So I’ve decided to build a long farmhouse table. Nashiitashii has always wanted a big table that could seat 8 or more, and after a long wait, I’ve gotten started on it. About 6 months ago a storm felled a 60 foot sycamore in my parents’ backyard. I salvaged a 5 foot section of the trunk and let it dry. I decided to use classical techniques and eschew power tools and metal fasteners. You know, get back to the roots of sculpture and woodworking, make a connection to the past sort of thing. Today I began working the two split halves of the trunk to shape a large table. if all goes well, the splits will be mauled into four closely sized slabs that will form the top. The waste wood ought to be enough to make two bench tops to match it.
Things I have learned:
Sycamore wood is cross grained and highly resistant to splitting. This means that instead of popping nicely along the length of the trunk, the wood fights me every step of the way and occasionally explodes.
The laws of physics to not apply to sycamore wood. It will fly backwards and hit you in the nose no matter where you place yourself, the chisel, or the nature of the piece to be removed. Sycamore chips will also orbit around the log, and sawhorse to hit you in the balls if it cannot make it to your nose. If it does not hit you in the nose or balls, it will defy the puny principles of leverage and hold the entire weight of the log as you hoist all 160 lbs of it into the air. Approaching that same chip from the opposite side will pop it off with the strength of two fingers.
Freakin’ huge grubs live in my trunk. Seriously, they are size of half a hotdog. They are cool, but I’m making certain to remove them all as they are destructive.
Not using power tools sucks. I spent ALL day slamming a bloody sledgehammer into that log and only for 2/3 of the way there. I suppose back in the day they would have used 2 man saws and the like, but I have neither apprentice nor minion to assist me, so hammers and wedges it is.
Medieval guys must have been pretty buff. Swinging that hammer and chisel all day has my arms all pumped up far more than any gym session I’ve ever undertaken.
Sycamore chips stick to my beard.
Sawdust also sticks to my beard.
Hotdog grubs are filled with goo that looks exactly like the pink frosting on doughnuts.
After you finish I strongly recommend that you not attach the top pieces to the base pieces for at least another year. Sycamore is notorious for being slow drying and for twisting as it dries.
My FIL used to own a sawmill and he cut a large solid piece of sycamore for a specialty client who wanted a rough-hewn looking mantle. FIL warned him not to attach it to the wall for a year, but to let it sit free until dried and acclimated OR the matle would break whatever it was attached to as it dried. Client didn’t take FIL’s advice. Came back after fixing his wall to have another mantle cut and indicated this time he would, unlike last time, wait the year before he attached it to the wall.
Today I have managed to split both sections to a manageable slabs. I also managed to split one of my halves in half as well. :mad: It is fixable though and will leave an interesting secondary hole in the table top to fill with copper later. The split has also caused a large divot in one side which is not repairable, so I will sand it smooth and leave it as an abberation. The top surface has a lot of topography at the moment and I’m not certain how to approach the issues other than to hand plane it smooth and deal with the undulations. They won’t affect the usefulness of the piece at any rate.
Things I have learned:
Under sufficient pressure, the hotdog grubs also explode.
They do not taste at all like the pink frosting on doughnuts. They taste nutty. (see above.)
Once planed, sycamore wood is really, really pretty with a lot of lacing, spalting and figuring. It should be a beautiful table top.
I need to work out more.
I also need to figure out a use for several garbage bags worth of curly shavings.
I’ve heard about that, and will glue it together with 1" dowels for joining pegs. I’m not too worried about warping at this point. The wood has already sun-seasoned for over 6 months in the florida heat. it’s remarkably dry, and has only checked (cracked) less than an inch into the piece. It was a lower trunk section and quite old already, so there wasn’t much green wood on it anyway.
The wagon belongs to the Jolasveinar who come to visit with us during the holidays. We go with a mix of old and new beliefs about them for our customs and I thought it would be fun to build something different for a yule decoration.
WormtheRed, There certainly ARE quite a few presents in the cart, but there are also bones, a foxtail, several rusty, nasty looking implements, a fishing net, and a few old bottles with dubious looking liquid in them. I’m not inclined to ask Stekkjastaur what is in them when he turns up in a week or so though. We will just leave him some food and hope he doesn’t bother the cows across the street too much. We don’t have sheep here in florida, those cracker cattle are basically wild too he’d better be careful, even the cows have horns here!
Aaaaahhh! Young man, what kind of body mechanics are those?! Get those shoulders down while you swing, boy! It’s a wonder your traps didn’t tear themselves off and walk away in disgust!
OTOH, it’s people like you who keep massage therapists in business…so carry on!
Actually it’s my elbows and hands that are sore. My traps are pretty well developed from all the metal work I did in college. My back is actually overdeveloped when compared to the rest of me. I had a serious knee injury in high school and had to learn to compensate when lifting weight.
Planing continues and gradually the surface is evening out and taking shape. There are a few significant bore runs left from the hotdog grubs. I’m tempted to fill them with copper as well, though I’m not certain how to accomplish this. I may have to settle for filling them with compound and leafing over, or (shudder) paint. I know copper is a soft metal, but I don’t think that one can melt it at home.
The shop is filled with pleasant smelling pretty curls of laced wood, which feel nice on my feet.
Not without a small blast furnace no. Copper melts well above temps that can be easily achieved. Aluminium melts pretty low though, and it’s safer than lead, so maybe that might be an option.
Bugger. I’ve poured aluminum before and that takes temps hotter than your average home setup can produce. You might get there with a blowtorch and time, but it’s probably not worth the trouble. I really need to fill those holes with something, but i wont a decent inlay, not some cheesy putty. Maybe carved bone…
I’ve know got the main panel down to a sandable level of finish. My hands are all blistered up from planing so much but it is worth the effort. Test oiling reveals that the natural color will vary from a light white/maple to a deep oxblood in the heartwood. The grain has a lot of iridescent lacing in it as well. I’m still not certain how to fill the bore holes and cracks though.
You can make a small blast furnace at home. A friend of mine, who homeschools her kids, made one, about 18 inches high. Fired it up with a dozen charcoal briquets and made coins in a mold carved from cuttlebone. I think they were bronze? I’d have to ask her because, though I did see the furnace and the mold and the coins, I know nothing about it myself.
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