on Aug 26th, 2005Quest for a Plank from a Log — Part 2 (limited success) (pics)
I’ll make this one short, as I’m sure everyone is a little bored of this discussion.
Last night I again tackled the log. First I located my other wedges. Then I used the hatchet and a sledge to more evenly define the opening kerf. And then finally I use ALL the wedges and slowly slowly work down the side:
Striving, as Roy says, “For a steady even lift.” I play my wedges like a concert xylophonist, and I am rewarded with a plank!
Then deciding that I was on a roll I turned my attention to the other half of the original log, turns out that that side had a little more twist to it, and the split ran out like crazy.
So after that I got so frustrated that I just took an axe and hewed everything into rough sized and then pulled out my planes and saws and turned all my lovely green maple stock into this:
Haha. Ok, just kidding. In reality, this weekend I’ll bust the rest of up into quarters and saw the quarters into big blanks for whatever.
So just one question. What’s the best way to seal and season my plank?
And finally the moral to all this:
1. You should really use oak or ash. maybe the right pine and hickory.
2. However you can certainly use this technique on other stock with some patient and a lot of luck.
3. Whatever stock you use, it really really really has to be straight. Not mostly straight. Not kind of straight. But straight like Christian Coalition straight.