I'm waiting for them. Again, it's been raining every few days, so the water tends to replenish itself.

Finally, the fourth photo shows a closer view of the sawbuck. I **had** been trying to saw logs in half by putting each end on my wood stumps -- but it was rather awkward: they kept rolling around. I reasoned that a dedicated holder, with a V-shaped holding area, would work well -- and that I'm doing enough of this type of sawing that it was worth the time I'd invest in building it.

The design is based on a traditional sawbuck, which people use for cutting firewood. Rather than use an existing design, I just winged it. I intentionally made the "V" at 90 degrees, rather than 60 degrees, as I didn't want the log to be "pinched" quite that strongly.


--GG