bdplant

Greetings, I just finished my first woodworking project (pics below) and now it seems I've got the bug. I needed a rustic table with benches for our family cabin and a good friend of mine offered to help.

Unfortunately, he lives about 200 miles away and he has all of the necessary tools, so the family and I roadtripped it up to Dallas one weekend for a build. We spent the better part of the weekend building the table. Once it was together we took it apart, loaded it into my truck, and I brought it home. I then spent the next month sanding, staining, and poly-ing.

It was quite a learning process, and there were definitely some frustrations along the way (staining pine isn't fun), but the table ended up turning out much better than I had figured it would.

I think I'd like to try making a rustic log chair out of cedar as my next project. I have access to about seven acres of land where I can cut as much cedar as I'd like. If I decide to cut down some trees for logs, do I need to let the logs dry before using them and if so, how long? I know that logs need to dry before cutting boards, but I don't know if drying is needed when you plan on using the logs without splitting them.

Thanks

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bigcouger

Welcome to the Forum, Nice table

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Itchy Brother

Welcome,Nice table,your off to a good start!

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"Change" The Dinosaur didn't,The Dinosaur isn't.

Lancer33

Welcome, nice work

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If you do not have the time to do it right......when you will find the time to do it over.

SHx0082

I'm right down the road from you in San Antonio.

Dominick

Welcome to WWT. Nice table and benches. When I build log furniture I usually let my logs dry for some time. Peeling the bark off with a draw knife will speed up the dry time. I've peeled bark off and I've left the bark on depends on the look I'm going for. As far as making mortice and tenons, I sometimes like to have the logs with tenons dryer than then the logs with mortices
When put together, as the logs dry the mortice will shrink more than the tenon giving it a tight fit as the mortice shrinks. Or you could build with the same moisture content. Should be fine either way.

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When it's rustic......it's rustic

rrbrown

Welcome to the forum. Nice table and your off to a nice start.

I will suggest that you put those pictures in your album so they will be easily found and viewed.

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Semper Fi
Richard

Please check out and share my websites
www.seasonal-creations.com

cabinetman

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Photos - 4 Pages: http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/galle...00&ppuser=1269