Red maple log...

[Steve Wurster]

I have the opportunity to get a log of (apparently) red maple for free from some friends of ours. The tree was hit by lightning and the arborist that helped take away the tree said this piece was the best (i.e. wasn't just good for firewood). The piece is about 45 inches long and about 25 inches in diameter; I assume that measurement includes the bark. A local mill will turn it into boards for me and dry it in their kiln at what seemed like a decent rate per hour.

So my question is, what could I do with this? It's not long enough to build anything big with it (e.g. I have some quilt racks to build but they'll be 5+ feet tall). I don't turn, so making bowls or anything like that is not an option. I figured I could always make maybe a small console table out of it, possibly with a live edge (the mill will cut it that way if I want), but I would want to know that ahead of time in order to get them to cut some boards at 8/4 for the legs and maybe 6/4 for the top. Does anyone have any other ideas for what to do with this short but fairly wide piece?

I've also never worked with red maple. Is there anything special I should know about this species?

Thanks,
Steve

[Jamie Buxton]

There are lots of dining chairs with parts no longer than 45".

Coffee tables and side tables.

You can get almost all of a dining table from stock that's only 45" long. You run the grain direction of the top across the table, not lengthwise. You might have to buy lumber to make the long aprons, but otherwise you'd be okay. Heck, if you make the table expandable, with leaves in the middle, you don't even have the full-length aprons to deal with.

Barristers bookcases. Short bookcases. Okay, you might want to buy some plywood for the back.

Today's "entertainment centers". Back in the day of CRT-based TVs, these used to be giant things. But now what you generally see is a small cabinet with the big flat-screed sitting on top, or hanging off the wall. The cabinet only needs to be big enough to hold some electronics -- a cable box, a DVD player, and maybe a AV receiver. It will have no parts long than 45".

[Yonak Hawkins]

While I could never tell another woodworker what to make .. that's such a personal arena with so many factors, such as interests, needs, capabilities, etc. ..But I might suggest you wait until you see the wood before you begin to think seriously, unless you have a pressing need but, if you did, I'm sure you wouldn't have asked the questio in the first place. It could be that it has ambrosia, which could happen in red maple, or maybe it has such a dynamic figure it may be better for nice boxes or sculpture than, say, kitchen tools or a cabinet.

If the sawyer will work with you, maybe you can let him decide, after getting a glimpse of what's inside, how he will continue to mill the log. Tell him your possibilities, such as, maybe a table or cabinet which will use square legs or if the grain is more colorful or more interesting of character, cut it thin to maximize the visual surfaces. ..Or maybe you will choose to have him cut a variety of sizes and shapes.

I often get wood before I know what I'm going to make. Oftentimes, having the wood around to look at for a little while will give inspriation.