Log slabs and bark

[Greg Downard]

So my future Daughter Inlaw asked me last night if I could make some cup cake stands using slabs of logs and make stands. I am thinking cutting off some Spring Maple log slabs with chain saw. Sanding one side. Varnishing.

Question is, she wants to keep bark on them. Do I cut green logs? How do I keep bark from falling off?

They are getting married in August and I want to get started now. Will they dry out and fall apart?

[Jim Becker]

Greg, if you mean you're going to cut "cookies" off the end grain of the logs to make the stand tops, you'll be dealing with more than trying to keep the bark on...end-grain slabs are generally not stable as they dry and you will likely have significant radial splitting. You'll have better luck with natural edge tops, but keep in mind that preserving the bark is really, really hard to do. It tends to split off as things dry. It also tends to harbor "creatures"... ;)

[John Schweikert]

It tends to split off as things dry. It also tends to harbor "creatures"... ;)

Exactly, that's all you need to know. Bark is not desirable.

A local restaurant used some "cool looking hipster wood" for their interior, a lot of it. It still had the bark on it and guess what, once the weather improved, the bugs were no longer dormant and came out. That's not a good thing for the interior of a restaurant. Nor for a home or anywhere else. Just remove the bark. The funny thing about wood is that the grain and actual wood it beautiful all by itself.

[Thomas Canfield]

For wood turning, I have found that bark cut in late fall or before sap starts rising in spring tends to hold on better. Bark on spring rising sap wood comes off very easy, and summer stays on but has more splitting issues. Green wood also has a lot of checking issues and warping.

[cody michael]

I made a coffee table, and the legs were 3-4 inch thick slabs, with the bark on the outside, I just used a bartop epoxy , painted it in pretty heavy, gave it a nice gloss finish, it has stayed on well for 4 or 5 years, that bark was relatively thin. I had let them dry for a few years, and they took on a football shape almost, the flat edge where it was sawn rounded into a curve, before I used it, it turned out great.

[Prashun Patel]

I helped a friend make some of these for a baby shower.

It's quite doable if you prep well and set your expectations.

Like Jim says (as if his post requires confirmation) end grain boards will be prone to splitting because of the pith. However, a lot of people LIKE that; my friend did. If you want to do that, cut the slices into 1" or 3/4" thick slices and coat them immediately and completely with a wax emulsion in mineral spirits such as Anchorseal (1, not 2) and leave them for a couple months. If you don't have access to that, then you can enclose them individually in doubled brown paper bags, and take them out every day or two to exchange the air and prevent mold. There are other ways to dry the pieces by microwaving, boiling in water, or soaking in denatured alcohol.

Whatever method you use to dry, before finishing, you can give it a quick bake in the oven to kill any bugs.

Sand and finish as desired. Both sides. Sanding the end grain will not be very fun, but if she wants it rustic, then some scratches from the chainsaw may not matter to her.

You'll likely get a couple pieces that crack beyond usability, so make extra.

Turners use CA glue to affix bark to their pieces.


The second (and more stable) way to do it is to slab the log parallel to the pith. In this case, chainsaw the log into two 'd's, and then cut slabs on either side of the pith. Done this way, you can peel off the bark and end up with a great beveled 'live edge' which will give it that organic look without the bark. You can dry them by any of the above methods. Your risk of cracking is lower with this method, but your risk of warp and twist is higher than above.

(unsolicited advice alert) If it were me, I'd do it the second way, and I'd further rip the slabs in half to end up with two quarter/rift sawn, skinny slabs for each wide one in the above method. The QS slabs will dry flatter than the flatsawn ones. They will be skinny, but if you put legs on some of them, the cupcakes can be presented in tiered rows. Each tray would have one live edge and one clean edge. I've done a few cheese and charcuterie boards this way. They're a big hit.