I am making some rustic furniture, and things that use pieces of wood from
nature.

How does one get the bark off, and down to the wood without having gouge
marks, and so they can either sand or sandblast it smooth enough to varnish?

My pieces will be smallish, from one to four inches in diameter.

TIA

Steve

A drawknife can do the job. It's nice to have a way to hold the twig,
too. Google "shaving horse", or "bodgers bench". Tom

"Steve B" wrote in message
news:uARdg.89103$iU2.2697@fed1read01...
I am making some rustic furniture, and things that use pieces of wood from
nature.

How does one get the bark off, and down to the wood without having gouge
marks, and so they can either sand or sandblast it smooth enough to
varnish?

My pieces will be smallish, from one to four inches in diameter.


Fresh cut with sap up sits for a week warm and damp and peels after
slitting.

Old cut with sap down is a job for a bark knife.

On Fri, 26 May 2006 22:37:31 -0700, "Steve B"
wrote:

I am making some rustic furniture, and things that use pieces of wood from
nature.

How does one get the bark off,

Depends a lot on the species.

Expect lots of end checking, so cut the raw stock long

Get a wood stove, the wastage is enormous, so stop worrying about it and
see it as a useful by-product instead.

Work quickly while the wood is still green (for most species - some
peel on drying).

Take all the bark off in one go - soft cambium beneath is hard to shift
once dried.

Any edged tools you like, it's the clamping bench that makes the most
difference to ease and speed. If you're doing a lot, look at making
yourself a shave horse to sit on.

A whole variety of spokeshaves and drawknives, particularly wooden
spokeshaves with big mouths for rough stripping, then iron shaves with
tight mouths for finishing.

Clean your tools after use and oil them - green shavings cause rust in
no time.

Sharp tools are less effort to sharpen than blunt tools are to use.

news:uARdg.89103$iU2.2697@fed1read01...
I am making some rustic furniture, and things that use pieces of wood from
nature. How does one get the bark off, and down to the wood without
having gouge marks, and so they can either sand or sandblast it smooth
enough to varnish?
My pieces will be smallish, from one to four inches in diameter.



Fresh cut with sap up sits for a week warm and damp and peels after
slitting.

Old cut with sap down is a job for a bark knife.

I have found that even if you cut it green (sap up) butr failt to get to it
for a coupleof weeks - probably less for such small material - that the bark
begins to stick. It starts on the side which is facing up because gravity
puolls the sap to the underside of the stock. In other words, don't do what
I did!