My mother is a bird fan and several years ago she started collecting some very nicely carved birds. She is moving into a new place and could use somewhere to display her birds.
I selected a section of a large limb that came from my neighbor’s gigantic ficus tree.
I used an old chisel to pry off the bark. This piece had been sitting in my garage for about 6 years.
I placed the log on my small bandsaw sled and ran it through my bandsaw to get one flat side. Then I rotated the log 90 degrees and ran it through again. Now the log has a profile that can fit in a corner of a room.
It had developed some cool spalting patterns and other sections of grey where the spalting seems to have run full course. The spalting is not just on the surface, it runs all the way through the wood.
For a pair of shelves, I used some ficus boards that came from the same tree. Those I had sawn and removed the bark back several years ago so they did not spalt. I used a contour gauge to transfer the curve of the log to the shelf so I could cut a tenon that would mate to the log.
I transferred the tenon to the log with my Stanley marking knife and started in with my chisels to create the mortise. I must have had so much fun with the chisel that I forgot to take more pictures.
Here the shelves are mortised in and we are ready to apply a coat of pure tung oil. Keep in mind, in this picture, the log shelf is upside-down. It is only upside-down so my son can apply the finish to the bottom of the shelves.
Why do I prefer Tung oil for this?
- It provides a nice sheen with a light, warm tone
- it won’t grow mold the way boiled linseed oil does.
After three coats of tung oil about 4 days apart, I took it to my mom’s place to hang. My normal method for hanging something like this involves a lag screw with the head cut off, screwed into a stud at a steep angle, then a hole in the log drilled at the same angle. However, at my mom’s place, when I drilled the hole in the stud for the lag screw, I discovered the studs are metal…. which is not going to work. I can’t put the lag screw in, because it won’t stay, so I have to use a toggle bolt into a french cleat. The mating portion of the cleat will be cut into the log.
To make the cleat , I pulled out a small scrap of Australian pine and cut an angle on one side. This will be the cleat that gets bolted to the wall. Its mate, will be cut into the log itself.
Here is a good point to draw attention to the fact that the dark fully spalted sections run all the way through the log. The dark sections can not simply be sanded to look lighter.
A closeup of the cleat and the pocket.
The french cleat block got bolted to the wall with single Toggler Snaptoggle and a1/4-20 bolt. The hump from the head of the bolt fits into notch I made in the log so the head of the bolt keeps the log from sliding along and off the french cleat.
Here is the shelf mounted and ready for the birds.
It’s hard to see in the photo, but the darker regions have a bit of chatoyance to them. They look gray from some angles and more golden brown from others. It’s fun to watch the color shift when you move around the piece.
Overall I really like the creamy look of the ficus boards. They are pretty stark contrast to the spalted log. It is hard to believe they are wood from the same tree.
Here is the shelf in context with the birds and my mom’s other decor.
