Chip Chester wrote:
I agree with Tom.
It would probably be best to finish both sides of the "tabletop" the same.
If you finish just the top, it will absorb water unevenly and warp out of
shape sooner... You might want to treat the stump with something
(bleach?) to slow down the fungus growth after you clean it up.


The part of the fungus that you see is usually only a small part of
the entire organism. Most likely the stump has fungus inside
of it all the way down into the roots.

Not a big deal so long as you do not expect the table to outlive you.

There are epoxies sold that are supposed to penetrate and toughen
rotten wood. I've never tried any so don't know how well the
work but it might be worthwhile to look into using something
like that (and definately a fungicide of some sort) to treat the
stump before you put the table top on it.

The table top will probably rot first where it is in contact with the
stump since the air will be free to circulate around and dry out
the rest.

--

FF