Stump

[alext123]

A while back I was part of the westcoastchoppers forums and they had some great metal working projects and info on there. Alot of people very passionate about metal. One person had a write up with pictures on how to go about making a stump for really moving metal around. Unfortunately the forum was shut down out of nowhere, does anybody have a write up on this? I want to make one and make a hammer out of an old baseball bat to go along with it.

[jlrussell4]

I just ran "stump" in the search function. A lot of hits came up - here is one that might help.

http://www.metalmeet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6769&highlight=stump

There are more.

[Dick]

try this
http://www.metalmeet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3818&highlight=stump

[Dick]

Jim
you were just a tiny bit faster then i :)

[alext123]

thanx time to go into the woods and find the right candidate lol

[Jacob]

There may not be "one" right candidate. Get a few and experiment a little bit. I got one where three branches are at one point. Figured it would be stronger there.
http://www.metalmeet.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=191&pictureid=4493

[kenc]

How long should you let a freshly cut stump dry before shaping the hollow and using it?

[weldtoride]

I use them right away, chances are it's going to crack anyways. I view it as a consumable tool like abrasives, but they last a lot longer, obviously. All of mine crack, it's natural and it's hard to stop. Have you seen some with metal rings to contain the splitting? If you are serious about stopping the splitting, laminate up an end-grain butcher block or if you insist on a cross-section of a tree, there are ways of treating wood over on the woodturning forums that use polyethylene glycol (PEG) to replace the moisture and prevent it from cracking, but it is time consuming to treat large pieces. One bowl I carved into a green-treated utility pole section has cracked very little, but I had to be careful around that sawdust while making it.

Mark

[Hotrod1932]

Mark is right on with his comments. If you get 100 yr old dead timber that is intact it might not split and then again! :o

The older, harder, dryer it is the harder it will be to cut out your indent (s). Yes you can band the outside of them but that really may not stop them from splitting in time.

I had 3 stumps so far and I have been very fond of all of them, alas 2 of the a fore mentioned split and went to my fire place :p

[jlrussell4]

I took a section out of an oak tree 5yrs ago. I coated it with teak oil (I got a dented can cheap) after removing the bark. I did the ends several times. It hasn't cracked yet. When it does I'll use it until it breaks and then get another one.

[Rasper]

Back when the yards on the Chesapeake were building heavy wooden boats they bought fresh white oak flitch (lumber with the bark on both edges) from the sawmill and put it in a pond for a few years. When they were ready to use it they used it wet, but after that good long soaking it dried fairly quickly and checking was minimal. There was an old yard up in Reedville, Virginia that built and rebuilt fish steamers, boats well over 100 feet long. They just threw the flitch into the water right in front of the yard because the fish processing plants around there polluted the water such that shipworms couldn't live in it. I dragged some of it out and used it down at my yard. White Oak flitch twenty feet long 20 to 30 inches across and six to ten inches thick. Talk about heavy. I used it for keels, stems, sternposts, etc. and it didn't check at all.

Find yourself an old log that has been underwater for a number of years, or driftwood on the beach. On the west coast there are millions of tons of huge logs that have washed ashore. The sapwood may be soft but the heartwood will be solid and will check very little.

Richard

[Hotrod1932]

You make a very good point Richard about wood like that.

My problem is not much of it has ever floated this far inland ;) If it ever does we are going to have a big problem!

[Hairy-Neil]

My problem is not much of it has ever floated this far inland ;) If it ever does we are going to have a big problem!

:lol: @ Ray....

My friend, who runs the blacksmith shop in the village, is still using the stump from when he took over the business, over 30 years since. It hasn't changed in apearance in that time and looks rough enough to be original. There are photos about of the shop in Victorian times, some of the earliest photography of the area.

[Carbuilder]

My oak stump cracked 7 or 8 years ago I put 3 band straps around it with my strapping machine, then wrapped it with 3 or 4 layers of fiber glass woven roven & resin. After that dried I filled the cracks & covered the surface of 2 bowls cut with dura glass & sanded it smooth. the dura glass could use a re coat but the metal doesn't know.

[Overkill]

The key to reduce cracking is to reduce the internal stresses caused by the wood drying too fast.

Think of wood fibers/cells as a group of drinking straws. The straw transports the water from the roots to the crown of the tree. When you cut the tree off, you open the end of that straw and the moisture flows out. By plugging the straw off - with water in the case of the pond, with latex paint, with wax - you slow and restrict that water movement to slow drying time.

Cracks develop when the straw looses too much moisture too quickly. The diameter of the straw reduces, making internal stresses, resulting in radial cracking. The straws loose a much greater percentage of their size in diameter (up to 10%) than they do in length (only a few percent).

The internal stresses can be set up in the wood in 24 hours, so it's important to get the log sealed up quickly. Removing the bark will lessen the issue of bug infestation, and allow moisture to more slowly release through the sides of the straws vs through the ends. Getting it off the ground is important as well. It's best to keep the log in a cooler, dry area - such as inside a shed with some air movement.

Once the log gets down to 25 to 30% moisture, you can speed drying by removing the end seals, placing it in a warm area.

All this was gleaned from dealing with drying California hardwoods for lumber. It's a long process to end up with a solid piece of wood without internal checking, splits, etc. The process can take over a year.

The other option, is to just search through someones firewood pile, find a dry piece with splits that don't make a difference to you. If there is a wood recycling place that specializes in timbers in your area, see if they have any hardwood timbers and get a cut off.

People prefer to use hardwood end grain because it's self healing. If you cut the straws parallel to the straw, they will tend to move apart, and then back together. If you cut them through the side, you end up with a splinter. This is why good butcher blocks are made from end grain material.

You truly don't need a full piece of hardwood for a stump. You only need something a few inches thick as a cap to a stand. The stand could be softwood, metal, or? I use an oak bowl created by a high school student in shop class, and then lay it on top of my sand bag. Bought it at a yard sale for $2.

Another option, if using Tuckpucks is to use a softwood stump (how about a bunch of old posts or 2x4s laminated together), and then machine pockets to hold the Tuckpucks. This way they could be dropped in and used, or removed and used elsewhere.

And as one final option when looking for a dish to work into, there is the bottom of old oxygen tanks or fire extinguishers to consider. I don't see much about that in the forum anymore, but it does work well, and lasts forever. Any stampings in the bottom of the tank can be welded up (after the tank has been cut open!) and ground down. Tanks are made of some very good steel.