CWTurner
Omono
In one of the winter windstorms I lost a hemlock, probably 60 years old. So I decided to make some use of the trunks. First project was a bench out of a log that I sliced lengthwise.
The reason I decided to do this was that the log had a natural pair of legs from a couple branches on the tree.
So I had that one pair of legs, but only one on the near end. I needed to add a 4th leg.
So I bored a hole at a similar angle to the "3rd leg":
Then I used a limb from the tree and marked the depth of the hole onto the limb:
Then I cut around the limb at the mark, to a depth of about 3/8". Then I stood the limb on end and used the bit that I bored the hole with, to mark a circle on the end grain of the limb:
I chiseled around the mark:
Until I got it mostly round:
Then I whittled the end of the limb nice and round, champhering the end for east insertion so it looked like this:
I tapped the new leg into place. Not much nebari at the joint though And if I had any pride, I would have fit the bark better so that you couldn't see that gap, but hey, it's outdoor work:
So here's how it looks upright. I'll have to put some sort of finish on it to prevent rot.
I had to fiddle with the legs to get them settled, and I didn't take my time when I chain-sawed the log down the middle, so it wasn't flat and I had to spend an hour with an electric hand plane.
But its the only one on my block!
CW
The reason I decided to do this was that the log had a natural pair of legs from a couple branches on the tree.
So I had that one pair of legs, but only one on the near end. I needed to add a 4th leg.
So I bored a hole at a similar angle to the "3rd leg":
Then I used a limb from the tree and marked the depth of the hole onto the limb:
Then I cut around the limb at the mark, to a depth of about 3/8". Then I stood the limb on end and used the bit that I bored the hole with, to mark a circle on the end grain of the limb:
I chiseled around the mark:
Until I got it mostly round:
Then I whittled the end of the limb nice and round, champhering the end for east insertion so it looked like this:
I tapped the new leg into place. Not much nebari at the joint though And if I had any pride, I would have fit the bark better so that you couldn't see that gap, but hey, it's outdoor work:
So here's how it looks upright. I'll have to put some sort of finish on it to prevent rot.
I had to fiddle with the legs to get them settled, and I didn't take my time when I chain-sawed the log down the middle, so it wasn't flat and I had to spend an hour with an electric hand plane.
But its the only one on my block!
CW