With an upcoming wedding in the family, Ruthann asked if I would cut some logs from trees that came down on their property into discs to use as table decorations for the wedding reception. When I learned that the diameter of the larger logs would fit on my bandsaw, I agreed to the project.
With a little trial and error (and one bent bandsaw blade), I found that attaching a carrier board to each log was needed to prevent the log from rolling or twisting under the cutting forces. I also found that the logs still had a high moisture content, so a bit of drying time was needed once the discs were cut to their one inch final thickness.
After cleaning up any loose bark and applying a couple of coats of tung oil, about 35 large and 35 small discs were ready for the celebration.
After one trial cut by hand with a pruning saw …
… it was obvious that the bandsaw was the right tool for this job
The first cut revealed spalting that would add a lot of character to the finished discs
Attaching a carrier board to the uneven surface of each log was going to take a fair amount of time, effort and shims
The shortcut of not attaching a carrier board immediately proved to be unworkable
First few of the larger discs cut, all showing interesting spalting patterns
After just a short while on the workbench, I noticed a lot of moisture wicking out of the cut logs
Three painters points under each disc allowed air circulation on all sides, speeding up the drying process
The moisture meter confirmed what was already apparent … the logs were very green and wet
More large discs cut and drying, along with a crotch section that might be interesting with a little work
Smaller logs of a different species were going to yield discs with bark intact and a beautiful end grain pattern
A bunch of small discs
Small discs on scrap wood shop made drying racks
Hmm … could these logs have been an apple tree??
Some larger logs had to be chainsawn down to a size I could manage on the bandsaw
Using the 8″ jointer, I added a small flattened section to some of the bigger logs, to provide a stable place to attach the carrier boards
Shop overview with this project in full swing … and the ubiquitous cup of shop coffee
All discs cut and on standoffs for some drying time
Small discs drying
A test application of Mahoney’s walnut oil revealed beautiful end grain patterns
Wire brush cleanup of the discs that didn’t hold on to their bark
I decided to switch to sprayed on tung oil to speed up the finishing process
Ruthann came by to help with the finishing
Finished discs drying on the standoffs
Small discs after finishing
Packing the discs up for delivery
Bark, sapwood, heartwood and end grain brought out by a spritz of tung oil
