Turning or maybe coring question

[Donny Lawson]

I have thought about making a different type of birdhouse and need some advise. I want to take a log about 8" around x 10" tall and hollow it out leaving the bark and about 1" of the wood. Can this be done on the lathe?,or some type of coring system? The reason I ask is I found a log at work last week that was hollow for the most part but it wasn't long enough for the birdhouse so I figure surely it can be done on the lathe somehow. I can make a turned roof and floor but I need the inside hollow.

[Gary Max]

Sure--I would use a face plate and a boring bar.

[Ted Calver]

What Gary said, or if you have a band saw with enough re-saw height you could easily hollow it in the manner of band saw boxes and glue the entry kerf closed. I'd try that before putting it on the lathe.

[David E Keller]

If you start with a little extra length, you could hollow it on the lathe then part off/saw off the hollow cylinder. You'll need a decent sized boring bar to go the full 10". Ted's suggestion is probably easier and faster than hollowing it plus you'd end up with a nice little cylinder that you could use for other things.