peterrum Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 This past summer I was fly fishing on one of local rivers and it was at low water. The banks of the river usually have a fair amount of drift wood which have been washing down gradually from the higher parts of the hills. Low and behold I found this interesting piece and with the help of a friend loaded it into my truck and brought it home. It weighs about 80 pounds, has about half a dozen rocks intertwined among the roots and is obviously quite weathered by the river and the weather. I don't know what type of wood it is but I am fairly certain it is a softwood, either fir, pine, aspen or cottonwood. I have decided to make a table out of it and putting a glass top on it in order to see the unique curves, twists, and rocks in the root system. From the photos it is pretty well in the position that I will start my work. I was thinking of taking a laser level to flash across some of the vertical roots and saw them off level in order to provide a base for the glass top. From there I have no idea how to work with the wood. Should I try to finish it as is, should I powerwash it, should I sandblast it. Hand sanding would take forever. Then how whould I finish it? I was thinking of giving it a couple of coats of shellac and leaving it at that. I would also like to highlight some of the rocks, shine them up a bit and leave their natural colours. Some of the rocks have sand/gravel surrounding them and it is fairly stable however I was thinking of using some epoxy or CA to completely stabilize it. From the photo taken from above you can see where I have taken some sandpaper to the end of one of the roots to see what the wood looks like beneath the greying. I am looking for anyones input and ideas to help. This table is probably going to end up in our cabin after completion. More photos to follow. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterrum Posted January 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 More photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave H Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 my question is how dry is it, if it is at a low moisture level than i would sand blast it after stabilizing the rocks, but if it's wet presure wash it put it away until it dries out. unless it's dry the epoxy won't adhere well. on the finish test on a spot under the stump somewhere, maybe boiled linseed oil. it going to be a show stopper i would love to see the finished product, good find was it hard carrying all the fish and the 80lb stump back to the truck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave H Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 maybe just trey and clean it up with a wire brush and leave the defects and petina that atracted you to the stump the more i think about it sand blasting would be to agressive. pressure washing would introduce to much moisture. i would try a wire brush and blow it off with the compressor. it's got me excited for you i've been doing a remodel on a house on the satsop river maybe i'll get there a little early and go stump hunting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Trace Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Don't do anything to the natural finish, it will ultimately turn a beautiful very light gray. As for cutting it level to place a glass top, I would build a frame with legs to support a sliding tray in which to use a router to cut the top of the roots to an even height. I saw this done for a similar project which now resides in the nave of a church. The wood has never been coated with a finish and is very nice looking. I believe that it is in the Saint Joseph Methodist Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. You might check their web site to see if it is pictured there. Good luck on your project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterrum Posted January 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Thanks for the replies so far. The stump is very dry and I have had a chance to do a bit of work on some of the test pieces that have broken off. Unfortunately the grey patina that is presently on it will have to be removed. It is very soft and flaking in many areas. It detracts from the piece a fair amount when you look closely. I took a couple of the test pieces and put some shellac on them. They look awful, there is too much tiny debris in the pores and it looks like a coat of mud had been put on it. The good news is that I then took some 40 grit sandpaper to some of the test pieces and the colour of the wood is a nice medium brown and there is also some purple mixed in with it. Quite surprising to see that colouring. The sanding I did with the 40 grit took quite a while to get to the good wood so I decided to research the sandblasting technique and I feel that this is probably the way to go. It can be used in a less aggressive fashion without damaging the piece and this technique is used quite a bit for refinishing wooden decks. The only problem now is that I will have to wait for the spring to arrive in order to do this. I will have to do this outside and since it is -6C right now.......... Trace, thanks for the tip on the router, that will work. I couldnt find any pictures on the website for the church you mentioned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kesac Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 This past summer I was fly fishing on one of local rivers and it was at low water. The banks of the river usually have a fair amount of drift wood which have been washing down gradually from the higher parts of the hills. Low and behold I found this interesting piece and with the help of a friend loaded it into my truck and brought it home. It weighs about 80 pounds, has about half a dozen rocks intertwined among the roots and is obviously quite weathered by the river and the weather. I don't know what type of wood it is but I am fairly certain it is a softwood, either fir, pine, aspen or cottonwood. I have decided to make a table out of it and putting a glass top on it in order to see the unique curves, twists, and rocks in the root system. From the photos it is pretty well in the position that I will start my work. I was thinking of taking a laser level to flash across some of the vertical roots and saw them off level in order to provide a base for the glass top. From there I have no idea how to work with the wood. Should I try to finish it as is, should I powerwash it, should I sandblast it. Hand sanding would take forever. Then how whould I finish it? I was thinking of giving it a couple of coats of shellac and leaving it at that. I would also like to highlight some of the rocks, shine them up a bit and leave their natural colours. Some of the rocks have sand/gravel surrounding them and it is fairly stable however I was thinking of using some epoxy or CA to completely stabilize it. From the photo taken from above you can see where I have taken some sandpaper to the end of one of the roots to see what the wood looks like beneath the greying. I am looking for anyones input and ideas to help. This table is probably going to end up in our cabin after completion. More photos to follow. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kesac Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 You need to see if you can find some one with a tumbler large enough to hold it, and tumble it in a polishing media. Many machine shops tumble parts to deburr and polish, but I don't remember seeing one sized big enough for your purposes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterrum Posted January 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 The saga with my project continues. It was a gorgeous day here today instead of the usual below freezing temps it was warm enough to open the shop doors and do a bit of work in the carport. A couple of days ago I took a laser level and highlighted areas that i wanted to trim off in order to make the flat top for this table base. I used a saber saw on the smaller roots that had to be removed. For sure this is just a rough cut method to prepare for what follows. Today I broke out the chainsaw and removed the larger pieces. Then I took Traces suggestion, built a crib around the stump with some old lumber I had lying around. Then I built a router sled with some baltic birch and went to work with the router and a 3/4" straight bit. I worked my way down into the stump in 1/4" increments, made about 5 complete passes in total and now I am ready for the next couple of steps. So far, so good. It was a good day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave H Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 i like the router sled idea its going to look very nice with the glass top on it, keep us posted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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