Previously
- Pelican Salt Lamp
Christmas time brings a hunt for project ideas for something for my son to make for his mom. We started tossing around ideas including things she likes. She really likes Pelicans. We’ve been in Florida for over a decade now and they still make her smile. So we came up with the idea for a […]
- Kerfing a live edge joint
I am in the middle of working on a live edge table, but I have the live edges interior to the table rather than at the table edge. So I have one live edge that needs to join up to another piece of wood. A lot of woodworkers solve this with a river of epoxy. […]
- Forged knife
A few years ago, my son went on a school trip to St. Augustine FL. One of the things they visited was a blacksmith shop. He was intrigued, so we entered into adding some ironworking to our shop. Back in March 2019 we decided to make a propane bucket forge and then make a knife. […]
- Mountain Wall Light
As my son has gotten older, his homework time has stretched later into the evening when light is fading. He clearly needed more photons. We had a few requirements: It had to look good with his custom desk, and book cabinet. His desk is in our family room, so it had to look good. It […]
- Sliding Dovetailed Book Cabinet
My son has been schooling remotely due to COVID so we needed a place for him to stash all his books and papers that would normally be in his locker at school. The river desk we built back at the end of 2018 serves him well, but is has no storage either so I decided […]
- Easy Sliding Dovetail Jig
As a result of my constant fascination/challenge to make furniture without metal fasteners, I often turn to using sliding dovetails. Generally making sliding dovetails is a little finicky. Too tight and you can’t slide the joint together. To loose and the joint is wobbly. Recently I came up with a solution that makes the process […]
- Australian Pine Live Edge Mirror
On one of our many boating trips to a favorite nearby beach we stumbled upon an Australian Pine rolling in the surf. As it was a hazard to navigation, I pulled it out of the surf and dragged it up on the beach. It was pretty large, roughly 25 feet long. This was back in […]
- Cypress Stump End Tables
I wrote a while back about the Cypress Stump Console I made from one of the two Cypress trees I had removed in my back yard. The second stump… the butt really, was a bit shorter. I thought it would make a good coffee table but we don’t need any more of those. However we […]
- Sawdust in the Wind
My Dad passed away a week ago. I credit him with teaching me about creative work, a bit of woodworking and especially hand tool woodworking. In preparing for his memorial service I came across a few photos that answered some of the mystery for me about this hobby that has become a bit of an […]
- Heart Bar Stool
I had this idea kicking around in my head for a barstool made from a log with a built in footrest. My original thought was for a square seat, but used on a diagonal like a diamond. Then I was looking for ways to reduce the weight and realized that the back corner of the […]
- Cypress Stump Console Table
Back in May 2019 we had two large Bald Cypress trees removed from our back yard. Steve’s Tree Service did a great job and they obliged me in my request to have the trunks cut as close to the ground as possible so that I could have some nicely flared stumps for creative woodworking. This […]
- Cypress Serving Tray
Each year, my son makes a gift for his teacher. Here is the 2020 tale as written by him. In May 2019 my dad cut down 2 Cypress trees and the wood sat in our driveway for way too long. After the wood was out of the driveway some went in the attic to […]
- Florida Chainsaw Mill
Anybody who is into natural woodworking is likely familiar with the “Alaskan Chainsaw Mill.” Carried into the wilderness, slung over a well muscled shoulder and ready to turn logs into lumber. These mills made by Granberg and others are impressive, but that is just not how we roll down in Florida. We are grayer, more […]
- Finished: Slab sided floating top river-desk
Now that all the pieces are done for this desk, it is time to assemble. The problem is that the slab sides are quite heavy and the top with the attached stretchers is very heavy so it has to be assembled in-place and I had no free hands to take assembly photos. The assembly, if […]
- Slab Side Legs
In August 2018, I was taking my morning walk with my dog around our neighborhood. I spied several people with chainsaws and safety gear. Then I saw their target. A double trunked water oak…. my precious. I spoke to Steve of Steve’s Tree & Hauling and inquired if it was headed for lumber mill or […]
- Stretchers for a Floating Desktop
The desk top for my son’s river desk is kiln dried Southern Yellow Pine. The uprights for it are 2″+ thick red oak that was cut and milled less than a year ago. Most woodworkers will advise not to build with wood until it has dried at least a year per inch. that is probably […]
- Prize Trace Hook from Dirty Shed Creations
I started watching the YouTube channel Dirty Shed Creations when they began their wood log throne series about 6 months ago and I have not missed a release yet. I like Dirty Shed creations both for its enjoyable cast of characters (Uncle Al, Camera Boy, and Tammy) and the projects they come up with match […]
- Epoxy River Desktop
My son was pretty adamant that he wanted his new desk to have an epoxy river on it. He has enjoyed the few times we have used epoxy to fill gaps in the past and he wanted to do more. We were going to be making the desktop out of Southern Yellow Pine so the […]
- Floating Top River Desk with Slab Sides – Intro
My son currently uses a desk that is a simple trestle style that belonged to his grandfather. I like the style of it, but it was from an era that knew nothing of laptops and mice and was a bit small for today’s deskly duties. He has simply outgrown the desk and was in need […]
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