De-bark fresh cut Sugar Maple?

[Corey Lasley]

I’m not exactly sure where this post belongs so please forgive me if I am not in the right place.

A couple years back I picked up a new hobby that I enjoy doing when I have the spare time. I enjoy building basic rustic furniture utilizing branches from fallen sugar maple trees on family owned property. Up until now, I’ve made various tables and head boards with the bark on, with exception to a few older extremely dry branches where I was able to easily peel the bark off. What I would like to do is de-bark more of the wood for future projects because I really like the look, but on the fresh branches, the bark so tightly clings to the wood that it almost seems inseparable. From what I understand sugar maple isn’t a common wood used in rustic furniture, so I haven’t seen much if any information on the best ways to de-bark it other than letting it dry for a couple years and allowing the bark to loosen naturally. Has anyone worked with sugar maple before, and if so, would a draw-knife be affective on freshly cut branches (I obviously don’t have a draw knife yet, or else I would have tried).

Thanks for any and all feedback.

[Don Orr]

Corey,

If you can gather your wood in the Spring when the sap is up, the bark should come off fairly easily. Could be a little sticky though.:D Good luck.

[Curt Taylor]

Corey - The draw knife is probably your best bet for this application. After you get the hang of using it, you'll be suprised at how well it's works.

[David Weaver]

I would use a drawknife, too. If you don't have one, pop on ebay and you should be able to find a decent user for a lot cheaper than a new one.

Only trouble will be if you don't like tool marks being on the wood.

Sometimes, even if you're combination power tool / luddite, it's nice to use a drawknife to rough general things out because they're very controllable but can hog a lot off at the same time - and it beats smacking lathe tools on corners of blanks, etc. The other nice thing is that they work well even if they're not as hair splitting sharp as chisels have to be to work efficiently - at least that's been my experience.

[Corey Lasley]

I guess I’ll have to pick up a draw-knife and give it a try.. A couple times I attempted to peel the bark with chisels and that proved to be worthless, not only was it an excruciating task, but they would dig into the wood and leave all sorts of grooves… I honestly wasn’t sure if a draw-knife would be that much better (and for their price, I wasn’t sure I wanted to experiment). I’ll definitely watch ebay.

The wood I am using is what is left when my family had a lumber company come and do selective cutting over 40 acres of pure mature maple hardwoods.. They did the cutting last February-March, so it was prior to the time when the bark would have been loosened by the sap. What they left behind was an endless supply of tops, exactly what I am looking for, and unfortunately most of it is going to rot. I cut as much as I could in a weekend (probably more than ill use in years), and put it in an old barn on the property to get it out of the weather, and each time I go up north, I bring back more home with me.

Thanks guys!

[Mark Stutz]

Corey,
Can't help you on the drawknife issue, but if you know any turners, give them a call. By now, some of it may have some spalting, and they will be in heaven!

Mark

[Pam Niedermayer]

There are specially debarking tools called bark spuds ( http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=20121&cat=1,41131,41140 ), which may be a bit large for your sticks; but the configuration may give you some ideas.

Pam

[Corey Lasley]

This is going to show how much of a woodworking novice that I am, but I had to look up what a “turner” was as well as what “spalting” is.. Interesting, I learn something new every day! I don’t know anyone interested in turning, but expect the wood will be spalting soon, and if not soon, than by spring for sure. I actually had a bunch of spalted maple a couple years back that I had cut from a tree that had been knocked down by a storm and sat for nearly a year in the woods.. Some of it I used, most of it I ended up burning as firewood because I thought it was considered a defect with all the black streaks and such, and was afraid that it was some sort of disease or fungus that would continue to grow.

Anyway thanks guys, I’ll give the draw knife option a try.. That spud might be slightly too big for the small logs and large sticks (between 1” and 4” diameters) that I use.

[Anchor Sarslow]

You might advertise on the "Turners Forum" here on Sawmill Creek. I would guess you could get a pretty good crew of local turners to come with you and grab a fanny load of that stuff for you and from you..

[Dusty Fuller]

The drawknife should work well, just get the wood held tight on the far end. I don't know about anyone else, but I'll never de-bark another maple tree. I have what could have been some very nice crotches from a red maple... they had been cut for a couple of months and the bark had started to separate... so I peeled it all off... now I have wood with cracks from the outside in. Outside dried too fast. The ends were sealed, but as I said, I know what I'll never do again. Hopefully the narrower stock won't have that problem. Be careful with the drawknife. It seems obvious to not touch the blade, but sometimes the blade touches you. DAMHIKT.

Dusty

[Pam Niedermayer]

If you use a drawknife, you may want to use a dull one. I saw this on one of the Woodwright's Shop videos on rustic furniture.

Pam

[Charlie Mastro]

I actually had a bunch of spalted maple a couple years back that I had cut from a tree that had been knocked down by a storm and sat for nearly a year in the woods.. Some of it I used, most of it I ended up burning as firewood because I thought it was considered a defect with all the black streaks and such, and was afraid that it was some sort of disease or fungus that would continue to grow.


OOCH!!!:( That's a drag..... Bet you won't do that again.........;)